Hi Dominique,
Ketodiet is a completely different from other diets, here you don't need to count calories because your body will tell you when to stop (look at the end for details). When eating carbs, specially processed carbs like bread, pasta, cake, etc. some people can eat a lot I mean a lot before stopping because the body can't trigger the "stop signal" so easy as it can do when eating high fat (healthy ones) and proteins. On a ketodiet what you want to understand is Insulin < this is the bad stuff; this hormone stop every good process your body is supposed to be doing and concentrate all its efforts on burning the sugar or carbs ASAP (have you heard "sugar rush"?). Insulin is the hormone we want to control (lower) and carbs (even good ones), sugars, high corn fructose syrup, sucralose, honey, etc. are victims (some more harmful than others) because they rise insulin a lot, but be careful, lots of proteins can raise insulin too in a process called "gluconeogenesis" were the body transform any non-carbs (including excess proteins) into "glucose" but don't worry of your body burning muscle for carbs if not eating enough of carbs. When the body is adapted to ketones, it will also release Human Grow Hormone to protect muscle from being consume by the body, the body won't eat his own heart.
All fossil of our ancestor where found with spears, arrow, "stone knife" all to kill or self-defense, but they don’t found kitchen utensils to cook root veggies like potatoes. It was not easy to reach for fruits on threes before any other animal, worms, ants, birds or monkey (for example). So, what is left? Hunting and veggies, veggies luckily found above ground and near our own height that don’t need to be cooked (if there were some around, remember, agriculture is a modern day human process), and no cow, caribou, elephant, giraffe and any vegetarian animal extinct eat them first. A vegetarian ancestral human may not live longer compared to carnivorous, because it was so difficult to expend all day finding all necessary veggies just to eat lunch, that they will spend all 16 hours awake just looking for veggies to eat his next dinner, but when carnivorous kill a cow they will have food for at least a week and expend more time socializing and having sex so we can be here now. If they happen to find an intact fruit three, perfect! they can eat the fruit, but it was occasionally, not daily (let’s call that our ancestor’s “cheating day”). So, fruits should be our “cheating candy”, not does aliens Nestle or similar companies made, that should not even exist (sorry for this bad news haha).
Now with all the above said I will answer your questions:
- What made you choose fruits instead of veggies?
Fruits should be our “cheating candy” not part of a daily diet (more on that later when talking about fiber).
- Are carbs from fruits better "tolerated" than those from veggies, in a ketogenic diet?
The question should be… what can raise insulin faster, veggies or fruits? Typically fruits raise insulin faster, so veggies are best (no roots), veggies above ground. You can find the “glycemic index” of food using google. Glycemic index” is a reference of how much it will affect the insulin production (higher is bad, lower best). Other way to see this myth about carbs is this: There are “Essential fatty Acids”, “Essential Amino Acids (proteins), but there are no “Essential Carbs”. What “Essential” mean? Means that the body can’t manufacture them and need to be consumed, the rest of the non-essential fatty acids or amino acids can be created using the essential ones by the body. There are no essential carbs, so the body can create them using damaged proteins (good thing to recycle) or fats.
- And do you feel you are eating enough fiber with the few fruits you are allowed to eat?
Dietary fiber is good, but I think is overrated. Think on this: Every sugar found in nature (not processed), every single gram is combine with fiber, you will not find sugar without fiber (honey is animal base) or fat with fiber, or protein with fiber in the same ratios. What the fiber does in this case when combine with sugar? If you eat a snicker, cotton candy, etc. without fiber, it will be easy for the stomach to digest it and send the sugar faster to the liver then to the blood and the body will respond rising the insulin ASAP. But when you eat a fruit with its fiber, the stomach will have a hard time digesting it and it will send the same amount of sugar to the liver but at a lower speed, so insulin will still rise but slowly. I just describe, almost, what is “Glycemic Index”, how fast a food can raise the insulin and faster or higher is bad. Note: Don’t cheat by eating snickers with two scope of fiber hahaha, not good!
When looking for veggies, try to eat the most rich and dense with nutrients and vitamins. When looking for veggie oil fats… veggie, nuts and seeds with good fats: Coconut oil, olive oil extra virgin and hemp oil and no more, coconut oil for cooking and dressing, olive and hemp oil just for dressing. Canola and Corn oil are literally poison. Corn does not have oil; it must be combine with lots of chemicals and process to end up with something like oil.
Recommended percentage intake of Fats, Proteins and Carbs.
Proteins
The only fixed value here is proteins. Take your lean mass body weight (ideal weight minus body fat) in pound and that will be your protein intake in grams. If ideal weight is 180 and have 50 pound in fat, then 180-50 = 130 grams of proteins daily. If is in kilogram do the same math but at the end multiply the kg of weight by 2.2 and the result is the number of daily intake of grams of proteins recommended.
Carbs
Near to cero, you can start adjusting (once you understand keto diet and how to measure ketones) the number of carbs intake, but typically no more that 20 grams of carbs daily. But try to go near cero in the beginning phase
Fats (healthy ones)
All you can eat, but watching the amount of proteins and carbs. Your body won’t allow you to eat as much as you do when eating sugars. Stop counting calories.
Food intake:
Fats 80%, Proteins 20% to 15%, Carbs 5% to 0%. Remmember that proteins is fixed and carbs near cero, once you reach the limit in proteins, the only variable left is fat, not carb.
Good luck!
Fitbit Product Experts Alumni are retired members of the Fitbit Product Expert Program. Learn more
Best Answer
. I’m glad it’s working for you, but I simply don’t see what benefits it could possibly bring to me. I have no problem losing, gaining or maintaining weight (according to my goals) with my current way of eating (it’s just a question of adjusting total calories eaten to activity level); I’m very active and carbs are an awesome fuel for my activity, whether it’s cardio or resistance training (I do both), on top of which they are found in nearly all the foods I consider delicious.
