How To Safely Start The Ketogenic Diet

So, you’ve heard about all the benefits of a keto diet, and you want to make the switch. Should you just go all in and drop all your carbs? Not so fast. If you happen to have diabetes, or if you’re insulin insensitive, you could send yourself into ketoacidosis (the evil twin of ketosis).

Nobody should 0 to 100 with this diet. You need to work your way up to nutritional ketosis. So here are three tips to help you get into ketosis. Medical Disclaimer: I am not a doctor and my knowledge are from personal experiences and research. Make sure you do your own research before making any changes.

1. Stop drinking calories

This has no place in a healthy diet

This is the step that gets the ball rolling. No Beer. No Soda. No Juice. Zero liquid calories (diet soda is okay). I did this by accident because I couldn’t drink any soda with braces on my teeth. When I noticed how good I felt, I stuck with it. Drink only water, black coffee, and club soda. Quitting soda alone would cut 5,425 grams of sugar a year (that’s only average). Just cutting this out of your diet will guarantee better health and weight loss.

If you’re overweight, this also includes protein shakes. While I have nothing against protein shakes, they make it harder to lose weight. When you drink all those high glycemic calories, you send your insulin levels through the roof. When that happens, your body will store whatever calories come in as fat (insulins not evil, that’s just its job). You can cut these items out slowly, going down each week or every few days until you hit zero.

2. Start following a paleo diet

No Soy Here

The paleo diet is a great bridge for the keto diet and is just a great diet in general. The main thing that makes the paleo diet so great is the it eliminates unnatural foods from your diet. The human body does not know what to do with a lot of modern “foods”. As a result, we now have terrible levels of obesity and various diet related diseases. Cavemen didn’t have to worry about obesity and diabetes. They also didn’t eat soy foods and mystery meats. That’s why paleo helps with some of these problems.

It’s important that you get the best quality food you can afford. Commercial meat and eggs have a different nutrition profile compare to the grass-fed and free-range stuff, and you’ll want to avoid pesticides on normal veggies (rhere’s some things you can get away with).

If you can’t afford quality beef and chicken, get the lean stuff and buy healthy fats like olive or coconut oil, raw nuts and seeds, and raw dairy from grass-fed cows. You do this to avoid all the bad stuff commercial fat holds. Don’t eat soy or vegetable fats like corn or canola oil. Those are fats that humans haven’t adapted to, and they weren’t made with humans in mind in the first place.  A good rule of thumb is to stick to shopping on the outside aisles. The outside usually hold all the meat, dairy, and produce, which will make up the bulk of your diet.

3. Cut the carbs

Now that you’ve gotten your diet under control, it’s time to cut out the carbs. This basically means the only carbs you’ll be taking in will come from leafy green veggies and berries. The goal for most people is 20 grams of carbs or less, but if you’re younger and more active you can go a bit higher (up to 50 grams is what is usually suggested).

Carbs help you hold water, so when you cut them, you will have to drink a lot more water. You will also pee a lot more, so keeping your electrolytes balanced will be key. Its best to get your sodium from pink salt and eat more foods high in potassium. Also consider taking a good magnesium supplement.

You’ll also have to up your fat intake by a lot. Getting them to 70-80% of your calories from fat is a good place to start. If you like dairy, make sure you get grass fed, raw dairy. Raw dairy contains a lot of good bacteria that helps with gut health and digesting lactose. Dairy that comes from commercial cows is full of hormones that shouldn’t be there, so avoid it.

Go Raw

Also note that milk still has carbs, so don’t overdo it. Same thing with seeds and nuts. I recommend that you get a cheap scale, so you can make sure you don’t take in too many carbs.

You don’t need to eat a ton of protein either. You will need a bit more if you are active, but fats are the priority.

When switching from carbs to fat as a fuel source, you may go through something called keto flu (not an actual flu). When I got it, I had muscle cramps, gas, and fatigue. Fight through it. After you adapt, you will get all the benefits that you hear people talking about.

Fat gives you more energy per gram (7 vs 4) so you end up needing to eat less overall. Fat will also keep you satisfied for longer. Don’t be surprised if you can go for a whole day without eating. It makes things a lot more convenient for you too. Less meal prep means more time to do other stuff. This makes it easy to make this a part of your daily life.

To make sure you are doing it right, use a keto calculator. The number you get won’t be exactly what you need, but it will be a good start.

Some Good Fats

Conclusion

This is one of the best diets out there in my opinion. Ever since I’ve started it two years ago, I’ve had increase cognitive function, increase testosterone, clear skin, and all sorts of other health benefits. It’s like light and day compared to the old me.

