Introduction

Are you interested in dropping a significant amount of weight in a relatively short period of time? Tired of crash diets that restrict your calories to near-starvation levels, only to have the weight rush back with a vengeance when you return to eating normally? Has your doctor told you to lower your cholesterol or watch your blood sugar? It may surprise you to know that you can achieve all your weight loss goals by changing what and how you eat. The standard American diet (appropriately abbreviated as SAD) is based around consuming extremely high levels of carbohydrates and minimizing the amount of fat you ingest. Although it's certainly possible to live this way, as humans have been doing since the agricultural revolution, it isn't actually the best way to live. A much better approach to eating focuses on low amounts of carbohydrates and high levels of fat - this approach is known as the ketogenic diet (or keto for short).

With all these advantages that have been repeatedly validated by peer-reviewed scientific studies, you may wonder why anyone would ever say anything negative about keto. Unfortunately, there is some reason for criticism. The primary issue most people have with the diet is more psychological than anything: Humans seem almost predisposed to look for "miracle cures," "superfoods," and anything else that seems too good to be true. As the saying goes, anything that seems too good to be true probably is. Keto isn't magic. It is, however, a completely natural metabolic process that's been ignored for most of civilized human history - not because carbohydrates are better for us, but because of how easily accessible they've been. Our society has become a chronic over-consumer of carbs and a systemic under-consumer of fats, leading to medical conditions that are simply the inevitable result of an imbalanced way of eating. Keto corrects this and does so in such a drastic manner that it can seem miraculous at times. If anything, however, these rapid and seemingly overwhelming benefits are more indicative of how imbalanced our eating patterns have become than they are of the "miracle" of keto.

Another legitimate source of criticism revolves around people who are always looking for a quick fix for anything. We guarantee that you interact with individuals like this regularly - people who constantly have the right answer, who can tell you one quick fix to completely resolve any problem area in your life, and who seem to oversimplify virtually everything. It's an unfortunate reality that many people with this mind-set have jumped on the keto bandwagon, and the diet has garnered a lot of negative attention as a result. However, it's important not to throw the baby out with the bathwater - just because some low-carb advocates have the wrong mind-set toward the diet doesn't mean that this nutritional approach is without merit.

We freely acknowledge that "crash" or "fad" diets are unhealthy. Even if they seem to work in the short term, that weight always comes roaring back with a vengeance the moment you resume normal eating patterns. We're huge advocates of maintaining a healthy lifestyle that's nutritious, delicious, and comfortable. For us, keto isn't a short-term quick fix for anything - it's the way we live, and you couldn't pay us to go back.

Weight loss is the most high-profile benefit of keto, particularly in today's environment of unhealthy eating and equally unrealistic body image expectations. However, it isn't the primary reason we've adhered to a ketogenic lifestyle for years. When you maintain a diet that's filled with healthy, satiating fats, your energy levels and mental clarity remain steady and unobstructed throughout the day. Our focus is sharper, we don't experience the highs and lows of blood sugar spikes, and it's been years since we felt "hangry."

What you won't find in this book is an encouragement to change your eating habits for a short period to experience rapid weight loss. Although it's common for people on keto to burn through fat rapidly, this isn't a crash diet you should go on for two weeks before a wedding, and then transition right back to high-carb eating. We highly recommend that you consider making a lifestyle change to a much healthier diet that has numerous proven benefits. You don't need to decide to do keto forever at this point, but we'd be surprised if you aren't strongly considering it after a month on healthy fats - you'll look and feel that good.

About This Book

We've written this book so you can find information quickly and easily. Each chapter focuses on a specific aspect of the ketogenic diet and outlines how to make the transition, accentuating benefits or minimizing downsides, and structuring your diet and lifestyle to create your best "you." There are quite a few specific details and practical tips, but you don't have to read the book from front to back. Feel free to skip around, browse the sections that you find interesting, and just follow where your questions take you.

Reading this entire book isn't necessary to experience a successful keto journey. We've designed it as a resource you can refer to continually. Make notes in the margins, jot down additional resources or recipe adjustments, and highlight information you find most applicable to your unique situation. In short, make this book a reflection of your ketogenic exploration, and customize it to fit you!

Throughout the book you'll notice text marked by the Technical Stuff icon, as well as sidebars (text in gray boxes). If you're short on time, you can skip both of these kinds of text - they're interesting, but not essential to understanding the topic at hand.

Finally, within this book, you may note that some web addresses break across two lines of text. If you're reading this book in print and want to visit one of these web pages, simply key in the web address exactly as it's noted in the text, pretending as though the line break doesn't exist. If you're reading this as an e-book, you've got it easy - just click the web address to be taken directly to the web page.

Foolish Assumptions

As we wrote this book, we made the following assumptions about you:

• You want to change your diet, lose weight, improve your fitness, or manage some type of medical condition.
• You have control over your and your family's food choices, and you want to encourage your family to enjoy a healthy, low-carb lifestyle.
• You want to minimize processed and unhealthy junk foods and maximize wholesome food choices to feel younger, healthier, and happier.
• You're interested in learning how food choices affect you physically and mentally, but you don't want to get bogged down in all the scientific jargon. You want a summary of what you need to know in plain English.
• You're open to the idea of making lifestyle changes - avoiding certain foods, making sleep a priority, adopting a fitness program - to enhance your quality of life.

Icons Used in This Book

Throughout this book, we use icons (little pictures in the margin) to draw your attention to certain kinds of information. Here are the icons we use, and what they mean:

Whenever you see the Tip icon, you can be sure to find a nugget of information that will make your life on keto easier in some way, big or small.

This book is a reference, which means you don't have to commit it to memory and there won't be a test on Friday. However, sometimes we do tell you something that's so important that you'll want to file it away for future use, and when we do, we mark that information with the Remember icon.

When you see the Warning icon, beware! We're letting you know about a pitfall or danger that you'll want to avoid.

Sometimes we wade into the weeds and tell you something super-technical or scientific. This is the kind of stuff we thrive on, but if you're not as geeky as we are, you can skip this without missing anything essential.

Finally, we use a little tomato icon () to highlight vegetarian recipes in the Recipes in This Chapter lists, as well as in the Recipes at a Glance at the front of this book.

Beyond the Book

In addition to the book you have in your hand, you can access some helpful extra content online. Check out the free Cheat Sheet Keto Diet For Dummies. You can access it by going to www.dummies.com and entering Keto Diet For Dummies in the Search box.

Where to Go from Here

You can read this book from beginning to end, or you can use the table of contents and index to locate the topics you're most interested in right now. If you're not sure where to start, you can't go wrong with Chapter 1. If you'd rather start cooking, head to Part 5, or use the Recipes at a Glance at the start of the book to find the kind of recipe you're looking for, from appetizers to desserts. If you're curious about fasting, Chapter 12 is for you. And if you'd just like a quick reminder of ten great benefits of being in ketosis, head to Chapter 21. Wherever you start, we hope the keto diet is as rewarding for you as it is for us!