What do you need in your kitchen to succeed on a keto diet?
Couple, who have lived on high-fat ketogenic diet for six years and co-wrote how-to keto guide BioDiet say consumption of sugar, not fat, should be vilified
Low-carb eating is not always cheap.
“We probably spend about C$60 (US$45) a month on nuts alone,” said David Harper, a kinesiologist and cancer researcher from Canada, who has been on a high-fat ketogenic diet with his wife, Dale Drewery, for six years.
The goal of the keto diet is to enter a metabolic state called ketosis, in which the body breaks down fat for fuel instead of using carbohydrates. It is the same state that is triggered when people starve
Yet Harper believes that buying pricey, keto-diet-friendly staples, such as local grass-fed butter – he pays C$20 per pound (0.45kg) – and rib-eye steaks will pay off for years to come.
“You can pay maybe another buck and a half a day to eat healthier food, but if you don’t do that, the cost in terms of health care is going to be enormous down the road,” he said.
Harper and Drewery recently published a how-to keto guide called BioDiet. In it, the couple describe the food they eat on their high-fat diet and not all ingredients are expensive. They like chicken, eggs and pork, for example, which are not as expensive per pound as nuts, butters and seeds.
“We eat organ meats and that sort of thing, like liver, and those are just really cheap,” Harper said.
He and his wife gave us a rundown of what is on the shelves in their kitchen, and the list shows that the keto diet, when done well, is not a high-protein, bacon-and-cheese-fuelled eating plan.
Not all keto diets are created equal
Keto diets involve a lot of butter, oil and other fats: dieters get more than two-thirds (70 to 80 per cent) of their daily calories from fat, while generally getting no more than 5 per cent from carbs.