I was angry when I found out that the food guide lines have been so wrong. According to the guidelines, I should drop dead in the very near future.  People look at me like I’m crazy when I eat sticks of butter and cheese as a snack, but then they go and eat a whole pizza with soda and cake. They blame my good results on my genes when that’s just not the case. They stick to an old system that is clearly not working, and that’s a shame.

Read More: Fat Does Not Make You Fat

57 thoughts on “How To Safely Start The Ketogenic Diet”

      1. It’s not kosher until a rabbi has conducted the cutting ceremony, sucked on it afterwards, then celebrate their offering to the dark lord.

  1. Top pic, front three ladies..cottage cheesy developing thighs, but would bang all (for now)…Oh wait..wrong topic.
    On another note, learning how to cook will help your diet out great, learning to cook from chefs who KNOW how to create and keep flavor in your foods is best.
    Seasonings (yes SALT and pepper and others) and herbs used correctly and without fear will also help to sate an appetite faster by allowing the body to enjoy the food more and reduce the feeling you need to eat more to taste more. Some seasoning sauces are also reasonable when used right and in the right amount at the right times (soy sauce, worchestershire, et al), yes, even barbecue and steak sauces if you don’t treat them like a side dish in amount.
    Lean how to cook other than a microwave. Learn how to use a smoker, a barbecue grill, flat electric and pannini type grills, dutch oven in campfire, crock pots, and one pot meals. These all work excellent for paleo type diets. Yes you can grill fruits of some types as well.
    What goes with this is cooking a variety of foods from all groups in other ways.
    variety and spices is the key and leave the manufactured highly processed additive laden crap alone.

    1. A picture of prime Arnold with a caption “No soy here”?
      When you’re running $50k worth of gear a year you can eat all the goddamn soy you want.

    2. I agree with all of this. Cooking the food yourself is the best way to avoid all the nasty chems in food these days.

    1. That guy would be spinning in his grave if he knew that keto is the most popularly Google searched diet atm.

  2. If recommending to cut liquid calories out of the diet, why recommend the most energy dense liquid fats?
    I ripped down on keto in 7 months and transitioned to a higher protein version of it and stopped taking in liquid fats. I only get fats from their whole food source as in connected to the meat I eat. Steak and ground beef, eggs, bacon etc. The problem with keto is that after the main thrust of weight is lost and you get used to a high intake of saturated fat without enough protein, satiety goes down. Something has to go up. If carbs are fixed and so is protein (relatively), then it’s more fat and see my above point. So, raise protein across the board. Fatty protein at that. The body burns either it’s own fat or dietary fat. If you’re looking for true body recomp, raise protein for satiety and let your body burn off it’s own fat. After being high protein for awhile, begin to introduce protein sparing fasts where you eat mostly fat or carbs all day (routine depending but I prefer fat) to give your body a break from having to digest protein all the time. Follow CICO. Keto is not an excuse to stuff your face it will backfire on you.

    1. Liquid fats are OK. Its only the liquid carbs and protein that spike the insulin. I also get most of my fats from food sources. Chugging olive oil is not very tasty. Just don’t get any lean meat. it throws off everything.

  3. Ketogenic diet truly is the best diet one can be on. Have been eating keto for the past year and I’m in the best shape I’ve ever been in. I love the look of shock I get when I tell people I eat half a pound of bacon a day. Everyone thinks I’m going to drop dead tomorrow- little do they know my blood tests have all been A1 since I started.
    Highly recommend this diet for men, do look into it if you’re serious about your health.

    1. LOL very true. I still get looks of shock and disbelief when I tell people what I eat. It’s a shame that fat got such a bad rap.

  4. Charlie, do you think paleo or keto is a better diet to maintain long term? Also, any thoughts on carb cycling?

    1. Keto. I have enough energy to only eat one meal at home, which makes everything simple. Paleo is still better than 90% of what people eat though.
      I eat white rice about once a month. We still need carbs, just not the FDA recommended amount. Thomas Delauer has a good vid on carb cycling.

