Hitting the fitness world by storm, the ketogenic diet (casually known as the keto diet) has increasingly gained in popularity in recent years.
If you aren’t too familiar with the ketogenic diet and how it can reform your approach to achieving your maximum fitness levels, you’re in for a treat.
Put simply, it’s a diet fueled to encourage your body to use fat for energy instead of sugar-based foods. The keto diet revolves around the aim of preparing your body for a state of ketosis to help lose weight as well as increase overall health and well-being.
First, I’ll briefly touch upon the science behind the keto diet and how you can maximize your results and how keto supplements can help boost your results from a keto diet.
After that, I’ll dive into a thorough review of the exogenous ketone and MCT supplement by Perfect Keto, which aims to enhance your results in a ketogenic diet.
This is a completely unbiased review of Perfect Keto products with the aim to help interested readers understand the basics of a ketogenic diet and the importance of choosing a high-quality ketone supplement.
A Summary to Understanding the Keto Diet
The keto diet involves massive changes to your diet by way of increasing healthy fat intake and limiting carbs in order for your body to burn fat and produce ketones for energy.
As adults, our dietary changes from healthy fats to foods containing higher sugar-based energy has taken away the advantages of maximizing healthy fats and converting it into important nutrients for our physical development.
With many fitness fads coming and going, the natural skepticism to a fitness diet that actually works is inevitable. Based on both my personal experience and scientific research (which I thoroughly enjoy delving in when it comes to understanding all there is to know about fitness), ketosis lasts for a long time as long as the ketogenic diet is followed.
Due to the heavy reliance our body has on food and drink, what you eat has a direct effect on how fast you lose weight.
The ketogenic diet focuses on low carbohydrate intake while increasing your protein intake. Healthy fats become a massive part of your daily diet which is necessary for healing your body and changing your body’s primary fuel of energy from sugar to fat.
And to help your body adapt faster to the ketogenic diet thus increasing the effects for optimal result, I highly recommend using an exogenous ketogenic supplement.
How Exogenous Ketogenic Supplements Help
What sets a healthy ketogenic diet apart from an unhealthy one is the intake of quality macronutrients and micronutrients.
Further, when making the big change from your regular diet to a keto one, it is important to maintain high sodium levels due to loss of salt and electrolytes through urination. To introduce more sodium (also known as keto salt) into your diet, you must ensure that you start off gradually slowly increasing your intake to a maximum of 500mg a day.
Throughout my years of following the keto diet, I’ve found that ketogenic supplements are extremely helpful in achieving my fitness goals.
From the hours of research spent trying to understand the benefits of keto supplements, I’ve listed the main ones here:
- Relief of negative keto symptoms such as keto flu caused by lack of vitamin intake
- Decreased inflammation
- Increased energy levels and focus
- Backup for any nutritional gaps in your ketogenic diet
- Maximizing keto results such as faster weight loss and fat loss
Ultimately, a high-quality exogenous ketogenic supplement can enable you to perform at your best and should contain high-quality beta-hydroxybutryate (BHB) without containing any fillers, additives, carbs or sugars which are plain unhealthy and goes against your purpose.
BHB is the most important and efficient ketone energy molecule produced by your body. It is stable and abundant while being natural and healthy for your body with studies claiming that it extends your health and lifespan.
I’ve also found that other good keto supplements include:
- Electrolytes supplements containing potassium, sodium, magnesium, and calcium
- Vitamin D supplements to help increase strength and maintain healthy hormones
- MCT oil supplements to help produce ketones and aid in fat efficiency
- Fish oil supplements containing omega-3 fatty acids
Side Effects of Ketogenic Supplements
Like all supplements, exogenous ketogenic supplements may bear negative effects for certain individuals as opposed to others. As the saying goes, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.
Depending on the way your body reacts to a certain type of supplement, you may experience the following side effects:
- Discomfort
- A change in mood
- A change in energy levels
- Headaches
I would recommend consulting your local physician if you’re in doubt as to the effects a ketogenic supplement may have on you based on your personal condition.
Perfect Keto’s Exogenous Ketones
Now onto the fun part.
Here’s a little sciency stuff for you guys: exogenous ketones basically means supplemented ketones compared to endogenous ketones which are produced by your body.
Perfect Keto Base is an exogenous ketone supplement.
A Breakdown of Perfect Keto Base Ingredients
What I like about Perfect Keto’s exogenous ketone supplement is that it ticks all the boxes on what the ideal keto supplement should contain.
The ingredients list contains the following:
- High-quality BHB (11.38 grams)
- Calcium
- Magnesium
- Natural Flavors
- Citric Acid
- Stevia
The great part about Perfect Keto Base is that it contains:
- No carbs
- No gums or fillers
- No sugars
In other words, it contains zero junk which helps you achieve your keto goals faster and more efficiently.
The Taste Test
No matter how good the product is, it won’t be any good if you do not have the palette to consume it.
Perfect Keto Base comes in a few different flavors:
- Peaches & Cream
- Vanilla
- Chocolate Sea Salt
- Coffee
Being the adventurer I am, I’ve tried 3 flavors with chocolate sea salt being my favorite and most ordered exogenous ketone supplement. I treat it like a hot cocoa before bed and it does taste quite nice with a rich chocolatey flavor to it.
The vanilla flavor comes second and tastes quite natural when compared to other products on the market with that nasty artificial vanilla flavor. And the peaches and cream flavor comes third although I must admit I’m not keen on peach flavored things although there are several raving reviews about this flavor being the créme de la créme.
Cost
Generally, ketogenic supplements come at a pricey range and Perfect Keto’s price of $59 for its exogenous ketone supplement is quite affordable in comparison.
One exogenous ketone supplement by Perfect Keto amounts to around 15 servings making it just under 4 bucks per serving.
Does it Work?
From the very first moment I tried Perfect Keto Base, I noticed a jump in both my focus and energy levels. I found myself more motivated and productive despite not consuming a lot of carbs.
Regular intake of Perfect Keto resulted in feeling less exhausted throughout the day which definitely put me in a good mood even when my mates were eating KFC right next to me.
In order to track the internal effectiveness of Perfect Keto Base, I recorded the levels of my blood sugar and ketone levels. Measurements were taken before the exogenous ketogenic supplement intake and one and a half hours after.
Here’s an example of my measurements.
The first reading was taken at 2PM which was 5 hours after my first meal of the day (full-fat yogurt, berries, nuts, comprising an approximate 10 grams of carbs) and 2.5 hours after my workout (60 minutes of weight training followed by cardio and stretching).
The second reading was taken 90 minutes after consumption of Perfect Keto’s exogenous keto supplement (1 cup unsweetened almond milk together with 1 serving of Chocolate Sea Salt Perfect Keto Base).
My before ketone readings were 1.2 mmol and my after readings were 2.2 mmol.
My before glucose readings were 90mg/dL and my after glucose readings were 80mg/dL.
All in all, the results showed an improvement in ketone levels with a drop in glucose levels after using Perfect Keto Base.
The Final Verdict
Would I recommend using Perfect Keto Base as an exogenous ketogenic supplement for your keto diet?
My simple answer is yes.
Being a supplement containing high-quality ingredients without any junk fillers, carbs, or sugars, it’s a great option for those looking for an effective keto supplement.
I like how Perfect Keto Base is affordable while being of good quality thus making it one of my go-to keto supplements on a daily basis.
