Quick Summary:
- I love the keto diet. It’s a great tool for weight loss, but also helps hormonal balance, brain function and more. However, performing it can make your body run differently – and that comes with additional needs.
- To feel better when your in ketosis electrolytes, ketone supplements, vitamins and mitcochondrial enhancers go a long way.
- Emulsified MCT and keto supplements that are rich in exogenous ketones like sodium beta-hydroxybutyrate don’t really work. More details on that later.
Following a keto diet is incredibly effective for helping to improve your body and mind. Sticking to it has numerous benefits including:
- Enhanced Fat Burning and Weight Loss
- Better Hormonal Balance
- Less Food Cravings
- More Powerful Mitochondria to Keep You Energized
- Improved Brain Function
This all comes from correctly following a ketogenic diet. Below, we’ve compiled a list of supplements which can help you a lot during ketosis. Afterwards, we break down some of the supplements you don’t really need but sometimes get recommended.
Here is our list of the best supplements you can use while going on a ketogenic, followed by the more unnecessary options.
The Best Keto Supplements
Having tried a lot of supplements on the market, I’ve foudn these to be the best for any kind of keto diet. If you’re carb cycling (doing cyclical keto) or targeted keto if you’re more active. It should all work for you.
MCT Oil for Keto
To get deeper into ketosis, coconut-derived MCT oil can help a lot. It boosts mental focus while also giving you more physical support during your workouts.
For the best results, you want an MCT oil that is pure caprylic acid (C8). Not all MCT oils will offer this, it’s important that it’s C8 though as your body can convert it into ketones. This improves your mental clarity and also helps your energy a lot.
The problem with cheaper, general MCT (medium chain triglyceride) is that they used carpric and lauric acid which are weaker. They only have a small amount of ketones when compared to C8. C8 rich MCT oil is much more effective than your usual MCT and coconut oils.
Quick Summary:
For maximum ketosis, MCT oil is a great supplement, however, it depends which type you use. For the best results look for pure caprylic acid (C8). It’s much easier for your body to convert into ketones, it also helps mental and physical energy.
Additional Electrolytes; Sodium, Magnesium and Potassium
When you’re not on Keto and indulging in a diet full of carbohydrates, your body stores the sugar from it all as glycogen.
This is what your body uses as your energy reserves. After not eating for a while, your body starts to eat into your glycogen stores for fuel.
As you’ll already know, with keto you aren’t eating carbs or sugar. This keeps those glycogen stores low and help you burn through body fat for the extra energy.
To keep all this glycogen your body needs lots of water to store it all. This is why you lose a few pounds within your first few days of running keto. When you run out of glycogen – you run out the water that was needed to store it.
The only issue with this is that your kidneys through out electrolytes to keep you all your system balanced and healthy. This doesn’t stop, when in ketosis, you keep losing more and more. It can lead to deficiencies, headaches, muscle cramps and general uneasiness.
Quick Summmary:
The main electrolytes you lose are sodium, magnesium and potassium. The best way I get these is through pink Himalayan Salts. Sea salt should work too.
Just make sure you’re getting the following a day:
Magnesium: 400 mg
Potassium: 4000 mg
Sodium: 2000 – 4000 mg
I make sure to salt-up in the mornings and before bed. That way I’m covered throughout the day and overnight.
Performance Lab for Keto
I’ve been using Performance Lab supplements with my keto for a while now, and their range is absolutely huge. The great thing about them is that all their products can be stacked individually, or together.
Each one has been carefully formulated to be stacked with another in any way that you see fit – and that can be used to great advantage if you’re on the keto diet.
Through months of research, this is what I believe to is the best combination of Performance Lab supplements to maximize your fat loss gains on the ketogenic diet.
This is my Performance Lab stack that I run for keto:
Performance Lab Energy (Link): Offers advanced mitochondrial support for cell energy.
Performance Lab SPORT Fat Burner (Link): Caffeine-free fat burner that preserves muscle mass and even supports both fasted and keto diets.
Performance Lab Whole-Food Multi (Link): Contains a generous amount of nature-identical vitamins and minerals to restore any imbalances.
Performance Lab Prebiotic (Link): Better digestion and absorption for a high protein / fat diet.
Performance Lab Energy
What is it?
A caffeine-free energy supplement which helps to promote and optimize mitochondria, which has the role of breaking down nutrients and turning it into energy.
Main ingredients:
- Acetyl-L-Carnitine / ALCAR (750 mg): Amino acid required for cell energy production.
- R-Lipoic Acid / ALA (150 mg): Cofactor that is naturally found in mitochondria, it activates essential enzymes for bioenergetics processes and carbohydrate metabolism.
- Coenzyme Q10 / CoQ10 (100 mg): Vitamin-like compound required for bioenergetics.
- Pyrroloquinoline Quinone/ PQQ (10 mg): Works with CoQ10 for healthy mitochondrial function.
- Black Pepper Extract (2.5 mg): Improves nutrient absorption.
When do I take it?
I take one capsule in the morning, and one in the afternoon. If I’m going to have a big session at the gym, I’ll skip either the morning or afternoon serving and take it around 30 minutes before the workout.
How it helps keto:
The ALCAR specifically can help by preserving the energy in your muscles, while promoting the use of energy in your fat, and doesn’t require glucose as an energy source – which complements a keto lifestyle to a tee.
ALCAR and ALA together have been seen to perform better together for mitochondria synthesis and energy metabolism than when taken individually.
PLab Energy also helps to boost overall physical performance, which is always handy if you’re training a lot or just need more energy throughout the day.
Click here and learn more about Performance Lab Energy
Performance Lab
SPORT Fat Burner
What is it?
A caffeine-free fat burner designed for fasted and keto diet. It helps to preserve muscle mass while promoting fat loss.
