In this series, we looked at the most commonly researched kinds of keto: strict, lazy, clean, and dirty. So now that you have an idea of what kinds there are, what kind is best? As with most everything with keto, the answer is not so simple. Today we discuss what is the best keto.
A Recap of the Kinds of Keto
First, we looked at strict keto. On strict keto, you track everything – calories, carbs, fats and protein. It focuses on the quality of your food and avoiding things like sweeteners.
We went to lazy keto next. With lazy keto, you track your carbs only. It’s a little more relaxed when it comes to the quality of food, so the occasional sweet treat and processed food is ok.
Dirty keto is next. With dirty keto, if a food fits within your macros, you eat it. No category of food is off the list – not even sugar and baked goods.
The last is clean keto. Clean keto not only focuses on your carb counts, it focuses on the quality of your food. People on clean keto eat only whole foods and they make their condiments from scratch using high quality ingredients, so they know what’s in the final result. You can find the complete series here.
What is the Best Keto For Us
Like I said before, everyone is different so what kind of keto you choose is what you think will work for you. What I can tell you is what worked for us.
We started out with strict keto. Keto came to us because of Bill’s health concerns. We had to keep his blood sugars regulated so his body didn’t try to make insulin. We measured all our foods and ingredients and quickly realized how much we were under-estimating how much we were actually eating.
We tracked our calories, fat, protein and carbs daily on a worksheet we made up. After supper, we would sit down at the computer and put in the information of what we ate that day and calculate how we did with our macros.
Again, it was important that Bill remained under the 20 grams of carbs a day for health issues. Our first three months on keto we stayed away from any sugar alcohols (i.e. sweeteners) to get our bodies fully fat adapted. This had the benefit of getting us into ketosis quite quickly. It also helped us learn what we could eat in a run of a day.
We Still Make Sure the Best Keto Works
Looking at what we do now, I realize that at some point we slid into a more “lazy keto” style. That doesn’t mean that we don’t care, it just means that we have a good base of knowledge from our strict keto days and we can be a bit more relaxed about tracking. We still measure out our ingredients and food.
One day’s handful of nuts quickly turns into a handful and a bit of nuts and before you know it, you’re taking in too many carbs. But we don’t track our calories and macros anymore. We know how much we can eat, and as long as we are measuring to make sure we don’t go over that, we are comfortable that we are good.
Much Respect for the Clean Keto Folks
I have a lot of respect for people who choose clean keto. I prefer to eat good, quality food. I’m not tied to the label “organic” but I do like to buy locally sourced products to support our smaller businesses and farmers. But we do eat sweet treats and processed foods occasionally. We usually have a keto-friendly dessert with supper with our coffee because we enjoy it. To me, clean keto is a great ideal, but if you focus on only eating like this, keto could become pretty overwhelming, pretty quickly.
Dirty keto. I’m not a fan. To me, it’s not changing your relationship with food or trying to be healthier. It’s simply fitting what you currently eat into a diet you can call “keto.” It’s not focusing on getting your nutrition from your foods. It’s simply eating whatever you want to eat but at different times and in different portions. This works for some people, but it is definitely not for me. Keto, for me personally, is as much about gaining control over what I put in my body and improving my relationship with food, as losing weight.
Your Best Keto is the One Adapted To What We Need
So, what works for us is starting out with strict keto. As we gained knowledge and became fat-adapted, we morphed into lazy keto. We also try to follow some of the principles of clean keto as we go. All this to say that there is no “one-size-fits-all” option for keto. What I think is important is that keto is a lifestyle, not a diet.
So, pick the option that will work for you. No option is going to be easy at first, but if you stick with it, it will give you so many benefits. You can lose weight if that is what you want to do, it will give you energy and it will improve your health. It’s your health, so it’s your choice!
Wendy