  5. agree – “paleo diet”, and “paleo diet for athletes” if you do distance sports.
    I only buy chicken thighs – never breast -dry – horrid…fat is good -eat it up…
    sugar, dairy, grains – reduce or eliminate.
    Eliminate packaged products -if only this – would save the planet….
    Except ketchup – food of the gods -I just ran out…
    Speaking of Planet Fitness -love the guy who worked out naked “because its a judgement free zone”

    1. Shut ur fucking mouth since u don’t know what the fuck u r talking about. Worthless piece of shit

  6. Needs a better title. How To SAFELY Start a DIET is pretty girly-man if you ask me.

    1. that is excellent.
      I met a guy few years ago recovering from throat cancer (fit, wealthy, mid 50s)from eating his very young hot wife’s HPV pussy. He lectured me far too much about the direct correlation, blah blah blah,, i didn’t listen…

      1. OMG I definitely believe it. Today, since 99% of females have had multiple sex partners, you can’t go down on them unless you want to acquire a laboratory sample of bacteria, fungus, and viruses into your mouth. Unless it’s an 18 year old virgin, don’t go down on any chick today. You’re asking for a nasty mouthful and throatful of HPV.

  7. The whole fitness and diet game stinks when everyone uses pictures of people clearly on gear as their examples/promotion.

  8. The only proven and effective diet if you are seeking wellness and longevity is a low calorie one. If you are engaging in a normal amount of exercise your maximum calorie intake should be about 1200-1400 calories a day. That is it. This will slow aging and boost your immune system.
    Scientists are not sure exactly why and the theories vary. But, it has been tested and proven time and time again in animals include monkeys. Anecdotal evidence shows that the effects are also replicated in humans. Aging will slow to about 1/3 of a normal pace and you will get sick about 75% less then a normal man.
    High fat, low carb diets “work” to the extent that one is capable of staying on them. Every guy I know who tried one did drop a lot of weight and quickly. Some even packed on the muscle fast. But as soon as they started incorporating carbs back into their diet they blew up like a circus balloon.
    Low call, balanced, diet is the only long term effective diet. Everything else is just a short term solution or a fad.

    1. Over a year ago, , I decided the daily intake of close to 3,000 calories which included 200 grams/day of protein was just too damn much for a 66 year old.
      I slowly worked my way down to under 1,000 calories/day. Yeah, I’ve lost some muscle mass but I’ve dropped my gut(hello abs, I knew you were in there some where), feel great and sleep like a baby.
      I still hit the gym 4-5 times/week and am still losing weight albeit slowly, now maybe a pound+/month. No red meat unless it’s grass finished and even then that’s rare. Lots of wild caught fish and poultry. Lots of complex carbs of course.
      It’s not a diet, it’s the way I live.

      1. Running a low cal life style is going to start paying dividends at your age once you get down to a good weight. It will take about a year for your body to adjust but once it does you may even start looking at photos of yourself from years ago and think you currently look YOUNGER then you did back then. It is not fountain of youth, but once your body cleans out all the junk and your cells enter “survival mode” the body starts to change. I knew one guy who started doing low cal after he recovered from cancer. He actually started to re-grow his hair that he had lost way back in his 20’s (he was in his 50’s).
        In animals, studies vary, but they almost all universally show that aging with a low cal diet slows anywhere from 30-70% with some “reverse aging” effects if implemented in mid-life which for a human would be about the mid 40’s.
        Because of ethical concerns I doubt low cal will ever be widely tested in humans and we will just be reconciled to anecdotal stories about how it works and slows aging. For instance, I met a guy once who was doing low cal. He would just eat same McDonald’s meal twice a day every single day supplemented by some vitamins and some canned fruit. Boring, but this guy was in his 50’s and looked like he was no younger the maybe 35.
        Do an internet search for “low calorie diet with no malnutrition” if you want to find small communities of people who practice this way of life. If anything it is interesting to read to about.

  9. The author is too young to understand nutrition. Humans are Primates. Primates eat mostly fruit, also some leaves and ants. We thrive on Carbs. Some fish is probably ok. Dairy is terrible. That is a product made for baby animals, it’s not normal to steal it, no other animal does it. 12 years of personal search and experimentation with foods here. Best!

  10. Stay away from trends.
    Trends are for idiots.
    They come and go.
    Distilling a diet down to a question of macronutrients is retarded.
    Diet is about quality, not quantity.
    I always get the best success with the most convention-defying contrarianism.
    Right now I’m eating congee with seaweed and pickled vegetables, also moderate fruit intake, couscous mixes, vegetables and a little meat on the side. That is, a high carb diet. And I’ve shedded so much weight. I’m so lean again as I was at 21. (31 now).
    This idea that fruit is bad for you is super retarded.
    Study human anatomy–we are very much designed to eat fruit, from our color-perceiving eyes (which carnivores lack), to our fruit-picking hands, to our flat molars for eating fibrous (carbohydrates) material, to our laterally flexible jaws (which carnivores also lack) to our very long lightly acidic intestines.
    > inb4: b-b-but muh paleo n sheeeit!!!

