Starting a ketogenic diet can be stressful! We have to change our eating habits; we always wonder if we are doing things right. To relax a bit, we are excellent, in addition to the necessary advice, we give you the ten essential tips to make sure you don’t do too many silly things at the start!
1 – Paying too much attention to the scale
Let’s be honest; most of the time, it’s for weight loss when it comes to ketogenic eating! But in practice, improving your health with keto can take many different forms—better energy, better measurements, better morale, etc. If you exercise on top of that, muscle gain can completely offset the fat loss on the scale. Not to mention that fat loss is not linear: some will lose immediately, some will start to fail after a few days or a few weeks, and almost everyone will experience plateau periods, which can range from a few days to a few. Weeks, it’s normal.
Advice: Do not get stressed and focus on adopting acceptable practices. You are also free to take your measurements and monitor their evolution; often, this is a much better indicator than the weight.
2 – Be afraid of fat – forget the purpose of the ketogenic diet
We’ve all heard all our lives that fat is not right, that it will make us fat, that it will kill us. And even when you attack keto, it’s hard to lose that mental reflex. As a result, we may tend not to take enough fat in our diet initially, while the goal IS to increase our fat intake to accustom the body to use it as a source of energy!
3 – Eat bad fats – hydrogenated fatty acids
In the ketogenic diet, we try to focus on animal fats for their high content of saturated fatty acids, positively reducing inflammation. On the other hand, we will absolutely avoid cereal or flower oils (rich in Omega-6, a source of inflammation) and even more hydrogenated fatty acids (refined fats, dangerous for the heart and the circulation). So exit margarine (to be banned) and your sunflower or rapeseed oil.
When in doubt, keep it simple and focus on solid values. Hello butter, cream, animal fat, olive oil, and coconut oil.
4 – think short term
We can’t say it enough: ketogenic eating is a marathon, not a sprint. We are not here to go on a diet. We are here to find better health through our food.
So you don’t get stressed out because you haven’t lost weight. We are not giving up because we fell for the pizza night with friends. Instead, we accept that on any long journey, there are small defects, small errors. And then you pick up the right habits because you know that you are trying to change your life.
5 – Confuse carbohydrates and sugar
We come back to the most down to earth! It’s based on experience, but many times people we follow have sent us the photo of the label of such and such a product, saying, “Isn’t that good for keto?” There is not even 1g of sugar in it! “. All this to see that, yes, 1g of sugar, but 40g of carbohydrates!
In France, we talk about fast sugars and slow sugars, and carbohydrates are the family that includes all these sugars! So when we look at the labels to find out how this or that food can fit into our diet, we are looking at the carbohydrate line; that’s what to be reckoned with.
6 – Forget your electrolytes and hydration
Electrolytes are minerals used to conduct electrical signals in our bodies. The most common in food are sodium, potassium, and magnesium. And running out of it leads to all the nasty symptoms of the keto flu.
In a ketogenic diet, we tend to retain less water in the body and lose electrolytes with it. Therefore, we must be careful to consume enough and, of course, to drink regularly to stay well hydrated.
For sodium, simple, be careful to eat enough salt and possibly add a pinch of salt to each of your glasses of water. For potassium and magnesium, favor foods rich in these electrolytes, such as avocado or spinach.
7 – Do not do your research
In the ketogenic diet, we go against almost all traditional nutrition advice. So it’s essential to know why we do it: the answer can’t just be, “Because I follow people on the internet who do it.
Take any advice you are given with skepticism, do your research, read books, and read studies. KNOW why you are doing this. First, it is the best possible source of motivation. Two, it will give you more confidence in what you do.
8 – Do not listen to your body
Since the ketogenic diet works mainly at the hormonal level, this means that little by little, you can start to trust yourself again to listen to your feeling of hunger or fullness. Yep, this is all driven mainly by hormones, much more than willpower.
Therefore it is essential to choose a feeding rhythm that suits us. That is, not to eat just because it is time when you are not particularly hungry. Or, conversely, refrain from eating when hungry after a heavy session because “we have already eaten enough today.”
We listen to each other, and we trust each other! No need to stress.
9 – Stress
One, stress is unpleasant. Two, pressure generates a surplus of a hormone called cortisol. We will not give a lesson on the subject, but in general terms, be aware that having too much of it disrupts your appetite and fat storage mechanisms (among other unpleasant effects). This is a nerd; this is precisely what we are trying to fix.
Better to tackle this lifestyle in a relaxed way, allowing yourself small mistakes and learning along the way. If you stress yourself out trying to do everything correctly from the start, you risk being counterproductive (and not enjoying the trip.
Imperfect and Zen, it will always be better than “Never good enough” and stressed
10 – Not getting enough sleep
Sleep is like fat: it’s life. Not getting enough sleep has a devastating effect on our fitness, vitality, willpower, and even intelligence. And incidentally, it also promotes fat gain.
So we try to give our body the rest it needs and deserves every day. This is how we start the next day on the right foot.
Do you have any questions? Please leave them in the comments below the article; we will be happy to answer you. And above all, don’t forget to share the article!
