Ketogenic Diet? What is that?

The Ketogenic Diet 101: A Detailed Beginner’s Guide

The ketogenic diet is a low-carb, high-fat diet that offers many health benefits.

Over 20 studies show that this type of diet can help you lose weight and improve health.

Ketogenic diets may even have benefits against diabetes, cancer, epilepsy and Alzheimer’s disease .

This article is a detailed beginner’s guide to the ketogenic diet.
It contains everything you need to know.

What is a Ketogenic Diet?

The ketogenic diet (often termed keto) is a very low-carb, high-fat diet that shares many similarities with the Atkins and low-carb diets.

It involves drastically reducing carbohydrate intake, and replacing it with fat. The reduction in carbs puts your body into a metabolic state called ketosis.

When this happens, your body becomes incredibly efficient at burning fat for energy. It also turns fat into ketones in the liver, which can supply energy for the brain.

Ketogenic diets can cause massive reductions in blood sugar and insulin levels. This, along with the increased ketones, has numerous health benefits.

Bottom Line: The ketogenic diet can boost insulin sensitivity and cause fat loss, leading to drastic improvement for type 2 diabetes and prediabetes.

Other Health Benefits of the Ketogenic Diet

The ketogenic diet actually originated as a tool for treating neurological diseases, such as epilepsy.

Studies have now shown that the diet can have benefits for a wide variety of different health conditions:

• Heart disease: The ketogenic diet can improve risk factors like body fat, HDL levels, blood pressure and blood sugar.

• Cancer: The diet is currently being used to treat several types of cancer and slow tumor growth.

• Alzheimer’s disease: The diet may reduce symptoms of Alzheimer’s and slow down the disease’s progression .

• Epilepsy: Research has shown that the ketogenic diet can cause massive reductions in seizures in epileptic children .

• Parkinson’s disease: One study found that the diet helped improve symptoms of Parkinson’s disease .

• Polycystic ovary syndrome: The ketogenic diet can help reduce insulin levels, which may play a key role in polycystic ovary syndrome .

• Brain injuries: One animal study found that the diet can reduce concussions and aid recovery after brain injury .

• Acne: Lower insulin levels and eating less sugar or processed foods may help improve acne .

However, keep in mind that research into many of these areas is far from conclusive.

Bottom Line: A ketogenic diet may provide many health benefits, especially with metabolic, neurological or insulin-related diseases.

Foods to Avoid

In short, any food that is high in carbs should be limited.
Here is a list of foods that need to be reduced or eliminated on a ketogenic diet:

• Sugary foods: Soda, fruit juice, smoothies, cake, ice cream, candy, etc.
• Grains or starches: Wheat-based products, rice, pasta, cereal, etc.
• Fruit: All fruit, except small portions of berries like strawberries.
• Beans or legumes: Peas, kidney beans, lentils, chickpeas, etc.
• Root vegetables and tubers: Potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, parsnips, etc.
• Low-fat or diet products: These are highly processed and often high in carbs.
• Some condiments or sauces: These often contain sugar and unhealthy fat.
• Unhealthy fat: Limit your intake of processed vegetable oils, mayonnaise, etc.
• Alcohol: Due to its carb content, many alcoholic beverages can throw you out of ketosis.
• Sugar-free diet foods: These are often high in sugar alcohols, which can affect ketone levels in some cases. These foods also tend to be highly processed.

Bottom Line: Avoid carb-based foods like grains, sugars, legumes, rice, potatoes, candy, juice and even most fruits.

Foods to Eat

You should base the majority of your meals around these foods:

• Meat: Red meat, steak, ham, sausage, bacon, chicken and turkey.
• Fatty fish: Such as salmon, trout, tuna and mackerel.
• Eggs: Look for pastured or omega-3 whole eggs.
• Butter and cream: Look for grass-fed when possible.
• Cheese: Unprocessed cheese (cheddar, goat, cream, blue or mozzarella).
• Nuts and seeds: Almonds, walnuts, flaxseeds, pumpkin seeds, chia seeds, etc.
• Healthy oils: Primarily extra virgin olive oil, coconut oil and avocado oil.
• Avocados: Whole avocados or freshly made guacamole.
• Low-carb veggies: Most green veggies, tomatoes, onions, peppers, etc.
• Condiments: You can use salt, pepper and various healthy herbs and spices.

