Once you get into ketosis, your next goal is to do your best to stay there. Beginning a new diet is difficult as your body takes time to adjust, so making the transition as straightforward as possible is important for success. Fortunately, there are some methods to help you get where you need to go and stay there. The following are some practices that help keep your blood ketones up and your blood sugar levels and carb intake down. Turn them into habits and before you know it, the keto lifestyle will be second nature.
Focus on Whole, Low-Glycemic Foods
One of the easiest ways to maintain ketosis is simply to be aware of what you eat. This goes for the foods you purchase at the store as well as the ingredients you use to cook. By purchasing low-glycemic ingredients and foods you’ve verified to be keto-friendly, you can help your body continue ketosis by removing any risks altogether. This is much more easily done by creating your meals and snacks yourself, but when you inevitably desire to purchase a pre-made snack or meal from a store, it is important to be vigilant about the types of food you bring home and consume.
Now that the ketogenic diet is becoming popular, many companies are branding themselves “keto-friendly” to capitalize on the growing keto community. But don’t let the hype fool you. Even foods that are touted as healthy or “keto-friendly” often have a higher-than-desirable amount of carbs and sugar or other sweeteners. Take granola bars, for example. Many people consider them a healthy snack choice on a low-carb diet. But many of the toasted oat bars contain even more sugar and total grams of net carbs than a candy bar!
In fact, sugar in its various forms is so integral to our foods that it is even included in products you wouldn’t think to contain troublesome ingredients, like most flours and starches. Consequently, we recommend getting most of your keto diet nutrition from whole foods, including healthy fats, protein, and keto-friendly veggies with lots of fiber. This way, you can easily monitor your calorie intake, protein intake, and total grams of carbs to make sure you maintain a state of ketosis.
This isn’t to say that every “keto-friendly” snack or food isn’t good for ketosis, many are ideal for it and can help provide momentum with delicious alternatives that will help you easily maintain a keto diet. You’ll find an abundance of keto-friendly products on our good finds page where we talk about some of our favorite keto treats, seasonings and more.
Eating a diet of mostly whole foods makes things simple; you won’t need to keep an eye out for hidden ingredients that could affect your ability to stay in ketosis. When considering recipes to try and shopping for groceries, aim for whole, low-glycemic foods and ingredients, such as those listed here. By only keeping ingredients and foods that are keto-friendly in your home, you reduce risk factors that may tempt you away from keto or accidentally pull you out of ketosis.
Read Food Labels!
Mints, gum, candy, baked goods, and drinks labeled for a low-carb diet may seem like great ideas. If you look at their ingredient list, you’ll often find they too contain problem ingredients (i.e., carbs/sugars) that can cause your ketone levels to drop or completely kick you out of ketosis!
The same goes for other food products that you may not expect to contain sugar or other high-carb ingredients; some broths, spices, condiments, chewing gums, mints, and even sugar alternatives can sneak unexpected carbs into your diet and affect your ability to stay in ketosis and use fat as your primary energy source. Keeping note of the ingredients of everything you consume is important for staying in ketosis, especially when misleading foods can contain ingredients that will cause you to misstep.
Luckily, all packaged foods feature labels that tell you what you need to know, so be sure to read labels and factor any carbs present in the foods you consume into your daily macro calculations. You can learn how to determine whether a food is keto-friendly here. Once you know what foods contain what ingredients, keeping a list of foods that are keto-friendly and foods that aren’t can be helpful in the future, so you won’t need to double-check. That way, when you’re in a hurry and need to grab a snack quickly, you won’t need to spend time figuring out which foods you can eat.
Test for Food Sensitivities
There is a catch in figuring out keto-friendly foods: the nutritional label doesn’t always tell the full story. Your body is unique, so keto-friendly foods and drinks that are perfectly suitable for others may adversely affect your level of ketosis, or even kick you out of it if you are sensitive to them. In addition, some low-carb foods contain ingredients that are high-glycemic or can cause blood glucose spikes. For example, many protein powders that claim to be keto contain maltitol (a common sugar alternative that has a higher glycemic index); some people have no trouble consuming it, while it kicks others out of ketosis. This is where testing your response to the foods you consume is critical when starting out. You can learn more about ketone testing here and learn more about testing for food sensitivities here.
Keep a Stash of Keto-Friendly Snacks
One of the greatest threats to staying in ketosis is getting off course, and you’re far more likely to do that if you don’t have keto-friendly foods around when you need them. Eating keto-friendly foods helps ensure your body continues ketone production and uses fat stores and fat from your diet as your primary fuel source.
Not only does keeping a stash of keto-friendly snacks at home keep you from accidentally slipping out of ketosis, but it can also help prevent any early cravings you might have for food that isn’t keto-friendly. If replacing the items in your pantry and fridge with keto-friendly foods isn’t an option, having keto snacks and ingredients at home can prevent any slip-ups. It’s also worth bringing them with you in case you can’t find keto-friendly foods while you’re out and about. You can find a list of snacks we recommend here.
The Final Word
Whether you’re following a keto diet for weight loss or fat loss, to steady your insulin levels; to mitigate obesity, epilepsy, type 2 diabetes, or insulin resistance; or for other health benefits, the best way to ensure you stay in fat-burning ketosis is to seriously limit your total carbs and to keep an eye on the ingredients of the food you consume. A very low carbohydrate intake promises your body will reach for fats and stay in ketosis in a way that can’t happen when you eat a high-carbohydrate diet. Reading nutrition labels and checking ingredients will prevent mishaps or mistakes while shopping for food or ingredients. Regardless, it’s important to consult a physician, dietitian, or nutritionist before making dramatic dietary changes.
Need some keto recipes to help you craft meal plans that ensure your daily carbs stay in check on your high-fat diet? Find killer keto recipes here.