What is Keto?
The ketogenic diet has been growing in popularity in recent years as success stories hit social media. It essentially helps people lose weight by tapping into a survival mode built into our bodies. This survival mode happened for our ancestors during times of scarcity and cold, when carbohydrates and food in general became harder to find. During this time, fats and protein were more available. Our bodies respond to this by shifting our metabolism away from the sugar glucose and toward our fat stores.
The Keto Diet can be highly effective for rapid weight loss, targeting fat stores we don’t need or want in our modern age where scarcity is rarely a problem. Like any diet that eliminates the majority of one macro nutrient, there are rewards, risks, and plenty of ways to do it wrong.
Lazy Keto
The Ketogenic Diet minimizes the carbohydrates you consume while increasing fats and relying on a moderate amount of protein. The lazy version is easy to define. A lazy keto dieter eliminates carbs without really looking at what else they are consuming. It may result in a short boost to weight loss, but it is not a long-term solution and can lead to weight gain and a lack of important nutrients.
Dirty Keto
Dirty keto is relying mainly on processed foods during this diet. A dirty dieter may still be hitting the right ratios of fats, protein, and carbs, but they are also missing out on key nutrients, consuming too much sodium, and exposing themselves to more environmental toxins that affect weight loss and our fat stores. Let’s look at the ways we do keto dirty.
Not Enough Real Food
Fast food is convenient, easy, fairly inexpensive, and readily available when you’re hungry. A bunless bacon cheeseburger may hit the right macros, and may be a nice treat now and again, but isn’t a longer-term solution. Fast food is highly processed, soaked in sodium and preservatives, and lacking key micronutrients you need. Fast food should be an occasional part of your keto journey. A clean keto diet would rely more on real foods like grass fed beef, wild caught fatty fish, free range fowl, free range eggs, nuts, seeds, avocado, healthy oils, grass fed butter, and similar choices. Yes, this means you have to prep, plan, and cook more.
Not Enough Veggies
Many keto dieters remove most or all vegetables from their plates. It makes sense as vegetables, especially the ones we tend to eat, often carry a ton of carbohydrates. A clean keto diet should be dominated by vegetables. Your plate each meal should be covered in them. You have a threshold of carbohydrates, and you should be using that area for vegetables. Think broccoli, zucchini, asparagus, mushrooms, cauliflower, leafy greens, celery, green beans, cucumber, and cabbage. There are some surprise sweet or starchy ones you can use in moderation too, like pumpkin, tomato, and bell peppers. You need the minerals, vitamins, and fiber found in vegetables.
Not Enough Fruits
Fruits are considered a no-no to many on the keto diet, but you should consider using some of that limited carb threshold for a few of the lower carb varieties now and again. Many fruits are rich in antioxidants and vitamins that you won’t find in your other macros. Stick to ones that have few sugars and plenty of water and fiber. Fiber slows the absorption of sugars, so it’s a good idea anytime you find yourself cheating. Berries and watermelon are your best, low-carb options. Use them to get a handle on your sweet cravings without kicking yourself out of ketosis.
Too Much Protein
Believe it or not, most of us get more protein than we need, diet or not. We, in our modern world, consume a large amount of meat, eggs, and dairy. We then add to this protein powders that we’ve been convinced we need to build muscle and lose weight. A good plant-based protein may not be a terrible idea now and again when you’re really working out hard and often, but watch your proteins. Too much protein is hard on the kidneys and can actually lead to more weight gain. Protein is calories too.
Not Enough Fat
You need to hit some very high marks with fat, especially at the beginning, to kick your body into ketosis. Many new dieters may be overestimating the fat they’re eating and not hitting the mark. Make sure you’re eating the best fats though. Healthy oils like olive and coconut, grass fed butter, avocado, nuts, seeds, nut butter, and nut oils over bacon fat and processed oils.
Too Many Cheats
Cheat days or meals aren’t really a thing in keto. Anytime you consume too many carbs, you kick yourself out of ketosis, and it will take time to get back into it. Too many cheats, and you remain out of ketosis the whole time you’re trying to diet. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t treat yourself now and again. Denying cravings can make it harder and harder to stick to keto. Allow yourself to eat fast food, some sweet fruits, and decadence now and again. Try to keep it below your carb threshold, try making keto versions of what you crave, or, if you really fall off the wagon, let the cheat galvanize your resolve to go longer and do better.
