Is the Keto Diet Right for Me?

When searching for a diet to help you lose weight, you may find the number of options overwhelming. Do I follow a low-fat or low-carb diet? Can I lose weight if I just add salad to my meals? What about meal replacement diets? Is the keto diet right for me?

At Weston Medical Health & Wellness, we understand how hard it is to find a weight-loss diet that’s right for you. Our weight-loss specialist, Dr. Andrea Bretal, knows that when it comes to losing weight and keeping it off, no single method works for everyone, which is why we use many approaches.

We’ve helped a lot people lose weight following the keto diet. Here, we want to provide a basic keto diet guide to help you decide if it’s the right diet for you.

Keto diet basics

Though now a popular weight-loss diet, the keto diet was initially created in the 1920s as a medical diet to treat epilepsy. The low-carb, high-fat diet alters your body’s metabolism to mimic fasting.

Glucose, which comes from fruits, vegetables, grains, and other carb-containing foods, is your body’s preferred source of energy. On the keto diet, you restrict your carbohydrate intake, forcing your body to use ketones for energy. Ketones come from the breakdown of fat.

How it works

For weight loss, the keto diet works by turning your body into a fat-burning machine. By creating the right balance of calories, carbs, fat, and protein, the keto diet forces your body to use fat stores as a source of energy.

According to the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, the keto diet is a partial fast diet. When you fast or follow a very low-calorie diet, your body burns muscle for fuel. As a partial fast, the keto diet helps you maintain your lean body mass. 

Maintaining your lean body mass when losing weight is one of the major benefits of the keto diet. Loss of muscle mass when following a weight-loss diet may affect your metabolic rate and you may need to eat even less in order to continue to lose.

What you eat

When deciding what type of diet makes the best choice for you, it’s important to find one that includes foods you enjoy eating. The keto diet food list may help you decide if it’s a plan you can enjoy and follow.

In order to create the right balance of carbs, protein, and fat to turn your body into a fat-burning machine, your keto diet consists of high-fat foods such as nuts, seeds, oils, butter, and avocados.

Protein foods are also a major part of the diet and include options like poultry, seafood, red meat, tofu, eggs, and bacon. 

To keep carbohydrate intake low, you need to cut out foods like bread, pasta, cereal, and whole grains. But you can include some low-carb fruits and vegetables like berries, leafy greens, and cucumbers. 

However, to keep your body in fat-burning mode, you need to be mindful of the grams of carbohydrate you eat each day. Even though low-carb fruits, leafy greens, and some other veggies are allowed, they still have some carbs. For example, 1 cup of raw cauliflower has almost 6 grams of carbohydrates. 

On a keto diet we may limit your daily carbohydrate intake to 20-50 grams a day. Every gram of carbohydrate counts.

Is the keto diet right for you?

When you come in for a weight-loss consultation, we work closely with you to help you find the right science-backed diet to help you reach your weight goals. 

If you decide you want to go with the keto diet, we design a plan and teach you how to count carbs and create healthy and delicious meals. We also provide ongoing support and can adjust your meal plan as needed.

When it comes to weight loss, no single diet is right for all. We can design a weight-loss plan that includes a diet that works for you and helps you drop those unwanted pounds and keep them off.

To get started today, call our office in Weston, Florida, or request an appointment online.