What to Eat and What to Avoid During Keto Diet

What to Eat and What to Avoid During Keto Diet
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If you’re thinking about starting the keto journey, you probably know that you won’t be eating donuts and pizza soon. In addition, you’ll need to avoid all processed sugar and grains sources since keto is an extremely low-carb, moderate protein, but high-fat diet.

So, yes, the rumors are true – you can eat bacon for breakfast, but it’s still best to have your complete nutrition shakes in the morning because your body needs all the nutrients to function properly. The diet may sound simple, but the grocery store may feel like enemy territory when you’re new to keto. So we’ve put together this guide to help you make smart choices.

Foods to Eat

To reap the benefits of a keto diet, you should eat nutrient-dense foods packed with animal proteins such as fish, meat, and eggs. Also, it would help if you consumed non-starchy veggies, along with good fats like olive oil or butter. Your meals should contain about 70% fat and 25% protein.

Seafood and Meat

Fatty fish and other seafood are keto-friendly since they are full of fat and protein. Sardines, salmon, herring, and mackerel are ideal choices. But if you prefer white fish, you can choose trout, cod, or halibut. Just make sure you opt for fish and seafood without added sugars.

The keto diet is a heaven for meat lovers, so you can have any meat you can think of! Just stick to grass-fed and organic meats to not consume unnecessary bacteria and steroid hormones. When eating poultry, always choose the darker meat since it’s fattier than the leaner white one. In addition, the keto diet is vegetarian friendly, so tempeh, tofu, and other soy products also work.

Eggs, Dairy and Cheese

Another vegetarian-friendly product and a healthy protein source are eggs. The possibilities of cooking them are many, and you can enjoy them as often as you like because people who avoid carbs don’t have to avoid dietary cholesterol.

If you think cheese makes every recipe tastier, you’re lucky because the best keto recipes include cheese. Products like yogurt and cottage cheese are high in fat and protein but low in carbohydrates. Greek yogurt is always a perfect protein-rich breakfast option with few carbs. Avoid drinking milk a lot, as one glass has 15 g of carbs.

Fruits and Vegetables

Eat fruits in moderation since some of them are full of sugar. Good choices are lemons, limes, melons, and berries because of their high water content – think about having some strawberries with melted dark chocolate for dessert.

You can enjoy unlimited leafy greens and crunchy veggies, fresh or frozen, just make sure your meals include celery, avocado, zucchini, and broccoli.

Foods to Avoid

You’ve probably picked up that you should run away from high-carb foods. But the restrictions don’t end there. You shouldn’t eat processed foods and unhealthy fats. In addition, while cheating days are okay after enough time on keto, we highly advise you not to cheat regularly.

Grains, Beans and Legumes

Say goodbye to your beer and chips nights while on the keto diet. Grain-based foods are high in carbohydrates, so you should avoid pasta, bread, cereal, rice, crackers, and oats. But pasta shouldn’t be a deal-breaker since you can find acceptable alternatives like shirataki noodles. Also, don’t get excited when you see some “gluten-free” substitutes since they are made with some high-carb alternatives.

Chickpeas, beans, and lentils are high in protein, but they’re also high in carbs. So, it’s tricky to include them in your diet. The products lowest in carbs are black soybeans and green beans. Fry them and use a little of them as toppings on your keto-friendly bowls.

Starchy Veggies, High-Sugar Fruits and Sugar in any Form

Avoid beets, corn, peas, potatoes, and sweet potatoes because they contain more digestible carbs than fiber. High-sugar fruits like dates, bananas, pears, apples, mangoes, etc. have more carbs, so you should limit them. Also, forget about dried fruit because the sugar is more concentrated.

Sugar and sugary sweeteners high in carbs don’t have a place in this diet. So even healthy replacements like maple syrup and honey are off the menu.

To wrap up

The keto diet’s primary goal is to achieve a state of ketosis, meaning “making” the body turn fat instead of carbs into energy. So, it would be best if you ate plenty of fat and little to no carbohydrates. We must admit that it’s restrictive, but you can make delicious recipes if you can hack the system.

Just ensure to read the nutritional labels of foods to assess whether certain products are a good choice for the keto diet.


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I am a pop culture and social media expert. Aside from writing about the latest news health, I also enjoy pop culture and Yoga. I have BA in American Cultural Studies and currently enrolled in a Mass-Media MA program. I like to spend my spring breaks volunteering overseas.

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