Any diet has its challenges. And to see the results we want as well keep on burning fat, we need to stay consistent.
Being on the keto diet is a challenge of its own! But, let’s be honest, any diet can be hacked and made easier with a few tricks!
Here are a few keto hacks that should help you to consistently keep on losing weight.
15 Super Easy Keto Diet Hacks
Here are some very easy hacks that can make being on the keto diet so much easier. Scroll through all of them, you never know what you might learn.
I also mention a few interesting scientific studies that directly relate to food!
1. Instead of Mashed Potato Try Mashed Steamed Cauliflower
Eating mashed potato in a cold evening might seem just like the thing you need. And let’s be honest, sometimes we do have those carb cravings!
While mashed potatoes do go well with a ton of dishes, mashed steamed cauliflower can do just as well.
4 oz of cauliflower contains only 5.7 grams of carbs. And, almost half of it is dietary fiber.
How to Make Cauliflower Mash:
- Steam or boil the cauliflower until soft (10-12 min). If you don’t’ have a steamer, just get these very cheap steamer baskets that you just can put into a pot.
- Mash it and add a little bit of butter, cream, and pepper.
2. Instead of Regular Rice Try Cauliflower Rice
Rice is another product that goes well with curry, meats, and a lot of other great keto dishes! However, rice is very high in carbohydrates.
A great way to trick your body and reduce your cravings is to change the high carb foods into something similar yet low carb. Cauliflower rice does look a little bit like the actual rice.
How to Make Cauliflower Rice:
- Add cauliflower to the food processor and keep on pulsing it until it’s completely broken down into small pieces. Here is a good quality yet cheap food processor that hasn’t disappointed me so far.
- Then cook cauliflower rice with a little bit of oil until it heats up. Should take around 3-5 minutes.
3. Boost Ketone Levels with a Supplement
If you’re only starting out with keto diet, starting to eat low carb might give you flu-like symptoms. It’s completely natural because eating low carb is completely new to your body.
However, I’m pretty sure you don’t like feeling sick. This Keto Perfect Supplement helps to completely get rid of the keto-flu symptoms.
Another great thing is that it decreases appetite since blood ketone levels rise. Additionally, it improves your mood and even mental sharpness since ketones can be used by brain as a source of energy.
So, while you do need to eat low carb diet, this ketone base supplement will give your body an extra push to get into the state of ketosis. That essentially means that you’ll start burning fat faster and keep yourself in that state.
All of us need a little help when we start losing weight. Plus, it actually tastes delicious, is completely clean and comes in multiple flavors, so give it a try.
I usually take my supplements with morning coffee. If you don’t drink coffee, mix it with almond or coconut milk.
4. Instead of Pasta Try French Green Beans
While French green beans don’t exactly look like your regular pasta, they have this meatiness to them that can really fill you up.
One cup of these contains only 3 grams of carbs and 2 out of these is dietary fiber.
So, stir fry some French green beans with a little bit of tomato sauce, salt, and pepper. Don’t forget to add some of your favorite meat too.
It won’t taste exactly like your favorite pasta but should help with the cravings.
5. Start Meal Prepping
I think the key to any diet and staying consistent with it is being able to get good quality, nutritious food when you want it. However, let‘s be honest, not all of us have time to cook every day, a couple of times day in fact.
This is where meal prepping comes in. Once you learn how to do it, what works for you, you can prepare food for the upcoming week in a couple of hours. Thus, whenever you‘re hungry, you know that you‘ll have a healthy, nutritious keto meal.
Here are meal prep containers that actually seal well.
Other things that have been very helpful with meal prepping for me:
Mason jars – these are great for storing nuts, salads and your favorite berries. They come with lids – both regular drinking ones.
Food scales – I use scales every day to measure how much food I’m eating. These are great if you want to stay under your carb and calorie limit. So, definitely, a must have in the kitchen when you’re meal prepping and cooking.
Instant pot – high-pressure cooker can be super useful when prepping food for the week. Throw your food in, give it an hour and you’re ready to pack it up. Generally, an instant pot is a good investment for any food lover.
