AnnaPeople choose to do a keto diet for a variety of reasons. Two of the most common reasons are weight loss and increased energy. Others use a keto diet to relieve epilepsy, reduce the risk of cancer, or to treat diabetes. Athletes use a keto diet to improve performance, increase endurance, and build muscle.
Not only athletes such as bodybuilders and runners, but also people of all ages and activities can optimize body composition and training performance. Other reported benefits of metabolic flexibility are:
- better sleep
- mental clarity
- hormonal regulation
- lower blood pressure.
A low-carbohydrate diet is excellent for treating high blood sugar. It also helps people with low blood sugar to avoid the unpleasant blood sugar crash. But above all, the ketogenic diet helps us detoxify the body!
Detoxification of the Body
We live in a world with over 85,000 artificial chemicals. Around 3,000 active ingredients are part of everyday life. We eliminate water-soluble chemicals fairly easily, but fat-soluble compounds tend to accumulate in body fat. These chemicals are released into the bloodstream during ketogenic nutrition and weight loss.
When it comes to nutrition and optimizing your life, the keto diet and intermittent fasting are the secret weapons that burn fat and saves you many hours in the gym and kitchen.
When you combine the keto diet with fasting, your body can fully recover from metabolic damage and increase your body’s ketone production, which will further increase your fat loss and mental concentration.
How Does Detoxing Work on a Keto Diet?
It is important to understand that adipocytes (fat cells) are the primary storage site for fat-soluble toxins. When the body uses fat as fuel in a ketogenic diet, the release of toxins in the system is at full speed. Although the liver and kidneys are able to detoxify the system, as toxin release increases, these systems are overloaded by fat burning and often lack the nutritional support to activate, convert, and excrete toxins.
Below, we will discuss some tips to help you detox on a keto diet.
Make sure your keto diet is free of toxins, additives, and preservatives!
Food-like substances (e.g. artificial sweeteners) can interfere with the detoxification process. When the body is tricked by a substance that is not a usable food, it tends to store toxins and unknown compounds in our fat cells. While this acts as a protective mechanism for the time being, it can lead to stagnant weight loss! Concentrate on clean, real food, with natural nutrients!
Concentrate on fiber from nuts, seeds, and leafy vegetables!
The keto diet requires 2 – 3 cups of leafy vegetables as a base, as well as many nuts and seeds to get enough fiber. Fibers promote the feeling of fullness or satiation, nourish the good bacteria in our intestines, and ensure mobility and the elimination of excess from the body. Start with a keto-friendly green shake to get a sufficient portion of green in the morning!
Eat plenty of sulfurous vegetables to support detoxification!
Sulfurous vegetables such as cauliflower, broccoli, and brussels sprouts support phase II of detoxification, i.e. the elimination or removal of toxins from the body, as well as hormonal balance and the elimination of excessive estrogen! Make sure that you eat at least half a cup of sulfurous vegetables every day! Cauliflower puree or broccoli rice are valuable accompaniments to meat or fish dishes.
Put quality at the heart of your ketogenic diet!
The need to ensure high-quality animal proteins and fats from pasture or grass animals in a ketogenic diet cannot be overemphasized. As these foods have a higher value in the diet, it is important that the animal proteins and fats we consume are adjusted to their most natural, anti-inflammatory diet and that this is done with the greatest care. In any case, the influence of antibiotics and exogenous hormones should be avoided.
Want to start the Keto diet but need help getting started? Check out the 28-Day Keto Challenge!
Food Supplements and Additional Aids
During the detoxification process in the ketogenic diet, the keto flu usually occurs, especially in the beginning. The symptoms of this “flu” can be alleviated or completely counteracted by taking food supplements that help the body, especially the liver, to detoxify.
Biochemically, there are two phases of detoxification, each requiring specific nutrients:
Phase I is the activation of toxins that make fat-soluble compounds water-soluble (reduction, hydroxylation, hydrolysis, oxidation). This phase requires B vitamins, glutathione, flavonoids, and bitter foods to stimulate bile flow.
Phase II is the excretion of toxins, which safely encapsulate and excrete toxins from the body (sulfonation, methylation, conjugation). This phase requires cysteine, methionine, glutathione, vitamin C, magnesium, glutamine, choline, and sulfur-containing foods.
Both phases are important, but phase II is especially important because if you only do the activity of activation phase I without enough sulfur-containing amino acids, your body is more susceptible to higher exposure to free radicals and cell damage. It is also important to use a quality nutritional supplement to provide strategic nutrients for both phases, as mentioned earlier.
What causes the keto flu?
When you begin a keto diet, many changes take place in your body. These effects are very positive for your physical health, but you need to survive the first few days. The keto diet causes the same conditions as fasting. This means that the body detoxifies very strongly, but does not manage to eliminate all harmful substances from the body at this moment.
The main problem here is congestion of the liver. The liver does not manage to quickly remove the large number of toxins that have accumulated in the body over the years. Therefore, the toxins in the blood circulate through the body until the liver has made up the backlog. The side effects of liver congestion are different for every person: some people don’t notice anything and others struggle with flu-like symptoms for a few days.
The liver is undersupplied during this time and needs a much larger amount of vitamins. Try adding some vitamins and more water to your diet during this time to help prevent the keto flu!
Conclusion
Detoxification is especially essential in a ketogenic lifestyle, as using fat as fuel increases the release of toxins into your bloodstream. Do not be afraid of this process, it is necessary to improve your health status in the long run and to enjoy all the benefits of the ketogenic diet. Don’t forget to follow our nutritional tips during this phase, also look for the right nutritional supplement, and use it, especially in the beginning.
Thanks for reading,
Anna
www.readyforketo.com