It is best to base your diet mostly on whole, single ingredient foods.  Healthy low-carb foods.

Bottom Line: Base the majority of your diet on foods such as meat, fish, eggs, butter, nuts, healthy oils, avocados and plenty of low-carb veggies.

A Sample Ketogenic Meal Plan For 1 Week

To help get you started, here is a sample ketogenic diet meal plan for one week:

Monday

• Breakfast: Bacon, eggs and tomatoes.
• Lunch: Chicken salad with olive oil and feta cheese.
• Dinner: Salmon with asparagus cooked in butter.

Tuesday

• Breakfast: Egg, tomato, basil and goat cheese omelet.
• Lunch: Almond milk, peanut butter, cocoa powder and stevia milkshake.
• Dinner: Meatballs, cheddar cheese and vegetables.

Wednesday

• Breakfast: A ketogenic milkshake .
• Lunch: Shrimp salad with olive oil and avocado.
• Dinner: Pork chops with Parmesan cheese, broccoli and salad.

Thursday

• Breakfast: Omelet with avocado, salsa, peppers, onion and spices.
• Lunch: A handful of nuts and celery sticks with guacamole and salsa.
• Dinner: Chicken stuffed with pesto and cream cheese, along with vegetables.

Friday

• Breakfast: Sugar-free yogurt with peanut butter, cocoa powder and stevia.
• Lunch: Beef stir-fry cooked in coconut oil with vegetables.
• Dinner: Bun-less burger with bacon, egg and cheese.

Saturday

• Breakfast: Ham and cheese omelet with vegetables.
• Lunch: Ham and cheese slices with nuts.
• Dinner: White fish, egg and spinach cooked in coconut oil.

Sunday

• Breakfast: Fried eggs with bacon and mushrooms.
• Lunch: Burger with salsa, cheese and guacamole.
• Dinner: Steak and eggs with a side salad.

Always try to rotate the vegetables and meat over the long term, as each type provides different nutrients and health benefits.

Bottom Line: You can eat a wide variety of tasty and nutritious meals on a ketogenic diet.

Healthy Ketogenic Snacks

In case you get hungry between meals, here are some healthy, keto-approved snacks:

• Fatty meat or fish.
• Cheese.
• A handful of nuts or seeds.
• Cheese with olives.
• 1–2 hard-boiled eggs.
• 90% dark chocolate.
• A low-carb milk shake with almond milk, cocoa powder and nut butter.
• Full-fat yogurt mixed with nut butter and cocoa powder.
• Strawberries and cream.
• Celery with salsa and guacamole.
• Smaller portions of leftover meals.

Bottom Line: Great snacks for a keto diet include pieces of meat, cheese, olives, boiled eggs, nuts and dark chocolate.

Tips for Eating Out on a Ketogenic Diet

It is not very hard to make most restaurant meals keto-friendly when eating out.

Most restaurants offer some kind of meat or fish-based dish. Order this, and replace any high-carb food with extra vegetables.

Egg-based meals are also a great option, such as an omelet or eggs and bacon.

Another favorite is bun-less burgers. You could also leave the bun and swap the fries for vegetables instead. Add extra avocado, cheese, bacon or eggs.

At Mexican restaurants, you can enjoy any type of meat with extra cheese, guacamole, salsa and sour cream.

For dessert, ask for a mixed cheese board or double cream with berries.

Bottom Line: When eating out, select a meat, fish or egg-based dish. Order extra veggies instead of carbs or starches, and have cheese for dessert.

Side Effects and How to Minimize Them

Although the ketogenic diet is safe for healthy people, there may be some initial side effects while your body adapts.

This is often referred to as “keto flu” – and is usually over within a few days.

Keto flu includes poor energy and mental function, increased hunger, sleep issues, nausea, digestive discomfort and decreased exercise performance.

In order to minimize this, you can try a regular low-carb diet for the first few weeks. This may teach your body to burn more fat before you completely eliminate carbs.

A ketogenic diet can also change the water and mineral balance of your body, so adding extra salt to your meals or taking mineral supplements can help.

For minerals, try taking 3,000–4,000 mg of sodium, 1,000 mg of potassium and 300 mg of magnesium per day to minimize side effects.

At least in the beginning, it is important to eat until fullness and to avoid restricting calories too much. Usually a ketogenic diet causes weight loss without intentional calorie restriction.

Bottom Line: Many of the side effects of starting a ketogenic diet can be limited. Easing into the diet and taking mineral supplements can help.

