With Keto diets and Intermittent Fasting both becoming popular forms of dieting for weight loss and overall health benefits, many are beginning to question which is better and what each involves. In broad physiological terms, the goal of the two methods is the same, but they often use different methods to get there.

Overall the goal of both Keto and Intermittent Fasting is to encourage your body to burn fat for energy instead of burning sugars. Many experts now agree that using the two together may help to promote further weight loss and be highly beneficial to your overall health. However, both Keto and Intermittent Fasting require a higher level of personal commitment than other diets, so it’s also about finding the best regime for your lifestyle.

What is Keto

Before you decide which diet to follow, it’s important to understand how both regimes should be followed and the biological processes that make them effective.

A Keto diet involves lowering your carbohydrate intake to below 50 grams of carbs per day and increasing your fat intake. Protein intake remains moderate. On a standard nutritional plan, your body is burning sugars (generated from carb intake) to burn energy and fuel your body. In Keto, the idea is to “train” your body to burn fat for energy instead.

By lowering carb intake and increasing fat intake, your body enters a state known as “ketosis.” This state of ketosis is reached when your body begins burning ketones (produced by fat intake).

Benefits of Keto

Some of the benefits of ketogenic diets can be:

• Weight loss
• Improved immune system
• Prevention of long term illnesses (e.g. diabetes)
• Improved heart health
• Higher energy levels
• Improved brain function
• Appetite regulation

Studies have shown that dieters following a ketogenic diet lost up to three times more weight than those on higher carb diets. These highly positive results in weight loss and the compatibility of Keto with clean living are what made the diet so popular.

Drawbacks of Keto

The only major drawback of Keto is that it’s usually not suitable for pregnant women or those with an existing Type 2 diabetes diagnosis. Any other “drawbacks” you hear about Keto are usually just temporary side effects of making a drastic change to your nutritional intake.

These temporary side effects may include:

• Dehydration
• Headaches
• Leg cramps
• Bad breath
• Fatigue
• Drowsiness
• Reduced physical performance

Most people can quickly alleviate or prevent these side effects by:

• Drinking plenty of water and salting their food
• Introducing enough variation to their diet for proper micro nutrient intake
• Easing gradually into Keto

The Keto diet is highly compatible with a vegan lifestyle, especially because vegans are accustomed to making sure they keep their micro nutrient intake stable through varied sources of fats and proteins.

If you want to know more about getting started on a Keto diet, check out the handy infographic from Total Shape on Keto beginners which is super helpful.

What is Fasting?

While Keto is a nutritional plan focused on specific portion sizes of carbs, proteins, and fats, Intermittent Fasting is a pattern of eating. It does not restrict food types, but provides windows of time where it is acceptable to eat, and windows of time when you should fast.

Intermittent Fasting plans usually follow cyclical periods of eating and fasting, so there are lots of different fasting plans you can follow. For example:

• 16/8 – 16 hours of fasting followed by 8 hours where you can eat.
• Alternate day fasting (fasting for one day and resuming normal food consumption the next, and so on)
• Weekly fasting (fasting one day per week).

Like Keto, fasting promotes fat loss because it allows your body to reach a state where it starts to burn fat for energy instead of sugars.

Benefits of Fasting

Many of the benefits of Intermittent Fasting are similar (if not the same) to Keto. Benefits can include:

• Reduced risk of cancer
• Not food restrictive
• Body fat loss
• Reduced risk of Type 2 diabetes
• Healthier immune system
• Healthier heart
• Improves brain function

If you’re vegan, you may prefer Intermittent Fasting because it only dictates when you eat, not what you eat. So you can continue your preferred vegan diet as normal with added health benefits.

Drawbacks of Fasting

The only drawback of Intermittent Fasting is how it might fit in with your lifestyle. But the hours are flexible and there are plenty of plans to choose from, so it’s a mental barrier more than anything else. For example, if you like to socialize after work in the evening, simply choose a fasting plan and schedule that allows your socializing time to fit into your eating window.

Keto and Intermittent Fasting Together

You may prefer to choose one over the other due to medical conditions or lifestyle considerations. But combining Keto and Intermittent Fasting may produce the best results. It is also advisable when following a keto diet to perhaps adhere to it for a limited time and then switch back to a normal diet, to ensure you still take in a varied diet with all the different macro nutrients. When doing that remember when switching to do so gradually and not do an abrupt change.  

It’s thought that combining Keto and Intermittent Fasting can:

• Increase body fat loss
• Help maintain muscle during weight loss
• Boost energy levels further

The only thing standing in your way is the added pressure of combining two high-commitment regimes. So, why not start with one and then add the other later on? Don’t be afraid to try them out for a few months and see what you prefer and how you react to them. Some people like them some people don’t. The only way to find out is to try it, after you have done your research though!

The post Fasting Or The Keto Diet? Some Of The Benefits Of Each And Which One Is Right For You? appeared first on FitNish.com.

There are a couple of things that you need to know and remember if you plan on starting the ketogenic lifestyle. Below are a number of tips that will ensure you are able to follow the diet and also stick to it.

Breakfast

For breakfast, you will typically be eating more fat than you’re probably used to. Foods such as peanut butter, avocados or smoothies made with high fat foods like nuts would be the norm instead of eating say a high carb food like bread or cereal. As a result, you’ll have a great start to the day and this will help keep to your keto diet. You can use a keto food calculator if you need more guidance.

High fat foods such as avocados and nuts are high in fat and in some cases in protein as well, which will ensure that you’re well fueled and ready for the day. For some this can be a much better breakfast.

Limiting the Carbs

Next, you should know that on a ketogenic diet, you won’t be able to eat any rice or pasta and most starchy foods. However, there are many options that can help you to adapt and these include using Shirataki noodles and rice, cauliflower (as cauliflower rice). Another excellent option if you really want pasta is to make spiraled zucchini which looks just like spaghetti. In order to make this you will need to purchase a spiralizer or purchase from a grocery where the zucchini is already spiraled.

You won’t get into ketosis unless you reach a stage where you consume only 30 – 50 grams of carbs per day. Take note that if you have a serious resistance to insulin, then you may need to eat as little as 20 grams of carbs per day. You won’t be able to eat traditional flour on a keto diet, however, there are many alternatives to flour that you can eat. You can try almond or coconut flour and these can easily be substituted into any baking recipes.

Have a Plan

If you want to be successful and ensure consistency on the keto diet or any lifestyle, then you will need to plan your meals. You should at least aim to plan lunch and dinner and meal prep them if possible. Once you do this, you will be much less likely to stray from your keto meals. You can use this food guide that includes a lot of great keto recipes and foods that you can make and even freeze.

Getting those fats in

The keto diet is big on eating fat and you will need to ensure that you’re eating enough of it. You will need to eat fats such as olives, avocados, grass fed butter, mayo, olive oil, nuts. Fat should account for about 70% – 85% of all your daily calories.

As you can see, doing the ketogenic diet doesn’t have to be difficult or frustrating. The above tips can help you to easily adapt to this diet and ensure you have a happy and healthy lifestyle, but please make sure to do your research on any sort of plan that you want to follow.

Do not get hung up on the trendy diets that you see all over social media. Try something and see if it works for you, while ensuring that you remain healthy by doing your research. There are many ways to do the same thing, you just have to find what works best for you, and that may not be just one thing.
 

Photos by:

• Olia Nayda 
• Kelly Sikkema 
• John Fornander
• Irene Kredenets on Unsplash

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The post A Few Quick Tips To Keep In Mind If You Plan to Try The ‘Keto’ Diet appeared first on FitNish.com.