Here's What 30 Days On The Keto Diet Will Do To Your Body
The ketogenic, or keto, diet is a restrictive dietary plan that involves replacing carbohydrates with fat and protein. According to Insider, this is intended to help promote weight loss and improve energy levels in the body. While you can still eat carbohydrates on the keto diet, you'll need to limit your consumption to anywhere from 20 to 50 grams per day, most of which should come from vegetables.
By reducing your daily intake of carbohydrates, your body will stop relying on them as your main source of energy and start burning fat instead. This is known as ketosis — a metabolic state that produces molecules called ketones, which your body can use for fuel. In order to limit your carbohydrate intake, however, you'll need to cut back on bread, pasta, rice, and sugary foods, and replace them with 40 to 60 grams of proteins per day from meat, eggs, dairy, and plant-based fats. While the keto diet can certainly work for some people, others may find it unsustainable and difficult to manage. Simply put, it really just depends on the person.
The keto diet has its ups and downs
According to Eatingwell writer Kimberly Holland, following the keto diet for 30 days had its fair share of challenges and successes. Holland used a keto calculator to set a goal for the amount of calories, fat, and carbohydrates she needed to consume each day and planned out all her meals for the week.
Despite all of this planning, however, she found it hard to cut back on carbohydrates and was unsatisfied with her limited food options, which mostly consisted of bacon, cheese, eggs, steak, and chicken. Holland also found that she was just barely consuming enough calories, struggling to get over 1,200 calories on most days. She also came down with the keto flu in the beginning of her 30-day trial. The keto flu is a term used to refer to the sluggishness, fatigue, and cravings many people experience when their bodies enter ketosis.
However, these side effects only lasted one day for Holland. After following the keto diet for 30 days, she lost 15 pounds, increased her energy levels, broke her addiction to sugar, and learned to be more creative with her meals. While she might return to it at some point, Holland said that she won't be staying on the keto diet long-term. "If nothing else, the strict diet works well for me as a reset after a long splurge (hello, holidays!), and my month-long experiment helped me break my dependency on some of my biggest food crutches," she wrote.