If you are on your way to the healthy lifestyle, you probably have heard about keto diet. But what it is about and why it is considered being healthy? The mechanism of a keto diet is based on the changes in fuel sources to maintain the energy processes in your body.
Minimizing carbs in the diet and their exclusion deprives the body of glucose, its main source of energy. When the body ceases to receive energy, it turns to its fat reserves, set aside for the “rainy day”. This process is called ketosis. In the process of ketosis, the body rebuilds its energy production and switches to alternative fuels – its own fat and the fat obtained from food preserving the protein tissues which makes the diet popular among athletes. So what food can help you while you are on a keto diet? Let’s have a closer look.
Coconut
Coconut also is an amazing keto food that you can do wonders with! From coconut milk to coconut flakes, you can do a lot of things with coconut!
Coconut oil contains natural saturated fats that can increase HDL cholesterol in your body, which is good for your cardiovascular health. Coconut oil can be used in cooking your keto meals and even drizzled on. Coconut flour is another alternative for flour and can be used to make pizza crust, fluffy keto waffles, chewy keto coconut flour cookies, and many more.
With coconut, you can also make a keto version of coconut key lime pie, creamy toasted coconut keto pudding and also luscious coconut matcha truffles! Like nuts and seeds, if you’re too busy to cook with coconut, you can always have toasted coconut flakes as snacks (you can get some great snack ideas from Perfect Keto). Not only does it taste good, but it is also healthy for you!
Avocado
Speaking of avocado, this superfood is another great Keto food that you should eat! For every 100 grams of avocado, there is only 2 net of carbohydrates but is rich in other great things like fiber, potassium, vitamins K, C, E and also B1, B2, B3, and B5. Avocado is also great in controlling cholesterol[1], normalizing blood pressure levels, which aids with hypertension.
Another great thing about avocado is that you can even incorporate it in both savory and sweet dishes, and also in drinks. You can always mash the avocado and spread it on toast, (can be paired with smoked salmon!), turn into guacamole and eat it with low glycemic chips, or chop it into bitesize pieces and toss it into salsa! You can also repurpose the avocado skins as boats, and make dishes like egg boats, and lemon chicken boats.
You can also make an avocado smoothie if you’re in the mood for a drink instead! You can also use avocado oil to cook your dishes with it or even drizzle on your salad!
Seafood
Another Keto food that is popular would be seafood. Fishes and other kinds of seafood are high in fat and protein. One great example of a great Keto seafood would be salmon. Salmon is a fatty protein that is rich in omega 3 fatty acids, high in antioxidants, vitamin B, but is low-carb at the same time. Salmon can be cooked in many ways, such as poaching it, smoked, searing, grilling, frying (which can be used with coconut oil, another great Keto food!) Salmon also can be shaped into burger patties, and also eaten raw, like in sashimi and poke bowls.
You can always try the spicy low-carb salmon patties, spicy ginger salmon Buddha bowl, which is another variation of the poke bowl, and also smoked salmon and avocado toast, which is another Keto food! Also, salmon and avocado go really well together!
Nuts and Seeds
Nuts and seeds like almonds are great examples of keto food too. If you’re not allergic to nuts then you should definitely take advantage of this! Nuts like cashews, almonds, pecans, hazelnuts, and pistachios taste amazing and can be turned into many things. If you’re not a fan of peanut butter, nut butters such as almond, macadamia and cashew can be a great alternative for you! They taste as creamy and as good like a good old jar of peanut butter. These nuts and seeds are rich in healthy fats which is essential in a ketogenic diet.
Almonds are a great thing, as not only you can turn them into butter, you can also turn them into almond meal and use them as an alternative for flour! With an almond meal, you can make macarons, 4-ingredient keto almond bread, almond flour low carb crepes, and even ooey gooey keto almond flour brownies. You can also use almond butter to spread on your almond bread or make almond butter keto pop tarts!
Furthermore, if you are lactose intolerant, almond milk is a great alternative and taste great with matcha lattes, and keto vanilla lattes! Other than almonds, cashews are also great keto food which you can make cashew milk and butter, and also if you want more: low carb lemon cashew cookies and also vanilla keto butter fudge! If you’re too busy to cook, you can always snack on these nuts and seeds to keep you full and with enough energy to go on with your day. These nuts and seeds also can be turned into oils that can be used in cooking! Peanut oil, macadamia oil, sunflower seed oil, and sesame oil are great oils that can be used in cooking instead of the usual vegetable oil.
Take-Home Message
As you see, the keto diet is not only about depriving yourself of everything you like (a chocolate cake or soda after a hard working day) and feeling bad about it. Quite the contrary. It is making your nutrition diverse and saturates the body with energy. Due to the lack of sharp jumps in blood sugar, you will no longer suffer from fatigue during the day.
- Alvizouri-Muñoz, M & Carranza-Madrigal, Jaime & E Herrera-Abarca, J & Chávez-Carbajal, F & L Amezcua-Gastelum, J. (1992). Effects of avocado as a source of monounsaturated fatty acids on plasma lipid levels. Archives of medical research. 23. 163-7. ↑
