Over the years, I’ve dabbled in countless fad diets, but none have yielded lasting results and most were downright unmanageable. Too many diets demand that we sacrifice our love for food to shed a few pounds – a tough ask for anyone.
But there’s one diet that turns this notion on its head, promoting a high fat intake. In essence, all you need to do is give up carbs and let your body handle the rest.
This is the ketogenic or ‘keto’ diet, which doesn’t require you to eliminate everything you enjoy from your meals – just envision your plate without carbs. So, what exactly is the keto diet? Well, your body typically uses glucose from carbs as its primary energy source.
When this is removed, it turns to the liver and muscles. After three to four days, when these reserves are depleted, the body starts burning stored fat, with the liver converting this fat into ketones – a process known as ketosis, reports Wales Online.
The time it takes to reach ketosis varies depending on an individual’s BMI. To maintain ketosis, you should limit your carb intake to around 20-50 grams per day.
On a 2,000-calorie diet, a typical keto diet will consist of 55-60% fat, 30-35% protein, and only 5-10% carbs. In short, ditch the carbs and your body will burn the bad stuff because it has no other energy source.
So, what should you avoid on a keto diet?
Naturally, you’ll want to significantly cut back on the biggest culprits: beers are high in carbs and low in nutritional value. Mixed drinks such as vodka, gin and rum also have high carb levels, typically due to being mixed with sugary sodas and fruit juices.
Alcohol in general should be reconsidered on a keto diet. Honey and syrup can quickly spike blood sugar levels and take you out of ketosis. They’re primarily sugar so cutting them out won’t harm you.
Juice, sugary soda, and sweet treats will have the same effect so skip the snack aisle when you’re doing your weekly shopping trip. Surprisingly, sauces like ketchup and sweet chilli are packed with sugar and will take you straight out of ketosis.
The same goes for “low fat foods” which typically hike up their sugar levels to compensate for the lack of fat. In summary, refined carbs and sweet treats are your enemy. Take care to count the carbs and sugar levels on the packaging if you’re trying keto.
However, it’s not all doom and gloom. You may be thinking all the good things in life have been ripped away from you but it’s far from the truth.
You can still maintain ketosis while enjoying what you eat. Keto diet replacements can help you feel satisfied without having to cook several different meals at dinner time.
Keto food swaps:
The showstopper is the humble cauliflower. Merely whizzing it with a blend of spices transforms it into “rice” you can pair with any meal. This swift and handy swap mimics cous cous, making it not too dissimilar from what it imitates.
And for those craving a Sunday roast complete with all the trimmings, a hefty dollop of “mashed potato” is still an option—just process the cauliflower and cook to achieve that perfect mash.
In need of spaghetti bolognese without breaking your diet? Enter courgette. Slide it through a mandolin slicer, then briefly boil the resulting “spaghetti” strands.
Want an even quicker fix? Just run the courgette along a cheese grater for instant results. Or, pick up pre-made vegetable pasta alternatives from most big supermarkets.
Craving chips? Butternut squash sliced into wedges becomes a nutritious stand-in. For Mexican nights, lettuce leaves can substitute for burrito wraps or taco shells.
These variations may stray from their high-carb cousins but they’re delicious compromises on a ketogenic diet.
Thirsty? Ditch sugary fizzy drinks in favour of their zero-sugar counterparts, or simply opt for water. Pub-goers can indulge in a glass of red wine or dry white, typically low in carbs at under 5g per serving.
A keto diet doesn’t mean skimping on flavourful sauces either. Hot sauces like Tobasco remain on the menu, along with vinegar-based condiments, mustard, and mayonnaise. Many supermarkets stock low-sugar options as well.
My keto diet menu
You can reinvent your meals with fresh flavours and recipes every day. Here are some of the staple meals I enjoyed on my keto journey:
Breakfast
- Scrambled eggs and avocado
- Fry-ups (without toast and beans)
- Omelette
-
Yoghurt
Lunch
- Salads
- Soups
- Chicken and cauliflower rice
Dinner
- Curry and cauliflower rice
- Courgette spaghetti bolognese
- Courgette carbonara
- Fish and cauliflower mashed potato/butternut squash wedges
- Stuffed peppers with cauliflower rice
- Fajitas with lettuce leaf
- Burritos with cauliflower rice
- Open burgers and butternut squash wedges
You can revamp your meals with fresh flavours and recipes every day.
One month after keto
One month after keto I want to preface this by saying I’ve tried quite a few diets and many I wouldn’t recommend. Everything from the coffee diet that sees you swap snacks with a hot cup of java to cutting out red meat and carbs permanently. The keto diet was the easiest and most rewarding thing I’ve ever attempted.
The worst part of any diet is feeling unsatisfied and hungry. It’s the biggest telltale sign you’ll crumble and run back to the fridge.
Eating keto was like I was eating everything I typically would. There was everything from curries to tacos and fajitas.
The only thing I did struggle with was the lack of sweet treats but the fewer of those the better, anyway. Planning meal time wasn’t a daunting task like many other diets.
It was a simple task of “What am I substituting this evening?” and cracking on with what I wanted. At the end, I found my stomach shrank because I was no longer bloating.
I didn’t have to suck in my gut just to flatten my body in certain clothes. The bloating was gone and my confidence skyrocketed.
I’ve always bloated over the smallest of snacks so this was genuinely a game-changing experience. I’d recommend doing keto even if reducing your bloat is the only goal.
In a surprising twist of fate, effortlessly shedding 5lbs became an unexpected benefit of my lifestyle tweak. No strenuous workout routines or strict diets played a part—merely altering small aspects of my meals did the trick, allowing me to indulge in my cravings while the pounds peeled away.
It wasn’t the number on the scale that signalled the biggest transformation but rather how my physique morphed in the mirror—fat either shifted or vanished, creating a more flattering distribution of weight. After a month, the subtle yet significant changes were apparent without necessitating dramatic before and after photos; I could both see and feel the difference, which is what truly counts.
The keto diet stands out as one of the simplest and safest options available, in my opinion. It involves minimal complication, promising satisfaction instead of deprivation come mealtime.
But it’s not without its critics.
Weighing in with expert advice, Victoria Taylor, senior dietitian at the British Heart Foundation, warns: “It’s quite difficult to have a balanced keto diet, especially when it comes to getting enough fruit and vegetables and fibre, and it also contains more saturated fat than is recommended. With fewer foods to choose from, the diet can get boring, and doesn’t always fit with eating with friends and family. All of this means it can be hard to stick to.
“With limited research into the keto diet for weight loss, and few long-term studies, we wouldn’t recommend it. There are other diets that limit carbs, but not as much as the keto diet (typically allowing 50-130g of carbs per day) which have been found to be safe and effective in the short term, for example for people with type 2 diabetes. Or you could try a Mediterranean-style diet, which has benefits for heart health.”