A keto diet for beginners

A keto or ketogenic diet is a low-carb, moderate protein, higher-fat diet that can help you burn fat more effectively. It has many benefits for weight loss, health, and performance, as shown in over 50 studies. That’s why it’s recommended by a growing number of doctors and healthcare practitioners.

A keto diet is especially useful for losing excess body fat, reducing hunger, and improving type 2 diabetes or metabolic syndrome.

Here, you’ll learn how to eat a keto diet based on real foods. Get started with our visual guides, recipes, meal plans, and simple 2-week Get Started program. It’s everything you need to succeed on keto.

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Key takeaways

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How to eat keto:
Reduce carbs, get plenty of protein, and add fat for flavor and fullness. What to eat and avoid

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Should you try it?
If you want to lose weight or improve blood sugar with little hunger and without counting calories, it’s a great option. Here’s why

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Does keto work?
Backed by years of science, a keto diet can help you lose weight and improve your health, in a way other diets don’t. Find out how

1. What is a keto diet?

The keto diet is a very low-carb, higher-fat diet. It’s similar in many ways to other low-carb diets.

While you eat far fewer carbohydrates on a keto diet, you maintain moderate protein consumption and may increase your intake of fat. The reduction in carb intake puts your body in a metabolic state called ketosis, where fat, from your diet and from your body, is burned for energy.

You can quickly learn more about the basic ideas behind the keto diet in this video:

 

What “keto” means

A “keto” or “ketogenic” diet is so named because it causes your body to produce small fuel molecules called “ketones.”

This is an alternative fuel source for your body that can be used when blood sugar (glucose) is in short supply.

When you eat very few carbs or very few calories, your liver produces ketones from fat. These ketones then serve as a fuel source throughout the body, especially for the brain.

The brain is a hungry organ that consumes lots of energy every day, and it can’t run on fat directly. It can only run on glucose – or ketones.

On a ketogenic diet, your entire body switches its fuel supply to run mostly on fat, burning fat all day long. When insulin levels drop very low, fat burning can increase dramatically. It becomes easier to access your fat stores to burn them off.

This is great if you’re trying to lose weight, but there can also be other benefits, such as less hunger and a steady supply of energy — without the sugar peaks and valleys that often occur when eating high-carb meals. This may help keep you alert and focused.

When the body produces ketones, it enters a metabolic state called ketosis. The fastest way to get there is by fasting – not eating anything – but nobody can consistently fast forever.

A keto diet, on the other hand, also results in ketosis and can be eaten indefinitely. It has many of the benefits of fasting – including weight loss – without having to fast long term.

Learn more about ketosis

Who should NOT do a ketogenic diet?

There are controversies and myths about a keto diet, but for most people it appears to be very safe.

However, three groups often require special consideration:

• Do you take medication for diabetes, such as insulin? More
• Do you take medication for high blood pressure? More
• Do you breastfeed? More

For more details about pros and cons in different situations, check out our full guide: Is a keto diet right for you?

Are you a doctor or do you need your doctor to help you with medications on a keto diet? Have a look at our low carb for doctors guide.

2. What to eat on a keto diet

Here are typical foods to enjoy on a ketogenic diet. The numbers are net carbs per 100 grams (3.5 ounces) of food.

To remain in ketosis, lower is generally better:

The fewer the carbs, the more effective the diet appears to be for reaching ketosis, losing weight or improving type 2 diabetes.

Counting carbs can be helpful at first. But if you stick to our recommended foods and recipes you can stay keto even without counting.

Detailed list of what to eat and avoid on a keto diet

Try to avoid

Here’s what you should avoid on a keto diet – foods containing a lot of carbs, both the sugary and the starchy kind. This includes starchy foods like bread, pasta, rice and potatoes. These foods are very high in carbs.

The numbers are grams of net carbs per 100 grams (3.5 ounces), unless otherwise noted.

Also avoid or limit highly processed foods and instead follow our whole foods keto diet advice.

