Best Keto Supplements
A keto diet prescribes cast-iron nutrition based on a law that can be simply described as low carbs, high fats, medium protein. The proportions would be around 70% fat, 25% protein, and 5% carbohydrates, all this to trick the start of a process in our organism known as ketosis. The main objective of those who follow this kind of diet is to lose weight, although there are other reasons as valid, such as wanting to improve fitness performance.
However, keto dieters have to be extremely careful. Well-planned nutrition is essential but especially important in cases in which you are forced to eliminate certain foods from your diet. Such is the reason why supplements are key in integrating your nutrition and making sure you are getting all the nutrients your body needs. Our article will focus on the importance of ketogenic supplements, their benefits, and the best keto pills and other products you can buy to feel energized and well.
Why Should You Take Keto Diet Supplements
Providing You with Essential Nutrients
They replenish your organism with important nutrients that could be difficult for you to integrate otherwise. It could be hard to balance the right amount of carbs and fats while keeping vitamins, magnesium, Omega 3, and other minerals, so assuming them separately through pills or powders to mix into your drink is a good way to maintain the right amount of nutrients in the blood.
Reducing Adverse Symptoms
Keto supplements help reduce adverse symptoms typically known as “keto flu”. When you start on your keto diet journey, you could experience some symptoms: headache, foggy brain, fatigue, irritability, and nausea, which disappear after a few days on a keto diet. However, these could be significantly reduced if you take some ketosis supplements.
Enhancing Physical Performance
Supplements for keto diets can enhance your physical performance. The more vitamins and minerals circulate in your bloodstream and organism, and the more your body will feel strong, energized, and active. Moreover, keto supplements can help you lose weight because they often increase the feeling of fullness after eating, something we will see more in detail below.
Supplements to Take on Keto
Now that we have seen the importance of integrating your diet with all the necessary nutrients let’s try to better understand what vitamins to take on keto and the best ketone supplements.
Vitamine D
We start with this one because, despite its deficiency is not directly linked with a keto diet, it is still one of the main vitamins we all fail to take care of. Vitamin D deficiency is very common; therefore, it is always useful to take a supplement and raise the amount of the precious vitamin in your body.
This vitamin is so scarce, and many people find it difficult to integrate it with their diet because it primarily comes from direct exposition to the sunrays. Try running a blood test to determine your vitamin D levels, and speak with a doctor or nutritionist to determine what the proper dosage would be based on the results.
Vitamin D is fundamental for your body for a variety of reasons. One of the main ones is the absorption of calcium, in which such vitamin plays a key role as it facilitates the whole process. On a keto diet, calcium could be one element lacking, therefore having enough vitamin D will help you better absorb the little calcium to take.
Another great benefit coming from vitamin D is its support to the immune system and cells. A good quantity of the vitamin in your blood helps regulate cell growth, strengthen your bones, and lower inflammation.
MCT Oil
MCT is an acronym standing for Medium-Chain Triglycerides. It is particularly important for keto and low-carb dieters because they are metabolized differently from other types of fat, like the Long-Chain Triglycerides. Basically, after being broken down by the liver, they enter the blood and are quickly used as energy sources for your entire body, including the brain and muscles.
You have several options when it comes to taking MCT oil. Some products, like coconut oil, provide a good percentage of MCT (about 17%), so you can use it to obtain most of the benefits MCT gives to your body. However, there is an even better product, MCT oil, made by isolating the MCT contained in coconut or palm oil, which proves to be a perfect keto supplement.
As briefly anticipated before, MCT has been proven by extensive research to increase the feeling of fullness after a meal, thus preventing us from over-eating and greatly helping us in our quest for weight loss. Use the keto supplement mixed with shakes or smoothies, or fill a spoon with it and take it simply as that.
Magnesium
Magnesium is one of the most important minerals in our body. It helps with joint and muscular pain, supports the immune system, and regulates sugar levels in the bloodstream. Because of our nutrition, which is based more and more on processed foods and lacks fresh ingredients, oftentimes people find themselves deficient in magnesium. For people following a keto diet, things can get even more difficult because many of the foods containing high magnesium levels are high in carbs, for example, fruit and legumes.
For all these reasons, a magnesium supplement can be truly beneficial to you. Not only will it help you in the ways described above, but it will also support you during your physical activities because of its ability to reduce cramps and pain, as well as to treat the common keto flu symptoms.
