What keto foods to eat? Though it may seem complicated at first, maintaining a healthy ketogenic diet is actually pretty simple. In fact, it is probably easier to remember a shortlist of things not to eat on keto.
What not to eat on keto?
To remain in ketosis, it is important not to eat any types of foods rich in sugars and hidden sugars: carbohydrates that the body converts to glucose. This includes grains, tubers, and fruits.
Avoid all sugars, processed or natural, including maple syrup, honey, agave and alike. Your sweet tooth could be satisfied by certain sweeteners, like stevia.
Grains like wheat, corn, rice and alike are high in carbohydrates, therefore, they would knock you out of ketosis. Also avoid other starchy vegetables, tubers like potatoes, yams, etc as they are high in carbs.
Unfortunately, while many fruits (like apples, bananas, oranges) are high in healthy vitamins and nutrients, they are also high in sugars so they are not allowed on keto.
What you should eat on keto
Being an ovo-vegetarian, I do eat and recommend eating lots of above-the-ground and leafy vegetables, avocados, certain berries, and eggs. Non-vegetarians may consume lots of meats and even dairy on a ketogenic meal plan.
Leafy greens like spinach, kale, chard, collard greens and alike are loaded with important minerals and vitamins. Eating them raw in your salad with healthy oils like olive or avocado oil-based dressings allows your body to absorb the most of those nutrients.
Above ground vegetables, especially the nutrient-dense cruciferous ones, like Brussels sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, asparagus, etc are great keto foods. They are very high in soluble fiber, vitamin C and potassium.
Nuts and seeds, especially macadamias and pecans are low in carbs and high in fats. You could also consume walnuts, sunflower seeds, etc.
Not all berries can be consumed on keto as some of them have high sugar content, but you could add to your shopping list some low glycemic-impact berries like raspberries and blackberries.
Avocados are awesome keto foods as they are very good source of healthy fats, fiber, and potassium. And if at the end of the day your macros are right, but you just did not have enough calories (which could slow down your metabolic rate) eating an avocado could help you sort that out, as an average size avocado could have as much as 300 calories in it.
Other fats like coconut oil, olive oil, avocado oil, saturated fats, even high-fat salad dressing are great. I would recommend staying away from cheap cooking oils, like corn oil and soy oil-based products.
Low-carb sweeteners to use are stevia, erythritol, monk fruit, etc.
For non-vegetarians, besides eggs, you could get your proteins from meat and dairy products: beef, lamb, fish, poultry, eggs, butter, high fat cream, hard cheeses, etc. Just make sure that your protein intake is not too high so it will not trigger gluconeogenesis, which could knock you out of ketosis.
This cruciferous vegetable is a good source of vitamins C, K, B1, B2 and B6. Cabbage is also an excellent source of dietary fiber, manganese, potassium, sulphur, folate, copper, choline, phosphorus, magnesium, calcium, selenium, iron, pantothenic acid, protein and niacin. It helps with acid reflux.
Another cruciferous vegetable, bok choy, also called pak choi is a type of Chinese cabbage. It helps regulate estrogen levels and through that promotes weight loss.