Not Enough Water
Water helps the body carry nutrients and remove metabolic waste. As you shift that metabolism over to fats, you need extra water to remove the waste products and clear out the toxins hiding in our fat. Our bodies are very good at minimizing damage done by plastics, BPA, pesticides, radiation, and much more. One of the ways your body does this is by shoving toxins into fat cells where they are safely contained. Losing weight in any way dumps these toxins back into the blood stream, where the body is tempted to shove them back into fat cells again. This is one reason people yo-yo on diets. Give your body a hand eliminating these toxins by drinking plenty of water.
Missing Sleep
Sleep is the time our bodies clear out metabolic waste, sweep up dead or malfunctioning cells, and repair the damage of the day. We need our eight plus hours to truly recover. Don’t skimp on your sleep. Your weight loss will be affected by a deficit and you speed up the aging process at the same time.
Bringing Toxins In
At the same time your body is working overtime to remove toxins released from fat cells, you may be shoving more into yourself. This is another reason to avoid processed foods. Canned foods, fast food, food packaged in plastic, and water bottles aren’t helping you hit those weight loss goals. Make sure you rinse your fruits and vegetables to remove pesticide residue, avoid crowded streets while running, drink water from glass, and avoid touching receipts. Most of your BPA exposure actually comes from receipts, not plastic bottles or packaging.
Not Being Active
The beginning of a keto diet can be painful, with cravings, lack of energy, and the keto flu draining away your will to do anything. It is understandable to be more sedentary for a few days, but once ketogenesis kicks in, you should notice an uptick in energy. Use this. Don’t go all out and injure yourself. Nothing kills motivation, weight loss, muscle gain, or a diet like an injury. But you can make sure you increase your activity as your energy levels rise to encourage the metabolic process that’s burning your fat. Walk, hike, and hit the gym in moderation.
Not Minimizing Stress
Stress is a modern plague. We are ill-equipped to deal with our fight or flight response in a world where the sources are no longer as tangible as attacking panthers or charging wooly mammoths. Stress hormones encourage weight gain, inflammation, and loss of sleep. Make sure you take time to manage your stress while pursuing keto. Try breathing exercises, meditation, exercise
Allowing Negativity
The placebo effect is real. So is the nocebo effect. Your negative thoughts are making your diet as dirty as anything else in this article. Avoid negative self-talk. Don’t criticize yourself, tell yourself this diet won’t work, or berate yourself for your missteps. That helps nothing and hinders your success. Cheat days will happen. You will kick yourself out of ketosis at times. You will misjudge your macros. None of this is really a problem, if you stay positive and make corrections. Be kind to yourself. You can do this!
Ujido and Keto
We’ve managed to make a name for ourselves in the keto world for many of the clean reasons we’ve spelled out above. Ujido is a whole food, made with stone ground whole tea leaves. We are from Japan where there are strict regulations over pesticides. Matcha is rich in L-Theanine, an amino acid that helps with stress by relaxing and focusing the mind and body. Green tea is also a natural source for caffeine, which helps energize you through any diet, without the jittery effects that come from other sources.
Sweet Matcha
Our Sweet Matcha comes in ready to use packets you can take with you to the gym, the trails, the workplace and more. It is sweetened with Monk Fruit and erythritol. Don’t let the high carb number steer you away. Those are from the natural sweetener, which results in Zero Net Carbs, making our matcha keto friendly and fast ready. Sweet, energizing, and calming with no worries about being kicked out of ketosis.
Matcha Energy
Our Matcha Energy is new, also sweetened with Monk Fruit, and combines the power of green tea with B Vitamins and Vitamin C. You may not be getting these in the foods you’re eating on keto, so give yourself the boost. The one carb you see is also from the natural sweetener. Matcha Energy has Zero Net Carbs, won’t kick you out of ketosis, won’t affect blood sugar or insulin, and won’t slow down your diet or your fast. Want extra fat burning? Try it as a pre-workout.