When embarking on the keto diet, it’s important to pay attention to the kinds of food you eat. Otherwise, you might end up doing your health more harm than good. Just because the diet promotes fat and protein consumption doesn’t mean you can freely eat them whichever way you want.
Diligent Computation
For the keto diet to be truly effective, you need to take note of your daily macros, or the macronutrients you intake. How you divvy up your macros may vary, but typically, it would consist of 70% fats, 20% protein, and 5% carbs.
This means that you must be diligent in documenting your macros for every meal you have. This also means being more aware and informed about the types of food that you eat. Because of the severe limitation on carbohydrate intake, your culinary creativity will also be put to the test with all the replacements you’ll need to make.
Check out the list below to find out what foods are involved with keto.
Healthy Fats
It cannot be stressed enough that the keto diet encourages the consumption of healthy fats. This includes avocado, olive oil, butter, and ghee.
Protein
For your protein fix, meat and poultry are perfect for the diet because they contain zero carbohydrates. Seafood like salmon, tuna, and shellfish are very keto-friendly as well. Just be mindful of tracking the carbs when eating octopus and oysters, because they might pack quite a punch.
Dairy/Dairy Alternatives
Perhaps one of the best things about the keto diet is the liberal amount of cheese you can have (as long as you have the gut to tolerate it, that is). Cheese is perfect for this diet because it is high in fat and low in carbs. Plus it’s a great source of calcium too.
Have your fill of cheesy goodness in every meal with some of the lower-carb cheese options below:
- Cottage cheese
- Feta
- Brie
- Camembert
- Blue cheese
- Mozzarella
- Manchego
- Havarti
- Muenster
- Parmesan
- Pepper jack
- Provolone
- Romano
- String cheese
- Swing cheese
Yogurt, fresh cream milk, and half & half are on the approved dairy list for keto. Of course, if you would prefer plant-based dairy, you may use that instead too. Soy, coconut, and almond varieties are also keto-friendly.
Vegetables
Leafy vegetables are great for keto meals. For example, you can use lettuce to replace hamburger buns so you can enjoy a lettuce-wrapped cheeseburger instead. Darker, leafy greens like spinach, collard greens, and kale are good sources of iron and vitamin K. But generally speaking, leafy greens are A-OK for the keto diet because they are definitely low in carbs. Non-starchy veggies are cool, too.
Do keep in mind, however, that there are vegetables that do have higher carbs content. So just watch out for those, and make sure to keep track of your macros.
Enjoy Your Keto Meal!
“What can I eat if Im on a keto diet,” so you ask? Anything on this list should work great. But don’t limit yourselves to what’s on here. This is but a very minute sampling of all the possible options you can enjoy out there.
So go ahead, have a good, keto-friendly meal!