Main ingredients:
- Coleus Forskohlii (250 mg): Helps optimize hormonal cell messengers that regulate metabolism, thermogenesis and anabolic muscle growth.
- HMB (1000 mg):Ā Protects and grows muscle mass while encouraging your body to use fat as fuel.
- Cayenne Pepper (50 mg): Potent thermogenic that helps burn fat and decreases appetite.
- Black Pepper Extract (2.5 mg): Helps with nutrient absorption.
When do I take it?
I take it just before a workout with the Energy capsules, the idea is that the HMB can help preserve muscle mass by protecting you against muscle damaging enzymes while training fasted.
How it helps keto:
I take Performance Lab Fat Burner to help speed up my overall fat loss. The combination of nutrients in here help encourage my body to burn more fat while preserving muscle mass (that’s the HMB and Coleus).
It also helps promotes appetite suppression, which helps keep my calories levels low and still burning more fat (that’s the Cayenne Pepper).
PLab Fat Burner is good for helping you to cut even more fat and reduce muscle loss when slimming down.
Click here and learn more about Performance Lab Fat Burner
Performance Lab
Whole-Food Multi
What is it?
A multivitamin with nature-identical nutrients to help give your body all the support it needs when running a keto diet. There are versions which care customized for both men and women.
Main ingredients:
- Supplies at least 100% Daily Value of 17+ essential vitamins and minerals
- Folate / Vitamin B9 (4000 mcg) & Vitamin B6 (800 mcg): Harder to get on Keto diet and can help fight fatigue and promote brain health.
- Vitamin D3 (1000 IU): Not really a Keto factor but most people are deficient in it, promotes hormone and general health.
When do I take it?
Regardless if I’m working out or not, I take 2 capsules of this multivitamin in the morning, and another 2 in the evening.
How it helps keto:
When you’re on Keto, you limit yourself a lot more in terms of what you can eat to maintain ketosis. One of the main areas that take a hit is your Folate (Vitamin B9) and B6 levels.
This is mainly because they’re found mostly in complex starchy foods – which don’t fit in with a keto diet. That’s a problem because it’s a major building block for your brain and DNA synthesis.
I use the Performance Lab range for this because all their vitamins and minerals come from probiotic cultures that yield nature-identical versions of them. They’re very easy to absorb and fast acting as they’re a super pure form of these nutrients.
It also ensures that your body gets a boost in anything else vital that you may be missing. It’s definitely worth using.
Click here to see everything in the Performance Lab Whole-Food Multi
Performance Lab Prebiotic
What is it?
Prebiotic supplement which nourishes existing microbiomes in your gut to promote overall digestion and satiety.
Main ingredients:
- Oligofructose-enriched inulin (Inulin-FOS) from chicory root (2 g): Feeds probiotics in your colon to maximize digestion.
When do I take it?
I take 3 capsules of Prebiotic with my first meal of the day, and another 3 with my second. If I’m doing OMAD Keto, I’ll just have one serving of 3 capsules with that meal for the whole day.
How it helps keto:
Prebiotics are ideal for keto, this is because you typically get them naturally from a large amount of fiber in your diet. Keto can limit that, and in doing so, your gut health may suffer.
Unlike a probiotic, prebiotics don’t introduce anything new into your gut bacteria – they just feed and optimize the bacteria you already have.
In doing so, this can help maximize your mineral absorption and fat usage and metabolism. It also helps with your microbiome health which support a better regulated blood sugar level.
It’s just good to have on board if you want to keep more areas of your health satisfied while on keto.
Click here to learn more about the Performance Lab Prebiotic
Are Performance Lab supplements absolutely necessary for an effective Keto cycle?
No. You can run it without it them.
But do they help?
I get far better results when running keto on Performance Lab, I also feel better too.
I used to have to buy from different supps numerous vendors, constantly research and endlessly switch up my stack to make something only nearly as good as my PLab one. Now I just put it all in one order and forget about it.
It’s easier to manage and gives your body that full-spectrum supply of what it needs to keep you happy and seeing results while running keto.
Find out more about Performance Lab
If you’re interested in what they offer – which is way more than what I’ve mentioned here – I suggest you check out their site: PerformanceLab.com
Their products are the cleanest I’ve come across, and definitely worth checking out if you’re running keto, or just looking to biohack and optimize.
Keto Diet Supplements To Avoid
Not all supplements that you see in the Keto space are effective. There’s one type of keto supplements we see a lot that’s regularly recommended for people that doesn’t work so well.
Here’s what’s been triggering us:
Keto Salts (Exogenous Ketones) / BHB Supplements
You’ve seen these before, Keto salt supplements like sodium beta-hydroxybutyrate (better known as BHB) often look like a great idea. It is true that they boost your blood ketone levels, but this is only for a short period of time.
It gives you the illusion that you’re in deep ketosis. You’re not.
Just because the levels are higher, that doesn’t mean your body is going to instantly switch to using them as an energy levels.
Ketone salts, or BHB supplements are typically a racemic mixture. They’re 50-50 of the D form and L form of themselves. Your body can only absorb the D form of these ketone salts. The rest would still show up in a blood test – but it wouldn’t be accessible for your body to use.
Some critics even go as far to say that the L-form is dangerous. Being metabolized in beta-oxidation, means it could actually pose problems to your health – and it’s cheaper for a manufacturer to make it that way.
Final Summary:
These BHB supplements are becoming an enormous fad in the keto world, and it needs to calm down. Some of them are made in a form where only half of the supplement can be used by your body – the other part is potentially harmful.
If you’re looking for supplements that can help with your ketosis, as mentioned, I’m having great success with my Performance Lab stack. You can see all the options on their website here: PerformanceLab.com