5 Essential Keto Tips for Beginners

Starting a keto diet can be daunting for beginners. There is so much to know and learn, and uncertainty about what to expect can make your new diet seem overwhelming. But you don't have to worry. I have some essential tips to help you navigate the first few weeks of your keto diet with smooth sailing.

1. How to Avoid Keto Flu

Keto flu symptoms can be very unpleasant, so much so that many people stop their diet altogether. The symptoms include "flu-like symptoms such as fatigue, headaches, nausea, and dizziness (Kenneth et al., 2020). The symptoms don't last long, and they are simply from the changes in your body. Even better, with the right strategy, you can prevent the keto flu.

Keep in mind that a few changes are happening in your body. Your blood sugar is lowering, and that may cause spells of dizziness, headaches, and feeling tired. Your kidneys also flush out fluids (you pee a lot), and with that, you lose essential electrolytes such as sodium, potassium, and magnesium.

Keto Tips:

The best remedy to prevent the keto flu, is to drink a glass of a homemade electrolyte mix every morning and add extra salt to your meals. Adding extra salt to your food may not be something you are habitually used to doing, so my tip is to add 3–4 teaspoons of salt to a ramekin in the morning. Use the salt from the ramekin over your meals for the day. This way, you'll see exactly how much "extra" salt you've added to your food.

If you are unfortunate enough to get the keto flu, don't despair. I can assure you that the benefits of being on a keto diet far outweigh the temporary discomfort of the keto flu, especially when you start getting into ketosis. As soon as your body starts making ketones, you'll experience increased levels of energy, improved mental clarity, and weight loss.

2. Sneaky Hidden Carbs

Keeping your daily carbs under 20 grams per day is a general rule for getting into ketosis. And, foods such as bread, pasta, and rice are off-limits when you have such a small amount of carbs allotted for the day. Take, for example, a single slice of Woolworths wholewheat bread that contains 11–14 grams of carbs. Or a homemade roti, which will knock you out of the park with about 15-20 grams of carbs. What's not so obvious, is the sneaky carbs in some foods that we may not be aware of. Here's a list of some to watch out for.

• Sauces and condiments: 

Most sauces and condiments are made with added sugars. Mrs. Ball's chutney contains 4-6 grams of sugar per tablespoon. Nando's peri-peri sauce is a little better, with only around 1-2 grams per tablespoon.

On a keto diet, your best choices of condiments are the products from Smart Carb and Martinnaise. In the past six years, I've watched both brands grow their product lines. Starting with basic sauces and condiments, soups, and spices to now boasting extensive ranges including keto-friendly products like ice teas and some pretty delicious chocolate products. The Carb Smart's chocolate-covered white macadamia nuts are my favourite.

• Processed meats: 

Some processed meats, like bacon and sausage, may contain added sugars. It's best to always check the nutrition labels of your foods.

• Seasonings and spices: 

Most single-ingredient spices contain minimal amounts of carbs. The sneaky ones to be aware of are mixes, and once again, it's best to read the nutrition label - not only for the carb count but also the ingredient list. Watch out for ingredients like dextrose and maltodextrin. Both of these can prevent you from getting into ketosis.

• Certain vegetables: 

The biggest culprits here are onions and carrots. These vegetables can quickly start adding to your carb count for the day. As I am writing this post, we are going into winter, where comfort foods like stews, shepherd pie, and bobotie are South African favourites and these types of recipes start with chopping the onions first.

Onions are relatively high in carbohydrates compared to other vegetables. A medium-sized onion can add 10–12 grams of carbs to your recipe. Take, for example, a traditional South African bobotie recipe that includes onions. The traditional recipe with onions may contain around 15-20 grams of carbs per single serving. Keep in mind the traditional recipe contains ingredients such as bread, raisins, sugar, and chutney. 

Now compare the traditional recipe to this low-carb bobotie recipe, which only has 2.3 grams of carbs per single serving. Taking the onions out of the recipe would affect its taste, so it's important to know where your carbs come from and to find other ways to reduce them by using substitutes for the sugar and condiments.

3. Break the Habit of Snacking

You want to stretch the eating window between your meals so that your blood sugar and insulin can lower, progressing towards achieving ketosis. The best way to do that is to focus on eating only three meals a day and not snacking in-between meals. 

Keto Tip:

The best way to stretch the eating window between meals is to eat balanced, satisfying meals that contain a portion of protein and fat. If you do this, you won't need to snack in between meals. Snacking can be a hard habit to break. Instead of trying not to snack, focus on maintaining your macronutrient balance of proteins and fats and making sure you are eating enough protein and fats with every meal. The protein will make you feel full, and fats will keep you full for longer. 

4. Testing for Ketosis

Testing for ketosis can provide tangible proof that your body is burning fat for fuel. Knowing you are in ketosis can also be incredibly motivating! There are several ways to test your ketone levels. Using inexpensive methods like ketone strips to more accurate methods like blood monitors and breathalyzers. Read more about testing for ketosis here. 

5. Be Kind to Yourself

Starting your keto diet is a significant step, and years of habits and traditions don't change overnight. You have a lot to learn as you start your keto diet. The tips will make some of the challenges a bit easier and help you navigate your first few weeks to keto diet success! Everyone responds a bit different, so listen to your body, and be patient with yourself. Just take it one step at a time and remember that progress, not perfection, is key.

As always, I encourage my readers to schedule a quick one-on-one session if you have specific questions or want to tailor your keto diet to your specific goals. A single session can save you a lot of time and trial-and-error trying to figure things out for yourself.