Keto Diet Plan for Beginners: 7-Day Meal Plan & Shopping List

A keto diet plan is a week of real-food meals built to keep your net carbs at about 20 to 50 grams a day, so your body shifts its fuel from sugar to fat, along with the ketones your liver makes from that fat.1 I like keto as a short-term tool, done the clean way with vegetables, healthy fats, wild fish and pasture-raised eggs, for about three months at a time before you bring healthy carbohydrates back.21

Your body was designed to run on fat when carbohydrates are scarce, and when the steady stream of sugar coming in slows down, insulin comes down with it. That shift is what steadies your appetite, makes weight easier to lose and brings blood sugar down on keto.1 My philosophy has always been to use food as medicine first,6 so everything on this plan is a whole food you can buy at a regular grocery store.

This page is the practical side of keto: a seven-day menu built from DrAxe.com recipes, with every meal's net carbs counted from USDA data, a shopping list organized by store aisle, a meal-prep plan, and what to expect from your first week through your third month.3 If you searched for Dr. Axe's keto diet and want the whole picture, including the research behind each benefit, the types of keto and the labs worth checking, start with Dr. Axe's complete keto diet guide.

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How to start a keto diet plan, step by step

When I walk a beginner into keto, the order matters, because each step makes the next one easier and keeps you from crashing in the first few days.1 Here's how to put this plan to work:

1. Pick your start day and your number. Most people get into ketosis near 20 grams of net carbs a day, and active people can often stay there closer to 50.1 The menu below runs 19.2 to 26.1 grams, so it starts you near the low end, where ketosis comes fastest.3
2. Build every plate the same way. Fill half the plate with non-starchy vegetables, add a palm-sized portion of protein, and let healthy fat such as extra-virgin olive oil, avocado or coconut fill in the rest.1 Protein stays moderate because your body can turn large amounts of it into glucose.1
3. Clear the kitchen. Sweets and sugar, bread, rice, pasta, oatmeal, potatoes, corn, beans and most fruit come off the menu for now.1 Several of them are healthy foods that come back later, after your keto season.
4. Shop once and prep ahead. The shopping list and meal-prep plan further down cover the whole week in one grocery trip and a few cooking sessions.
5. Salt your food and replace minerals from day one. Sodium, potassium and magnesium carry you through the first week, and the week-one section below gives the amounts.1
6. Give it a few weeks and keep track. Keep an eye on how your energy, cravings and waistline change, and use a ketone meter if you'd like a number.17 A 12-hour overnight fast, finishing dinner by 7 and eating breakfast after 7, fits this plan easily too, and intermittent fasting and keto explains how the two work together.7

How do you get into ketosis?

In ketosis, your liver breaks fat down into ketones, chiefly beta-hydroxybutyrate, and those ketones fuel your brain, heart and muscles steadily while carbs stay low.1 It's an ancient ability: long before anyone wrote down a diet, the body carried people through lean seasons on its own fat stores, and keto puts that design to work on purpose.1

In a randomized trial of 28 healthy adults starting a strict, classic ketogenic diet, the group given sunflower oil instead of MCT oil reached an average blood-ketone level of 0.5 mmol/L, the line researchers use for nutritional ketosis, by about day 4, and every person in that group but one got there during the 20-day study.5 A higher-carb meal pauses ketosis, so if you have one, go right back to the plan at your next meal. Hidden carbs in sauces, dressings and packaged snacks can stall you without your noticing, which is one more reason this plan sticks to whole foods. Over your first few weeks, the switch unfolds in steps:

MCT oil is optional, and if you'd like to try it, start with a teaspoon and build to 1 to 2 tablespoons a day, stirred into coffee, smoothies or dressings.1 Exogenous ketones are optional too, and they don't replace the food.1

How do you count net carbs?

On a food label, find the total carbohydrate and the dietary fiber and subtract one from the other. For whole foods, USDA's FoodData Central lists both for nearly everything you'll buy.3 Take the omelet on Day 1, which carries 16.1 grams of total carbohydrate and 3.9 grams of fiber, so it counts as 12.2 grams of net carbs.3

You don't need to weigh every leaf of spinach, since non-starchy vegetables are high in fiber and barely move the total.1 Pay closer attention to onions, peppers, tomatoes, nuts and anything in a sauce or a package, because those add up quickly. The free macro planner can do the math for you, keto macros explains how to set your fat and protein, and the keto diet food list gives the USDA net carbs for more than 70 foods.