Supplements For a Ketogenic Diet

Although no supplement is necessary, some can be useful.

• MCT oil: Added to drinks or yogurt, MCT oil provides energy and helps increase ketone levels.
• Minerals: Added salt and other minerals can be important when starting out, due to shifts in water and mineral balance.
• Caffeine: Caffeine can have benefits for energy, fat loss and performance.
• Exogenous ketones: This supplement can help raise the body’s ketone levels.
• Creatine: Creatine provides numerous benefits for health and performance. This can help if you are combining a ketogenic diet with exercise.

• Whey: Use half a scoop of whey protein in shakes or yogurt to increase your daily protein intake.

Bottom Line: Certain supplements can be beneficial on a ketogenic diet. These include exogenous ketones, MCT oil and minerals.

Frequently Asked Questions

Here are answers to some of the most common questions about the ketogenic diet.

1. Can I ever eat carbs again?
Yes. However, it is important to eliminate them initially. After the first 2–3 months, you can eat carbs on special occasions — just return to the diet immediately after.

2. Will I lose muscle?
There is a risk of losing some muscle on any diet. However, the high protein intake and high ketone levels may help minimize muscle loss, especially if you lift weights.

3. Can you build muscle on a ketogenic diet?
Yes, but it may not work as well as on a moderate-carb diet.

4. Do I need to refeed or carb load?
No. However, a few higher-calorie days may be beneficial every now and then.

5. How much protein can I eat?
Protein should be moderate, as a very high intake can spike insulin levels and lower ketones. Around 35% of total calorie intake is probably the upper limit.

6. What if I am constantly tired, weak or fatigued?
You may not be in full ketosis or be utilizing fats and ketones efficiently. To counter this, lower your carb intake and re-visit the points above. A supplement like MCT oil or ketones may also help.

7. My urine smells fruity? Why is this?
Don’t be alarmed. This is simply due to the excretion of byproducts created during ketosis.

8. My breath smells. What can I do?
This is a common side effect. Try drinking naturally flavored water or chewing sugar-free gum.

9. I heard ketosis was extremely dangerous. Is this true?
People often confuse ketosis with ketoacidosis. The former is natural, while the latter only occurs in uncontrolled diabetes.
Ketoacidosis is dangerous, but the ketosis on a ketogenic diet is perfectly normal and healthy.

10. I have digestion issues and diarrhea. What can I do?
This common side effect usually passes after 3–4 weeks. If it persists, try eating more high-fiber veggies. Magnesium supplements can also help with constipation.

A Ketogenic Diet is Great, But Not For Everyone

A ketogenic diet can be great for people who are overweight, diabetic or looking to improve their metabolic health.

It may be less suitable for elite athletes or those wishing to add large amounts of muscle or weight.

And, as with any diet, it will only work if you are consistent and stick with it in the long-term.

That being said, few things are as well proven in nutrition as the powerful health and weight loss benefits of a ketogenic diet.

Healing Cancer Coaching Program

2nd MODULE;

The purpose of this post is to convey information. You are strongly encouraged to share with your physician or other healthcare professional. The methods discussed here are intended to support health and healing, NOT to replace medical treatment.

Hello, it's me, welcome to Healthy Wealth  - The Anticancer Diet part 2. Here's what we're going to cover in this interesting module.

1. The most potent anticancer fruits.

2. My daily anticancer routine.

3. Whether or not you should eat cooked food, or animal proteins, it depends.

4. The best practices for healthy meat eating, and

5. My good thoughts on the ketogenic diet for cancer patients.

So, let's get started.

In part 1, I mentioned a study where they dripped vegetable juices on cancer cells to see which had the most powerful anti-cancer effects.  If you remember, the winner was garlic. There was a similar study done on fruits. researchers at Cornell dripped the extracts of 11 common fruits on human liver cancer cells. And here is what happened:

1. Bananas and grapefruit cut the cancer cell growth by about 40%.

2. Red grapes, strawberries and apples were even more effective, cutting liver cancer cell growth in half with a dose that was half as much as the bananas and grapefruit.

3. The winners of the cancer killing fruit study were the tart fruits ; lemons and cranberries. Both  fruits significantly cut cancer cell growth at a much lower dose than any other fruit. Cranberries had the highest anticancer  phenolic and anti-oxidant activity and they cut liver cancer cell growth by 85% with only a third (1/3) of the dose of the apples and strawberries.

