No doubt you’ve probably heard about the ketogenic diet. Unlike many diet plans that come and go, ketogenic eating has been around for many years. It comes with some pretty big health claims – for good and bad.
Most nutrition plans and diets have a right way and a wrong way to be implemented.
Yes, you can eat fully vegan, vegetarian, ketogenic or high protein without ever actually eating whole-food product. Many of the commercially-available “health” foods on the market today don’t actually contain any whole foods, fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, or seeds. And, technically, many cookies, chips, crackers and other processed junk foods are “vegan” because they don’t contain or use animal products in the production process – but that doesn’t mean they’re healthy.
Are these eating plans healthy or doing anything positive for your body? Absolutely not. Living on cheese and bacon or pre-packaged “vegan” food products does not provide your body with real nutrition, fiber, antioxidants and all of the amazing life-giving nutrition from whole plants.
Whole food, plant-based eating
When eating real nutrition, you’ll want to consume whole foods. When consuming whole foods, you can implement strategies from many nutrition plans to customize the macro-ratios for your body and your goals. It is absolutely possible to eat a plant-based diet and follow a ketogenic way of eating.
Plant-based ketogenic foods
The basic premise of this way of eating is to fill up on healthy, whole vegetables that are loaded with antioxidants, phytonutrients, fiber, vitamins, and minerals and add in healthy plant-based sources of fat. This way of eating will reduce the intake of fruits, starchy vegetables and tubers and will focus more on leafy greens, cruciferous vegetables, nuts, seeds, and other plant-based fats like avocado and coconut.
To learn more about this plant-based ketogenic way of eating, check out Pittsburgh-based functional medicine practitioner Will Cole, IFMCP, DC and his book Ketotarian.
Keto-friendly plant-based food examples:
Fats: coconut oil, full-fat coconut milk, coconut cream, MCT oil, extra virgin olive oil, avocado oil, coconut butter, avocado, pumpkin seed oil, macadamia nut oil, walnut oil
Nuts/Nut butters: macadamia, pecans, Brazil nuts, walnuts, hazelnuts, almonds.
Vegetables: broccoli, asparagus, zucchini, mushrooms, cauliflower, cabbage, brussels sprouts, celery, boy ahoy, all leafy greens
Fruits: blackberries, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries
Seeds: hemp, flax, chia, pumpkin or squash seeds
Flours: coconut, almond
Minimize starchy vegetables, wheat and most grains, most fruits, and all juices, soda and sports drinks.
Click here to get my comprehensive 15 page Plant-Based Keto Food and Recipes guide free!