A 7-day keto meal plan (menu)

Each meal's net carbs come from USDA data for the foods as listed. Recipes are counted as written and divided by the servings they make, and seasonings used by the teaspoon aren't counted.3 Drink water, sparkling water, unsweetened tea or coffee between meals, and eat the snack only if you're hungry, since there's no need to graze.7 Several recipes make four or more servings, and the menu uses the leftovers on later days, as the meal-prep section explains.

Day 1: Veggie omelet and almond-crusted salmon

• Breakfast: A veggie omelet with three eggs, red and green peppers, mushrooms, onion and goat or sheep cheese, cooked in butter (12.2 g net carbs)
• Lunch: A turkey burger on greens with zucchini and red peppers, plus 2 cups of baby spinach dressed with olive oil and lemon (6.5 g)
• Dinner: Almond-crusted salmon over spinach, with 6 asparagus spears roasted in a teaspoon of olive oil (5.0 g)
• Snack: Two halves of avocado deviled eggs (1.2 g)
• Day total: 24.9 g net carbs, 15.8 g fiber

Day 2: Keto smoothie, broccoli soup and grass-fed steak

• Breakfast: One serving of the keto smoothie with coconut milk, avocado, chia and cocoa (the recipe makes two), plus 2 hard-boiled eggs (6.3 g)
• Lunch: Creamy broccoli soup made with coconut milk and bone broth, with 3 ounces of canned wild salmon (10.8 g)
• Dinner: A 6-ounce seared grass-fed steak, mashed faux-tatoes made from cauliflower, and 2 cups of arugula with olive oil and lemon (7.8 g)
• Snack: Two halves of avocado deviled eggs (1.2 g)
• Day total: 26.1 g net carbs, 19.1 g fiber

Day 3: Salmon egg bake, sardine salad and tom kha gai

• Breakfast: A square of breakfast salmon egg bake with smoked wild salmon, goat or sheep kefir and goat cheese (7.7 g)
• Lunch: A sardine salad: one can of sardines in olive oil over 2 cups of romaine with ½ cup of cucumber, 5 olives, olive oil and lemon (4.7 g)
• Dinner: Tom kha gai, a Thai coconut chicken soup (choose a red chili paste made without shrimp or shrimp paste), with cilantro-lime cauliflower rice (7.9 g)
• Snack: Guacamole with ½ cup of cucumber slices (4.9 g)
• Day total: 25.2 g net carbs, 11.2 g fiber

Day 4: Keto coffee and pesto mahi mahi

• Breakfast: Keto coffee with grass-fed bovine or wild fish collagen, butter and coconut or MCT oil, plus a square of the salmon egg bake (7.8 g)
• Lunch: Leftover tom kha gai (5.5 g)
• Dinner: Sautéed pesto mahi mahi with 1 cup of broccoli roasted in olive oil (6.2 g)
• Snack: One keto fat bomb made with almond butter and cinnamon (1.0 g)
• Day total: 20.5 g net carbs, 6.3 g fiber

Day 5: Spinach quiche and savory baked fish

• Breakfast: A slice of crustless spinach quiche made with goat or sheep cheese (4.7 g)
• Lunch: Salmon-avocado lettuce wraps: 3 ounces of canned wild salmon, ½ avocado, ¼ cup of chopped celery and a tablespoon of homemade mayonnaise in 3 romaine leaves (3.3 g)
• Dinner: Savory baked fish made with wild cod, with mashed faux-tatoes and 2 cups of arugula with olive oil (9.6 g)
• Snack: 5 olives and 1 ounce of goat cheese (1.6 g)
• Day total: 19.2 g net carbs, 17.6 g fiber

Day 6: Egg bake, tom kha gai and roasted chicken thigh

• Breakfast: A square of the salmon egg bake (7.7 g)
• Lunch: Tom kha gai (5.5 g)
• Dinner: One chicken thigh roasted with salt and pepper, cilantro-lime cauliflower rice, and 2 cups of baby spinach with olive oil and lemon (4.3 g)
• Snack: ½ cup of raspberries (3.3 g)
• Day total: 20.8 g net carbs, 8.8 g fiber