4. Lemons came in second place and the higher the dose, the more effective they are.

Now of course, dripping fruit and vegetable juice on cancer cells in a lab is different than what happens in your body. but hey, if these foods are killing cancer cells in the lab, it makes sense to get them into your body. So, cranberries and lemons were the top fruits in the study.

Now, you can find lemons easily.  The trick with cranberries is finding them because they're seasonal and finding them organic.  And they're also very, very tart, and they're hard to eat fresh.  Dried cranberries usually have added sugar and oil.  And that's not a great option either.  Your best bet with cranberries is to buy organic freeze-dried cranberry powder on Amazon. That way you can just add it to juices or smoothies.

Another delicious powerful recipe that I didn't mention in part 1 is Green Lemonade. It really only needs two ingredients: One whole organic lemon and 4 organic Granny Smith apples. Cut up the fruits and run them through the juicer and you'll have some delicious powerful anticancer green lemonade.  And you don't need to peel them, or take the seeds out. The fruit peels and seeds both contain anticancer compounds.

*Nutr. Cancer 2010:62(4):517-24 Anti proliferative effects of apple peel extract against cancer cells (by Reagan- Shaw S, Eggert D, Mukhtar H, Ahmad N.

Author Information.
Abstract.
[Studies have shown an inverse relationship between the consumption of apples and the risk of several cancers.  The peels of apple, which have been shown to possess exceptional high concentration of antioxidants are often discarded.  In this study, we evaluate the anti proliferation effects of apple peel extract (APE) in variety of cancer cell types.  Our data demonstrated that APE , contained from organic Gala apples, imparted significant reduction in the viability of a variety of cancer cell lines. Further, our data showed a significant decrease in growth and clonogenic survival of human prostate carcinoma CWR22Rnu1 and DU145 cells and breast carcinoma Mcf-7 and Mcf-7 : Her18 cells. Also, the anti proliferative effects of APE were found to be accompanied by a G0-G1 phase arrest of prostate and breast cancer cells. Furthermore, APE treatment resulted in a marked concentration - dependent decrease in the protein levels of proliferative cell nuclear antigen, a marker for proliferation.  In addition, APE treatment resulted in a marked increase in maspin, a tumor suppressor protein that negatively regulates cell invasion, metastasis, and angiogenesis.  Our data suggested that APE possesses strong anti proliferative effects against cancer cells.]

There is a really interesting 2010 University of Wisconsin study where they took organic apple peels, blended them up, and dripped them on breast and prostate cancer cells. The apple peel extract was shown to reduce the growth of prostate and breast cancer cells by turning on a tumor suppressor gene called maspin. Apple seeds also contained amygdalin AKA B-17 which is an anticancer nutrient also found in the seeds of apricot kernels, grape seeds, et cetera.

Berries are the most potent anticancer fruits. They can protect and repair damage from oxidative stress and inflammation.  And they have unique anticancer and immune boosting compounds ; including ellagic acid, anthocyanins, OPC and caffeic acid.

So you want to eat berries every day. You can et them fresh or frozen, just get them in your body. I eat berries every day in a smoothie.  Most grocery stores now sell mixed bags of frozen organic berries; blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, and sometimes even cranberries.  Big supermarkets have giant bags of mixed organic berries.

My go -to smoothie in 2004 was two cups of berries, a banana, and the juice and meat of a young coconut all blended together.

MY 2004 SMOOTHIE RECIPE:
--2 cups of frozen organic berries;
--1 banana;
--Juice and meat of a young coconut.

The best tool to use to open coconuts is called Coco Jack. (click here to see the tool) Just Google search for it, how to open a coconut in 3 seconds, safely.  Now , if you can't get coconut, it is no big deal. Just blend a handful of almonds or walnuts in filtered water and that'll give you a nut milk base for your smoothie. Two cups of berries, a banana, and a coconut, or nut milk will make a snack size smoothie.

If you want to make a giant smoothie for a meal or to share, then do 3 to 4 cups of berries, a handful of almonds and walnuts, one to two bananas, or 5 to 10 dates, a couple handful of spinach or kale. There's a ton of stuff you can add to your smoothies to amp up the nutritional value.

MY GIANT SMOOTHIE RECIPE:-
--3 to 4 cups of frozen berries;
--A handful of almonds and walnuts;
--1 to 2 bananas, or 5 to 10 dates;
-- A couple handfuls of spinach or kale.

