Fitness Savvy
Are you attempting to engage in the latest weight-loss and nutrition fad? The ketogenic diet is the trend, especially among athletes who want to bulk up while reducing weight.
We know of keto as a popular dietary method that helps individuals lose weight. Certain supplements support a ketogenic diet to ensure that the average nutrients are still maintained.
Furthermore, the diet itself involves eating foods containing high fat-like proteins while decreasing the consumption of foods rich in carbohydrates. We have what we call the ketosis approach. This type of approach is when the stored fat in your body is broken down into ketone substances. The body now utilizes fats as a source of energy instead of carbohydrates or sugar.
Although such a method produces many benefits to your health, it still needs to be supported by supplements since it restricts other food groups, resulting in deficiencies of certain nutrients. Below are the essential supplements used in keto diets.
Branch-Chain Amino Acids (BCAA)
BCAA is a group of amino acids, namely leucine, isoleucine, and valine, and are energy sources for your muscles. They function as substrates to produce protein and fat. Also, they mainly help enhance muscle metabolism and the development of muscle tissue protein, which explains why athletes and bodybuilders intake supplements rich in bcaa.
Other benefits include boosting appetite, lessening fatigue from exercise, and treating diabetes and brain disorders. These benefits are often found in whey, milk, nuts, corn, and rice. However, when consumed excessively, they can lead to health dangers such as heart diseases.
Before taking BCAA supplements, consult your doctor first and inform them of all the supplements you are currently taking to identify if it’s safe and appropriate for you. Before getting started with these kinds of supplements, there are restrictions to be aware of, so it is essential to seek advice from reliable sources.
Electrolyte Supplements
They are known as minerals, and examples of these are sodium, potassium, magnesium, and calcium. Their primary function is to provide electrical charges into your body to allow your nervous system to function correctly.
Out of the mentioned electrolytes, most people undergoing the keto diet are deficient in potassium, sodium, and magnesium, which are brought by the increase in insulin. The kidneys would now tend to excrete the electrolytes through urination.
Fruits like bananas contain potassium. However, people on a keto diet naturally avoid them since they are also rich in carbohydrates. The same goes for salty, commercially-produced food. However, if the body doesn’t meet the standard electrolyte requirements, it may lead to symptoms like fatigue, insomnia, headache, or keto flu.
Electrolyte supplements are necessary to restore the balance of nutrients, precisely the appropriate amount of electrolytes in the body.
Knowing your dietary intake well is highly recommended. By this, we mean you should be aware of the exact amount of each electrolyte you have to intake. Furthermore, reading supplement labels is essential to avoid exceeding the recommended electrolyte levels.
Omega-3 Fatty Acid Supplements
These are types of polyunsaturated fatty acids that are common in fish, nuts, and eggs. They are also known to provide health benefits like regulating blood flow, memory improvement, and decreasing chronic heart diseases and stroke.
Moreover, they come in many types, such as Eicosapentaenoic acid or EPA and Docosahexaenoic acid or DHA, that balance triglyceride levels. These lipids are one of the significant causes of heart diseases.
Since they come from many food sources, omega-3 intake should depend on the diet, but even a gram would be considered a lot. So, it is best to know the fatty acid origins of the supplement, especially since some come from different sources, such as oils, seeds, algae, or even meat.
Vitamin D Supplements
Vitamin D is important to an individual undergoing a keto diet since it regulates most of the genes in the body, to the point it could be considered a hormone. It is responsible for bone and cell growth and is an immunity booster and calcium absorber.
Thus, Vitamin D intake should be of significant importance since it could lead to serious health problems like cancer and diabetes. The recommended amount of Vitamin D is between 1,500 to 2,000 IU a day, so it is best to rely on supplements to meet it.
To Wrap It Up
Now that tons of people are into the keto diet, many supplements are produced and released everywhere, claiming to address nutrient deficiencies. It is only fitting to know the types of nutrients you need to focus on when deciding to undergo a new dietary method.
But although these supplements may be beneficial to your health, it doesn’t always mean that it is effective and safe for you specifically. You have to consider your current health condition. Are you suffering from any disease that a supplement can affect? Consult a doctor or a dietician before going straight into a keto diet and taking supplements.