Slow cooker – slow cookers produce similar dishes to instant pots. However, it takes at least 4 hours to achieve that. I’m a big fan of this device because you can cook food overnight, so it’s ready for breakfast. Plus, you can make some great keto slow cooker meals for the whole week.
Spiral slicer – this is great for making healthy, low carb noodles using vegetables. I definitely recommend it if you’re very much a pasta person.
Food processor – a must-have for making cauliflower rice and multiple other keto dishes.
6. Turn Your Sweet Deserts into Fat Bombs
Everybody loves dessert. In fact, what is life really about if there is no sweetness in it? Everyone deserves to have a desert now and then.
If you’re on keto or any low carb diet, eating dessert is a bit trickier. However, we can easily make amazing fat bombs using nut butter or coconut butter and a little bit of cocoa powder.
In fact, none of these ingredients are high in carbs but a combination of these can truly make for some good deserts.
Use this sweetener for the extra sweetness!
7. Use Spices to Make Your Food Delicious
The truth is, when you’re on the keto diet, you simply have to give up on some of the foods. That, in turn, means that you’re missing out on some of the flavors.
That can create cravings that otherwise have never been there. And that’s completely natural. Thus, use spices to make your food taste better and stay ok for longer.
Also, spices have a multitude of health benefits that you might not be aware of! For example, studies show that chili powder can help you maintain a healthy metabolism (source). That’s due to a substance called capsaicin.
1 Serving
- a bowl of curry (around 350g)
- some cauliflower (around 150g)
8. Use Frozen Vegetables
Frozen vegetables are not only very practical, but they might even be more nutritious than the regular vegetables you buy in the shop.
Multi-Year research published by the University of Georgia proves exactly that. The study compared the nutritional value of fresh stored and frozen vegetables and fruits.
It showed that frozen produce is comparable and often even better than fresh produce.
So, definitely start using frozen vegetables to make your keto diet work!
9. Start Your Mornings with Eggs and Bacon
It’s very easy to consume carbs right from the morning. Cereals, porridges, pancakes – all these foods are beloved breakfast options that sadly contain a lot of carbohydrates.
Instead, start your day with egg and bacon. You’ll feel full for longer, you’ll set yourself for the day and you’re going to less likely eat late in the night.
10. Swap Your Favorite Snacks with Keto Friendly Options
The hardest part of eating low carb is sometimes letting go of your favorite snacks that are high in carbs and sugars.
If you’re a fan of bars and chocolates, swap these with keto bars. These come in 3 flavors: almond butter brownie, lemon poppyseed, and salted caramel.
Check these keto bars here.
When I have cravings for something sweet I usually go for nut butter. It satisfies my cravings and provides me with very much needed fats. Try this nut butter – tastes great, you can add it to recipes or eat it on its own.
When you’re craving for crisps, try these keto cheese crisps instead. Also, when you just want to chew on something, try these beef jerky snack sticks. They contain 0g of carbs!
11. Buy Meat Cuts
Meat is a huge part of the keto diet. However, it can get expensive very fast.
The truth is, if you go to any butcher shop, they’ll have leftover cuts. These are usually cheaper because they want to get rid of them.
While such cuts aren’t necessarily very exciting to look at, you can always make a few keto crockpot meals with them. And make it taste delicious!
Now, I’m not suggesting you go and get a bunch of cheap meat, not at all. Go to your local shops and check out whether they have any leftover cuts from high-quality meats.
12. Enjoy Your Eggs
Eggs are a much cheaper source of protein and fats. So, make sure you’re constantly incorporating them into your diet to save money.
Also, there are multiple dishes that you could make out of eggs and never get bored! When you do get bored, don’t forget to use new spices to experience new tastes.
13. Drink Low Carb Smoothies
I love smoothies. If you’re a fan of mine, you’ll notice that most of them are high in carbs.
That’s mostly because a lot of the fruits are high in sugar. And while they do contain vitamins and fiber that are so essential to our diet, the carbs add up.
Luckily, there are multiple low carb smoothie recipes out there that you can use to make your keto diet work.
