Keto
Unlike flexible dieting where we don’t want to tell a client what they should or should eat, with Ketogenic diets there are certain foods that will kick a person out of Ketosis and keep them there. By definition a Ketogenic diet’s aim is to keep a person in ketosis. In order to do that, Ketogenic dieters must stay away from certain foods: mainly those that are high in carbohydrates or sugars.
Foods Ketogenic Dieters Must Avoid
The following table shows a non-comprehensive list of foods people on a Ketogenic diet must avoid:
| Food Group(s) | Foods to be avoided |
| Sugars & Sweeteners | Table sugar, brown sugar, icing sugar, powdered sugar, honey, agave, maple syrup, corn syrup, rice syrup, coconut sugar, raw sugar |
| Fruits | Apples, bananas, oranges, grapefruits, dried fruits, mangos, pineapple, plumbs, pears, apricots, figs, dates, papaya |
| Grains | Wheat, corn, cereal (even whole grains), breads, pasta, rice, oats, quinoa, baked goods: cookies, crackers, crusts (anything made from flour, millet, bulgur, amaranth, sorghum, buckwheat, etc.) |
| Starchy Vegetables & Tubers | Potatoes, sweet potatoes, yams, carrots, parsnips, beets, turnips and other root vegetables, corn, peas |
| Beans & Legumes | Black, kidney, lima, pinto, cannellini, white, fava, great northern, chickpeas, green peas, lentils |
A Quick Note on Sugar
Eating sugar is a surefire way to kick a person out of ketosis. Sugar is prevalent is most processed foods and it’s addictive, as such it is a Ketogenic dieter’s worst enemy. Today we have easier access than ever: sugary foods can literally show up at our doorstep with the touch of a few buttons thanks to online ordering. In addition big businesses everywhere go to great lengths to hide refined sugar in even our savory foods because refined sugar is so addictive it will keep us coming back for and buying more.
Sugar is addictive. Every cell in your brain utilizes sugar. It is your brain and body’s preferred source of energy. Carbohydrates are broken down and stored as glycogen in the liver and muscle for easy conversion into glucose, which is sugar in its simplest form, for when it’s needed as energy. Because sugar was once scarce, your brain sees and treats sugar intake as an action deserving of reward. It wants you to eat more of it. It then wants to store excess sugar as fat, for later use, because your brain has not caught up to industrialization and still thinks that sugar access is scarce. In response to eating something sugary your body produces reward hormones, the most prevalent being a hormone called dopamine. These hormones are considered survival hormones because they are produced every time you do something that is seen as necessary for human survival: eating, procreation, surviving a life threatening event, etc. These hormones not only make you feel good, but they also reinforce behaviors by creating strong urges to do that very same thing again. For this reason, they are referred to as habit-forming hormones. These are the very same hormones that are released when smoker’s smoke, alcoholic’s drink, gambling addict’s gamble, or fitness addict’s run long distances.
Sugar also affects our hunger hormones: leptin and ghrelin. Leptin is the hormone that tells your brain your stomach is full, making you feel satiated, while ghrelin is the hormone that tells your brain you are hungry. Without getting into the biochemical details, it’s important to know that eating sugar turns off your brains ability to receive information from leptin, which stops you from feeling full. At the same time sugar consumption increases your response to ghrelin, making your feel hungrier. Ever notice how you can eat yourself sick on a bog box of chocolates or a big bag of Doritos, but it’s virtually impossible for most people to eat a 22-ounce steak in one sitting?
