The ketogenic, or low-carb diet, which involves consuming a very low amount of carbohydrates and replacing them with fat to help your body burn fat for energy, helps in weight loss. This diet popularised across the world has various health benefits, which include lowered risk for certain diseases.

The keto diet is also beneficial against diabetes, cancer, epilepsy, and Alzheimer’s disease. And so, according to Alia Bhatt’s nutritionist, Dr. Siddharth Bhargava, who has been advising the actor on her diet, there are a few do’s and don’ts that you must prioritise when it comes to keto.

Dr. Bhargava says food that is high in carbs should be completely eliminated. This includes:

Foods that are high in sugar, like soda, fruit juice, smoothies, cake, ice cream, and candy should be totally cut off from your daily meals. Apart from sugar, substitutes like jaggery and honey are also totally off-limits when following a keto diet.

To stay well, you may need around 50 grams of carbs daily. If you are following a keto diet, eat foods with high levels of fat and very low levels of carbohydrates like bread, beans, and legumes.

According to Dr. Bhargava, one of the best rules to follow in a keto diet is to avoid different coloured vegetables. Keto-friendly veggies are those with leaves—all types of lettuce, spinach, and other greens.

Green vegetables are lower in carbs than veggies with a lot of colour.

One of the major aspects of the keto diet is that you must not starve, as the high-fat content typically leads to increased satiety and a reduced appetite. It can make your body enter ketosis, where it burns fat for energy instead of carbohydrates. And so, you should not experience significant hunger pangs when properly following the diet.

Fruits are among the best foods you can eat for your overall health. While they are loaded with nutrition and have various benefits, Dr. Bhargava says they do have an issue when you are following the keto diet.

Grapes and bananas have the highest quantity of carbs; a cup has approximately 26 grams and a medium banana has 24 grams of carbohydrate. And so they should be avoided.

Dr. Bhargava says low levels of salt can cause keto flu—a set of short-term symptoms like lethargy, fatigue, and irritation that can occur when you first start the keto diet. When on a low-carb diet, your levels go down and your body starts shedding excess sodium and water along with it. However, sodium is a crucial electrolyte, and its low levels can become problematic when your kidneys dump too much of it.

The best way to avoid this issue is to add more sodium to your diet. You can do this by salting your foods, but if that doesn’t suffice, try drinking a cup of broth every day.

Most people get the majority of their calories from dietary carbs like sugars and grains. However, when you remove this source from your diet—since you follow keto—there is a need to replace it with something else. Some people believe that cutting out fats on a low-carb diet will make your diet even healthier, which is a big mistake.

If you do not consume carbs—you must compensate with fat or less, it can lead to hunger and inadequate nutrition.

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