KETOGENIC DIET: 20 ALKALINE LOW-CARB VEGETABLES

We’ll also look at what the ketogenic diet is and its unexpected health advantages — what’s proven and what isn’t.

The ketogenic diet is well-known.

Anyone?

Okay, my mother raised her hand, so I’ll summarize what’s going on for her.

WHAT EXACTLY IS THE KETO DIET?

The ketogenic diet is a trendy diet right now that was established early in the past decade to treat children with epilepsy. In a nutshell, it is a high-fat, moderate-protein, and very low-carb diet.

We’re not talking about paleo or high-protein low-carb diets here; we’re talking about extremely low-carb diets.

Broccoli, for example, is considered a carbohydrate.

MY FIRST FEELINGS ABOUT THE KETO DIET

I’m not going to lie until lately, anytime I saw a post on the keto diet, I would just click away. I didn’t believe it, and I honestly wasn’t drawn to those high-fat meals in any way. The entire thing seemed like a standard “diet.” When someone tells you that you can drop 10 pounds in a week, you simply say, “Nah.” Please leave me alone forever.

But then the keto diet became so popular that it has its own set of laws and is enjoying the life of its dreams on some beautiful island.

As a result, I had to do some research.

And I did, I got on PubMed and studied like a bookworm, and I found it quite interesting. So, I wanted to share what I discovered.

Please keep in mind that I am not on the keto diet and have no plans to start one, that I have nothing to offer you, and that I do not believe I have a keto dish on my site. This is a perfectly impartial review of what I read, and the goal is not to convince you to follow the ketogenic diet but to enlighten you and let you know that something like this exists — mostly because it has so many really incredible health advantages.

Let’s start with an age-old battle: carbohydrates vs. the rest of the world (or fat).

STORYTIME ON CARBS VS. FAT

This is how it usually goes. When carbohydrates are present in the body, they are the first item that is used to generate energy.

That’s a good thing since you need the energy.

However, if you consistently give your body carbohydrates and too much of them (which is really simple to do if you adore pizza as much as I do) and don’t use them for energy, they will eventually be stored as fat.

And then, yes, you can work out and burn that fat without gaining 10 pounds in a day.

However, if you continue to consume carbohydrates, bear in mind that they are always the first in line to be selected.

Fat is never given a chance to shine, no matter how great its potential is.

It’s a great shame.

Because fat is never chosen for anything, it becomes disappointed, depressed, bitter, and maybe malevolent over time. But since it dislikes being alone, it recruits fatter. It messes with our hormones, causing them to go up and down, up and down. It causes us to overeat and takes over the whole body.

That is the scientific explanation for how we gain weight.

What we can do now is, of course, be more aware of carbohydrates. It doesn’t imply we have to go all the way and eliminate ALL carbohydrates, as the ketogenic diet does. But the reality is, and this is something I was unaware of, that the ketogenic diet extends beyond weight reduction. But first, let’s see how it works.

WHAT EXACTLY IS THE KETO DIET?

The ketogenic diet’s purpose is to compel your body to utilize fat for energy rather than carbs. You consume nearly no carbs for this.

When there aren’t enough carbs like when you fast for a few days or have been on the ketogenic diet for a time, your body is pushed to discover new sources of energy, particularly for the central nervous system. And here is where ketone bodies come in. These are generated in the mitochondrial matrix of the liver through a process known as ketogenesis and have the ability to create more energy than glucose.

So, in this state, known as physiological ketosis (not to be confused with pathological ketoacidosis, a severe condition that may occur in type 1 diabetes patients), your body is using stored fat to produce ketone bodies and utilize them for energy. Naturally, your insulin levels do not rise and then fall. In this manner, the ketogenic diet may assist you in burning fat, losing weight, and improving your health.

THE KETOGENIC DIET’S HEALTH BENEFITS

What I didn’t know until I did some study was that the ketogenic diet is more of a therapy than a diet. It’s not something you do to drop ten pounds. It’s something to think about if you need to lose a lot of weight or if you have other health difficulties.

Having said that, I would first consult with my doctor about the ketogenic diet. It’s an extremely limited diet, and it has negative effects, just like any other therapy.

There is compelling evidence:

Diabetes type 2

epilepsy

coronary heart disease (affects the amount and quality of blood cholesterol)

Developing Evidence:

acne

Alzheimer’s

PCOS

Parkinson’s disease (PD)

traumatic brain injury

cancer

WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO EAT VEGETABLES ON THE KETO DIET?

I’ve seen a number of recipes and websites that are so focused on getting fat into your diet that they totally overlook the non-fat component of a balanced diet.

And that’s just the veggies. Okay, so a zucchini pizza with salami on top isn’t exactly healthy. Okay if it doesn’t happen every day. Carry it out. But, for the most part, you should focus on obtaining enough healthful alkaline veggies in your diet.

Why?

