What are the foods that you could eat on the keto diet? It turns out, there’s a list of dirty keto foods that can actually increase inflammation, slow weight loss and even cause weight gain. Fortunately, we also have the list of clean keto foods that help you blast fat, feel good, and skyrocket your keto results. We're gonna to break it all down.

As the best selling author of four books & founder of Keto Kamp where our mission is to educate and to inspire 1 billion people, it is my duty to help you succeed in your health goals. 

This is the second article in my ten-part series teaching you how to master keto for results that stick. So if you missed the first part, where we talked about how keto works at the cellular level, we talked about the history of keto and why keto is not a diet but a metabolic process, and so much more. (Here is a link to the first article) I do recommend you go through it because it lays out the framework for keto.

Here, we’re going to talk about the clean keto foods versus the dirty keto foods. Be sure to use this list of healthy keto foods, healthy keto sweeteners and the best way to cook those foods when you head to the grocery store in order to maximize your results 

First, let’s talk about the best and healthiest ways to cook those foods. The best way to cook the foods is also the least way to cook the foods. In other words, we don't want to overdo it. We don't want to overcook our food. So the less you can cook food, the better it's going to be for you because you're going to mitigate against nutrients being lost. Some of the best styles of keto food preparation include, raw, lightly steamed, poached, simmered, boiled, lightly grilled but not charred, sous vide, slow cooking and pressure cooking.

Now, the worst way to cook your keto foods is to over cook your keto foods and you're going to do it with over boiling, barbecuing, burning the meat, blackening the meat, charring the meat, deep frying and microwaving. When you do that, you’re pretty much going to be left with dead carcass. When you eat burned keto meats it's going to create something called advanced glycation end products, which is going to actually age you faster, create more inflammation, and put a stop to your keto results. So let's stay away from these bad methods and stick with the good methods. 

Now that we understand how to cook the foods. Let's talk about these dirty keto foods, the following foods that I'm going to present to you here if you have any of these keto friendly foods in your kitchen, in your cupboard for yourself for your kids, it's time to do an audit and remove them. 

They're going to create massive amounts of inflammation, weight gain and weight loss resistance and lead to a lot of other symptoms. Yes, keep in mind, they're all keto friendly, yet they are not going to get you the right keto results that we want here. 

So the worst offenders of them all are going to be the toxic eight, which are these vegetable oils that are everywhere. As I share each one of these eight oils, I want you to consider this, I interviewed Professor Brian Peskin, who's an MIT researcher. He was on the Keto camp podcast and we were talking about these nasty vegetable oils that a lot of people on keto are eating, and I asked him “Professor Peskin, what is worse for you, eating these cooked vegetable oils every single day on keto or smoking a cigarette every single day?” After looking at the research and he shared that a person who smokes two packs of cigarettes every single day for up to 28 years, their chances of developing lung cancer within those 28 years is about 16%. Then we compare that to somebody who had cooked vegetable oils every single day for about 28 years, their chances of developing cancer or heart disease was 86% Yikes!

Listen, I'm not advocating cigarette smoking, but I am saying we got to be really aware of these toxic eight vegetable oils because they're all keto friendly. They might get you in ketosis, but they're not going to get you the results you want. And here at keto camp, we focus on health at the cellular level.

So take note, these are the ones I want you to look out for in your keto bars, your keto foods, and when you go to restaurants and the grocery store. Canola oil, corn oil, cottonseed oil, soybean oil, safflower oil, sunflower oil, peanut oil, and grapeseed oil. 

Those are the toxic eight right there, do an audit and remove them right away because here's the deal. Your body cannot use these toxic fats for energy they actually get stuck on your cell membrane’s receptor sites. Previously, I shared with you exactly how hormones and nutrients communicate with these receptor sites on your cells. But when you have inflammation, your fat burning hormones cannot deliver the message, causing weight gain, weight loss resistance and other symptoms to occur. Well, these oils create more inflammation than any other food in our diet, even more than sugar!

