I learned ketogenic diet from Dr. Irving Cohen during my time at University of Kansas. It helped me and it helped my patients. Since then, I have been continuing to improve my program. Recently, I found the work of Dr. Eric Westman of Duke University. He also has YouTube channel - @AdaptYourLife.
Below is a summary of his approach:
Use whole foods (avoid keto supplements)
Focus on eating protein with fat
Limit carbs less than 20 g per day
Ketosis refers to metabolic state where we are burning fat. The fastest way to get to our body to burn fat is to enter ketosis through refraining from eating carbohydrates. This can be done even eating in fast food restaurants. (1)
Because ketosis is a metabolic state which means you are either in ketosis or you are out of ketosis. There are three ways to test if you are in ketosis.
Urine Strips
Breath test
Blood test
Reference:
1. From Dr. Westman's "How to Lose 20 pounds on Keto!"