Keto keeps coming up in conversation. It seems like everyone is “trying” keto these days, with the goal of burning fat and losing weight. The key word is “trying”. A hardcore ketogenic diet means that just 5 to 10 percent of your total daily macronutrient intake comes from carbohydrates, 15 to 20 percent comes from protein and 60 to 75 percent comes from fat. In order to maintain a hardcore keto diet, you have to stay in ketosis, which means you must follow this diet perfectly; even the tiniest cheat can throw you out of ketosis. Don’t get me wrong. Keto is a good thing. Just like a low carb diet like Atkins, on keto you are burning fat for fuel. In fact, many people “trying” keto are truly just following a low carb diet (check out the top keto diet mistakes and how to avoid them here).
There’s solid science behind both low carb and ketogenic diets, but I believe Atkins 20 and 40 are a more flexible and thus sustainable form of keto diet. For over 40 years, we’ve used our knowledge of nutritional science to help people manage protein, carbs and sugar. With Atkins, you can still lose weight and improve your health while consuming lower levels of carbs and burning fat for fuel. You’re able to consume optimal amounts of protein, healthy fats and high-fiber carbs in the form of vegetables on Atkins 20®, and on Atkins 40®, you have more variety and choices as long as you are at or under 40 grams of Net Carbs a day.
You can achieve ketosis if you follow Atkins 20 and Atkins 40 . Although outside of a ketosis range, Atkins 100™ gives you the ability to customize your plan to your needs and palate while still improving your health, feeling great and eating a wide variety of delicious food. No particular diet works for everyone, but Atkins is a much more flexible personalized approach that you can sustain for the long term.
Interested in learning more about low carb and keto? Check out these videos and presentations from the Emerging Science of Carbohydrate Restriction and Nutritional Ketosis conference.