What Happens If You Don’t Eat Enough Fat On Keto?

The basic idea of the keto diet is to starve the body of carbohydrates, which sends the body into a state of ketosis, in which it burns away fat as a fuel source to help keep us energized.

What makes the keto diet so innovative is that it challenged the old idea that carbohydrates were the only parts of food that gave us energy.

Because the keto diet emphasizes fat as a fuel source, it is important to ensure that you are always receiving plenty of fats in your diet to keep you going. But what would happen if you were to receive insufficient amounts of fat in your keto diet? 

Are you currently worried that you may be receiving insufficient fat in your diet? Or perhaps you are just curious about what would happen?

Regardless, we’re here to help, as we are going to take a deep dive into some of the most common effects that low fat intake can have on a keto diet! Read on to begin!

What Happens If You Don’t Eat Enough Fat On Keto?

Lower Energy Levels

If you don’t consume enough fat while on a keto diet, the most common problem you will encounter is low energy. Because your body cannot depend on carbohydrates to keep you energized, it will need fat to burn in order to keep you fueled throughout your day.

If you don’t consume any fat as part of your diet, your body will automatically begin burning away body fat, but while this can be the goal of many on the diet, if unregulated, the weight loss could be very harmful.

Consuming plenty of fat while on a keto diet helps to keep you energized, which allows you to operate normally and carry out all of your daily tasks, and reduces the chances of fainting, or becoming sick.

Increased Hunger And Impact On Diet

Another consequence of eating minimal fat while on the keto diet is that you may find yourself becoming hungry more quickly than ever, which will likely lead to you snacking on foods you should not have in order to satiate your cravings.

Consuming plenty of fat in your keto diet is important for maintaining a controlled and effective diet, as it will ensure you only ever eat exactly what you need!

Digestive Problems

The low fat intake on keto will also lead to issues with digestion, which in turn could lead to intense stomach cramps, constipation, and diarrhea.

This is caused by the fact that there is less energy in your body, so your stomach and other organs will not work as efficiently as they normally can!

Lack Of Nutrients

Fats are also incredibly important for helping our body get the nutrients it needs. Certain vitamins such as vitamins A and D are fat-soluble, and both of these are highly necessary for regulating the bile in your body, which helps to promote better digestion and also improves your metabolism, which in turn improves your body’s ability to draw energy from fat!

Finally, it is also worth mentioning that a low fat intake on a keto diet will naturally lead the body to depend on protein to create energy.

However, the body can only produce a very small amount of energy from protein, and deriving too much energy from protein can actually lead to protein poisoning! 

How Do You Ensure You Get Enough Fat While On Keto?

If you are worried that you are not receiving enough fat while on your keto diet, then there are a few things you can do to positively impact your diet!

One way you can easily increase the fat levels in your diet is to add some very fatty toppings or garnishes. If you have made yourself a salad, then you can easily top it with a dressing that is high in fat, as this will allow your body access to fats that are very easy to digest, and who doesn’t love a tasty dressing atop their salad?

Try also adding plenty of nuts, cheese, avocados, and plenty of other fatty foods as garnishes to larger dishes, as this allows you to easily add extra fat without having to drastically alter any of your recipes!

You could also eat more fish, especially those that are high in fat content. Tuna and salmon are great options if you want fatty fish that are not only incredibly tasty but also incredibly friendly to keto diets!

Finally, another option for increasing your fat intake is to utilize fat in your cooking! Make use of butter, olive oil, and other similar products to add plenty of fat to your food, and also to help your food taste even better than ever before!

Conclusion

There you have it! While the consequences of not having enough fat in a keto diet are not incredibly drastic, you should still make a point of increasing your intake of fat wherever you can, so as to avoid annoying consequences such as increased hunger, lower energy, and at worst diarrhea, constipation, and illness.

If you are worried that you may not be getting enough fat in your keto diet, then we recommend implementing fat in some small ways, such as including extra ingredients that are rich in fat, such as nuts, in some of your recipes, as well as increasing your intake of fat-rich snacks.

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