Chapter 6: What To Drink On The Keto Diet
Keto compliance is a fancy term for saying that you should eat and drink only fatty items.
The whole idea of the keto diet, of course, is to eat and drink fat so your body burns fat as its primary fuel. Currently, your body is burning sugar in your bloodstream for its energy requirements. You get this sugar by loading up on food that is rich in carbohydrates.
I am talking of course about potatoes, pasta, enriched flour like white bread, and grains like rice or heavily processed corn. All these starchy foods pump a tremendous amount of carbohydrates in your system.
The problem with that is when your body detects carbohydrates, it starts to produce insulin.
Insulin is the hormone your body uses to open up its cells to fuel that it uses for energy. Your body needs energy for you to stay alive.
Simply pumping blood, blinking, breathing, walking, going around, all of these and more require energy. Currently, your body requires uses sugar in your blood for this energy.
When you adopt the keto diet, you switch over from burning sugar to burning fat. This is a big deal, because when your body burns sugar due to insulin, you're not burning fat. This is an either-or proposition. Either your body is burning sugar, or it isn't.
When you're not burning sugar, all that fat remains in your body's fat cells. That nasty spare tire that you have been lugging around for many years will remain there. It’s not going anywhere if you use sugar as your primary energy source.
This is why people are all excited about the keto diet. When you eat fat and less sugar or carbs, your body begins to burn fat for fuel. It starts off with the fat that you eat, but that is not enough.
It then starts to burn your stored fat. Insulin is not in the picture, so that hormone is not blocking your fat cells from releasing their contents.
Your body starts to burn fat, and you get slimmer, lighter, and better looking. What's not to love? Here's the good news.
If you stop drinking this, you are well on your way to keto compliance
Did you know that the average can of soda has more than 10 teaspoons of sugar in it? We are talking about gram upon gram upon gram of sugar. As I have mentioned above, whenever you have sugar in your system, your body will produce insulin.
Insulin puts a stop to any kind of fat burning going on in your body. Kiss it good-bye, forget about it. This is why it is really important to cut down on sugar regardless of its form.
The good news is you take one giant step to making that happen by simply cutting out soda or any fizzy sugared drink currently in your diet.
It’s not as hard as you think. Believe it or not, people can reacquire their taste for water sooner rather than later. There are other alternatives. You can try tea; you can try unsweetened drinks.
You can try zero-calorie drinks as a transition. There's a lot you can do, but by simply cutting out soda, you are well on your way to keto compliance.
You won't jump there magically. It’s not like cutting out soda pop will dramatically and magically transport you to keto land, but it's deftly a giant step forward.
Can I Drink Adult Beverages on the Keto Diet?
You want to go out for drinks with friends after work on Friday, but you’ve been on the Keto diet for a while now and don’t know what to do.
You don’t want to be a party pooper, and the truth is, you’d love an Adult beverage. Is that even possible? The answer is complex, and you’re going to have to consider a lot of factors before taking that first sip. It’s up to you to decide if this is even worth it. Let’s take a look at the hard realities of alcohol and the Keto diet.
The harsh reality? Alcohol has a lot of problems:
● You’re probably going to overdo it in regard to calories. First of all, every alcoholic drink has a high number of calories – and those are empty ones that aren’t going to do your body any good.
But what’s worse? You’re also going to want to eat when drinking, and with less inhibition, it’s really easy to go overboard.
You’re going to drop out of ketosis. The Keto Diet is reliant on your liver wanting to burn fat for fuel instead of sugar. The problem here is that the liver wants to get rid of toxins in the body, and alcohol is a toxin.
● You’re going to get drunk super-fast. Even if you used to be the champion drinker at your local bar, your body in ketosis has no ability to handle it. That’s thanks to something called glycogen that used to be in your body that gave you something of a buffer to handle the effects of alcohol.
With your body in ketosis, that’s gone now, and so is your tolerance for alcohol. Expect that first drink to hit you like a ton of bricks.
So, if you still want to drink after all this, then here are some quick tips to help keep you on the right path.
Something keto friendly to slow the effects of alcohol.
Watch for heavy pours so you can adjust your carbs accordingly if your bartender is a little too enthusiastic.
Remember Calories Matter As Much As Carbs
Keep track of what you’re drinking. Stick to one drink and one drink only.
Below is a handy list to give you some ideas about what that drink will cost you.
DRINK GUIDE (showing carbs for each)
● Fuzzy Navel 38g
● Pina Colada 30g
● Mai Tai 30g
● Sex on the Beach 30g
● Mojito 25g
● Screwdriver 19g
● Caipirinha 17g
● Seven and Seven 17g
● White Russian 17g
● Gin and Tonic 16g
● Mimosa 15g
● Tequila Sunrise 15g
● Margarita 11g
● Long Island Iced Tea 10g
● Old Fashioned 9g
● Bloody Mary 5g
● Manhattan 2g
● Gin Rickey 1.5g
● Martini .5g