What are the foods that you could eat on the keto diet? It turns out, there’s a list of dirty keto foods that can actually increase inflammation, slow weight loss and even cause weight gain. Fortunately, we also have the list of clean keto foods that help you blast fat, feel good, and skyrocket your keto results. We're gonna to break it all down.

As the best selling author of four books & founder of Keto Kamp where our mission is to educate and to inspire 1 billion people, it is my duty to help you succeed in your health goals. 

This is the second article in my ten-part series teaching you how to master keto for results that stick. So if you missed the first part, where we talked about how keto works at the cellular level, we talked about the history of keto and why keto is not a diet but a metabolic process, and so much more. (Here is a link to the first article) I do recommend you go through it because it lays out the framework for keto.

Here, we’re going to talk about the clean keto foods versus the dirty keto foods. Be sure to use this list of healthy keto foods, healthy keto sweeteners and the best way to cook those foods when you head to the grocery store in order to maximize your results 

First, let’s talk about the best and healthiest ways to cook those foods. The best way to cook the foods is also the least way to cook the foods. In other words, we don't want to overdo it. We don't want to overcook our food. So the less you can cook food, the better it's going to be for you because you're going to mitigate against nutrients being lost. Some of the best styles of keto food preparation include, raw, lightly steamed, poached, simmered, boiled, lightly grilled but not charred, sous vide, slow cooking and pressure cooking.

Now, the worst way to cook your keto foods is to over cook your keto foods and you're going to do it with over boiling, barbecuing, burning the meat, blackening the meat, charring the meat, deep frying and microwaving. When you do that, you’re pretty much going to be left with dead carcass. When you eat burned keto meats it's going to create something called advanced glycation end products, which is going to actually age you faster, create more inflammation, and put a stop to your keto results. So let's stay away from these bad methods and stick with the good methods. 

Now that we understand how to cook the foods. Let's talk about these dirty keto foods, the following foods that I'm going to present to you here if you have any of these keto friendly foods in your kitchen, in your cupboard for yourself for your kids, it's time to do an audit and remove them. 

They're going to create massive amounts of inflammation, weight gain and weight loss resistance and lead to a lot of other symptoms. Yes, keep in mind, they're all keto friendly, yet they are not going to get you the right keto results that we want here. 

So the worst offenders of them all are going to be the toxic eight, which are these vegetable oils that are everywhere. As I share each one of these eight oils, I want you to consider this, I interviewed Professor Brian Peskin, who's an MIT researcher. He was on the Keto camp podcast and we were talking about these nasty vegetable oils that a lot of people on keto are eating, and I asked him “Professor Peskin, what is worse for you, eating these cooked vegetable oils every single day on keto or smoking a cigarette every single day?” After looking at the research and he shared that a person who smokes two packs of cigarettes every single day for up to 28 years, their chances of developing lung cancer within those 28 years is about 16%. Then we compare that to somebody who had cooked vegetable oils every single day for about 28 years, their chances of developing cancer or heart disease was 86% Yikes!

Listen, I'm not advocating cigarette smoking, but I am saying we got to be really aware of these toxic eight vegetable oils because they're all keto friendly. They might get you in ketosis, but they're not going to get you the results you want. And here at keto camp, we focus on health at the cellular level.

So take note, these are the ones I want you to look out for in your keto bars, your keto foods, and when you go to restaurants and the grocery store. Canola oil, corn oil, cottonseed oil, soybean oil, safflower oil, sunflower oil, peanut oil, and grapeseed oil. 

Those are the toxic eight right there, do an audit and remove them right away because here's the deal. Your body cannot use these toxic fats for energy they actually get stuck on your cell membrane’s receptor sites. Previously, I shared with you exactly how hormones and nutrients communicate with these receptor sites on your cells. But when you have inflammation, your fat burning hormones cannot deliver the message, causing weight gain, weight loss resistance and other symptoms to occur. Well, these oils create more inflammation than any other food in our diet, even more than sugar!

A study showed that cell membrane inflammation from these rancid fats, that your body cannot use for energy, can last up to 132 days! That is not good for your body. At least your body can burn sugar, unfortunately, it cannot burn these toxic fats. So I encourage you and I hope this inspires you to remove and/or avoid these fats. 

Now that you understand more about the fats to avoid and these dirty keto foods, let's talk about the healthy clean keto foods. Save this information, take it to your grocery store, make the majority of your meals consist of this and you're going to get fat loss, you’re going to feel energetic and you're going to reduce inflammation and feel like a Keto Rockstar. 