Here’s an example recipe for which you’ll need:
- 1 cup of vanilla unsweetened almond milk
- A ¼ cup of frozen strawberries
- 2 teaspoons of cinnamon
- 2 tablespoons of almonds
- 1 tablespoon of ground chia seeds
The smoothie has 20.6g of carbs of which 12.6g is fiber. So, you’re left with 8g of net carbs. Not bad at all!
14. Change Regular Flour to Coconut and Almond Flour
1 cup of almond flour on has 10g net carbs while regular flour has around 92g net carbs. A huge difference!
1 cup of coconut flour has 24g net carbs. So, it isn’t a bad choice either, especially if you’re a fan of coconuts. So, do make your dishes using these flours instead. It’ll make all the difference.
15. Use Eggplants Instead of Potatoes in Your Stews
If you’re a fan of stews like me, you’ll notice that a lot of recipes contain potatoes. Often, a stew goes very well with rice.
However, all of these products are high in carbs! I’ve tried using eggplants instead of potatoes to give a little bit of texture to my stews (or any other dish really). And it was totally worth it!
My stews now fill me up even more and I don’t have to worry about the high carb intake.
16. Share Your Dish With Friends When Eating Out
Going out and eating at restaurants can become a difficult task when you’re on keto. Most dishes out there will contain high amounts of carb.
However, it’s really not that bad. Always bring your friends with you (preferably not keto eaters) and share your dishes with them.
Make sure you eat the green salad, meats, eggs, dairy products, and fish, and give the rest to your friends.
They might share their dishes with you too!
17. Incorporate More Physical Activity into Your Life
While food is extremely important for a healthy weight loss, it’s not the only thing you should worry about.
Make sure you move: do yoga, run, exercise, go for a walk at least once a week to make sure you’re using the body you have.
At the end of the day, we are physical beings and our bodies are meant to be used.
Do you have any keto hacks of your own? Let me know in the comment section!
Kelli
Sunday 18th of July 2021
Throw avocado in your smoothies! It gives it such a creamy great taste!
Karo Tries
Sunday 1st of August 2021
Great tip! Love avocados!
Nina
Friday 7th of May 2021
avocados taste so much better with everything bagel seasoning!
Cathy Mathias
Saturday 8th of June 2019
What about those protein powders you add to smoothies. Is that a yes or no?
Karo Tries
Thursday 13th of June 2019
You would need to check their nutritional value. Some protein powders are high in carbs. You also, don't want to overdo it with protein either. Keep your fat levels high, otherwise, you'll struggle to get into ketosis. Hope it helps. :)
Natalie Apellaniz
Wednesday 20th of February 2019
You forgot avocado!!!! I’ve been keto for almost 2 months and avocado, eggs, bacon, zucchini and fat coffee has been my life saver. Also pork rinds to please my salty snack cravings. So disappointed not to see avocado in here! But I do agree with everything else. Zucchini noodles, spaghetti squash and shirataki noodles have been my pasta substitute rather than green beans as well!
Karo Tries
Monday 25th of February 2019
I love avocados too! What a great way to get plant-based fats into your system! Perhaps I'll include it but it very much seems like an obvious option to me, haha! Thank you for such a lovely comment, Natalie! Glad to see you've enjoyed the article. Have a good day!
Melissa
Saturday 16th of February 2019
I agreed with everything you said, except to buy cheap meats. Cheap meats are Filled with chemicals, antibiotics, hormones, all carcinogens. Not only is this terrible for your health, it slows down weight loss as well. Eating this kinf of stuff- as well as any processed product will make you actually gain weight because our body cannot properly metabolize chemicals.
Karo Tries
Saturday 16th of February 2019
Hello Melissa,
I definitely agree with you. I do realize that my suggestion came out wrong. What I really meant was that you can always go to local butcher shops to check out whether they have any leftover cuts. These are always cheaper because they want to get rid of them. I've edited the article to make it clearer. Thank you for pointing it out, Melissa.
Obviously, always try to get good quality meats. The cleaner the food you eat, the easier is the weight loss process. At the end of the day, eating good quality food is the key to staying healthy.