Diets can be complicated and it seems health and nutrition nowadays are complicating your life rather than making it simple. We are here to calm your minds and let you know that your diet can be very simple and healthy. After all, if science can't distill itself into simplicity then we call it a "headache". Here are 5 things you DON'T need on a Ketogenic or Low Carb Diet. These pertain to the general masses, not rare clinical exceptions, who seek to look and feel good without having specific chronic conditions that require control of blood sugar or calorie restriction(eg. Type 1 Diabetes, adjunct for specific cancers, etc.) Let us begin:
A KETONE METER, TESTING STRIP OR BREATH METER
If you're just a normal person who just wants to look and feel good, then you might be wondering why you need to pee on a strip like a Guantanamo prisoner taking a leak, regularly suck on a breathing device akin to a drunkard who just got pulled over or inject a needle on your finger akin to a heroin addict. Before anyone gets pitchforks(bought using their affiliate commissions) out, I admit that there are clinical applications of such devices but for the mass public who doesn't enjoy tracking anything and wants to slug along in life, this is a waste of money and not a requirement. If it helps, under calorie restriction on any diet, people can automatically dive into a state of elevated fat oxidation(aka. ketosis). For those who are 'afraid' of ketosis, our body naturally upregulates the production of ketones when it is deprived of food... any food! Make your life easy and don't even bother.
TRACKING CALORIES
Many people lose fat and attain stellar body transformations without tracking calories. We're not big fans of tracking either. The goal should be to get results in eating intuitively. Try eating structurally rich sources of foods first and see how that pans out.
If you have no control over your appetite then you may want to reach out to a qualified specialist who deals with disordered or emotional eating rather than jump onto social media for your next advice. This is in no way saying calorie restriction doesn't work(pitchforks down, please.) It's just that intuitive eating should be the goal and starting point whereas calorie restriction should be a later-down-the-road tool. As you can see, we're not big fans of it..
LOTS AND LOTS OF KETONES
Ketone esters aren't a requirement on a ketogenic diet when it comes to most people. The research on them is still going on and at the moment, for the general masses, it doesn't seem that promising, especially when it comes to athletic endeavors. The research does allow us to potentially isolate the role of ketones in the body. They really are beating the heck out of it when it comes to research so they might find something eventually. For now, eh, meh and situational in specific circumstances. For the regular folks, nah.
Also, when you click on that link, notice that the link is an affiliate link. Affiliate marketing can be a great tool but in the world of nutrition and supplementation, because of how vague these sciences are, it's best to lead with some reservation and skepticism. Don't worry about those ketones. Consider them, in all practicality, as a side effect of high-quality foods that you eat and get you results.
A COOKBOOK OR RECIPE
Like as if everything above hasn't annoyed everyone else, you can get structurally rich processed or packaged foods without having to touch a single recipe. If anything, learning how to discern good food from bad food is a much more sustainable model than constantly trying to chase recipes that you and your loved ones may not like and cost you lost time and invisible labor. Think of cooking and recipes as optional. We, at Ketogeek, think of it as a joyful activity we do with our loved ones on special occasions(eg. Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc.) but other than that, learn how to recognize structurally rich foods(More on that in our coming membership section.)
A BIOHACKED FAST
No matter what any self-proclaimed expert says, eating when you're hungry or drinking when you're thirsty is a LOT easier than NOT eating or drinking at all. Fasting can have clinical applications but we know from some initial evidence that severe calorie restriction can lead to a temporary reduction in bone mineral density(1). It doesn't seem to offer any benefits compared to traditional calorie restriction(2) Additionally, there is also a chance that it could negatively impact someone with a binge eating disorder. At Ketogeek, we don't advocate fasting as the first go-to approach when starting a diet.
In a nutshell, make life easy and simple. That's been our goal using our Two Week Ketogeek Protocol and our Ketogeek Membership Program.
PS: If you're fasting because you don't have food, use coupon "KG10" at checkout to get 10% off your first order and get some food.
OUR APPLICATION
GLOSSARY
- Structural Richness: Foods that are constructed to provide nutrients at a rate that may favor an anorectic effect, negative energy balance or weight normalization. Structurally Poor: Foods that are constructed to provide nutrients at a rate that may favor obesity and positive energy balance.
FAHAD AHMAD
Fahad is the founder of Ketogeek and hosts the Ketogeek Podcast, a world class health show about food, nutrition and health. He is into resistance training, Ashtanga yoga, calisthenics and various forms of training styles. Armed with a idealistic goals distilled in a world of realism, his goal is to help the world make a better place. He leads a life of extreme generalism or as he describes it, 'The Renaissance Lifestyle'.
“It never ceases to amaze me how prosaic, pedestrian, unimaginative people can persistently pontificate about classical grammatical structure as though it's fucking rocket science. These must be the same people who hate Picasso, because he couldn't keep the paint inside the lines and the colors never matched the numbers.”
― Abbe Diaz