What is the Keto Diet?
As you may have noticed, the ketogenic diet has exploded across the weight loss scene sweeping up celebrity devotees — including a couple of Kardashians, Halle Berry and LeBron James — and collecting almost 14.5 million hashtags on Instagram. Like most diet crazes, it can be hard to see through that sea of enthusiasm and hype and separate the fact from the fiction. What is keto exactly? And where did it come from?
Unlike a lot of other diets, keto does have its roots in solid science, with its first modern incarnation used by American researchers in the 1920s to help treat children with epilepsy. The evidence today suggests that keto can be an effective short-term, high-intensity weight loss regime.
What is ketosis?
Very basically, the keto diet aims to keep you in a state of ketosis. According to the Harvard Health Blog, ketosis is a state in which your body turns its fat stores into molecules called ketone bodies, which you will then burn to produce your energy. Normally, your body would pull that energy from glucose, which comes mainly from eating carbohydrates, and so depriving your digestive system of those carbs forces you to burn through the fat stored elsewhere in your body.
What’s in the keto diet?
As you might guess, the keto diet strips away most of the carbohydrates from your plate — allowing only 20 to 50 grams a day. To illustrate just how little that is, the BBC states, “a banana contains about 20g [of carbs].” Compare that to the typical American diet, which is about 50% carbohydrates, and you’ll get a sense of the kind of challenge involved with going keto.
In place of carbohydrates, the diet includes large portions of foods that are high in fat and moderate in protein. The general rule-of-thumb structure for a basic keto diet looks like this:
- 70% fats
- 25% protein
- 5% carbohydrates.
This means you’ll be eating a lot of seeds, nuts, healthy oils (like avocado oil and olive oil), and avocado with a moderate amount of meat, eggs, poultry and fatty fish like salmon, and smaller quantities of some fibrous vegetables. It all sounds straightforward but ask anyone who’s tried it and they’ll tell you the hardest part is maintaining that incredibly strict diet over a extended period.
Enjoy keto-friendly meals with Celebrate Health products
With no added sugar, Celebrate Health products are naturally keto-friendly and provide a quick and easy way to fill out your keto menu. Use our keto-friendly salad dressings, vegan mayo, tomato sauce, BBQ sauce, green Thai curry or peanut-free satay to add some life to your keto menu.
Keto-friendly recipe ideas
Beef & Cashew Lettuce Cups
These Beef & Cashew Lettuce Cups make for a satifying and low carb dinner ideas!
Apple, Cabbage and Fennel Salad with Green Mayonnaise
Each serve of this delicious apple, cabbage and fennel salad provides almost two of your recommended five serves of vegetables per day. Try pairing this flavourful crunchy salad with grilled chicken, salmon or steak for a perfectly balanced meal.
Enjoy even more tasty low carb recipes made with Celebrate Health product. We love seeing the dishes you make using our products too! Let us know how you’re using our products in keto-friendly meals – tag @celebratehealth on Facebook and Instagram.