    1. Mankind has been and always will be omnivorous, just like bears. but that takes a little thought to understand and an education in human history, from cave dwelling to about 1900. Since then, the advent of modern agriculture and manufacturing and preservation of food items, mankinds health has gotten longer but more disease filled. The anecdotal cause that is denied all the time is our movement forward into industrialization and modernization and technology. It is killing us as a species because we deny our base history and our evolution and scientific proof of our past. Arrogance, envy, sloth and gluttony are the modern reasons why we are evolving straight into the grave with a modern disease ridden quickness, but moreso because we cant see past our brainwashed agendas and accept TRUTH without coloring it to fit those instilled agendas.

    2. The fruits our ancestors ate were not the heavily hybridized and selectively bred sugar bombs of today.
      But whatever works for you. Diet is a very personal thing and we’re all different.
      Personally LCHF and intermittent fasting are what work for me. I eat almost no fruit.

      1. Wrong, I’ve been on long hikes all over the place. And the fruit I encounter in the wild is actually sweeter and more richer than the shit we grow on farms.

  11. Keto diet helps some people lose weight and improve lipid profiles but there is strong correlation with bowel cancer later in life (yes, I know, correlation not causation but still…). Most people can just as easily sustain 10% body fat and good lipid profile on a high carb diet, which is probably much safer in the long run. Just combine high carb with intermittent fasting (ideally. eat one big meal a day) and make sure carbs are from healthy sources (whole grains, whole fruit NOT fruit juice, whole dairy, starchy vegetables, peanuts and other nuts with substantial carbs, etc) and of course do bodyweight or weight lifting exercise.

    1. This is a fake shitpost created by a vegan. Put a child on a high carb sugar vegetable grain diet compared to a carnivore diet and you’ll see the difference in body/brain development. Bowel cancer is caused by high carb plant grain eating diets. Long live SHAWN BAKER!!!!!!!!! in your face you vegan pos liberal. Get off our returnofkings threads!!!!

  12. I’ve got my oven set to 1488 now what?
    Also I’m on High Carb low fat diet, training for triathlon. Almost Vegan. Glorious shits every single morning. Always morning wood. Life is good. Steak and eggs once a month.

  13. Only stupid people cut healthy high carb foods like potatoes , whole grains and rice from their diet. The Okinawas (scientifically proven, long-lived people in human history) ate sweet potatoes as their biggest part in their diet.

    1. You do you man. Calling people stupid who don;t do what you do is not an argument.
      In fact I would argue that most people who follow the diet guidelines you suggest are fat, sick, and mostly diabetic or pre-diabetic.
      Insulin is a growth factor. Carbohydrates trigger the production of insulin.
      It’s not that hard to u nderstand. When we want to fatten livestock for slaughter we don’t feed them coconut oil or butter. We feed them corn or other grains.
      Most Americans adults are grossly unhealthy. That’s the truth and following government and bighealth’s diet guidelines gets you there stat.

  14. Good one. Also: Avoid Fructose (= in sugar, juices, ripe fruit) like a plague! Among other serious negtive effects, Fructose also decreases you fat burning rate.

  15. They say if you eat HARIBO gummy bears
    for 90 years, you can live a long time
    -and i can prove it! 🙂

  16. Ketogenic diet is a joke. I did it for about a year and it restricted me in all aspects of life. Here’s a formula:
    -Don’t eat shit like pastries, bread, crackers
    -Don’t drink beer, sodas, or anything except water
    -Burn off what you eat
    -Sleep (7-8 hours a night)
    -Have sex (if you can)
    -Take a few supplements: vitamin d3, zinc & copper, tongkat ali
    -Don’t live in the USA.

    1. Correction: Bread is healthy if you are on a bulk, you can eat pastries in moderation, you can drink alcohol in moderation, you don’t need supplements if you eat enough fruits and vegetables which are very important to maintain good health. You are right about sodas, I only drink water because sodas bring no benefit, sleeping needs depend on the person, one person may need 7-8 hours while another may need 9-10 hours. You can’t really decide where you live in, you are born somewhere and you are stuck there until you either develop a highly sought after skill and find a job elsewhere, or get married with some woman (which by the way, isn’t a good option as we all know).

    2. How is it restrictive? There is so much good shit you can still enjoy on the diet, especially the meats and fats. I’ve done the diet and it works, only people who whine about it are most likely the ones who don’t measure what they eat, which is kinda what you sound like judging by your very lax description of what you should or shouldn’t eat.

