The keto meal plan is the consumption of low-carb foods that keeps your daily intake of carbohydrates usually under 50g.
A proper meal plan:
- Accounts for a proper ratio of fat, protein, and carbohydrates, with fat making up the biggest portion.
- Ensures that other micronutrients, such as minerals and vitamins, aren’t deficient.
Before diving into details about the keto meal plan, we need to define the keto diet.
What is Keto?
Keto is short for ketosis. Chemicals called ketones activate when your body starts using fat as a fuel source instead of glucose. Your body produces ketones to convert fat into energy, pushing you into a state called ketosis after glucose stores are depleted (usually beginning after 72 hours of low amounts of carbohydrates).
Don’t confuse ketosis with another dangerous state, ketoacidosis. The keto way of eating is usually safe (make sure to check with your doctor). 50g, or less, of net carbs per day triggers ketosis. Net carbs are the remnants of subtracting the amount of fiber and sugar alcohols from a food’s total carbohydrate amount.
Health Benefits of the Ketogenic Diet
Weight Loss
Weight loss is one reason why people start eating the keto way. Once your body stops getting 200g-300g of carbs daily, you begin shedding water weight. This could mean experiencing a slimmer silhouette in just a few days. After a week, your body’s carb stores are depleted, turning its stores of fat into energy. Those push-ups you perform each morning? You’re burning fat!
It’s not unusual to lose up to 10lbs in the first month. Individuals with heavy amounts of weight begin shedding pounds very quickly. This process normalizes over time, allowing you to lose weight at a healthy pace.
Muscle Sparing
Under a keto meal plan, your body loses fat and water while maintaining muscle mass. Depending on your workout plan, you can either grow or strengthen your muscles. Exercise isn’t essential for keto weight loss, but it helps. Short bursts of resistance and muscle fitness (aka HIIT: high-intensity interval training) garner the best results.
Diabetes
Diabetics are one of the main advocates of the keto diet. Not feeding your body sugar in the form of carbs, and lowering your insulin levels, leads to healthy blood sugar levels in the body.
Cholesterol
LDL cholesterol levels drop while HDL (good) cholesterol rises. Cholesterol is involved in controlling your hormones; a healthy balance is essential to your overall wellbeing.
Cancer
It’s speculative, but the keto way of eating is currently being studied as a way to treat cancer patients. Cancer cells feed on sugar at up to 10 times the rate of other cells, leading them to expand at a rapid pace. Deprive them of sugar through a keto meal plan and the cells, in theory, begin to starve.
Because cancer cells cannot easily devour fatty acids, following a ketogenic diet can aid their demise.
Your Keto Meal Plan
These are some tips for following a successful keto meal plan:
- Stay below the range of 25g-50g of net carbs per day. Try to obtain carbohydrates from vegetables instead of starchy foods such as potatoes. Green, keto-friendly vegetables are high in vitamins and minerals.
- Abstain from bread as much as possible since most loaves of bread contain high levels of carbohydrates.
- Use our keto calculator tool to determine the minimum and maximum amount of macros (calories, fat, carbs, protein) to consume daily. It’s recommended to verify the findings with your doctor.
- Use a food label calculator or keto search to measure the number of net carbs in a food and discover more low-carb foods.
- Track your macros (net carbs, fat, protein, and calories) until you’re familiar with the nutrition amounts in your foods.
Keto Food List
Now that you’ve read about the benefits of a keto diet, here are some available food options that can fit your keto meal plan:
- Meats like beef, lamb, pork (BACON!), chicken, turkey, poultry, etc
- Fish, including oily fish and white
- Eggs
- Leafy greens like spinach and kale
- Vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, onions, eggplant, etc.
- Full fat cheese and dairy
- Cream
- Butter
- Fats like coconut oil, olive oil, animal fat
- Nuts and seeds, especially those high in fat, like macadamias, walnuts, etc.
- Avocados and olives
- Berries
- Low-carb sweeteners like stevia and erythritol
- Dark chocolate
- Certain fast foods
With these options, you’ll be able to cook mouthwatering meals like lamb shank, creamed spinach, and even low-carb pizza.
Macros
Don’t starve yourself on a keto meal plan. Intuitive eating is best—feast until you’re full, but not to the point of feeling stuffed and bloated.
Most people keep a ratio of around C5/P25/F70. This means 5% of calories come from carbs, 25% from protein, and 70% from fat.
Fat is necessary because it’s your new fuel. Plus, its calorie-dense properties can temper your hunger. Keep your fat intake high to maintain energy levels and lower your cravings throughout the day.
Water
As your body loses fluids due to flushing out stored glucose, you’ll need to replenish them by drinking more water.
Salts
Your body also loses sodium during ketosis. To counter this, add salt to your foods and drink electrolytes. Use a potassium-sodium blended salt to replenish the potassium your body loses. One alternative to salt is a sweet, low-carb electrolyte tablet that you can drop in water—called Nuun electrolyte tablets (aff link). Each tablet contains 4g of carbohydrates, with 1g of sugar.
What’s Next?
Keto is a great way of eating, but you may find it restrictive or tiring because you will need to track your carbs and be mindful of it.
Armed with research, a food search engine, and a beginner list of delicious foods, you can now build your personal keto meal plan. Keep carbs low, fats high, and watch your proteins. Discover more about getting started with the keto diet. Here are some more guides you can read for following a ketogenic lifestyle:
- How to Maintain a Keto Diet
- Top Keto Mistakes
- The Keto Diet for Athletes
- Keto-friendly Guide for Drinking Alcohol
- Keto and Intermittent Fasting
Want to discover other foods that are keto-friendly? Start your search today, or browse a list of restaurants with keto-friendly food options you’ll love.