Sugar addiction, like all addictions can have devastating effects on our lives – most specifically but not limited to our physical health. Binge eating and purging is often a sugar-fueled habit that destroys entire lives. And this is just touching the surface of it. The biggest problem might very well be that so many of us don’t know that we are addicts and if we do, we don’t know how much of a problem it really is or may become. We tell ourselves that it’s not a problem, that we aren’t unhealthy, that foods aren’t as tasty without sugar. We convince ourselves that added sweet is necessary to make foods enjoyable. And in some sense, that’s the truth. The more sugar you eat, the less sensitive your taste buds become to it. Sweet foods taste less sweet, less palatable and require more sugar to be enjoyable. On the bright side, you can retrain your taste buds. You just have to stop eating and adding refined sugars for long enough that your taste buds revert to normal. Eventually, even things like carrots and cucumbers will taste sweet again and the thought of sprinkling berries with sugar before eating will make your stomach turn because even the idea is sickly sweet.
Sugar by Other Names
It’s important to read labels and to know that tag lines like, “No sugar added,” or “0g added sugar,” do not mean this is no sugar, no carbohydrate item. These labels simply mean that the manufacturer didn’t add additional sugar to ingredients that already may have a high sugar or carbohydrate content naturally. Labeling laws mean that certain amounts of sugars may be included in a product without it being disclosed on the nutrition label. For these reasons, Ketogenic dieters must be in the habit of reading ingredients and knowing what the ingredients are. The following is not a comprehensive list. Manufacturers and marketers are constantly looking for ways to hide sugar in the ingredients of processed foods, because of its addictive nature. If you do not know what a listed ingredient is, it’s best to avoid eating it.
Basic Simple Sugars (monosaccharides and disaccharides):
Solid or Granulated Sugars:
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Solid or Granulated Sugars (cont.):
Liquid or Syrup Sugars:
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Keto-Friendly Food Groups
The following table shows a non-comprehensive list of the foods people on a Ketogenic can consume:
| Food Group(s) | Specific Keto-friendly foods |
| Animal meats | Fish, shellfish, beef, lamb, poultry, eggs |
| Leafy greens | Spinach, kale, lettuce |
| Cruciferous vegetables | Broccoli, cauliflower |
| Dairy | Hard cheeses, soft cheese, full fat sour cream, butter, full fat cream |
| Nuts and seeds | Macadamias, walnuts, almonds, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds |
| Oils and fats | Coconut oil, olive oil, low carb salad dressing, grass fed butter, ghee |
| Fatty fruits | Avocado, fresh coconut |
| Some fruits (in small portions) | Blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, cantaloupe, honeydew, watermelon, peaches (Fruits should only be consumed in small amounts. Large amounts will kick a person out of ketosis) |
| Low carb sweeteners | Stevia, erythritol, xylitol, monk fruit, aspartame, etc. (Should only be consumed in small amounts. Large amounts will cause an insulin response, kick a person out of ketosis and/or initiate cravings for real sugars, and may cause stomachache) |
Drinking Alcohol on a Ketogenic Diet
When a person on a Ketogenic diet consumes alcohol, the body shifts its focus to ridding the body of alcohol by burning it for energy instead of fat. This can temporarily kick them out of Ketosis. Once all the alcohol has been processed, assuming no extra carbohydrates have been consumed with the alcohol, the body will adjust back to burning fat for fuel, or into ketosis. Ketogenic clients who drink should be advised to stick to simple drinks without mixers like juice or soda. Hard alcohols like whiskey, tequila, vodka, rum, or brandy and 100% dry white and red wines are the best options. Alcoholic beverages that are high in carbohydrates and will kick a person out of ketosis for longer include high carbohydrate (or non-dry) wines, beer, wine coolers, flavored liquors and fruity mixed drinks like Pina Coladas or Margaritas.
When people are first shifting to a Ketogenic diet, it’s important that they know they may feel the effects of alcohol more rapidly due to their extremely low carbohydrate intake.
Are you done with diets and food fads? Do you want to transform your body and your relationship with nutrition, and are you willing to put in the hard work to accomplish your goals?
I offer a program specifically tailored to help you break big goals down into small, actionable steps that you can do every day, easily in order to build sustainable healthy habits without feeling miserable about it. As a diet agnostic, I won’t tell you what to eat no matter what kind of diet you prefer. ProCoaching is a program that works, even for people who think they hate health and nutrition:
