Ketogenic diet is very low-carb for your health

Health Tips

The ketogenic diet is very low-carb. The “keto” in a ketogenic diet comes from the fact that when you don’t eat carbs, your liver uses fatty acids to produces ketones. These are small molecules that healthy cells can use for fuel, but cancer cells cannot. Without the glucose it needs, cancer dies.47

If you are a person who craves carbs, following a ketogenic diet will take some willpower. You’ll need to keep your carb intake below 50 grams a day. This means staying away from sugary foods and avoiding starches such as bread, pasta, rice, and potatoes.48

Except for those rules, a ketogenic diet is flexible. There are no calorie restrictions. Simply follow these guidelines:49

Eat Freely

  •    Grass-fed, organic meats
  •    Wild-caught fish
  •    Pastured eggs
  •    Coconut, olive, and avocado oils
  •    Grass-fed, organic butter or ghee
  •    Non-starchy vegetables: leafy greens, radishes, kohlrabi, celery, asparagus, cucumber, summer squashes
  •    Avocado
  •    Raw macadamia nuts
  •    All herbs and spices
  •    Condiments: organic or homemade mayonnaise (soy-free), pesto, mustard
  •    Grass-fed whey protein powder

Eat Occasionally (No more than once a day)

  •    Full-fat, grass-fed organic dairy (plain Greek yogurt, cheese, cream, sour cream)
  •    Nuts: pecans, almonds, walnuts, hazelnuts, pine nuts
  •    Seeds: flaxseed, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds
  •    Berries
  •    Peas
  •    Mushrooms
  •    Onions, garlic, leeks
  •    Cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, turnips, rutabaga
  •    Apples, pears
  •    Okra
  •    Artichokes
  •    Rhubarb
  •    Olives
  •    Extra-dark chocolate
  •    Root vegetables: carrots, beets, parsnips, sweet potatoes
  •    Melon
  •    Dry red or white wine

Avoid completely

  •    All grains: bread, rice, flour, cookies, crackers, pasta, etc.
  •    Sweets: candy, ice cream, cakes, syrup, soft drinks
  •    Factory-farmed meats and fish
  •    Potatoes
  •    Sweet or starchy fruits: banana, mango, pineapple, oranges, grapes
  •    Dried fruit
  •    Soy products
  •    Fruit juices
  •    Processed foods
  •    Artificial sweeteners
  •    Refined oils: sunflower, safflower, soybean, canola, corn oils
  •    High-carb alcohol: sweet wine, beer

Here’s a typical daily ketogenic diet menu:

Breakfast: Two scrambled eggs prepared with butter, two ounces smoked wild salmon, and an avocado.

Lunch: Grilled chicken on top of spinach or another leafy green. Garnish with macadamia nuts and top with your favorite low-carb (not low-cal) dressing.

Snack: Hard-boiled egg, cucumber slices with tuna salad, grass-fed protein shake, or celery sticks with almond butter.

Dinner: Ribeye steak topped with mushrooms and fresh thyme sautéed in olive oil, steamed asparagus.

People fighting cancer typically stay on this diet until they are cancer-free. Cancer survivors, or those trying to prevent cancer, may cycle on and off.

Fred’s wife Gloria was in charge of cooking and supervising what Fred ate while he was on the ketogenic diet.

She noted that ketogenic foods are easy to find in every grocery store. “It’s clean eating. Just very clean eating,” Gloria says. “None of the sugars, the trash foods.”

In less than a year, Fred’s cancer was gone. It’s now been four years. “To this day, there’s no trace of it,” he says.

Fred has no doubt about the effect the ketogenic diet had on his cancer. “It saved my life,” he says plainly.50

Now that his cancer has disappeared, Fred cycles on and off the diet. He says he goes on it once a month for about a week.51