First and foremost you have to try experimenting on yourself. You will often hear a reference to a concept of "n=1" meaning a test group where you are the only test subject instead of using hundreds or thousands of people. In other words, see what works for you. You may be able to eat 50 grams of carbs a day and stay in ketosis, or perhaps only 20.
Read as much as you can about the ketogenic diet and intermittent fasting. Check out our resources page for some excellent books. The first one, "The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Living," is incredibly informative. The first part is more for laypeople, and the second half is very medical and technical; however, it is an excellent read to understand the metabolic details of carbs, insulin, fat storage, and diabetes.
Using a blood glucose meter or a continuous glucose monitor,
you must start testing your blood glucose frequently to see how
your body reacts to various foods. Check 1 hour after a meal to see what the worst-case scenario is
and 2 hours after a meal for the a postprandial reading. I use The
Precision Xtra meter primarily to
check my ketone levels, but it also can check blood glucose.
I also use a meter to check my HbA1c once every 2 or 3 months.
I've used it just before getting "official" lab work done and it has always been within
+/-.1 of the real lab results so very accurate.
Check out our resources page for some excellent meters and test strips.
The ketogenic diet is a very low carb, moderate protein and high fat diet and people always ask me "How do you eat that much fat?" Fortunately now there are lots of alternatives! Check out our resources page for some quick keto meal alternatives when you're short on time! And they're very yummy! My favorite is the KetoChow chocolate - it tastes like a thick, creamy chocolate milkshake! Check out our recipes page as well for some great ideas for ketogenic meals!
Drinking lots of water is always a good idea, especially when dieting.
We currently use a counter top reverse osmosis (RO) system from Aqua Tru and then remineralize with
the daily mineral drops from KetoChow.
We had the under-counter system from Home Master in our old home, which was very convenient! The
Home Master has a 3-gallon reservoir, so you never run out of RO water, and it has a mineral
cartridge to automatically remineralize the water. And it was easy to install - I installed it
myself!
Check out our resources page for some excellent water systems and minerals.