You should also avoid low-fat diet products. A keto diet should be moderately high in protein and will probably be higher in fat, since fat provides the energy you’re no longer getting from carbohydrate. Low-fat products usually provide too many carbs and not enough protein and fat.

More specific advice on what to eat – and what not to eat

What to drink

What can you drink on a ketogenic diet? Water is the perfect drink, and coffee or tea are fine too. Ideally, use no sweeteners, especially sugar.

A splash of milk or cream in your coffee or tea is OK, but beware that the carbs can add up if you drink multiple cups in a day (and definitely avoid caffe lattes!). The occasional glass of wine is fine too.

Check out our full guides to keto drinks and keto alcohol.
 

Visual keto diet guides

For more on specific topics – like what fruits or nuts to eat on a ketogenic diet – check out our popular visual guides:

Keto diet recipes

We have hundreds of fantastic keto diet recipes.

Keto diet meal plans

Here are two weeks of recipes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner on a ketogenic diet:

30-day keto diet plan

How low carb is a keto diet?

A keto diet is a very strict low-carb diet, containing less than 20 grams of net carbs per day.

Here are three examples of low-carb meals, based on how many carbs you aim to eat in a day.

Note that only the left plate is reliably ketogenic for everyone:

We recommend starting out by following the dietary advice as strictly as you can. When you’re happy with your weight and health, you could carefully try eating a few more carbs (if you want to). Learn more

Leaflet

Here’s our leaflet with basic keto advice. Print it out, put it on your fridge, or give it to your curious friends:

Keto diet advice in 40 languages

We have keto diet advice available in 40 languages, including our entire Diet Doctor site in Spanish and Swedish.

4. How to get into ketosis on a keto diet

1. Restrict carbohydrates to 20 digestible grams per day or less – a strict low-carb or keto diet. Fiber does not have to be restricted, it might even be beneficial for ketosis.
   How much is 20 grams of carbs? Use our visual guide to find out. Or simply use our keto recipes and meal plans, which are designed to keep you under 20 grams. No calorie counting required.

   Often, just restricting carbs to very low levels results in ketosis. So this may be all you need to do. But the rest of the list below will help make sure that you’re successful.

2. Eat enough fat to feel satisfied. A keto low-carb diet is normally a higher-fat diet, because fat supplies the energy that you are no longer getting from carbs.
   This is the big difference between a keto diet and starvation, which also results in ketosis. A keto diet is sustainable while starvation is not.

   If you feel as if you’re starving, you’re likely to feel tired and want to give up your diet. But a ketogenic diet should help you avoid getting too hungry, making it sustainable and possibly making you feel great.

   So eat enough protein foods and low-carb veggies, with enough added fat to feel satisfied. If you’re hungry all the time, check that you are getting adequate amounts of protein at most meals and, if so, add more fat to your meals (like more butter, more olive oil, or some delicious sauces).

   Our keto recipes have plenty of fat included, but you can adjust up or down, according to your own needs.

3. Maintain a moderate protein intake.
   A keto diet is not meant to be a very-high-protein diet. We recommend 1.2 to 2 grams of protein per kg of reference body weight per day.
   This means about 100 grams of protein per day if your lean body mass weight is around 70 kilos (155 pounds). Check out our target protein ranges to find out how much protein you should be aiming for each day.

   Despite concerns that people on keto diets eat “too much” protein, this does not seem to be the case for most people. Because it is very filling, most people find it difficult to overeat protein.

   Although amino acids from protein foods can be converted to glucose, under experimental conditions, only a small percentage actually are.

   This may be related to individual factors, such as degree of insulin resistance.
   However, even people with type 2 diabetes usually do well with the adequate levels of protein Diet Doctor recommends, if their diets are also low carb.

   At the same time, inadequate protein intake over extended periods of time is a serious concern. It can result in loss of muscle and bone, especially as you age.

   This is why our keto recipes are designed with the right amount of protein. See our protein guide.

