New year, new diet, that’s the case for Claudia Álvarez who’s been a vegetarian for 14 years and is trying something new, the keto diet. The actress recently announced that her husband, producer Billy Rovzar encouraged her to follow a ketogenic diet, which includes eating meat, which has been something she’s been trying to get used to.
“I spent 14 years as a vegetarian and Billy has been doing the keto diet which in reality is super healthy, incredible, and I would joke ‘this is not good, this either’ because it’s a lot of fats. I’ve tried a lot of diets and I feel good,” she explains to CARAS.
The keto diet has many names, it is known as a low carb diet, ketogenic diet, and low carb high fat diet where the body produces ketones in the liver from the food you eat to be used as energy. Since the glucose is being used as a primary energy, your fats are not needed and are therefore stored. Typically on a normal, higher carbohydrate diet, the body will use glucose as the main form of energy. By lowering the intake of carbs, the body is induced into a state known as ketosis. Ketosis is a natural process the body initiates to help us survive when food intake is low. During this state, we produce ketones, which are produced from the breakdown of fats in the liver.
Going from eating a vegetarian diet to introducing meat to your system after 14 years can be a difficult transition. “Everything is delicious but in reality, it was a little weird for me, it’s a style of life that you want to try and I will do it for a couple of months and see how I feel,” explains Álvarez.
In addition to switching diets, she hopes that this new diet will help her keep healthy since she’s trying to conceive. “I hope so, I hope this year we will be blessed, but I have no idea, everything is a process.”