Dr. Josh Axe - Keto Diet: Your 30-Day Plan to Lose Weight, Balance Hormones, Boost Brain Health, and Reverse Disease

I n my twenty years of helping patients, friends, and family improve their health, one of the facts about diet that surprises them most is that fat is critical to the human body and carbohydrates play a minor role. Weve been duped into believing that carbs are good and fat is bad. Im here to tell you: Thats not true. Of the three macronutrients that food containsfat, protein, and carbohydratescarbs are the only one known by scientists and doctors to be nonessential.

For proof you need look no further than your own body. If we exclude water, the average human body is made up of 73 percent fat, 25 percent protein, and 2 percent carbs. See that ratio? Mostly fat. Almost no carbs. Fat is crucial for the optimal functioning of the 37 trillion cells in your body. It protects your organs, supplies energy to your body and brain, and plays a vital role in hormone signaling, including insulin, estrogen, and testosterone. Not only that, but approximately 60 percent of your brain and nervous system is made up of fat, and 25 percent of that is cholesterol. And at just three pounds, a fraction of your overall weight, your brain utilizes 20 percent of your bodys metabolic energy and oxygen.

In this book, Im going to show you how consuming more fat and fewer carbsthe opposite of what youve always been toldis the dietary strategy that can transform your health. In my functional medicine clinic, Ive seen proof that the unique high-fat, very-low-carb approach I describe in Keto Diet can change peoples lives.

One patients doctor prescribed a no-fat diet for heart disease. By the time he came to me, his hair was thinning, his muscles were wasting, and his liver was failing. I put him on a high-fat ketogenic diet and his hair grew back, his muscle mass rebounded, and his cardiovascular system became so healthy he was able to go off all his heart medications.

Another patient had been struggling with infertility for years, the result of hormones that were badly out of whack. She had hypothyroidism and polycystic ovary syndrome. I prescribed a strict thirty-day keto diet, followed by a less regimented keto cycling plan. Two months later, her hormones were healthyand she was pregnant.

I consulted with an MD friend who was diagnosed with cancer of the spine. His doctors had told him his only hope was chemo, and even then, his prognosis was grim. I suggested he try a strict ketogenic diet. That was eight years ago. Hes been cancer-free ever since.

My keto diet program has worked for hundreds of my patients, and it can work for you, too. But first you need to forget most of the conventional rules youve been taught about what youre supposed to eat, because most of those rules are dead wrong.

Youve been told that the key to weight loss is eating less and exercising more.

Its not.

Youve been told that eating fat will make you fat and contribute to heart disease.

It wont.

Youve been told that your lack of results is due to your lack of willpower.

It isnt.

Youve been told that your hormone imbalance, digestive issues, pain, or other medical conditions are incurable, and no diet can fix them.

Not true.

We now know that the composition of your dietthe mix of high-quality fat, protein, and carbohydratesrather than how carefully you count calories or how much you burn off with exercise is the key to losing weight and improving your health. A 100-calorie snack pack of cookies has a dramatically different effect on your body than half an avocado or a small handful of almonds with about the same number of calories. Keto Diet is based on that radical shift in understanding about what makes diets succeed or failas well as on my longtime experience as a doctor of functional medicine and clinical nutritionist, treating hundreds of patients who have tried to follow the conventional rules and wound up heavier, sicker, and more tired than before.

Not all ketogenic diets are created equal. To get the most out of this new approach to looking and feeling your best, the specific foods you eat are vitally important. Keto Diet explains my unique, ber-healthy, superclean take on the concept, which will help you avoid common pitfalls of other ketogenic diets, get the most nutrition out of every bite, and optimize the benefits of this game-changing plan. Over the years, Ive discovered the ideal mix of key nutrients, along with the best, most wholesome sources of those nutrients. My patients who follow this approach are able to reduce inflammation, balance their hormones, and lose the stubborn body fat that has been making them unhappy and unwell. After years of trying, they finally attain their health and wellness goals.

DR. AXE KETO VS. STANDARD KETO

Dr. Axe Keto: Loads of veggies

Standard Keto: Few veggies

Dr. Axe Keto: Organic meat

Standard Keto: Conventional meat

Dr. Axe Keto: High in collagen

Standard Keto: No collagen

Dr. Axe Keto: Nutrient-dense foods

Standard Keto: Focus on butter/bacon

Dr. Axe Keto: Alkalizing

Standard Keto: Acidic

Dr. Axe Keto: