What you CAN’T Eat on the Keto Diet

In the Keto Diet, Primal Lifestyle, and Paleo they all rely on you eating foods that allow your body to feel full as well as giving the right nutrients.

This is particularly true with the Keto diet. Getting to Ketosis is very easily done if you follow the process correctly.

Hopefully you have already checked out our Keto Diet and What to Eat on the Keto Diet articles. If not, pop over and ready them first as they give good background to this article.

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This way of eating can boost your fertility and recommended particularly if you have PCOS. This way of eating aides in weight loss, hormone balance, and insulin balance.

RELATED POST: The Ultimate Guide to PCOS

There are some foods that can absolutely trip you up. They may not even be obvious foods to you, however if you continue to consume them, they will slow down your weight loss – and nobody wants that!

If we focus in on the Keto Diet, there are very specific things that you should focus on eating.

Let’s look at what you should NOT eat, or actually just avoid. I don’t like telling myself that I cannot have something as it just makes me what the food item more. It is a mindset, tell yourself that these foods do not serve your weight loss and you deserve better than to eat these.

As you probably already know, on the Keto Diet you need to eat 75% fat, 20% protein and 5% carbs. Carbohydrates must be kept to a very low percentage to remain in ketosis.

Right, so here are the foods that I highly suggest avoiding if you would like to boost your fertility and lose weight by staying in ketosis:

Fruit

But fruit is healthy isn’t it?

Well, yes it is healthy. However, if you are trying to achieve ketosis then fruit does not actually help you do this. Fruit is full of sugar and carbohydrates – the opposite of what you will be wanting to eat for ketosis.

This is very confusing, especially for beginner ketosis dieters. We are commonly told that fruit is fantastic for us and essential to eat to keep healthy. This is true for some people. This is not true if you want to get your body to ketosis.

If you love fruit and want to keep it in your diet, then berries are your best choice. Don’t go crazy on them, eat these in moderation.

Blackberries are fantastic, they are full of vitamin A and C and offer some of the highest levels of antioxidants. Try to have any fruit at the beginning of your day so that your body has many hours to burn the sugars off. Also, by adding the fruit to your smoothie with fat and protein your body consumes the sugars more evenly!

RELATED POST: What you CAN eat on the Keto Diet

Grains

It is a misconception that whole grains can be amazing for your body. This is true to some degree… although the amount of pesticides and processing that happens to grains now days, I would be reluctant to say that any whole grains are 100% pure.

When I talk about grains, I am talking about wheat, barley, oats, rice, corn, quinoa, bulgur, sprouted grains, buckwheat, etc, etc. You may be surprised at quinoa and bulgur and buckwheat… and I have to be honest, I do eat these sometimes. And the key to that sentence is ‘sometimes’.

This is not a daily food, it is a 1-2 times a week as part of 5% of my meal. I particularly love quinoa (due to it being gluten free).

Giving up grains (especially gluten filled grains) can have a significant impact on your body. Such as, huge reductions in PMS, reduced sugar cravings, improved energy levels, increase fertility, balance hormones, better digestion, significantly reduced period pain, lessened symptoms of menopause, regulation of bowel motions, clearer skin. Who doesn’t want these things!

I actually find that giving up grains can very difficult. Our traditional way of eating always has some kind of grain with it. It is so easy to pick up some toast on the way out of the door.

Cutting out grains is often about being more prepared and organized so you don’t resort back to toast but instead have time to make a smoothie.

Legumes and Beans

Both legumes and beans have high nutrition values, however they also have high carbohydrate content. This means that they are not a good idea to consume while trying to achieve ketosis.

However, if you have occasionally this is OK (coming back to my above statement of not cutting foods out 100% because this leads to binging!). If you have beans, try to go for black or kidney due to their high nutritional values.

Alcohol

I know, you were hoping that alcohol would not feature on this list. Most people do not want to cut alcohol out. However, alcohol will slow down ketosis, it is that simple.

This is due to high carbohydrate content in many alcoholic drinks. Wine, especially dessert wine contains lots of carbohydrates and sugar!

Beer is the same in most cases. Do your homework first so you are not disappointed.

If you are serious about weight loss or increasing fertility, I would highly suggest cutting down if not totally removing alcohol from your diet.

If you are reading this and thinking that this would be impossible for you to do, it might be wise to reflect on what alcohol represents to you and look to other things to fill this void.

Starchy Vegetables

This is another perfect example of how we cannot say that ‘all vegetables’ are good for us. This is often what we were told growing up, and likely what you tell your own children.

This is not true. Vegetables that grow under the ground are likely to be full of carbohydrates. Vegetables grown above the ground are more likely to be leafy and green and contain less carbohydrates.

Please remember, high starch means high carbohydrate. For example 1 medium potato is likely to contain 1oz of carbohydrates. This is higher than your daily allowance on the Keto Diet. Very interestingly corn contains more sugar than potatoes, yet corn is used in so many foods now days, so read the labels!

The main starchy vegetables that I would suggest avoiding are:

• Sweet potato (I know! I love sweet potato too)
• Potato
• Parsnips
• Peas
• Corn

I believe that carrots (for me) sit outside of these starchy underground vegetables. One carrot is likely to have ¼ of your daily carbs.

I like to have a carrot with cucumber or celery for a morning tea snack. I am confident in this snack and know that it serves my body well.

Bringing it all together

Please keep the purpose that you have for going keto in the front of your mind when you are choosing what to eat in the moment. If it is weight loss, health, or fertility, this purpose or goal will hold you accountable to yourself.

These above foods are only guidelines for you. It is very important to listen to your own body. Your body may not be able to verbally talk to you, but it certainly gives you signs when it is or is not happy with your food choices.

Tune into your own body, this is the best way that you will find health and happiness.

Remember to try your best at sticking to the ketosis, but also don’t restrict or dis-empower yourself by telling yourself you “can’t” have something. This is not helpful in the long term. Instead ask yourself ‘how is this helping me achieve my goals?’.

Let your own goals and body guide your weight loss and fertility journey.