SMOOTHIE EXTRAS RECIPE
-- 2 TO 8 oz of Stockton Aloe Vera Gel;
--1 to 2 tablespoon flax; hemp and chia seed;
-- Goji, acai, mangosteen;
--Moringa;
--Matcha green tea powder
--Brocolli, cauliflower.

You can add * ounces of pure aloe vera gel from Stockton Aloe. You can add flaxseed, hempseed, chia seed. You can add superfoods and like goji, acai, mangosteen, moringa and matcha green tea powder. You can even put broccoli and cauliflower in there. just have fun with it and experiment. As long as you're putting in whole foods from the earth, you're doing it right.

When I was healing cancer, I had a small smoothie as an afternoon snack. now I have a giant one for lunch every day. You can also have it for breakfast.

Another great breakfast option is oatmeal. Gerson therapy patients eat oatmeal every morning. Start with organic oats, you can do whole oats, steel cut, rolled oats, quick oats, doesn't matter.  Just make sure they're organic. then add fruit like blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, and strawberries, or blackcurrants, raisins, figs, apricots, bananas, they're all great.  Add cinnamon to amp up the antioxidant content. And you can also add flax, hemp seed, chi seed, pumpkin seeds, almond and walnuts to your oatmeals if you nee more calories.

If you don't have any fruit on hand, you can sweeten it with date sugar, which is just ground up dates, and blackstrap molasses which is the highest antioxidant sweetener and it's rich in minerals like iron, potassium, calcium and magnesium. And that's how you make a super healthy delicious meal of oatmeal.

The most potent anticancer berry that I know is called amla. Amla has several different names. it's also known as amalaki, and the Indian gooseberry. Amla has been used for centuries in Indian Ayurvedic medicine. Everyone from India knows about amla.  The amla berry looks like a cross between a green grape and a Ping-Pong/table tennis) ball size.
 

And it has the highest antioxidant content of any food on earth, roughly 200 times the antioxidant content of blueberries. And it also has the second highest concentration of vitamin C, second only to camu camu.


Just to put this in perspective, the average American meal has 25 to 100 units of antioxidants. One teaspoon of amla powder has nearly 800 units of antioxidants,

Why are antioxidants important? because they neutralize reactive oxygen species, also know as free-radicals.  Free radicals are created in our human body every day as a result of normal cell metabolism and when we're exposed to toxic chemicals, radiation, and environmental pollution. Free radical can damage other cells and can lead to cancerous mutation. And cancerous tumors also create free radicals in the human body, so your body needs a steady supply of antioxidants to neutralize them. 
 
Chemo and radiation therapy produce mega loads of oxidative stress and free-radicals in the body of patient. So you really, really need antioxidants if you are doing chemo and radiation, because they will deplete your body's level of antioxidants very quickly. This is rarely talked about, but many cancer patients suffer from symptoms identical to scurvy, which is a disease caused by vitamin C deficiency because chemo and radiation treatments have severely depleted the vitamin C in their bodies. Cancer patients need vitamin C.

Okay, now back to amla. This is an amazing fruit. In one study they tested amla against six different human cancer cell lines, lung cancer, liver cancer, cervical cancer, breast cancer , ovarian cancer, and colon cancer. Amla killed the existing cancer cells, reduced their population by over 50% and blocked their ability to spread.

Another study showed that three quarters (3/4) of a teaspoon of amla per day worked better at lowering high blood sugar than diabetic medication, glyburide. Amla also cut 'bad' cholesterol and triglycerides in half and boosted good cholesterol after 3 weeks. This is an amazing anti-cancer, anti-diabetes, anti-cholesterol medication that net even a medication. Amla is just food. I added amla to my anticancer diet in 2004 and it's still part of my diet today.  But there's one problem with amla, it tastes terrible. It's bitter, sour, and pithy all at the same time.

The way I used to take it was in a product called Dabur Chyawanprash which is a sweet and spicy paste, it's imported from India. I love the way it tastes, but years later, I found organic amla powder on Amazon. It's about $20 bucks for a pound and it lasts a long time. So that's how I take it now.  Just start with 1/4 teaspoon 3 times per day, added to juice, water, or a smoothie.

My Daily Anticancer Routine: Now I'm going to walk you through my daily anticancer routine ...(click here to continue)