4. Avoid snacking when not hungry. Eating more often than you need, just eating for fun, or eating because there’s food around, reduces ketosis and slows down weight loss.
   Though using keto snacks may minimize the damage when you’re hungry between meals, try to adjust your meals so that snacks become unnecessary.
5. If necessary, add intermittent fasting. For example, skip breakfast and only eat during 8 hours of the day, fasting for 16 hours (i.e. 16:8 fasting). This is effective at boosting ketone levels, as well as accelerating weight loss and improving insulin resistance.
   It’s also usually easy to do on keto.
6. Add exercise. Adding any kind of physical activity while on low carb can increase ketone levels moderately.
   It can also help speed up weight loss and improve type 2 diabetes.
   Exercise is not necessary to get into ketosis, but it may be helpful.
7. Sleep enough and minimize stress. Most people benefit from a minimum of seven hours of sleep per night, on average. And try to keep stress under control. Sleep deprivation and stress hormones raise blood sugar levels, slowing ketosis and weight loss.
   Plus they might make it harder to stick to a keto diet and resist temptations.
   So while handling sleep and stress will not get you into ketosis on their own, they are still worth thinking about.
8. Keto supplements are not required. Note what’s not on the list above: you do not need expensive supplements, like exogenous ketones or MCT oil (medium-chain triglycerides). These supplements will likely not help you lose weight or reverse disease. At least there’s no evidence for that.
   Learn more in our ketosis guide

 

6. Practical keto diet guides

A keto diet is simple, but it helps to learn some basic new skills. How do you prepare easy keto breakfasts? Have you shunned fat for years and don’t know how to get more in your diet? How do you eat out and still stay on plan?

These tips and guides answer common keto questions.

Breakfast

How should you start your day? If you love bacon and eggs, dig in! If you don’t, some awesome keto breakfasts have no eggs at all.

Have you been told that “breakfast is the most important meal of the day”? That’s likely not true.

If you’re not hungry when you wake up, feel free to skip breakfast or just have a cup of coffee. Reduced hunger is common on a keto diet, so don’t worry about skipping any meal.

If you’re hungry when you wake up but are short on time, many keto breakfasts are tasty, filling and fast. All keto breakfasts

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Meals

Hmmm, what to eat for lunch or dinner? Daily meal planning can be as simple as meat, fish or chicken mains with a salad, or vegetable side – with melted butter, cheese, or a yummy full-fat sauce. We have hundreds of choices for delicious keto meals

A keto diet on a budget

Many people believe that a keto diet is expensive, and it can be. After all, good-quality food costs more than unhealthier options. But there are many ways to stay budget-friendly, and in this guide you’ll learn all about them

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How to eat more fat

For decades we have been told to fear fat, a position that we have evidence to seriously question.

We now have reason to believe that fat is likely not harmful, plus it is satiating and makes food taste great.

Do you need advice on how to add fat back into your food? What fats should you use, olive oil or butter? And just how much fat do you need each day? Tip: if you are constantly feeling hungry on a keto diet, you may need more protein or fat, or both.

Here’s how to add fat back

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Bread

Bread is one of the most common things that people miss on a ketogenic diet. Fear not! There are plenty of good keto bread options.

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Dining out

How do you eat keto at a buffet, a friend’s house, or a fast­-food restaurant? Avoid starchy foods (like bread, rice, or pasta) and ask for additional natural fat, like butter or olive oil, if you need it. Dining out on keto

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Keto diet “cheating”

To carb or not to carb? This guide will help you decide, and how to do it smarter

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Avoiding special products

Don’t be fooled by the creative marketing of special “low-carb” products. Remember: An effective keto diet for weight loss does not include refined and industrially processed foods.

Low-carb products like chocolate, candy, pasta, and bread often use all kinds of deceptive marketing, while being just junk food – including carbs – in disguise. Learn more

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More guides

Do you want more keto diet guides? We have more keto diet guides!

All keto guides

8. Keto FAQ and other resources