What is a Fat Bomb ?
If you are following a Ketogenic diet you are attempting to consume about 70% of your daily intake with fats, 25% proteins, and around 5% carbohydrates.
High-fat, low carb diets are designed to change your body into a stored fat burning machine as opposed to a sugar (glucose) burning machine.
You are essentially starving your body of glucose and forcing it to begin to burn fat. This state is known as ketosis.
If eaten within your keto macro limits Fat Bombs can be a great source of fat, protein, and carbohydrates in the correct combination.
What are keto macro limits ?
On a keto diet instead of burning mostly carbohydrates, your body will be switching to burning fats and ketones. You will need to change the proportions of your macronutrients that you eat daily.
Macronutrients are proteins, fats, and carbohydrates. If eaten in the right proportion they can boost your energy and blood ketone levels. The goal is to keep you losing weight.
It may be difficult to eat that much fat at first. Most dieters avoid fat because it is generally high in calories.
Generally places like the Cleveland Clinic recommend that on a 2,000 calorie diet you should aim for 20-35% of that should be in the form of fats which is about 44-77 grams of fat per day.
The keto diet almost triple that amount. For most of us, it takes a big leap in fat to switch to eating so much fat. In order to get that much fat into your diet, many use Fat Bombs.
What are Fat Bombs made from ?
A combination of high-fat dairies like butter, coconut oil (MCT oil) nuts, and seeds.
The coconut oil actually provides the body with supplemental ketones because coconut oil contains medium-chain triglycerides (MCTs). MTCs are a quick absorbable fat that can be used as fuel.
The fat content in Fat Bombs is around 85%.
The beauty of the Fat Bombs is they help you maintain ketosis and can be eaten as a quick breakfast, pre or post-workout boost or snack. But don’t be fooled. Overconsumption can still cause weight gain.
How Many Fat Bombs Per Day?
Well, that really depends. Today there are easy online calculators that help you monitor how many grams of macronutrients (Protein, Carbohydrates, and Fats) you can eat.
You need to provide your age, current weight, height, how many grams of carbohydrates you want to eat in a day, percent of protein, and your activity level. It will give the results in grams of Protein, Fats, Carbs, and calories per day.
You may not be keeping track of calories on a keto diet but you are keeping track of grams of carbs, fats, and protein. You need to maintain a balance.
If you are not eating enough fat on a keto diet and most of your calories are coming in the form of protein (eggs, meat, chicken, or fish) your body can use the protein as a source of glucose through a process known as gluconeogenesis, and this can actually kick you out of ketosis or hinder your body getting into ketosis.
Keto dieters may not be counting calories but they are counting grams. Grams of carbohydrates (between 20-50 grams/day). Many keto dieters make the mistake of eating too many grams of protein.
A good range to aim for is 0.7–0.9 grams of protein per pound of body weight (1.5–2.0 grams per kg).). When you lower the number of carbs and don’t overeat protein your body needs another source for energy and that is fats.
At first, many keto dieters have a hard time with the switch over. It is a big mistake to think if you are on a keto diet and you cut out the fats you will lose quicker. As long as you avoid trans fats there is no reason to fear eating a diet which is 70% fat.
This includes monounsaturated fats and omega-3 fats. Fats like olive oil and coconut oil have zero carbs and are healthy for you. Fats like avocados and nut butters also have carbs so you need to include them in your daily carb allowance.
You also need to replenish sodium on a keto diet. Low carb diets reduce insulin in the blood. Insulin has many purposes in the body like telling your fat cells to store fat and your kidneys to store sodium, but when you have less insulin in the body your kidneys may not be retaining the sodium it needs.
Along with sodium you also may lose water. That is why initially on a keto diet many people lose water weight first. Sodium is an important electrolyte. So salt your food and drink water.
Some people initially feel a “keto flu” an uncomfortable headache, malaise, or dizziness. It may take 3-4 days to adjust. It’s like your body has a sugar or carbohydrate withdrawal.
Some people initially get headaches on a low carb, keto diet. This may be due to dehydration. When you stop eating or cut down on carbs, they are excreted, which means you retain less water.
People eating a ketogenic diet need to drink more water compared to other diets.
Some recipes for Fat Bombs:
Dr. Axe’s Fat Bomb with Cinnamon and Nut Butter
Ingredients:
- 1 stick butter
- ½ cup crunchy almond butter
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon (if you add any sweetener you need to count in the additional carbs)
Heat butter and nut butter in a small pan until mixed.
Take off the stove and stir in vanilla and cinnamon.
Put into small silicone muffin mold and freeze for ½ hour. 1 Fat bomb contains 197 calories, 19.2 grams fat, 4.2 grams carbs, 4.5 grams protein
Chocolate Fat Bombs
Ingredients:
- ½ cup nut butter ( can use coconut butter as well)
- ¼ cup cocoa or cacao powder
- ¼ melted coconut oil or butter
- A sweetener like stevia (count the carbs)
- Pinch of salt or hot red pepper (be daring!)
Mix and put into small silicone muffin container and freezeIf you get a yield of 14 and use peanut butter each bomb is approximately 84 calories with 8.2 grams of fat, 2.6 carbs, and 2 grams of protein.
