You can't ignore the trend of the Keto diet these days. Almost every magazine is talking about it. But what exactly is a Keto diet? Filling your hungry stomach with fatty foods while the kilos fly off?

The keto diet is a low-carbohydrate diet in which 70 to 80 percent of your total calorie intake consists of fats, about 10 to 20 percent of proteins and about 5 to 10 percent of carbohydrates. It puts your body into 'ketosis' because you remove the natural fuel source of carbohydrates. This is mainly expressed as: you burn fat.

Losing weight with the keto diet: ketosis

Ketosis is achieved through a physical process called ketogenesis. Because you eat extremely few carbohydrates, your brain remembers glucose as its main food. Your body still needs fuel to function, so it increases the concentration of ketones in your blood by breaking down fatty acids. Think of it as a hybrid car that runs out of petrol and continues to run on electricity.

What are ketones?

But what are ketones? To be able to live and move, a body needs energy. Everything you eat is converted in the stomach and intestines into glucose, the body's fuel. Thanks to insulin, cells can convert the glucose into energy. When there is not enough insulin present to convert glucose, the body starts using fats. At that moment ketones are released. Ketones are waste products that are released when fats are broken down.

Fat contains more calories per gram than carbohydrates and proteins. When you eat more calories than your body needs, it can eventually lead to weight gain. But it is possible to lose weight with a diet that focuses on fat, as long as you stick carefully to the programme. Initially, you lose weight because your body loses moisture in response to the drastically reduced intake of carbohydrates. Because you have to omit a lot of foods from your normal diet (in this case carbohydrates), you may also eat less, which will cause you to lose even more weight.

There is some evidence that you can lose fat if a large proportion of your calories come from fat. This is how it works: The cells in your body normally prefer to get their energy from glucose (sugars that come from the carbohydrates you eat). If you follow a diet with very few carbohydrates and lots of fats, your body will switch from burning sugar to burning fat. This process takes place in the liver, which releases so-called ketones as a by-product, which are an alternative source of energy.

Keto diet: what can you eat?

With a normal diet of 2000 calories per day this amounts to:

• 165 grams of fat

• 75 grams of protein
• 20 to 30 grams of carbohydrates (with a maximum of 50g)

Starchy vegetables such as potatoes, corn and pumpkin have too high a carbohydrate content for a ketogenic diet. The same applies to a lot of fruit. Milk, beans, rice, pasta, bread: forget it. A carbohydrate-filled 'cheat meal' is also out of the question. The diet is labelled as extreme for a reason.

So what can you eat? Luckily, Damhert has a nice range of products which are completely keto-proof.

Our Keto products are mainly all oils, nuts, seeds and spices. Of course we also have biscuits in our range which are completely keto-proof (less than 5 grams per serving) and among the meat substitutes we also have a nice selection of keto vegetables (less than 6 grams per serving). You can recognise the Keto products by the Keto logo or the Low Carb claim. You can find all our Keto products under the Keto range in our webshop.

How come some products are Keto but still have a high carbohydrate value?

Pay close attention to the calculation! You have to subtract the value of the polyols from the carbohydrate value.

Polyols are sweeteners that taste very similar to sugar, without having an unpleasant aftertaste like many other sweeteners. They are also found in nature, for example in trees, plants, fruit and mushrooms. The best known types are xylitol, maltitol, erythritol and isomalt. Polyols are not absorbed by the body. They therefore leave the body through the faeces. As a result, they provide the body with much less energy than, for example, sugar. This is of course beneficial when you are on a diet and still have a sweet tooth from time to time.

With Damhert products, you do not need to count the polyols in the total carbohydrate intake you are allowed per day. We will clarify this with an example. Say your favourite biscuit contains 14 grams of carbohydrates, 10 grams of which are polyols. You only need to count 4 grams of carbohydrates instead of 14 grams for this biscuit.

A few tips:

1. Avoid empty carbohydrates: By this we mean certain types of food that are high in calories and low in nutrition. Some examples are: breakfast cereals, soft drinks, crisps, coffee drinks, sweets, sweetened tea drinks, juices, apple sauce, snack bars, frozen yoghurt, ...

2. Do not fear fat: Trying to survive on protein and low-carbohydrate vegetables very quickly results in fatigue, lack of energy and general malaise which ultimately makes it impossible to maintain the diet. So it is important to consume enough fats to provide the body with the necessary energy, without overdoing it of course, because you can also do the opposite and eat too much fat.

3. Go for green: when choosing low-carb vegetables, choose green ones such as spinach, cucumber, Brussels sprouts, green onions, green peppers, courgettes, broccoli, celery, lettuce,...