A study showed that cell membrane inflammation from these rancid fats, that your body cannot use for energy, can last up to 132 days! That is not good for your body. At least your body can burn sugar, unfortunately, it cannot burn these toxic fats. So I encourage you and I hope this inspires you to remove and/or avoid these fats. 

Now that you understand more about the fats to avoid and these dirty keto foods, let's talk about the healthy clean keto foods. Save this information, take it to your grocery store, make the majority of your meals consist of this and you're going to get fat loss, you’re going to feel energetic and you're going to reduce inflammation and feel like a Keto Rockstar. 

I love coconuts and coconut oil, avocados, avocado oil, pastured egg yolks are fantastic, they’re like Mother Nature's multivitamin, grass fed butter, grass fed ghee - delicious, which I actually put in my coffee. I have a video by the way, on the world's healthiest keto fatty cup of coffee in which I outlined the exact recipe (here is a link). I also love cacao butter, MCT oils, brain octane oil from bulletproof, I love extra virgin real olive oil, like my friends over at the fresh pressed olive oil club. They have the best olive oil I've ever tried. 

Here’s a link for a special offer to get a $39 bottle of olive oil for just a $1 

What about seeds and nuts and legumes on a keto diet? My favorite ones are going to be pecans, macadamia nuts, pili nuts, walnuts, sunflower seeds are fantastic, almonds in moderation are great and pine nuts. 

What about the proteins? Well, here's my list of my favorite keto proteins. wild caught fish like trout, salmon, sardines and flounder - excellent, just make sure it's wild over farmed. Grass fed and grass finished beef or lamb, delicious, so good for your cells. Remember, don't overcook them. Also, colostrum collagen protein, bone broth if you can get a high quality bone broth like my friends over at Kettle & Fire, they make one of the best bone broth I've ever tried. 

If you want to get their bone broth for 15% off, go to kettleandfire.com/ketokamp and use ketokamp at checkout for 15% off.

Bone broth is a great way to get some collagen and these specific amino acids that help line the gut and help you assimilate your keto fats even better. I also love pastured duck, pastured geese, hemp protein, and marine collagen. These are all fantastic, healthy keto approved foods.

It's also important to know which keto sweeteners are good for you and which keto sweeteners are going to actually be bad for you. So here is the list of my favorite keto sweeteners. I love erythritol, pure stevia, monkfruit and non GMO dextrose. Those are fine just make sure it's not leading to more cravings for sugar and carbs and you should be okay. 

Now my least favorite keto sweeteners, which by the way are found in a lot of keto bars & protein shakes, require us to look at the ingredients. Here's a list of my non approved keto sweeteners. Xylitol, Maltitol, mannitol, sorbitol, asesullfame potassium, sucralose, aspartame, and saccharine. These sweeteners, yes, they're keto friendly, but they're actually going to create gut dysbiosis which might lead to more inflammation and you not being able to assimilate all the healthy fats you're having on keto, not good. 

I've seen a lot of people who are not getting results on keto. When I asked them if they're consuming any of these ingredients, they do an audit, they find out they are, they remove it, boom, they break through a Keto plateau. So you're starting off now and you're going to understand this right from the start. You're going to be ahead of the Keto curve. 

What about beverages? Well, my favorite keto beverages starts with Zevia as a great alternative to soda and diet soda. Zevia is a carbonated flavored soda but it's sweetened with stevia. You can find Zevia just about anywhere. Here’s a link for the one on Amazon. And of course, I like high quality water, organic shade grown coffee, and tea. Those are all great keto approved beverages for you. 

Lastly, I'm going to share with you a principle, a rule if you will, that if you follow this 2,2,2,2 rule, it's going to help your body start utilizing your fat stores for fuel and help you become a fat burner instead of being a sugar burner. 

So here's the 2,2,2,2 rule, which was developed by my mentor, Dr. Pompa. Starting out right now we want to make sure we're consuming two tablespoons of avocado oil or olive oil, two tablespoons of MCT oil or coconut oil, two tablespoons of grass fed butter or grass fed ghee, and finally, two teaspoons of sea salt. 

Now the question I get asked all the time is, “do you consume this all in one sitting? It sounds like a lot of fat!” The answer is of course, no, It’s not all in one sitting. The goal is to consume it throughout the day. Think about the oils you're using to cook, with your salad dressings, your dips, that's all included. You want to consume that throughout the entire day. That's going to help start teaching your body to start utilizing fat and transitioning to burning fat instead of sugar, effortlessly. This 2,2,2,2 rule will make all the difference for your energy levels and your fat loss. 

I have a question for you. What was your favorite keto food that I mentioned, was it the wild caught fish, the beef, the butter, the coconut oil, which is your favorite keto food - I want to know what your favorite keto food is. Drop a comment down below in the comment section to let me know.  

You may be thinking, why did I include the sea salt in that 2,2,2,2 rule? Well, it is crucial to replenish your electrolytes on the ketogenic diet, especially since day one because it's going to help prevent things like the Keto flu. You might have heard all about the dreaded keto flu. Well guess what? In the next article in this series, I'm going to break down how to prevent the Keto flu how to replenish your electrolytes so you don't get brain fog. You don't feel like crap, but instead you feel like a Keto Rockstar. 

If you'd like to watch the video version of this article, click the link below.

Are you curious about how the Ketogenic diet actually works? What are the real pros and cons?

I’m going to break down the principles of the Ketogenic diet, how to do it the right way, how to do it the wrong way and so much more. As the best selling author of 3 books and founder of Keto Kamp where our mission is to educate and to inspire inspire 1 billion people to lead a healthier & more vibrant lifestyle, I'm excited to share the truth about Keto with you.

It's not a diet, its a process!

First and foremost, Keto is not a diet, keto is a metabolic process and it has been since humanity arrived on the scene. Thats rights, every one of our ancestors' fundamental metabolic process was - ketosis. They didn’t have the luxury of getting on their phones and having the Uber eats driver at their door step 30 minutes later. They were naturally forced into ketosis by their environment so it makes sense that our bodies are hardwired this way. 

When you ask your friends or 'Dr. Google' and they'll say it’s just a fad or trend - well, considering that it’s been around for 2.5 million years - it's not likely going away anytime soon.

Keto is not about eating a bunch of fat - it’s about going low carb enough to teach your body and your cells to choose to burn fat and produce ketones.

When in Rome...

History reminds us, that when Romans encountered people who had seizures - they assumed it was demonic possession. So they would take those individuals and put them in solitary confinement without food or water. Unbeknownst to the romans, they were inadvertently forcing the seized individuals into ketosis which research has shown to help with seizures. 

The famed philosopher, Pythagoras would systematically require his students to fast for 40 days before they could enter his course - they would achieve ketosis and a peak mental state, finally ready to learn. 

In the 1920s researchers recommended a ketogenic lifestyle for children with epilepsy! This along with new emerging research confirms that it has been around and will continue to be because it is a part of our being.

If at first you don't succeed, do it the right way.

The media likes to bash Keto by using bad examples - in which case they’re right, because they're bad examples - that’s when you do it the wrong way - but we’re focused on doing things the right way.

So let me clarify that Ketoacidosis is not the same as ketosis.

Ketoacidosis is a very serious event with significantly high level of ketones, beta hydroxy butyrate over 15, in the blood stream - which could in fact be deadly; however, it is only a cause for concern if you’re type 1 diabetic, which if you're not, then you’ll fall into ketosis looking & feeling great!

Master Physician

Our human bodies are designed to be the number one greatest healer, our personal and personalized internal physician. You are a miracle, a master piece because you are a piece of the Master. Once you understand how it works on the cellular level, with your DNA, with your hormones - and you do it the right way, how I'm going to show you, you're going to achieve extraordinary results. 

Let's go back to biology 101 to find out how Keto works on a cellular level. We're a 70 trillion cell masterpiece and within each and every cell there is a DNA nucleus. Although we cannot change the genes we're born with, the goal is not to change them but to change the expression of those genes. So inside the nucleus you have the mitochondria which uses ATP (adenosine triphosphate) as its gasoline, as well as a lipid bilayer made of protein saturated fat and cholesterol.

That’s right! Every single one of your 70 trillion cells are made up of fat, they love & need fat. In fact, less than 1%  of you body is made up of carbohydrates. Which is why the Ketogenic process is so powerful for your health - you’re literally giving your body and cells the building blocks they need to begin burning fat in order to produce energy and to feel good.

Every cell membrane is fitted with receptor sites, integral membrane proteins which are the center of communication, the orchestra for the symphony that is the human body. These cell receptor sites process hormones, nutrients and oxygen. There are roughly 600 known hormones utilized for fat burning, fat storage, longevity, feel good hormones etc. They're the language of the human body, the chemical messengers, sending signals to the receptor sites as instructions for their respective duties. Thats the way you were designed, you are MAGNIFICENT! 

Communication is Key

Heres the problem, if you're consuming tons of carbohydrates, not doing keto or even doing keto the wrong way then you are creating cellular membrane inflammation. When you create cellular membrane inflammation the hormones are still sending signals, but the receptor sites blunted or blocked. It's as if you were yelling in my face point blank but I cannot hear the message, which means you can be taking the best supplements in the world but their effectiveness is greatly diminished. 

Each of the 70 trillion cells can only choose one of two sources for fuel - sugar in the form of glucose or fat to produce ketones - that's it! When your cells use sugar as their source for fuel, the exchange produces cellular smoke, similar to a truck on the highway, which is not good for the environment, it is not good for your cell's environment either. When you apply the principles I'm about to teach you for doing keto properly, burning fat for fuel to produce ketones, its comparable to a Tesla cruising cleanly down the street. 

The Root of the Problem

When you start reducing cellular inflammation, you'll suddenly start seeing a difference in symptoms like skin issues, diabetes, fatigue, energy levels, weight loss resistance, insulin resistance and so on. Which brings me to my next point: the symptom is not the problem.

If you're overweight right now, I understand. I weighed 80 pounds more than I do right now, I was obese most of my life. I didn't have a weight problem - no one in the history of the world has had a weight problem - it is a weight symptom - being overweight is a symptom of an underlying problem. A crucial point Dr. Berg makes all the time, we don’t lose weight to get healthy, we get healthy to lose weight. How do we get healthy? We do clean Keto, we teach our cells to reduce inflammation and as a side effect we lose weight, we have more energy and live a long healthy vibrant life! So this is how keto works on the cellular level, I hope this makes sense to you.

Brain Fuel

Keto is a very powerful way to teach your cells how to communicate the right way. Did you know babies are continuously in and out of ketosis? Breastmilk is made up of saturated fat, protein and cholesterol, which actually helps in the development of the brain which is 80% fat & cholesterol and even though it is only 2% of our body weight it absorbs 20% of our energy needs! So make sure you’re fueling your brain with the right nutrients - protein, fat and cholesterol.

When you’re in the great land of Ketosis, it is like a superpower. I’m fortunately beyond the weight-loss phase since I went through my transformation, but I continue reaping the rewards and benefits, feeling magnificent, mentally sharp, brain fog - gone, increased capacity to handle stress and the list goes on.

Burning fat is our birth right.

Remember, the caveat is that Keto needs to be done the right way. Keep this in mind when you go on Dr. Google and get 100 million results when searching for keto, you’re looking for the right way to do it. Most results will teach you how to do it wrong, dirty keto, a state of ketosis which can increase inflammation and have you not feeling good. So I want to teach you the dirty keto vs clean keto principles, I want to give you a grocery list and outline it all for you. Get the Keto Blueprint Guide for shopping, 100% free. It includes comprehensive aisle-by-aisle keto diet shopping list, the best fat burning nutrients anyone can find and a complete grocery guide of approved fats, protein and carbohydrates.

For a video explanation, watch the video below.