Day 7: Quiche, turkey burger and steak night

• Breakfast: A slice of the spinach quiche with ½ avocado (6.5 g)
• Lunch: A turkey burger on greens with 2 cups of baby spinach, olive oil and lemon (6.5 g)
• Dinner: A 6-ounce seared grass-fed steak with lemon-roasted cauliflower and 2 cups of arugula with olive oil (7.7 g)
• Snack: 1 ounce of pumpkin seeds (pepitas) (1.3 g)
• Day total: 22.0 g net carbs, 19.6 g fiber

All seven days side by side, with every number worked out from USDA records:3

Treat these portions as a starting point, since a taller or more active person needs more food than a smaller, less active one. Days 3 and 6 are the lightest days on the menu, and it's easy to under-eat on keto, so add half an avocado or an extra tablespoon of olive oil on those days if you need it.1 If you're still hungry after a meal, reach for more vegetables, olive oil and avocado before more protein, since healthy fat is meant to fill out a keto plate.1 If you're losing weight faster than you'd like or feel worn out, lean harder on those fats, and if it's coming off more slowly than you'd like, use a little less added fat while the vegetables and protein stay the same.1 Everybody's body is different, and some people feel best with a little more fat and fewer carbs while others do better the other way around, so listen to your body as you go.2

Keto shopping list for the week, by aisle

This list covers one person eating every meal on the plan, with the batch dishes made in full so the extras can go in the freezer. Take a picture of it, or print it, and shop the aisles in order.

• Produce: 2 medium heads of cauliflower, about 1½ pounds of broccoli, 10 ounces of baby spinach, a 5-ounce box of arugula, 1 small head of romaine, 5 red bell peppers and 1 green bell pepper, 8 ounces of white mushrooms, 1 large zucchini, 3 avocados, 1 cucumber, 6 asparagus spears, 2 yellow onions, 1 small red onion, 1 bunch of green onions, 1 shallot, 1 head of garlic, 1 jalapeño, 1 small tomato, 1 celery stalk, 3 lemons, 2 limes, ½ cup of raspberries, and fresh cilantro, parsley, basil, chives, dill, ginger and lemongrass

• Meat and fish counter: One 4-ounce wild salmon fillet, one 6-ounce mahi mahi fillet, one 6-ounce wild cod fillet, 6 ounces of smoked wild salmon, two 6-ounce grass-fed strip steaks, 1 pound of ground turkey, 3 boneless chicken breasts and 1 skin-on chicken thigh

• Eggs and dairy case: 2½ dozen pasture-raised eggs, about 9 ounces of goat or sheep cheese, 3 ounces of soft goat cheese, a small wedge of Pecorino Romano, 1 cup of plain goat or sheep kefir (cultured A2 cow's-milk kefir is an option if you tolerate it), grass-fed butter and a small jar of ghee

• Canned and jarred goods: 3 cans of full-fat coconut milk, about 11 cups of chicken bone broth (or make your own), 6 ounces of canned wild salmon, 1 can of sardines in olive oil, olives, a small can of fire-roasted tomatoes, Dijon mustard, apple cider vinegar and red chili paste made without shrimp or shrimp paste

• Oils, nuts and seeds: Extra-virgin olive oil, coconut oil, avocado oil, almond flour, almond butter, pine nuts, chia seeds, pumpkin seeds, and MCT oil if you'd like it

• Spices and pantry: Unrefined sea salt, black pepper, curry powder, chili powder, cumin, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, nutmeg, dried basil, cinnamon, lemon-pepper seasoning, unsweetened cocoa powder, vanilla extract and grass-fed bovine or wild fish collagen powder

• Freezer and drinks: A 10-ounce box of frozen chopped spinach, coffee, unsweetened tea and sparkling water

The steak on Days 2 and 7 is grass-fed for a reason. The World Health Organization's cancer agency classifies processed meat of every kind, processed beef included, as a Group 1 carcinogen and red meat itself as Group 2A, probably carcinogenic.11 As I've said on my show, the studies that link red meat to poor health mostly reflect grain-fed and processed meat, not the fresh, grass-fed red meat I recommend.12 That's why the plan skips bacon, deli meats and sausages and keeps to fresh fish, poultry, eggs and grass-fed beef.

