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Key Facts

• • When it comes to the keto diet, there is no one-size-fits-all. You can figure out the number of carbs that can be suitable for your body type.
  • Figure out which keto approach would work for you and find a keto author with whom you would like to follow and model your keto plan.
  • It may be best to start off at 20 total carbs per day and then monitor your ketosis daily. If you continue to stay in ketosis after two weeks, you can add more carbs to your keto diet.
  • After a month goes by, you can choose to add in more carbs if you need to. Again, keep good vigilance on your ketosis to determine this. At this point, you can also start keto-carb cycling a few days a week.
  • Sleep is crucial when it comes to being compliant with a keto diet.
  • Reduce your stress and balance your chakras in order to maintain a keto or fasting plan.

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Keto diet made just for you

Did you realize that you can have “your custom keto diet”? Yes, that’s right. When it comes to keto, everyone has different carb requirements. We can all go into a keto diet with an ideal target for net or total carbs, but at the end of the day, it is your metabolism that dictates where you need to be in the carbohydrate spectrum. In this article, I am going to discuss how you can create your custom keto diet. When you are done reading this post, you will feel more confident to tackle a keto diet made just for you.

Where do I start with a keto diet?

So the first question you may have is, “where do I start with a keto diet?” I think most of us feel that way. I’m sure you have browsed Youtube, Facebook, blog sites, read books, and may have seen different perspectives in terms of carbohydrates. You may have seen some people say start at 20 net carbs, and others may say. “No, you need to stay at 20 total carbs.” There is so much different information out there on keto that it can be taxing just figuring out how many carbs you need to stay under per day!

Follow one keto approach

So, instead of getting caught up in the carbohydrate conundrum and making it difficult, I would encourage you to pick one person to follow when it comes to the keto diet. For example, if you like Dr. Mercola’s approach with keto, then stick to his perspective. On the other hand, if you like Amy Berger’s approach or Jimmy Moore’s, then go with them. Maybe you want to take on a Keto and Chakra balance approach. If that’s the case, then I got your back. It doesn’t matter where you go or follow; stick to following one person and follow what they are saying.

Determine do you want to count net or total carbs

If you are confused about counting net or total carbs, then do not worry about this either. I feel it is better to count total carbs in the beginning because it makes going into ketosis a lot easier. If you count net carbs, you will find that some companies will tout that their protein bars or cookies are low in carbs because they are going by “net carbs.” The problem with this is that even though the “net carbs” may be low, the total carbs are high, interfering with some people going into ketosis. So, to avoid this problem, I think it is best to count your total carbs and avoid net carbs.

If you are an athlete and know your metabolism is great ( do not have chronic fatigue, not much weight to lose, etc.), you can probably try the net carb route. However, if you have a lot of weight to lose, suffer from chronic fatigue, acne, or other health problems, I would stick to total carbs.

How many carbs do you recommend?

On this blog, HKG, I recommend that people stay between 20-30 total carbs per day or 20-30 net carbs per day. I leave that option open because some people may be able to net carbs as high as 30; however, some may only be able to do 30 total carbs. Where you are in that spectrum all depends on you. In the section below, I will explain more about how you can tell where you need to be in terms of carbs. 

What is the best way to monitor carbs?

When it comes to monitoring your keto diet, I would use Cronometer. What I like about this app is you can input all of your goals, and you can even adjust your monitoring to include either total or net carbs. It also has some really nice features like the ability to help you monitor your fasting and features to help meet your weight loss goals.

Keto monitoring

How many carbs should I stay under?

Alright, so here is how you can figure out where you fall on the carbohydrate spectrum.  So, let’s say that you want to start your keto diet by doing 20 total carbs per day( which is a good starting point for most). Now, let’s say that you do 20 total carbs per day for about two weeks, and you are getting into good ketosis( which is 0.5-1.5 mmol/L on Keto-Mojo) and would like to add in more carbs. In that case, you could try 20 net carbs per day and see if number one you stay in ketosis and number two you’re still losing weight.

Let’s say another two weeks go by, and you are still in ketosis with 20 net carbs per day, then at this point, you could try adding in more carbs. You could go up to 25 net carbs or even as high up to 30 net carbs to see what your body does. If you reach up to 30 net carbs and find you are still in ketosis, then you may want to stay in this range.

However, that being said, if you find that your energy levels and you overall feel better at 20 net carbs or even 20 total carbs, then you may not want to stay around 30 net carbs. Maybe you want to go up to 30 net carbs, just a few days a week. The number of carbs you consume daily will depend entirely on your body. 

Incorporating more carbs after the first 30 days

So, let’s say that a month goes by and you are feeling pretty good on 20-30 net carbs or 20-30 total carbs per day( whichever one you decided on in the above section). You feel so good that you may even want to try to cycle in more carbs. If this is you, then do it. Overall, the great thing about keto is the ability to cycle in carbs or the choice to not cycle in carbs. For example, if you do not want to add in more carbs, then don’t! Maybe you’re feeling so good in the carbohydrate spectrum of 20-30 net or even total carbs that you don’t want to rock the boat. If this is you, there is no harm in going longer in this range.

