I get it. Keto is all the rage and everyone and their second cousin twice removed is doing it to lose fat.
Here's the thing....
Unless you have a severe autoimmune condition, YOU DO NOT NEED TO DO KETO!
Carbs are an essential macronutrient!
Here is everything that carbohydrates do for our body:
- Regulate hormones
- Provide our brain, blood cells, and tissues with the glucose they require to function optimally
- Fuel our workouts for optimal performance
- Help us recover from workouts and prevent muscle breakdown
- Provide the micronutrients we need to fuel our bodies from a cellular level (considering we should be getting majority of our carb intake from fruits and veggies)
Now, the amount of daily dietary carbs each person needs to take in is determined on the individual and their lifestyle. It completely depends on how much you weigh, what your activity level is, and what your overall caloric intake is.
A solid tip for optimizing your carb intake is eat your starchiest carbohydrate foods (potatoes, squash, rice) before and after your workouts. Carb timing can make a huge difference when it comes to fat loss, muscle gain, and your performance in workouts.
List of healthy carbs:
Rice
Oatmeal
Fruits
Vegetables
Less healthy carbs that I don't recommend eating as often but still get the job done:
*You should still look for the best quality product in each of these foods
Bread
Pasta
Quinoa
Beans
Carbs make people happy. Eat the damn carbs. Just take 'er easy and eat the right carbs!