Keto Diet Meal Plan for Beginners

The Ketogenic Diet (a.k.a. Keto Diet) is a high-fat and very low-carb diet, which helps burn fat and lose weight. For beginners, you may not have ideas to get started with Keto Diet. What foods should you eat? Keep reading to know more about the meal plan for Keto Diet beginners.

How Keto Diet helps you lose weight?

The keto diet is a high-fat, sufficient protein and low-carb diet. When you eat fewer carbohydrates (less than 20 grams per day), you increase the consumption of fat. Due to your body lacks glucose by controlling the intake of carbs, your body will be changed to the metabolic state called “ketosis”. Your liver will start to burn fats and ketones as energy.

What’re the rules of the Ketosis Diet?

The ketogenic diet food pyramid should consist of 70% fat, 25% protein, and 5%(20 grams) of carbs a day.

Here is a simple example of a one-day keto diet. For the breakfast, you can eat dairy products with nuts and seeds. For the lunch, it’s better to eat fish or seafood with vegetables. Lastly, for the dinner, you can eat more meat like chicken breast and bacon with salad.

What are the benefits of a Ketogenic Diet?

Apart from reducing calorie intake for weight loss, the keto diet offers lots of health benefits, especially for people who have diabetes. Here are the pros of the diet:

Control appetite
Reduce visceral body fat
Lower and stabilise blood sugar levels
Control blood pressure
Reduce the risk of heart disease with a decreased level of Triglycerides
May help to hinder the growth of tumor along with cancer treatment

What are the disadvantages of the Ketosis Diet?

When you commence the diet, you experience these side effects in the beginning:

Fatigue
Thirsty
Low level of sugar in your blood
Urinate too often
Hunger
Sweating and chills
Nausea
Smelling breath
Digestive problems like diarrhea
Increased heart rate

These symptoms are like flu which is often called “low carb flu” or “keto flu”. It’s because your body is lacking sugar to burn energy and needs to burn fat.

Is Keto diet safe?

The Keto diet is high in saturated fat. So, it will increase the level of LDL cholesterol (often called “bad” cholesterol) which is associated with heart disease.

It could also result in low blood pressure, nutrient deficiency, mood swings, and constipation as the diet is low in fibrous foods and carbohydrates.

Apart from the short-term effect, here’re some negative effects if you follow the diet for a long period.

Kidney stones
Hypoglycemia
Muscle loss due to eating too much fat than protein
Ketoacidosis, the liver, kidneys, and brain may be damaged by the acidic blood
Increased cholesterol levels and risks of heart disease and diabetes

How to minimize the short-term side effects?

You can drink more water and sleep more to minimize the short-term side effects. Also, you shouldn’t do intense exercise for the first two weeks. On the other hand, try to gradually cut your carbs to less than 50 grams before you start the ketogenic diet.

7- Day Keto Diet meal plan

Thinking of going Keto? This one-week keto meal plan, ideal for both keto beginners, is the perfect way to get started.

Monday

Breakfast: Yogurt with keto-friendly granola

Lunch: Grilled salmon with a salad of mixed leafy greens and tomato

Dinner: Chicken breast with cauliflower mash and green beans

Snacks: Sticks of celery and pepper with guacamole

Tuesday

Breakfast: Bell pepper eggs

Lunch: Avocado tuna salad

Dinner: Meatballs served with zucchini noodles and parmesan cheese

Snacks: A handful of berries and nuts

Wednesday

Breakfast: Mushroom omelette

Lunch: Keto chicken wings with creamy broccoli

Dinner: Coconut chicken curry

Snacks: Sticks of celery and pepper with guacamole

Thursday

Breakfast: Cauliflower toast

Lunch: Shrimp and avocado salad with tomatoes, feta cheese, herbs, lemon juice, and olive oil

Dinner: Bunless salmon burgers topped with pesto

Snacks: Coconut chips

Friday

Breakfast: Bacon & egg breakfast wraps

Lunch: Caesar salad with chicken

Dinner: Roast chicken with cream sauce and sauteed broccoli

Snacks: A boiled egg

Saturday

Breakfast: Keto pancakes

Lunch: Keto salmon with pesto and spinach

Dinner: Roast chicken with cream sauce and sauteed broccoli

Snacks: Slices of cheese and bell peppers

Sunday

Breakfast: Baked egg avocado boats

Lunch: Cauliflower fried rice with egg

Dinner: Beef stew made with mushrooms, onions, celery, herbs, and beef broth

Snacks: A handful of berries and nuts

Remarks:

If you have type 2 diabetes or cardiovascular disease, you are better to consult your doctor before attempting a ketogenic diet. They will recommend a weight-loss diet that is good for you.

Tips for adopting a keto diet on a budget

Buy foods in bulk to cut down the expenses
Stock up the foods when they are on sale
Go for frozen fruits and vegetables instead of fresh
Opt for cheaper protein like eggs
Skip the packaged keto-friendly meals

Keto-friendly fast foods

Here are some keto-friendly fast foods that you can eat for highly restrictive keto meals.

Cheeseburger without the buns
All-day breakfast with eggs and sausage and avoid high-carb hash brown and bagel/waffle
Fried chicken drumsticks and coleslaw