Keto meal prep: what to make ahead

Planning your meals ahead does more than save time. In a survey of 40,554 French adults, people who planned their meals ate a more varied diet that matched nutrition guidelines more closely, and their odds of obesity were about 20% lower.13 One cooking session before Day 1 and three shorter ones during the week carry this whole plan, and anything you won't eat within a few days goes straight into the freezer, to move to the fridge the night before you need it.

• Before Day 1: Make the creamy broccoli soup and freeze the three servings you won't eat on Day 2. Cook the turkey burgers, eat one on Day 1 and freeze the rest, moving one to the fridge on Day 6 for Day 7. Make the mashed faux-tatoes for Days 2 and 5, freezing the Day 5 portion, plus the homemade mayonnaise and the fat bombs, which keep in the freezer. Hard-boil a few eggs, wash and dry the greens, and make half the deviled-egg recipe, which covers Days 1 and 2.
• Day 2 evening: Bake the breakfast salmon egg bake and cut it into four squares for Days 3, 4 and 6, freezing the spare.
• Day 3: Make a full pot of tom kha gai for dinner and for lunch on Days 4 and 6, and freeze what's left. Grate the cauliflower rice at the same time and make half the recipe, which covers Days 3 and 6.
• Day 4 evening: Bake the crustless spinach quiche for breakfast on Days 5 and 7.

Canned wild salmon and sardines, eggs and frozen spinach keep this plan easy to stock, and a pot of homemade chicken bone broth gives you broth for the soups and a warm mug for the first week, when the extra sodium helps.

What does the first week of keto feel like?

The first few days are when your body is changing fuels, and some people feel it. When researchers read 448 posts by 300 people on 43 online keto forums, about a third described the keto flu, most often as a flu-like feeling, headaches, fatigue, nausea, dizziness or brain fog, and those reports peaked in the first week and dwindled after four.9 They line up with the randomized trial above, where symptoms rose at the start and then eased.5

Most of it comes down to electrolytes, because the same drop in insulin that flushes out sodium and water pulls potassium and magnesium out with them, which is why I consider electrolytes non-negotiable on keto.81 So salt your food generously with an unrefined sea salt, sip a cup of bone broth, and lean on avocado and leafy greens for potassium and pumpkin seeds and greens for magnesium.1 As a rough guide, that's about 3 to 5 grams of sodium a day on top of what you already eat, 1,000 to 3,500 milligrams of potassium from food or supplements, and 300 to 400 milligrams of magnesium.1 That advice rests on how your kidneys handle sodium, and a 2025 review of the symptoms people feel when starting keto found a physiological reason to replace electrolytes.14

People on those forums landed on the same fixes. Across 225 comments from 121 people about what helped, more salt came up 58 times, followed by electrolyte supplements (38), broth (27), magnesium (25), potassium (24), and more water or more healthy fat (14 each).9

A few other changes are common in week one. Your digestion may slow as you drop grains and fruit, so keep the vegetables coming and drink plenty of water, and see keto constipation if it lingers.1 Your breath may smell a little fruity for a while, which is acetone, one of the ketones, and it fades as you adapt.1 Leg cramps usually answer to more magnesium and salt.1

How long should you follow a keto diet plan?

I really like keto for certain conditions and for weight loss, but I don't typically like it long term for more than about three months at a time, because it's a form of stress for your body.2 As I've said on my show, there's a time and place for a ketogenic diet,2 and Scripture puts the principle simply in Ecclesiastes 3:1 (KJV): "To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven."16

A three-month keto season usually unfolds like this:

• Weeks 2 to 4: Repeat the menu, or rotate the proteins, swapping lamb for steak or chicken for fish. This is the stretch when most people become fat-adapted.1 If you're active and feel good, you can test a little more room, up toward 50 grams of net carbs, and see whether you stay in ketosis.1
• Weeks 5 to 12: Keep going with the same plate, and check your progress against where you started. For weight loss, I've said keto can work in a really tremendous way over 3 to 6 months.2 Women who feel run-down on strict keto can add a few healthy carbs on their hardest training days, and keto for women covers that in more detail.1
• After about three months: Add healthy carbohydrates back, such as sweet potato, squash and berries, and lower the fat over time, keeping it moderate to high, just not the 70% to 80% of your diet it makes up on strict keto.21 Add one food at a time, so you can see how your energy, digestion and weight respond.

When your keto season ends, the same plate of vegetables, quality protein and olive oil carries on, with a sweet potato or a bowl of berries back in the rotation.

