Taking care of your health and keeping an eye on your body weight are two of the most challenging things to maintain. It requires discipline and change in lifestyle, especially when it comes to our diet. There are different dietary options available, but how will you know if it’s the right for you? Let Medical Weight Loss in Utah help you determine your best nutritional plan with one of the sought-after dietary methods is a ketogenic diet. It has been studied and proven that this diet can help control your weight while improving your health.
It begins with your choice of food you take into your body. The ketogenic diet is high in Fats and low in Carbohydrates. At the beginning of any journey, one would feel great difficulty, especially if your staple food is high in Carbohydrates. It is not a new dietary plan, and many have attested to its excellent results, making it a part of their daily lifestyle.
As a beginner, one should be prepared mentally and conditioned physically. At Medical Weight Loss, Utah, they have come up with several helpful steps for preparation.
Step 1: Knowledge is key
Start with familiarizing yourself with the different types of food that fall in the Carbohydrates food group and look for alternatives that can replace them like Proteins. Channel your urges for Carbohydrates to Proteins and Fats. These include fruits and veggies that contain Carbs, for example, Beans and Watermelons. Once you start the Ketogenic diet, you should stop taking them.
Take note that the only type of food that does not contain Carbohydrates are meat because they fall in the Protein and Fats food group. Everything should be considered from the ingredients to the main course. Even your choice of cooking oil should be something Keto-friendly. It would mainly be either Olive oil or Coconut oil.
So do your research as this will help you become mentally prepared. Also, talking to people who are doing the Ketogenic diet would be helpful. Ask them about their meal plans daily or even ask for their grocery list or, better yet, go grocery with them. However, the Ketogenic diet is for the short-term dietary plan only. Once you have reached your goal weight, you need to shift to eating moderately as your body needs complete nutrients. However, Ketogenic is the best-designed diet to reach ultimate weight goals, but you’ll need to eat a little of everything in moderation in terms of maintaining a balanced diet. A ketogenic diet will help you do that because of the discipline you will have to go through when you experience this specific diet. Experience is always the best teacher and source of knowledge.
Step 2: Start by adjusting your everyday food intake.
Taking a gradual shift from your regular meal plan to the Ketogenic meal plan is very important because you do not want to shock your body. It’s always best to get through the adjustment stage. For example, if your regular diet consists of a bowl of rice per meal, cut it to half a bowl per meal and increase the meat and veggies. Soon enough, you can slowly replace your rice with vegetables. Let’s say lettuce as your base and then increase your meat intake for proteins and energy. Always go for the non-starchy type of veggie like potatoes instead of going for something leafy or lighter, like lettuce.
Also, for the cooking style, have the meat grilled instead of fried while for veggies, it’s always good to steam them and not put any salt or sugar use pepper or herbs alternatively to add taste.
Step 3: Make the switch but also always weigh the intake.
It is highly recommended to use a food scale and a food diary app when preparing your meal plan. The food scale is for you to calculate the total amount of ingredients you put into your food when cooking while the diary is for you to record and track your intake. This way, you have a calculative report to help you be on track. Deciding on going for Keto is a commitment to oneself where you should persist and commit to reaching your optimum potential for your health goals.
Try your best to stay away from preserved food and switch it to fresh organic ones. For example, instead of snacking on chips and soda, you could replace it with fresh lime juice and organic macadamia nuts. It is suitable for your body, and it is also good for the environment, so you’ll achieve two things right here.
Step 4: Keep your weight in check
Always practice weighing in every end or twice a week to check your progress until you hit your ideal weight goals. It would be easier for you to track if you are performing well or if you would need to extend the diet period. Bear in mind that the more committed you are, the faster you will reach your ideal weight and go to the next step: to add Carbohydrates to your diet and enjoy the other food groups. Fair warning, going on a Ketogenic Diet, can be monotonous, and your taste bud may change.
Step 5: Prepare a pattern for a healthier diet.
When you have reached your ideal body weight, this is the time that you should start thinking of preparing a pattern for your healthier diet. As mentioned earlier, the Ketogenic diet is only for the short-term, so the long-term plan is to reach your health goals to keep a healthy diet. So this goes back to eating in moderation. Maintaining a balanced diet is a dilemma for many, but right after completing your Ketogenic diet, always remember that the goal is to eat fewer Carbohydrates and not eliminate them. The key here is balance. So from here, you have to revisit Step 2, where we have to make adjustments to your diet. Slowly, add Carbs to your daily diet but in a minimal amount and still maintain the regular amount of veggies and proteins from your Ketogenic diet. Only this time, the difference would be, you have a controlled amount of Carbs in your diet and then gradually alternate your types of Carbs. Let’s say that today if you had rice tomorrow, you could replace it with potato or beans.
Keep the food scale with you when preparing your meals and the food calculator if you are still new to readjusting your food intake and trying to maintain a healthy diet. Maintain the practice of weighing in every week to see the changes or progress.
Many have benefited from the Ketogenic Diet and have adapted this to their lifestyle. Since the diet is time-constrained, many individuals revert to it once in a while, especially when they fall into an overeating relapse. It is an effective diet if you are committed to it and want to be in shape for a special occasion, like preparing for a wedding or your much-awaited beach trip. However, the ultimate goal here is to stay healthy—Medical Weight Loss Utah can help recreate your lifestyle. Next thing you know it, you’d feel great, and most importantly, you get to enjoy food, guilt-free as you already master the art of a balanced diet.
