If you are on keto, diet supplements will likely become a fact of life at some point on your journey.

It is common to see fast results in the beginning and go full throttle toward achieving maximum weight loss and energy.

The longer your body spends in ketosis, the more fat you will burn, so optimizing your diet with the proper elements can make a huge difference.

With that, you may be wondering what supplements to take on keto. Read on to learn about our top three.

PROBIOTICS

Probiotics are among the most important and perhaps most overlooked keto diet supplements.

If you weren’t aware, your entire immune system is born in your gut.

Literally.

From the time you are a mere embryo, all the way through adulthood, immunity begins with a perfect balance of internal “flora and fauna,” so to speak.

All types of dietary imbalances can impact this otherwise perfect composition.

For example, eating too much sugar (or starches like bread, pasta, or rice, which become sugar in your digestive track) can cause an overgrowth of candida (AKA yeast).

This can manifest in many uncomfortable ways, including thrash and yeast infections. No thanks.

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When you have adopted the keto diet, you may experience an entirely different set of gut health issues.

You won’t be consuming too many starches or sugars. Hardly any at all, in fact.

Of course, the low carb lifestyle can look any number of ways, but all too often it is easy to get caught eating fistfuls of cheese and plates full of bacon.

We get it. Life happens.

Sometimes you just don’t have an hour to cook a gourmet meal, and you have to simply grab what is handy and keep moving.

The issue is that sometimes overconsumption of dairy and certain meats can make it hard to keep things… moving… if you catch our drift.

Luckily, for either of those common issues, probiotics can provide a potent solution.

When you are on a strict keto diet, consuming yogurt or kefir can be risky. Many of those products on the market contain more carbs than one might think.

Even plain flavors can add to your limited allowance for the day. Unfortunately, milk naturally contains sugar.

It may be easier to take a supplement, rather than adding more things to your macro tracking.

Luckily, probiotics and the keto diet go hand-in-hand. Our favorite brand is Ancient Nutrition Keto Biome Probiotics.

While they are on the higher end for pricing, they are extremely potent and clean.

They are soil-based, and each bottle comes with 180 capsules (30 servings).

Related:
The Definitive Guide to Tracking Macros on Keto

BHB

If you have been a die-hard keto enthusiast for a while, you have probably heard of BHB (beta hydroxybutyrate).

If you are at all confused about what these are or how they help your keto mission, don’t worry. We have got you covered with a simple explanation.

Essentially, the whole premise of the ketogenic diet is to achieve ketosis, a state where your body switches from using glucose for energy to metabolizing fat instead.

When this occurs, you will produce ketones, which will be used for fuel. So, without getting too far off track, the most simplistic explanation of BHB is that it is an exogenous ketone supplement.

If you are already in ketosis, and you flood your system with BHB, you are essentially putting more fuel in your tank. You also may ease some of the symptoms of the keto flu.

Related:
How to Avoid the Keto Flu

Do keto supplements work? The key with keto and BHB is that not all types of supplements on the market are created equal, nor are they all made the same way.

There are 3 main types of keto BHB supplements. They are raspberry ketones, ketone salts and ketone esters.

 

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Raspberry ketones are made in a lab. They are essentially a synthetic version that your body cannot recognize.

This our polite way of saying that while they may be the best tasting, they essentially do nothing as far as promoting and supporting ketosis. Save your money.

Ketone salts use minerals as a binding agent (typically, BHB is bound to calcium, magnesium, or sodium).

While the BHB is recognizable to your body’s metabolism and they may taste the best, the minerals that they are attached to will likely dilute the potency.

Depending on the brand, if or what you have eaten, and whether or not you have exercised before taking them, the ketone salt supplements may or may not change your blood ketone levels.

The potential side effects of these keto supplements are still being studied. All in all, exogenous ketones are fairly new on the market.

They have only gained popularity in the last five to ten years or so.

The last, and easily most effective BHB supplement is ketone esters. These are immediately bio-available when consumed since they are essentially pure ketones.

There is no way to beat around the bush. If you are seriously looking for efficacy and results, ketone esters are the only sure-fire way to increase your blood ketone levels (beyond naturally occurring ketosis).

While this may sound too good to be true, there are a couple of downsides to consider.

The first of which is that they are incredibly expensive, especially in comparison to the other BHB products on the market. The other downside is that they taste undeniably terrible. (Like acetone. Guys, if you don’t know what that is, take a whiff of your girlfriend’s nail polish remover.)

Bleh!

Not exactly something you will look forward to putting in your mouth. But hey, they work. If this is the path for you, try HVMN brand.

They sell single bottles, packs of 3, and packs of 12. We recommend beginning with the single bottle to make sure you can handle the intense taste.

MCT OIL

Last, but certainly not least is MCT oil. MCT stands for medium-chain triglycerides.

It is perhaps considered the “golden child” in the world of keto supplements. It is for sure the most well-known.

As you already understand, the goal of the keto diet is to switch your body’s metabolic state from burning glucose to burning fat and producing ketones.

It may sound obvious, but one way to aid in this process is to add more fat to your diet.

Because MCTs are smaller than other types of fat (LCTs, or long-chain triglycerides), they are easier to digest. This speeds up their bio-availability, which can help your body with a boost of fuel.

It can give you energy before you work out or help to ward off cravings or hunger.

Most MCT oil on the market is produced from either coconut or palm kernel oil.

A major premise in the keto diet is that consuming fat aids in weight loss because it helps you to stay full and satiated longer than other macros.

MCT is a clean, healthy fat so this is an effective way to suppress your appetite.

It comes in liquid form and doesn’t have a strong taste (a very faint coconut flavor, if anything) so it can be added to smoothies, salad dressings, or even to coffee in the morning.

Related: Check out the “Bulletproof Coffee Section in our Recent Article: Everything you Need to Know About Intermittent Fasting on Keto.)

MCT oil has become so popular that you can even find it at Walmart. More and more brands are emerging, and the market is getting very saturated… with fat… see what we did there? So, what is the best MCT oil for keto?

Trick question! Actually, trick answer is more accurate. We recommend Bulletproof Brand Brain Octane Oil.

MCT is nowhere in the product name, which may be a bit confusing, but Brain Octane Oil is just a branded version of the most potent MCT on the market.

It is eight times stronger than its generic competitors on the shelves.

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*BONUS* KETONE TEST STRIPS (because they aren’t a supplement, but will help you gauge your progress)

Our final recommendation is that you use tools that can help you understand whether or not you have achieved ketosis, and how deep into it you are.

When your body produces ketones, they exit your system via your urine and your breath. (Early side effects of the keto diet include stinky breath and a flavor resembling acetone on your tongue.)

That being said, there are a few ways to test your ketone levels.

The first way is to pee on a test strip. They are usually a small, cardboard strip with a small square at one end.

After 40 seconds you can compare the color of the square with a guide on the back of the bottle, which typically ranges from nude to dark purple. Every kit is slightly different, but most will give you a coinciding numerical guide (in mmol/L) as well.

The range will usually be from 0 to 16. If you are being very strict with your diet, exercise, and intermittent fasting, you can achieve a dark purple test strip. Ketone ethers can help as well.

We recommend JNW Direct Brand Ketone 150 Test Strips.

Since ketones exit your system through your mouth as well, another way to test your levels is with a breathalyzer.

The Ketonix Brand looks similar to an eCigarette, but it connects to an app on your phone that will reveal your levels after you breath in to it.

While this is a bit more expensive than the test strips, they are a better choice for testing on the go.

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