Best Keto Fibre Foods and Why We Need Them
One element missing from most people’s diets is a bit of roughage to help with removing waste. Fiber is essential to normalise our digestive health, as it feeds the good bacteria in you GI tract, which assists beyond adequate bowel movements.
What most people don’t know is the ketogenic diet (or keto diet) has been practiced for more than nine decades since the 1920s. It is known for being a low carb, high fat diet, based on a solid understanding of physiology and nutrition science.
When you eat food that is high in carbohydrates the body will produce both glucose and insulin in the following manner:
- Glucose is the easiest and first molecule for your body to convert and use as energy
- Insulin is also produced and is used to process the glucose in your bloodstream by taking it around the body.
Given glucose is the main source of energy, the body doesn’t tap into fats as an energy source and are therefore not stored. This means the higher your diet is in carbohydrates; the body will always go to glucose for its main source of energy rather than fat. When you lower the intake of carbs it forces the body into what is known as a state of ketosis.
Ketosis is there from when we’re born and are only able to feed from our mothers’ milk. It helps the body survive when food intake is minimal. When in ketosis, we produce what’s known as keytones, which assists in breaking down fat in the liver.
The main purpose of maintaining a keto diet is to force the body into a metabolic state through starvation of carbohydrates – NOT calories. When the body has a higher rate of fat than carbohydrates it will begin to burn ketones (fat) as opposed to glucose as the primary source of energy.
So by changing our “fuel source” (from sugar to keytones) the body remains energized. This assists greatly with our general health, weight loss and both physical and mental performance.
Image credit: Perfect Keto
The National Institute of Health (NIH) recommend 25-31 grams of fiber per day, which is also dependant on age and gender.
The keto diet has been successful for millions of people around the world as it specifically targets the, underlying causes of weight gain. Dr Axe explains how this includes “hormonal imbalances, especially insulin resistance coupled with high blood sugar levels, and the cycle of restricting and “binging” on empty calories due to hunger that so many dieters struggle with. In fact, these are some of the direct benefits of the keto diet.”
Dr Axe continues, “Making that switch will place your body in a state of “ketosis,” when your body becomes a fat burner rather than a sugar burner. Fortunately, if you’re new to this type of eating plan, a keto diet for beginners, or keto basics, is surprising simple to follow. Here’s how to do the keto diet:
- Reduce one’s carb intake.
- Increase your consumption of healthy fats, which help create satiety.
- Without glucose coursing through your body, it’s now forced to burn fat and produce ketones instead.
- Once the blood levels of ketones rise to a certain point, you officially reach ketosis.
- This state results in consistent, fairly quick weight loss until your body reaches a healthy and stable weight.”
Image credit: My Know Brainer
THE BENEFITS OF THE KETOGENIC DIET
In today’s video, Dr Axe (Doctor of Functional Medicine) has shared the benefits of a ketogenic diet. Ketogenic diets can actually help weight loss, cancer (as cancer feeds off sugar), and even Alzheimer’s disease. When you are on a ketogenic diet, you are putting your body into a state of ketosis, which means your body is burning fat for energy rather than carbohydrates. The ketogenic diet could be the best diet for fat loss, however he doesn't believe anyone should be on this diet for more than 3-6 months. The reason why this diet works so effectively is your body stops feeding on sugar and starts burning fat. The diet consists of about 80% fats, 10% carbohydrates, and 10% protein.