The Essential Keto Diet Cookbook

This book is about the keto diet. It's a superfad right now, but there are some misconceptions about what it does and doesn't do. Here are the basics: The keto diet forces your body to produce ketones - substances that act as an energy source your brain and muscles can use when you don't have carbs around to burn for fuel. This state, called "ketosis," happens when your body burns its own fat reserves for energy. In the early days of the keto diet, doctors would recommend it as a way to combat seizures in people with epilepsy who didn't respond well enough to AEDs (anti-epileptic drugs). Later on, people at risk for conditions like heart disease or type 2 diabetes would use it to burn fat and keep tabs on their weight. But over the last few years, the keto diet has come to mean something different: the high-fat, low-carb diet that enthusiasts say will give you muscle mass to go with those abs. Keto means "ketosis" not "epilepsy," right? Nope. This misconception is based on a misunderstanding of how ketosis works in humans. Ketosis is a metabolic state where your body burns fat stores for fuel instead of carbohydrates. Ketosis is the basis for the keto diet, but it isn't synonymous with what people often think of as a "keto diet." Ketosis occurs when you have little to no available glucose (from carbohydrates.) So if you eat a low-carb diet, your body will be forced go into some alternative fuel source: fat. And as your body burns its own fat stores, that's where the byproduct of ketones comes from. The idea behind the keto diet is that when your body enters ketosis, you lose weight and experience other health benefits in addition to better blood sugar control. But it's not all about weight loss. You will lose weight if you're in a state of ketosis, but that's not the same thing as being "on" the keto diet. You can also be in a state of ketosis and eat at a calorie surplus. When that happens, your body won't let go of its fat reserves because being in ketosis is so important to your survival (as it were.) You may see fat gain when you're "in ketosis," but that doesn't mean you're following a keto diet. If anything, it means you're eating too many calories and not burning enough off with physical activity. All of this is to say that keto, "as we know it," is not a diet; it's a way of life. And in order to get the benefits of the keto diet, you need to eliminate carbs and eat a lot of fat. But exactly how much fat and how many carbs on the keto diet? That dep