How do you know keto is working?

A blood-ketone meter gives you the clearest number, and 0.5 mmol/L is the level researchers use for nutritional ketosis.5 Breath meters and urine strips work too, and any of the three can confirm you've made the switch.1 The signs you can feel matter just as much, since your energy usually steadies and cravings fade after the first week, and ketosis tends to blunt your appetite between meals.1 Measure your waist at the navel before you start and again each week, because inches often come off before the scale moves much.7

My rule is test, don't guess, so get a baseline of fasting insulin, HbA1c, triglycerides and a lipid panel with ApoB before you start and recheck after 8 to 12 weeks.1 If you have recent results, you can analyze your bloodwork free. If your weight hasn't moved after a few weeks, reasons you're not losing weight on keto walks through the usual fixes.

What to eat (and skip) on a keto diet plan

Clean keto is the version I recommend: the same low-carb, high-fat ratios as any keto plan, reached with real food.1 Build from these, and see the full keto diet food list for the net carbs in each:

• Vegetables: Spinach and other leafy greens, cauliflower, broccoli, asparagus, zucchini, mushrooms, peppers, celery and cucumber, at every meal.1
• Fats: By far the number one oil I recommend to nearly every patient is extra-virgin olive oil.4 Avocado oil handles high heat and is great for searing, and coconut oil, grass-fed butter and ghee fill in.41
• Protein: Wild, ocean-caught fish with fins and scales, such as salmon, sardines and mahi mahi, plus pasture-raised eggs, poultry and grass-fed beef and lamb.101
• Dairy: Full-fat goat or sheep cheese, plain goat or sheep kefir and canned coconut milk.
• Nuts and seeds: Almonds and almond butter, pumpkin seeds, chia and pine nuts, up to about a handful a day.10
• Fruit: Avocado, olives, lemon, lime and small amounts of berries.1
• Sweeteners: Honey is my number one sweetener, but it sits out while you're in ketosis, and monk fruit, stevia and allulose are the next best options.171

Set aside sugar and syrups, bread, pasta, rice and other grains, potatoes, corn, beans and most fruit while you're in ketosis.1 Skip pork, shellfish, processed meats, refined seed oils, fried foods and packaged "keto" snacks entirely.110

Dairy-free and vegetarian-leaning swaps

The plan bends easily if you don't eat dairy. Use olive or coconut oil wherever a recipe calls for butter or ghee, top the omelet and quiche with avocado or olives instead of cheese, make the salmon egg bake with canned coconut milk in place of the kefir and leave out its goat cheese, and make the fat bombs and keto coffee with coconut oil instead of butter. Canned coconut milk already carries the smoothie, the broccoli soup and the tom kha gai.

If you eat little or no meat, the plan adapts well to a pescatarian or egg-based week, since fish, eggs and goat or sheep cheese already carry much of it. Swap the turkey burgers, chicken and steak for an extra serving of the salmon egg bake, the quiche, canned wild salmon, sardines or another fish dinner. See pescatarian for more on eating that way.

More keto recipes for your week

Once the first week feels easy, rotate in new recipes to keep the plan interesting. Browse these collections:

• Keto recipes for breakfasts, mains and sides
• Keto snacks for the afternoon
• Keto fat bombs for a quick bite of healthy fat
• Keto drinks beyond coffee and tea

A few single recipes that fit the plan well are keto bread made with almond flour, olive tapenade for spooning over fish, baked eggs and spinach for a quick breakfast, and beef bone broth to sip.

What can a keto diet plan do for you?

When insulin stays high meal after meal, your cells gradually stop responding to it, which is insulin resistance, and cutting carbs this low is one of the quickest ways to bring it down.1 For weight, a review of 13 randomized trials with 1,415 adults, each followed for at least a year, found that very-low-carb ketogenic diets took off about 2 pounds (0.91 kg) more than low-fat diets.18 For blood sugar, a review that pooled 8 randomized trials with 264 adults with type 2 diabetes found that 57% of people on low-carb diets of under 130 grams a day, keto included, reached remission at about 6 months, defined as an HbA1c below 6.5% whether or not they still took medication, against 31% on comparison diets.19

I recommend keto for children with epilepsy, for people with MS for a period of time, and for some people who need to lose weight.15 For the research on each benefit, from epilepsy to blood sugar, see my complete keto diet guide, and for blood sugar in particular, keto and diabetes.

