The often embraced ‘cheat day’ is generally followed to motivate and reward efforts taken for strictly following a certain diet and a well known ketogenic diet is no exception. But is it possible to take an occasional cheat day on your keto diet to splurge on some high-carb foods? Scroll down to know more about ketogenic cheat day.
A low-carb, fat-burning alternative, this diet relies heavily on reducing the intake of net carbs or certain foods in order to enter the body into ketosis. And when these ‘restricted’ items are re-introduced in the form of a cheat meal, it can really impact the body’s fat-burning state.
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Impacts Of Ketogenic Cheat Day On Your Body
- It prevents your body from becoming fat adapted and could slow down any progress made toward weight loss goal.
- Eating a high-carb food, even as an occasional treat, could take you out ketosis.
- Since, your glucose tolerance has depleted on keto, eating cheat meals can also cause blood sugar levels to spike.
- You may experience “keto flu” symptoms (headaches, nausea, fatigue, stomach pain and body aches, brain fog, mood swings etc.) again but that depends upon what kind of keto break you took.
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Should You Cheat On Ketogenic Diet?
No doubt, cheat days, for any diet, come with risks. Because when you cheat, you step backwards and negatively impact any progress that you’ve made with your diet. But any diet that causes physical or emotional deprivation cannot be considered healthy. Right?
So, just try to be as strict as possible to the diet to prevent adverse effects. However, you can incorporate small amounts of carbs to your diet to make your meals feel more manageable.
Best Ways To Implement Ketogenic Cheat Day
Whenever you decide to deviate from your keto meal plan, first take the time to pause, assess the situation, and ask yourself if that particular food is worth it. If you’re still feeling tempted to binge and are not willing to strictly adhere to ketosis, go for a low-carb diet over keto.
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There are a variety of keto-friendly alternatives or low-carb swaps to the foods you love. Like, instead of eating chocolate chip cookies, eat Keto chocolate chip cookies. Instead of eating wheat pasta, eat low-carb zucchini pasta etc. Or you can also create your favourite treats and comfort foods with healthy ingredients with a low net-carb count. Also, keep portions small as this will prevent overeating. A small indulgence may help you stay the course and it would be easier for you to return to a state of ketosis.
But make sure, you don’t waste your cheat meal on a handful of stale tortilla chips or something like that. Eat the foods you miss most, like that special holiday dessert. Try to use keto-friendly sweeteners like erythritol, stevia, and monk fruit and avoid sugar. Sugary cheat meals will fuel sugar addiction and drive future cravings.
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Following a cyclic ketogenic diet also helps. In this diet, you have to follow a strict keto diet for six days a week followed by one ‘high-carb’ day.
Cheat close to exercise or do it on a day where you are going to be more active if you can. Exercise increases insulin sensitivity (your ability to handle carbs), so you can get back into ketosis faster.
Keep in mind, cheat days aren’t a daily thing, so make it rare. Space them out generously. The less you cheat, the less likely you’ll form bad eating habits.