To begin with, as I said before, veggies provide several health advantages. Do not overlook them.

External antioxidants come in second. Your body has its own antioxidant system, yet it is very personalized. You may be able to create enough antioxidants to counteract the oxidative stress caused by merely living, which causes us to age quicker, but there’s no way of knowing for sure what sort of antioxidant system you received from the biological lottery. As a result, some individuals seem to age quicker than others.

What you can do, apart from throwing a sad party because you believe your antioxidant system stinks, is eat more veggies. Simple. Is your antioxidant system a shambles? External antioxidants should be added. They may be found in vegetables, nuts, seeds, berries, and prohibited fruits.

Third, vegetables work together to create synergies. You can serve things better than cauliflower rice or zoodles. When various veggies are combined, their health advantages grow and go beyond just receiving adequate vitamin C.

Last but not least, there’s alkalinity! Even in the elderly, alkaline meals help to avoid kidney stones, bone demineralization, and muscle mass loss. I’ve heard that a million times. When you consume acid-forming foods, your blood becomes acidic. Yeah. That is not correct. Because blood pH is so carefully controlled, you’d have to do more than eat a burger with french fries for breakfast, lunch, and supper every day to reduce your pH by 0.1. This is not a healthy diet, but it will not raise your blood pH.

It will, however, draw minerals from your bones and muscles to neutralize the acid that is created when you consume acid-forming foods such as meat, fish, cereals, and so on. What’s the reason? Specifically, your blood pH — since it is so carefully controlled, when you don’t get enough acid-neutralizing minerals in your food, your body has to supplement them from its own stores (the muscles and bones!).

Here are a few crucial points to keep in mind:

It’s commonly misunderstood, as with any popular diet — you’ll find a lot of recipes that emphasize eating more fat rather than eating healthily and getting your veggies in. The keto diet may produce kidney stones in certain persons, albeit this is a small proportion (research). As a result, it’s critical to remember to consume alkaline foods (aka veggies) when on the keto diet. Believe it or not, there are lots of veggies that you can consume without consuming too many carbohydrates.

Here’s a list of veggies to consume on the keto diet to balance out the acid-forming items in your diet and provide extra antioxidants to your system.

ON THE KETO DIET, EAT THESE 20 ALKALINE VEGETABLES

1. THE SWISS CHARD

1 cup contains 1.35g of carbohydrates, 0.6g of fiber, and 0.75g of net carbohydrates.

2. ASPARAGUS

1 cup chopped has 5.20g carbohydrates, 2.8g fiber, and 2.4g net carbs.

3. ARUGULA

1 cup has 0.73g carbohydrates, 0.3g fiber, and 0.43g net carbs.

4. SPINACH

1 cup has 1.09g carbohydrates, 0.7g fiber, and 0.39g net carbs.

5. GARLIC

1 clove has 0.99g carbohydrates, 0.1g fiber, and 0.89g net carbohydrates.

6. BOK CHOY

1 cup of shredded carrots has 1.53g carbohydrates, 0.7g fiber, and 0.83g net carbs.

7. BROCCOLI

1/2 cup chopped has 2.92g carbohydrates, 1.1g fiber, and 1.82g net carbs.

8. CUCUMBERS

1 cup has 2.57g carbohydrates, 0.8 fiber, and 1.77g net carbs.

9. KALE

1 cup has 0.93g carbohydrates, 0.9g fiber, and 0.03g net carbohydrates.

10. AVOCADO

1 contains 11.75g of carbohydrates, 9.2g of fiber, and 2.75g of net carbohydrates.

11. CAULIFLOWER

1 cup chopped has 5.32g carbohydrates, 2.1g fiber, and 3.22g net carbs.

12. ZUCCHINI

1 cup has 3.86g carbohydrates, 1.2g fiber, and 2.66g net carbohydrates.

13. EGGPLANT

1 cup has 4.82g carbohydrates, 2.5g fiber, and 2.32g net carbohydrates.

14. BASIL

10 leaves provide 0.13g of carbohydrates, 0.1g of fiber, and 0.03g of net carbohydrates.

15. CABBAGE

1 cup contains 5.16g of carbohydrates, 2.2g of fiber, and 2.96g of net carbohydrates.

16. RADISHES

0.5 cup sliced raw, 1.97g carbohydrates, 0.9g fiber, 1.07g net carbs

17. CELERY

1 cup has 3.00g of carbohydrates, 1.6g of fiber, and 1.4g of net carbohydrates.

18. BELL PEPPERS

1 cup contains 6.91g of carbohydrates, 2.5g of fiber, and 4.41g of net carbohydrates.

19. SPROUTS FROM BRUSSELS

1 cup has 7.88g of carbohydrates, 3.3g of fiber, and 4.58g of net carbs.

20. MUSHROOMS

1 cup of slices has 2.28g carbohydrates, 0.7g fiber, and 1.58g net carbs.