Ketogenic Diet Tips

1.  Stay Hydrated:

This is considered a no-brainer, but is not easy to follow.  We often get so busy in our day-day lives that we forget to hydrate effectively.  I recommend super hydrating your system by drinking 32 oz of filtered water within the first hour of waking and another 32-48 oz of water before noon. I have most of my clients do a water fast or eat light in the morning doing smoothies or keto coffee or tea.  So hydration around these dishes should be well tolerated by the digestive system.  In general, aiming to drink at least half your body weight in ounces of water and closer to your full body weight in ounces of water daily will help you immensely.

2. Consume Enough Good Salts:

We are told in our society that it is important to reduce our sodium intake.  Many individuals in our society struggle with a high sodium/potassium ratio.  This is due to the fact that when we are on a higher carbohydrate diet, we naturally have higher insulin levels. Insulin effects our kidneys in such a way to retain sodium which can lead to a higher sodium/potassium ratio.  When we are on a low carbohydrate, ketogenic diet, we have lower insulin levels and therefore our kidneys excrete more sodium which can lead to a lower sodium/potassium ratio and a greater need for sodium in the diet. On a low-carb diet you should look to get an additional 3-5 grams of sodium from natural foods and through the use of a pink salt like Himalayan sea salt.  1 tsp of pink salt is equivalent to 2 grams of sodium.

3.  Get Regular Exercise:

Regular, high intensity exercise helps to activate the glucose transport molecule called GLUT-4 receptor in the liver and muscle tissue.  The GLUT-4 receptor acts to pull sugar out of the blood stream and store it as liver and muscle glycogen.  Regular exercise doubles the levels of this important protein in the muscle and liver. This is a very important adaptation for maintaining ketosis because it will allow the individual to handle a little bit more carbohydrates in the diet because the body wants to store them in the muscle and liver tissue. Large compound exercises that use multiple muscle groups have the greatest impact on GLUT-4 receptor activity.  This includes squats, deadlifts, push-ups, standing overhead presses and pull-ups or pull-downs or bent over rows. Incorporating a regular exercise program that includes these resistance training exercises along with running sprints and low-intensity exercise such as walking helps to balance blood sugar and improve the ability to get into and maintain ketosis. Just be sure not to overdo it.  Small amounts of high intensity training go a long way.  If you overtrain your body, you will secrete higher amounts of stress hormones that will drive up blood sugar and pull you out of ketosis.

4.  Choose Carbs Wisely:

We all know that a ketogenic diet is a low-carb plan but I recommend consuming nutrient rich carbohydrate sources such as non-starchy veggies and small amounts of low-glycemic fruits like lemon, lime and/or a small handful of berries in a protein shake.  One of the ketogenic diet tips I often recommend is cycling in carbs from time to time, such as once per week. When you cycle out of ketosis once a week, you increase your carbs on that particular day by adding in nutrient dense sources such as more berries in a shake or a sweet potato with tons of grass-fed butter and cinnamon.  On low carb days, avoid the sweet potato and keep berries down to a small handful at most. 6 Low carb days with no more than 1 serving of fruit (other than lemon/limes) and no starchy veggies and keeping net carbs (not counting fiber) to 40 grams or so. 1 higher carb day with 2 servings of anti-oxidant rich low-glycemic fruit and 1-2 servings of starchy veggies (pumpkin, yam, sweet potato, carrot or beet) and allowing yourself to go up to 80 grams of net carbs.

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