Who should be careful with a keto diet plan?

A well-built keto plan is safe in the short to medium term for most healthy adults, and it calls for medical guidance first if you take diabetes or blood pressure medicine, are pregnant or nursing, or have a gallbladder, liver or kidney condition.120

The bottom line

Keto diet plan: frequently asked questions

References

1. Axe J. Keto Diet: Benefits, Food List, 7-Day Meal Plan & How to Start (A Doctor's Guide). DrAxe.com. 2026 (first published June 13, 2026; updated November 2, 2026; sections "Keto for Beginners: The 5-Step Start Plan," "How ketosis works," "Keto macros & net carbs," "The best (clean, healing) ketogenic diet," "Top 10 supplements for the keto diet" (electrolytes, MCT oil, exogenous ketones), the 7-day plan's portion notes, "Common Keto Mistakes," "Labs to Check Before Starting Keto," "A note for women," "Keto side effects & the 'keto flu'," "My Clinical Take," "The history of keto, and my work with it" and the FAQ).
2. Axe J. Top 12 Foods & Herbs for Weight Loss (BETTER THAN OZEMPIC). The Dr. Josh Axe Show. 2025 (Dr. Axe at 25:48 to 26:41 and 44:03 to 44:30; YouTube -Uq92QA3MKw).
3. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, SR Legacy (2019): carbohydrate (by difference) and total dietary fiber, per serving computed from each record's per-100-gram values and USDA portion weights; recipes counted as written and divided by their stated servings; meal values rounded to 0.1 gram and day totals summed from them. FDC IDs 167747, 167749, 167755, 168156, 168389, 168409, 168462, 168567, 168576, 168588, 169094, 169230, 169247, 169251, 169287, 169291, 169387, 169429, 169593, 169599, 169986, 169988, 169994, 169997, 170000, 170005, 170051, 170108, 170173, 170379, 170416, 170427, 170457, 170499, 170554, 170556, 170568, 170591, 170904, 170923, 170924, 170931, 171077, 171249, 171287, 171317, 171319, 171320, 171325, 171326, 171327, 171329, 171412, 171413, 171505, 171705, 171890, 171955, 171959, 172184, 172197, 172232, 172233, 172234, 173430, 173435, 173469, 173471, 173573, 173625, 173686, 173687, 174536, 175139, 175175. Accessed November 2, 2026.
4. Axe J. You Were Lied To About Seed Oils! The Truth About Butter, Tallow & Olive Oil. The Dr. Josh Axe Show. 2026 (Dr. Axe at 23:15 to 24:02: avocado oil for high heat and searing; extra virgin olive oil the number one oil he recommends; YouTube q4XHsYNQAZY).
5. Harvey CJDC, Schofield GM, Williden M, McQuillan JA. The Effect of Medium Chain Triglycerides on Time to Nutritional Ketosis and Symptoms of Keto-Induction in Healthy Adults: A Randomised Controlled Clinical Trial. J Nutr Metab. 2018;2018:2630565. doi:10.1155/2018/2630565. PMID:29951312
6. Axe J. #1 Cellular Health EXPERT: Most Longevity Advice Gets It Backwards. The Dr. Josh Axe Show. 2026 (Dr. Axe at 3:00 to 3:04; YouTube lbZ-z-GS_b4).
7. Axe J. Healthy Weight & Metabolic Reset: The 90-Day Healing Protocol. DrAxe.com protocol. 2026 edition (four phases: Stabilize, days 1 to 30; Build, days 15 to 45; Burn, days 30 to 75; Keep, days 60 to 90+; Phase 1: 30 g of protein within an hour of waking, a 12-hour overnight fast with dinner done by 7 and breakfast after 7, a 10-minute walk after the two biggest meals, measuring the waist at the navel, no snacking between meals; strength training three times a week; retest at day 90).
8. DeFronzo RA. The effect of insulin on renal sodium metabolism. A review with clinical implications. Diabetologia. 1981;21(3):165-71. doi:10.1007/BF00252649. PMID:7028550
9. Bostock ECS, Kirkby KC, Taylor BV, Hawrelak JA. Consumer Reports of "Keto Flu" Associated With the Ketogenic Diet. Front Nutr. 2020;7:20. doi:10.3389/fnut.2020.00020. PMID:32232045