I love coconuts and coconut oil, avocados, avocado oil, pastured egg yolks are fantastic, they’re like Mother Nature's multivitamin, grass fed butter, grass fed ghee - delicious, which I actually put in my coffee. I have a video by the way, on the world's healthiest keto fatty cup of coffee in which I outlined the exact recipe (here is a link). I also love cacao butter, MCT oils, brain octane oil from bulletproof, I love extra virgin real olive oil, like my friends over at the fresh pressed olive oil club. They have the best olive oil I've ever tried. 

Here’s a link for a special offer to get a $39 bottle of olive oil for just a $1 

What about seeds and nuts and legumes on a keto diet? My favorite ones are going to be pecans, macadamia nuts, pili nuts, walnuts, sunflower seeds are fantastic, almonds in moderation are great and pine nuts. 

What about the proteins? Well, here's my list of my favorite keto proteins. wild caught fish like trout, salmon, sardines and flounder - excellent, just make sure it's wild over farmed. Grass fed and grass finished beef or lamb, delicious, so good for your cells. Remember, don't overcook them. Also, colostrum collagen protein, bone broth if you can get a high quality bone broth like my friends over at Kettle & Fire, they make one of the best bone broth I've ever tried. 

If you want to get their bone broth for 15% off, go to kettleandfire.com/ketokamp and use ketokamp at checkout for 15% off.

Bone broth is a great way to get some collagen and these specific amino acids that help line the gut and help you assimilate your keto fats even better. I also love pastured duck, pastured geese, hemp protein, and marine collagen. These are all fantastic, healthy keto approved foods.

It's also important to know which keto sweeteners are good for you and which keto sweeteners are going to actually be bad for you. So here is the list of my favorite keto sweeteners. I love erythritol, pure stevia, monkfruit and non GMO dextrose. Those are fine just make sure it's not leading to more cravings for sugar and carbs and you should be okay. 

Now my least favorite keto sweeteners, which by the way are found in a lot of keto bars & protein shakes, require us to look at the ingredients. Here's a list of my non approved keto sweeteners. Xylitol, Maltitol, mannitol, sorbitol, asesullfame potassium, sucralose, aspartame, and saccharine. These sweeteners, yes, they're keto friendly, but they're actually going to create gut dysbiosis which might lead to more inflammation and you not being able to assimilate all the healthy fats you're having on keto, not good. 

I've seen a lot of people who are not getting results on keto. When I asked them if they're consuming any of these ingredients, they do an audit, they find out they are, they remove it, boom, they break through a Keto plateau. So you're starting off now and you're going to understand this right from the start. You're going to be ahead of the Keto curve. 

What about beverages? Well, my favorite keto beverages starts with Zevia as a great alternative to soda and diet soda. Zevia is a carbonated flavored soda but it's sweetened with stevia. You can find Zevia just about anywhere. Here’s a link for the one on Amazon. And of course, I like high quality water, organic shade grown coffee, and tea. Those are all great keto approved beverages for you. 

Lastly, I'm going to share with you a principle, a rule if you will, that if you follow this 2,2,2,2 rule, it's going to help your body start utilizing your fat stores for fuel and help you become a fat burner instead of being a sugar burner. 

So here's the 2,2,2,2 rule, which was developed by my mentor, Dr. Pompa. Starting out right now we want to make sure we're consuming two tablespoons of avocado oil or olive oil, two tablespoons of MCT oil or coconut oil, two tablespoons of grass fed butter or grass fed ghee, and finally, two teaspoons of sea salt. 

Now the question I get asked all the time is, “do you consume this all in one sitting? It sounds like a lot of fat!” The answer is of course, no, It’s not all in one sitting. The goal is to consume it throughout the day. Think about the oils you're using to cook, with your salad dressings, your dips, that's all included. You want to consume that throughout the entire day. That's going to help start teaching your body to start utilizing fat and transitioning to burning fat instead of sugar, effortlessly. This 2,2,2,2 rule will make all the difference for your energy levels and your fat loss. 

I have a question for you. What was your favorite keto food that I mentioned, was it the wild caught fish, the beef, the butter, the coconut oil, which is your favorite keto food - I want to know what your favorite keto food is. Drop a comment down below in the comment section to let me know.  

You may be thinking, why did I include the sea salt in that 2,2,2,2 rule? Well, it is crucial to replenish your electrolytes on the ketogenic diet, especially since day one because it's going to help prevent things like the Keto flu. You might have heard all about the dreaded keto flu. Well guess what? In the next article in this series, I'm going to break down how to prevent the Keto flu how to replenish your electrolytes so you don't get brain fog. You don't feel like crap, but instead you feel like a Keto Rockstar. 

If you'd like to watch the video version of this article, click the link below.