What Secret Nutrient Deficiencies Is Your Ketogenic Diet Giving You?

When keto is on the menu, carb counts can be the judge, jury, and executioner.

Avoiding them can become dietary daredevilry with good-cop bad-cop lines drawn in the sand.

With such a rigid take on food, it can be easy to overlook a creeping deficiency that risks a serious health scare.

Your energy becomes sapped.

Your skin appears years older.

You may just feel a little “off.”

Deficiencies mean it’s a dangerous business to demonize carbs.

Some of the most common deficiencies may be nutrients that aren’t even on your radar.

Below is a list of the three most important ones you need to be the healthiest and leanest version of yourself.

Folate is your energy vitamin that helps make healthy red blood cells.

It may also help you fight carb cravings because it doubles as a neurotransmitter that can regulate happiness in your brain.

You'll get plenty of it from legumes, citrus fruits, bananas, and wheat.

Yep, those are all pretty carb heavy you may usually avoid.

Fortunately, eating plenty of folate by going green with at least 2 cups of leafy greens daily or avocado, broccoli, and asparagus is easy enough.

They'll never blow your carb totals and will only make you feel more prepared against cravings.

The average 6-year-old knows about the powers of this vitamin since it's front and center of the orange juice box.

Without it, you'll end up like an 1850s pirate, riddled with scurvy and dumb enough to rob gunships.

Vitamin C likes to sugarcoat itself with fructose, and this does your daily carb totals zero favors.

Oranges, kiwi fruits, papaya, and strawberries are the usual culprits but try to shift away from these high fructose options.

Rather stick to more nutrient-dense low-carb options such as bell peppers, broccoli, snow peas, and kale.

They don't pander to your sweet tooth but get the job done just as well as that freshly squeezed OJ.

This underrated mineral is the boss at helping both body and mind.

It boosts your immunity, protects against disease, and puts that CPU above your shoulders on an auto-upgrade loop.

It makes the list because long-term ketogenic diets can lower your selenium levels.

The best sources of selenium are enriched pastas or Brazil nuts loaded with outlandishly high calories and carbs.

Instead, aim to eat foods such as tuna, beef, egg, and sunflower seeds to keep yourself in ketosis

Deficiencies can slowly get the better of you without realizing it.

Carbs have nutritional value that can contribute towards a balanced diet, but you don't need them to optimize your health.

Instead, you should make a point to eat the foods that prevent these deficiencies.

You can do this using It's Skinny pasta, noodles, and rice, which offer 9 calories per serving, plenty of satiating fiber, and zero carbs.

This product gives your meals a base to top with delicious sauces.

These should include the likes of bell peppers (vitamin C), baby leaf spinach (folate), and freshly sliced tuna (selenium) that'll make sure your nutrient RDI's are consistently exceeding the mark.

Rather than worry about the risks of not eating enough because this is the easy way to make sure you're optimizing your health with every meal.

They'll help you employ the actions that heal so you can eat your way to the best possible health.