What is a ketogenic diet?

A "common" ketogenic diet plan includes at least 70 percent of calories from fat, less than 10 percent from carbohydrates, and less than 20 percent from protein.

The ketogenic diet, long used to treat epilepsy in children, requires that 90 percent of daily calories come from fat, with the amount of protein or carbohydrate varying as long as it is four grams of fat for every one gram combined of carbohydrate and protein.

That may mean eating a lot of cheese, butter, eggs, nuts, salmon, bacon, olive oil, and non-starchy vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower, greens, and spinach.

For those who have trouble with arithmetic, there are apps and online programs that can do the math for you. (Be that as it may, the ketogenic diet plan is very different from the USDA's dietary suggestions that 45 to 65 percent of total calories be carbohydrates, 20 to 35 percent fat and 10 to 35 percent protein.)

The goal of the ketogenic diet is to enter a state of ketosis through the metabolic process of fat. In a ketogenic state, the body primarily uses fat for energy rather than carbohydrates; with low carbohydrate levels, fats can be converted to ketones to fuel the body.

For ketosis, a typical adult need to stay below 20 to 50 grams of net carbs - determined as total carbs minus fiber each day.