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If you haven’t tried out the Keto Diet, you might want to add it to your New Year’s Resolution consideration list. As with any diet, Keto is not an “easy, lose weight quick scheme.” It requires a lot of work, self-control and patience, but it can give you noticeable results, fast – if you do it right.
The Keto Diet, or Ketogenic Diet, involves controlling your nutrients in a way that puts you into Ketosis, which is a metabolic state in which your body burns fat rather than carbs. You get to this state by severely limited your carb intake.
It is an attractive diet to many people because it takes no more than a month to get the results you want, and in that time you can still eat fats. So cheese, steak, wine and even some kinds of chocolate are still on the table. But, this contrasting levels of freedom and control between fats and carbs can lead people on the Keto Diet to make one very bad mistake, that actually harms your metabolism.
The most common mistake people make while on the Keto Diet is not getting enough water. Though it seems like the simplest mistake to avoid, it is actually more common than you might think. When you’re on the Keto Diet, you actually need more water than you would without the diet, and most people don’t remember to up their hydration. Plus, in focusing so much on the carb intake, many people meal plan rigidly and don’t remember to leave time for other necessities to their diet.
Not getting enough water is dangerous for your overall health, metabolism and digestion - especially when you’re dieting.
The drastic decrease in carbohydrate intake on the ketogenic diet can cause shifts in your fluid and electrolyte balance. Carbs are stored along with water in the body, so as these stores are depleted, that water is lost along with them,” says Alyssa Tucci, RDN, nutrition manager at Virtual Health Partners, told Everyday Health.
If you’re going to try out the Keto Diet, just be sure to prioritize drinking water to help speed your metabolism and curb your appetite. Though any drinks with added sugar are not allowed with this diet, you can try a squeeze of lemon in your water to boost flavor.