However, if you are ready to include certain nutritionally dense foods such as bananas, rice, sweet potatoes, etc., you can start to keto-carb cycle after your first 30 days. I have an excellent article on keto-carb cycling, which you can refer to here.

My rendition of keto-carb cycling

When creating your custom keto diet, it is always advantageous to figure out how to cycle in carbs. Now, I am going to tell you how I cycle in carbs. Usually, I will pick two, sometimes three days where I incorporate more carbs. Usually, on these days, I will also do some high-intensity interval training or power yoga.

So what I do is I will usually stay somewhere between 20-30 net carbs daily, but when I keto-carb cycle, I will go as high as 100-150 net carbs or total carbs per day( 2-3 days a week). Now, since I am an athlete, it is okay for me to do this. However, if you are not very active, then it may not be as advantageous for you to go all the way up to 100-150 net carbs on your keto-carb cycling days. Maybe, you want to stay somewhere between 40-60 net carbs or total carbs when you keto-carb cycle. Whatever number you choose, it all depends on how you feel!

Sleep

Lastly, when it comes to customizing your keto diet, I mention your snooze time. Sleep goes hand in hand with starting your custom keto diet. It is hard to lose weight if you are not sleeping well; I will explain further below. 

Sleep

If you are not getting adequate snooze time, then two hormones will go crazy. The name of these two hormones is leptin and ghrelin. Ghrelin is closely related to hunger, while leptin is tied to feeling full. A lack of sleep has been found to trigger increased levels of ghrelin and decreased levels of leptin, leading to increased hunger and appetite¹.

So what does this mean for your keto diet? Well, my friend, it means that it will be a lot harder to do keto if you aren’t sleeping. When it comes to sleep, I do realize that it is a lot easier said than done. As an insomniac myself, I, too, have been a victim to waking up at night. Fortunately, since I’ve changed a few interventions in my life, I can finally say that I sleep pretty well. If you are someone who is suffering from poor sleep, here are a few sleep tips that I incorporate into my daily life:

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1. Go to bed at the same time every night
2. Avoid alcohol
3. Use a sauna daily
4. Use a Chilipad to keep my core body cool, to reduce nighttime awakenings.

These are a few of several tips that I use when it comes to sleep. If you want to read more, you can go to my recent article on sleep called, How To Stay Asleep and Not Wake Up[10 tips].

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Stress reduction and Chakra Balance

Stress reduction and balancing your chakras are so significant when it comes to creating your custom keto diet. If you are stressed out, and your chakras are all out of balance, it will be impossible to follow a keto diet. It will be impossible to follow any dietary or exercise regimen. If you are not familiar with the chakra system, then that is okay. You can start by listening to my podcasts on the chakras. I would recommend that first, you begin by going to my very first podcast, which is called Keto diet and chakra balance for your health. After you listen to this podcast, I recommend that you listen to my other podcasts on chakras. I encourage you to keep up with my podcasts as I interview people in the holistic and keto world to give you good information on healing your body.

What exactly are chakras?

If you aren’t familiar with chakras, let me explain. When you think of a chakra, I want you to picture seven spinning wheels of energy. In each one of these wheels, there are emotions and physical symptoms that control their functioning. If these wheels aren’t spinning correctly or become blocked, you can develop a disease associated with that particular chakra.

Let me give you a prime example of one of them. Let’s start with the Root Chakra. The Root Chakra is all about feeling safe in your environment and trusting those around you. If this chakra is out of balance, you may lack trust in situations, live in fear, and feel insecure about life in general. If you harbor these feelings for a protracted period and don’t do anything about them, you can develop arthritis, rectal tumors, etc. My explanation of the Root Chakra is just one of the examples of a chakra. It turns out that each one of these seven chakra centers has specific characteristics associated with each of them.

Ways to open up chakras

Prior to starting your custom keto diet, it is imperative to learn several ways to open up your chakras. I like to use Tai’ Chi Gung exercises, meditation, yoga, or hiking to open mine. There are also certain types of foods that can be used to help as well. You can read my recent article on Low Carb Chakra foods to learn which foods would help. Also, wearing specific colors or decorating your house with chakra-specific colors can help in addition to affirmations, chakra stones, or essential oils. I do mention these particular colors in my podcasts when you listen to them.

In Conclusion

In conclusion, I am glad that you are here on HKG and learning about your custom keto diet. There mustn’t be a one size fits all plan when it comes to the keto diet. You can find what works for you by following your ketones and the way you feel. Overall, I think that the keto diet should be balanced with the alignment of your chakras. I recommend that you learn about combining both for supercharging your health. If you liked this article, then sign up for my email list. Every week, I will send you updates on ways you can do keto, fast, balance your chakras, or any other holistic ways to supercharge your health. 

 Namastes!
[toggle title = “References”]
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Spiegel K, Tasali E, Penev P, Van Cauter E. Brief communication: Sleep curtailment in healthy young men is associated with decreased leptin levels, elevated ghrelin levels, and increased hunger and appetite. Ann Intern Med. 2004 Dec 7;141(11):846-50. doi: 10.7326/0003-4819-141-11-200412070-00008. PMID: 1558322 ¹
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