  17. “diet soda is okay”
    LIKE HELL it is okay. Never touch any stuff that has “diet” as a part of its name. Artificial sweeteners are the worst of the worst. It is not just about calories – “zero calories” artificial sweeteners, basically all processed foods, damage your health. All those 400 pound basement dwelling computer nerds drink diet soda. That’s all proof you’ll need.
    Drink water. No, not that carbonated “water” with artificial lemon flavor, but real water. From a spring, you know.

  18. This article is very dumb. You guys may be good players but you have no idea what you are talking about when you talk about nutrition, getting shredded is simple but it is not what you want to do in reality, if you get shredded you will look small in a t shirt and won’t look muscular if you are a natural weightlifter. Also, carbs are the most important macronutrient, without them you get little energy and you can feel sick during your workouts if you don’t eat enough calories or eat too many fats, protein is useful but there is no need to overdo it, for weightlifters 0.8g per pound of bodyweight is plenty enough, forget the marketing gurus and magazines telling you you need 1g per pound of bodyweight, they are lying to you. The low carb/ketogenic diet will not make you more muscular and it will not make you more healthy, carbs are necessary for good health and should be the focus of your diet but it does not mean that eating junk food is good. Me, I mostly eat pasta with tomato sauce, oatmeal, whole grain bread, all natural peanut butter, eggs, chicken, beef, pork, lentils, fruits and vegetables. I don’t eat very high quantities of meat just 200g of chicken per day is plenty enough to get enough protein, I eat a lot of pasta every day and I eat a lot of bread every day and it gives me plenty of energy so I can complete my workouts and bulk effectively, you will never need to cut, if you reach 20% body fat all you need to do is recomp, or you can cut but you don’t need to cut frequently if you bulk the right way, if you do only lean clean bulks you will bulk for most of the year and cut very rarely, this will allow you to gain more strength and muscle than the people around you which will make you progress faster and get better results faster than your peers, if you want more information on good fitness advice visit AlphaDestiny’s channel on youtube. Never ever take nutrition or fitness advice from the manosphere, most of them have no idea what they are talking about and will give you so much misinformation you will ruin your health. Never will a real medical doctor recommend that you go on a low carb diet or that you try to reach 8% body fat, they will recommend you stay between 15 and 20% body fat and eat a high carb diet with some fat and some protein. Remember, you only need 0.8g of protein per pound of bodyweight, 70-80g of fat (100g at the maximum if you weigh a lot), and the rest is carbs, as long as you have your protein and your fats, keep your carbs as high as possible.

    1. The article’s not dumb, and I can’t believe I read through all your shit to take the bait. What’s dumb is your belief that getting “shredded makes you look smaller in a t-shirt” or your conviction that 20% bodyfat is some sort of nutritional ideal that “real medical doctors recommend”, whatever that means. I don’t even know where to start with you man cause I think you’re just trolling. If you’re not, just know that everyone has different goals, and many will prefer abs over visibly fattie bearmode.
      As far as keto, it’s not advertised as a muscle-gaining diet, its advertised as a fat-loss diet. Though I don’t plan on trying it, I have visibly seen the results in friends who have. It works.

      1. I don’t have the links handy but 20% BF is considered “normal” or “acceptable” by various civilian health agencies. Another study found that 12% bodyfat is the most sexually attractive because it is the most healthy.

  19. There are only two people I know personally who have embraced the keto: my overweight sister and my overweight mother. Something about “Dr. Poon”. A friend of mine experimented with “paleo” diet but I never really got any feedback.
    Gents, the most proven way to get in shape is a high carb (for food energy to lift intensely) good protein (to build muscles) and moderate, quality fat diet to keep everything else running smoothly. Lift 3 times a week for an hour routine and jog 30 minutes a day (or even on off days).
    It’s science, but it is not rocket science.

    1. High carbs is terrible if your goals are weight loss, its better to force your body to use up all the stored fat for energy instead.
      High carbs is only good if you need to bulk up.

  20. Ive done the Keto route, and you lose some good weight from it, but its just not practical.
    The only diet that worked for me was a balanced diet, which meant i could enjoy a beer or four on the weekend, enjoy some mashed potatoes, and the odd burger every now and then. This accompanied with a good solid workout 3 times a week, is enough to keep you looking good and healthy.
    (btw, by workout i meant hitting the weights, not running on a damn treadmill. Also, squats are perfect for weight loss.)

  21. Keto = no energy in the gym
    Ketones don’t fuel anaerobic activity. Need carbs for that. Or else you lose muscle.

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