10. Axe J, Rubin J. The Biblio Diet. Hachette Book Group; 2025. ISBN 9781546008439. Fish guidance ("Choose wild, ocean-caught fish. Make sure it has fins and scales," ebook p. 84); nuts ("about a handful at most a day," ebook p. 104).
11. Bouvard V, Loomis D, Guyton KZ, Grosse Y, Ghissassi FE, Benbrahim-Tallaa L, et al. Carcinogenicity of consumption of red and processed meat. Lancet Oncol. 2015;16(16):1599-600. doi:10.1016/S1470-2045(15)00444-1. PMID:26514947
12. Axe J. 10 Biblical Superfoods That Can Add Years to Your Life. The Dr. Josh Axe Show, Episode 393. 2026 (Dr. Axe at 21:02 to 21:15; YouTube 9AnNi1umufc).
13. Ducrot P, Méjean C, Aroumougame V, Ibanez G, Allès B, Kesse-Guyot E, et al. Meal planning is associated with food variety, diet quality and body weight status in a large sample of French adults. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act. 2017;14(1):12. doi:10.1186/s12966-017-0461-7. PMID:28153017
14. Skartun O, Smith CR, Laupsa-Borge J, Dankel SN. Symptoms during initiation of a ketogenic diet: a scoping review of occurrence rates, mechanisms and relief strategies. Front Nutr. 2025;12:1538266. doi:10.3389/fnut.2025.1538266. PMID:40206956
15. Axe J. Natural Remedies for Asthma, ADHD, & Aluminum-Free Deodorants | Q&A with Dr. Josh Axe. The Dr. Josh Axe Show. 2024 (Dr. Axe at 10:28 to 11:45; YouTube 52p6Wq4fAvc).
16. The Holy Bible, King James Version. Ecclesiastes 3:1. Project Gutenberg eBook #10.
17. Axe J. The Shocking Reason Your Anxiety, Brain Fog & Bloating May Start in Your Gut. The Dr. Josh Axe Show. 2026 (Dr. Axe at 45:40 to 45:51, his sweetener ranking: honey first, then monk fruit, stevia and allulose; YouTube yumJczZ1_JM).
18. Bueno NB, de Melo IS, de Oliveira SL, da Rocha Ataide T. Very-low-carbohydrate ketogenic diet v. low-fat diet for long-term weight loss: a meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials. Br J Nutr. 2013;110(7):1178-87. doi:10.1017/S0007114513000548. PMID:23651522
19. Goldenberg JZ, Day A, Brinkworth GD, Sato J, Yamada S, Jönsson T, et al. Efficacy and safety of low and very low carbohydrate diets for type 2 diabetes remission: systematic review and meta-analysis of published and unpublished randomized trial data. BMJ. 2021;372:m4743. doi:10.1136/bmj.m4743. PMID:33441384
20. Dyńka D, Rodzeń Ł, Rodzeń M, Łojko D, Karakuła-Juchnowicz H, Ede G, et al. The ketogenic diet is not for everyone: contraindications, side effects, and drug interactions. Ann Med. 2026;58(1):2603016. doi:10.1080/07853890.2025.2603016. PMID:41486865
21. Mistry S, Eschler DC. Euglycemic Diabetic Ketoacidosis Caused by SGLT2 Inhibitors and a Ketogenic Diet: A Case Series and Review of Literature. AACE Clin Case Rep. 2021;7(1):17-19. doi:10.1016/j.aace.2020.11.009. PMID:33851013
22. Axe J. Healing Leaky Gut Protocol: The 30-Day Healing Protocol. DrAxe.com protocol. 2026 edition (phase 2, Replace, days 8 to 14, "Supplement focus": ox bile, if no gallbladder, 125 to 500 mg with fatty meals).
23. Axe J. Keto Diet: Your 30-Day Plan to Lose Weight, Balance Hormones, Boost Brain Health, and Reverse Disease. Little, Brown Spark; 2019. ISBN 9780316529587.

Dr. Josh Axe, DC, DNM, CNS

Doctor of Natural Medicine · Founder, DrAxe.com

Dr. Axe is a certified doctor of natural medicine, clinical nutritionist, and multiple New York Times bestselling author. He has spent 20+ years in clinical practice helping people heal at the root cause and founded one of the most-visited natural-health platforms in the world.

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