How NOT to Eat a Keto Diet: 5 Mistakes to Avoid

A ketogenic diet is often called restrictive because of all the delicious high-carb things you can't eat, like real pizza, pasta, and even tropical fruits. But here's a hard truth: eating is always restrictive in some way or another. You're either forcing a restriction of a food source, like veganism is restricting animal-based foods, restricting overall quantity, like caloric restriction, or you're restricting something much more valuable: your health. Sure, you can take the YOLO, you only live once, approach and eat whatever whenever, but what you ultimately restrict then is your health. Whether it happens quickly or insidiously over time. If you don't place some restrictions around your food, you'll eventually pay a tax in health. At least if you're living like a normal human being in today's modern food ecosystem, which is quite toxic if you haven't noticed. Yeah, that's a hard truth, but don't bury your head in the sand. Face it. And if you're here, you're probably interested in restricting carbs and trying a ketogenic diet, which can be a powerful metabolic health tool for many people. It certainly was for me. Restricting carbs and going keto helped put my inflammatory bowel disease into lasting remission and gave me the freedom to live life without the constant fear of a spontaneous attack of excruciating gut pain and bloody diarrhea. Sorry if that's too much information, but I'll double down on that because I think sharing stories is important. One vivid memory that sticks in my mind: the swarm of butterflies in my stomach that I felt as I walked toward the stage to give my valedictory address at my college graduation. It was a moment I was excited about, but I was also secretly in a UC flare. And as I approached the podium, I felt this gurgle and a twist in my gut. And for a terrifying moment, I genuinely feared I was about to run red, have bloody diarrhea, in front of 11,000 people, recorded and on camera. Luckily I didn't, but I could have. And yeah, bread isn't nearly as tempting when that could be the bread tax. So do I miss a good focaccia? Yes I do, but not that much. So let's get into it, how not to do keto. Number 1: Don't eat too often. One goal of a ketogenic diet is generally to lower your insulin levels. This unlocks fat burning and ketosis. And while carbs are public enemy number one when it comes to spiking insulin, in general, eating spikes insulin. So that wisdom about eating 5 small meals per day to curb your appetite? Toss it in the bin with the Pop-Tarts. It's rubbish. Although, to be honest, it always was rubbish advice. On keto, you're teaching your body to burn fat as fuel, including your own body fat, so between meals, your body should be able to tap in to to body fat stores, and this will become easier as you fat adapt. Give it at least 6 weeks. Try to stick to 2 main meals per day. I personally like the 16:8 eating pattern, which means I fast for 16 hours per day, including sleep, and eat within an 8-hour window each day, like between 10:30 AM and 6:30 PM, or something similar. Some people prefer an 18:6 or 24 eating pattern, or even just eating 1 meal per day. The core principle is to enjoy fewer, larger meals. You're not grazing like a gazelle, but feasting like a lion. Thus far, I've made a big and possibly incorrect assumption that weight loss is a goal for you on a ketogenic diet, and that's not always true. It certainly wasn't for me. And if you struggle with getting your energy needs in 1 or 2 main meals, additional meals or high-calorie snacks can be a useful tool. My top 4 tips to add calories to a ketogenic diet, where that's the goal, include using macadamia butter and nuts, homemade mayonnaise, and you can have tons of variety of that, it's one of my favorites, keto bricks, which you can check out more information on in this video, and homemade fat bombs, and I'll list a link to some of my favorites in the video notes. But that actually brings us to 2 on what not to do on a ketogenic diet. Avoid keto snacks. A bit of pithy wisdom is KETO, all caps, isn't keto. So if you read a "KETO" label at the store, treat it kind of like a caution slippery floor sign because you might end up falling flat on your metabolic face. Here are a couple examples. This Nature Own keto bread. Its first ingredient is flour, just basic flour. It also includes cornmeal, wheat gluten, and just a dash of sugar. I wouldn't trust that nutrition label as far as I could throw a hippo. Or example 2: most store-bought keto ice creams. These are either not truly low carb or are loaded with sugar alcohols problematic sweeteners and additives and/or oils. One ingredient particularly worth mentioning when it comes to keto ice cream is erythritol, commonly found in high doses in keto-labeled ice cream. And some data suggests that erythritol can promote blood clots and negatively impact cardiovascular health at high consumption levels consistent with those in keto ice creams. Now, the data aren't perfect, but they're good enough for me to apply the precautionary principle And that brings us to the topic of 3: What to avoid on a ketogenic diet. Artificial sweeteners. In general, I am not a fan of artificial sweeteners like aspartame, saccharin, and sucralose. Each has its own problems, including potential effects on mental health, microbiome disruption, or insulin resistance. Again, the data aren't perfect, and if you want more, you can check out these papers and these videos. But the data are good enough and concerning enough for me to again apply the precautionary principle and just avoid them. In addition to the published literature, I also do respect cumulative, consistent, or even just interesting anecdotes, like cases where sugar cravings return with a vengeance when artificial sweeteners are added back to the diet. Better options, and there are better options, include natural sweeteners: allulose, monk fruit, stevia, and dulce sweetener—you can check out this video for more on that—are all decent options. The universe of sweet molecules is complex, but a good starting heuristic is nix the artificial sweeteners. Number 4 to avoid: eating too lean. Another common pitfall is going low-carb but retaining and staying attached to like some fat phobia, gravitating towards low-carb, low-fat diets like boiled chicken breast with steamed broccoli or egg whites and fat-free yogurt. That's not sustainable. That's called a crash diet. So don't fear fat. Fatty fish like SMASH fish—salmon, mackerel, anchovy, sardine, and herring—whole eggs, avocados, olives, raw nuts and seeds, and yes, fatty cuts of meat and bacon are on the table. That said, a general guiding principle: if weight loss is the goal, avoid drinking your calories or adding copious amounts of liquid fat, like Bulletproof coffee and olive oil soup, which is kind of like what some of my plates look like. However, I will say this is a "your mileage may vary" sort of thing. Some people find butter or cream in coffee is very helpful as a tool, while others don't. So when it comes to drinking or slurping your fats, I'd really just say Know thyself. But in summary of this point 4, here are 4 words: don't fear the yolk. And to help you remember that, meet Colleen. You can guess why she's named that in the comments. Okay, moving on. 5. Don't keto alone. The hardest thing about a ketogenic diet, or any diet for that matter, isn't the dietary restriction per se, but the social aspect. The social restriction. So find a support group before you start or early on in your journey. It makes all the difference. There are Facebook groups, communities on X, formerly Twitter, or even just sharing elements of your journey in the comments to this video. In fact, I encourage you to do so. If you're a keto newbie or keto curious, drop a comment to this video starting with "I am a keto newbie and..." and I promise you, you'll get responses from this community. Our community. So that's what I have for you today. Let me know your further thoughts and questions. And subscribe to become part of this community. As the veterans of this channel can tell you, we dive deep into all matters metabolic health, microbiome, light therapy, carbs, sugar, exercise, neuroscience, et cetera. Sometimes things get very technical, enough so that even doctors and PhD scientists can learn something, or even sometimes get lost and confused. I promise you, you can push your knowledge here with us. This channel is no cakewalk, but I will always try my best to step back and give you practical takeaways, pique your curiosity, and create an overall intellectual ecosystem that pushes you to learn. All I ask in return is that you appreciate that the most liberating and anti-restrictive thing in the world is human curiosity and a passion for learning. I want to cultivate that here with you, especially about learning about your health. So stay curious, and I hope this was helpful. Have a great day.