Before ending this section on magnesium, here is a list of some foods low in carbs, so perfect for your keto diet but high in this mineral. Before taking a keto supplement, consider integrating these into your diet.
- Spinach
- Avocado
- Seeds
- Fish, like mackerel
- Chard
Omega 3
When it comes to ketosis, taking great amounts of fatty nutrients is fundamental to start the process. Omega 3 is one of those nutrients, and taking a supplement of it will benefit your health in various ways thanks to the high concentration of fatty acids, eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA).
The importance of an Omega 3 supplement also lies in the fact that people don’t generally consume many foods high in this nutrient, like fish, whereas they consume much more Omega 6 acids through food like oil. A disbalance in these two nutrients can lead to inflammation and higher levels of insulin.
If you are on a ketogenic diet, you can either choose to implement more keto-friendly foods like fish (salmon, sardines, anchovies) or go for a quality supplement that should have at least 500 mg of EPA and DHA per 1000 mg of serving. The higher quantity of Omega 3 in your bloodstream will balance the Omega 3-Omega 6 ratio, thus helping you maintain good health and energy on a daily basis, as well as keeping your heart free from heart disease risk factors.
Electrolyte Supplements
Minerals are as important as vitamins, but you may not take the necessary amount of minerals to feel the best way possible at the beginning of your keto journey. As your body adapts to the low levels of carb in the metabolism and transitions fully to a ketosis state, it will experience a significant water loss.
With water, sodium, potassium, and other minerals go away as well, resulting in the infamous keto flu with symptoms like fatigue, cramps, and headaches. If to this, we add that, in the case of physical activity, the liquid loss is even greater, it is clear to everyone that supplementing your organism with electrolyte pills or powders is quite important.
In addition to changing your nutrition habits a bit, like adding sodium through your diet by salting foods, taking an electrolyte supplement will ensure you have all the right amounts of minerals in your body, including sodium, potassium, and magnesium.
Greens Supplements
Vegetables are important. We all know that our mums told us that so many times we are tired of hearing it. The reality, though is, we don’t take it very seriously. Our nutrition has changed much in the last few decades, bringing us closer to processed meals and farther from fresh, natural food. It might be more difficult for keto dieters to combine the necessity of eating low carb while including enough veggies in the diet. Even though it is important to find a balance in this sense, sometimes it might seem impossible to you.
In those periods of time when you are perhaps too busy to live and want to go for a quick and easy option, then a supplement might be the right option for you. However, remember, no matter how simply taking a pill is, try to find the time to integrate enough true, fresh vegetables into your diet. Your body will be forever thankful.
Enough of mum-talk, let’s see what these green supplements are made of. Most of them come in the form of powders, which you can mix into your drinks and smoothies. These usually contain a mix of vegetables like spinach, broccoli, kale, and more. If taken in addition to a diet rich in veggies, then these keto supplements will turn you into a true Popeye.
Best Keto Supplements Brands
Even though it is impossible to list them all, and surely we will miss some high-quality names, to guide you in your choice of supplements, here you have a few brands which distinguish themselves in quality, using mostly natural products, plant-based, oftentimes vegan, and free from toxic elements, non-GMO and with no sugar added.
- NOW Foods
- Perfect Keto
- Nutiva Organic
- Vega Vitamins
- Kiss My Keto
- Ketolabs
- Viva Naturals
- Vitamin Bounty
Final Things to Take Into Consideration
As you can see, planning a well-rounded and balanced diet is not always an easy task, especially if you want to achieve a state of ketosis through your nutrition. You might have asked yourself many times: what supplements should I take on a ketogenic diet? The answers are many and varied because much depends on you and the way you eat.
In concluding our article, we suggest you do a blood test to understand where your deficiencies are and behave consequently. There is never a single best keto supplement. Instead, oftentimes the solution is a combination of supplements to help you achieve a generally good level on all nutrients, vitamins, and minerals.
You can reach this either by including more varied foods in your diet, rich in the nutrients your body is lacking or by taking pills or mixing supplement powder to your drinks to obtain more or less the same effect. However, you have to be extremely careful: many products on the market do not meet safety standards and contain harmful ingredients that may worsen the problem. Always do your research before buying a supplement, and talk to an expert in nutrition as soon as doubts arise.
Also, remember that fresh food will always be better than supplements in a jar. Do not take keto supplements thinking they magically solve all your problems; plan your diet well, and then think about getting some supplements to enhance your physical performance and improve your body’s health and general well-being.