Keto diet in Australia: beginner's guide and keto flu

Keto is a way of eating, not a capsule. This guide explains what it means, how many carbs it allows, what to buy at the supermarket, what keto flu feels like and who should talk to a GP or dietitian first.

If you are looking at keto capsules such as AltBurn Keto, it helps to start with the thing the capsules are named after. The diet is the main event and the capsule is, at most, a side issue. This guide explains keto in plain terms, using Australian foods and Australian health sources, and says honestly who should not do it.

What is a keto diet?

Healthdirect describes a ketogenic diet as a low-carbohydrate, high-fat diet. People on it eat a very small amount of carbohydrate, some protein and a lot of fat. When there is little carbohydrate to burn, the body breaks fat down into ketones for energy, a state called ketosis. Healthdirect says people on a ketogenic diet usually eat only 20 to 50 grams of carbohydrate a day, and gives a handy comparison: 50 grams of carbohydrate is about two slices of bread and a banana. That is roughly 10% of daily energy.

"Low-carb" is looser. There is no single official cut-off, and many people who say they eat low-carb are well above keto levels. If you are following a particular plan, check which number it uses.

How many carbs are in everyday Australian food?

Australian labels show carbohydrate per serve and per 100 grams on the nutrition information panel, with "of which sugars" underneath. Use the label for packaged food. The figures below are rough, rounded guides to give you a feel for the scale against a 20 to 50 gram daily budget, not exact values.

A single bowl of rice or a couple of sandwiches can use up a whole day's keto allowance. That is why the first week feels like a lot of label reading.

Keto-friendly foods at Woolworths and Coles

You do not need a specialty shop. Most of it lives in the fresh and dairy sections of any supermarket.

• Eggs, meat and fish. Beef, lamb, chicken thighs, pork, fresh or tinned fish such as salmon, sardines and tuna, and eggs.
• Dairy. Cheese, butter, cream and plain Greek-style yoghurt in moderation.
• Low-carbohydrate vegetables. Spinach and other leafy greens, lettuce, cucumber, zucchini, broccoli, cauliflower, mushrooms and capsicum.
• Fats and extras. Avocado, olive oil, macadamias and other nuts, seeds and olives.
• Drinks. Water, tea and black coffee. Sparkling mineral water if you want some fizz.

Where hidden carbs turn up

Tomato sauce, barbecue sauce, sweet chilli and many marinades are sugar-heavy. Some sausages contain cereal or rusk filler, so read the label rather than assuming a snag is carb-free. Flavoured yoghurt, "low fat" products, muesli bars, canned soups, meat pies, bottled salad dressings and sweetened protein bars can all carry more carbohydrate than you would guess. Beer, cider, sweet wine and many mixed drinks count too.

A sample day

This is an illustration of the style of eating, not a meal plan or a prescription, and portions depend on you.

• Breakfast. Two or three eggs scrambled in butter with spinach and mushrooms, with bacon or smoked salmon on the side.
• Lunch. Tinned tuna or leftover roast chicken on a big salad with avocado, cucumber and olive oil.
• Snack. Cheese and a few macadamias.
• Dinner. Lamb cutlets or grilled barramundi with broccoli and zucchini cooked in butter.
• Drinks. Water, tea, black coffee. Dietitians Australia publishes an example low-carbohydrate menu, which healthdirect links to.

What is keto flu and how long does it last?

"Keto flu" is the name for the unwell feeling some people get when they first start. Healthdirect says it can leave you dizzy, tired, constipated and finding exercise harder, and lists other short-term effects including headache, nausea, bad breath, tummy upsets and dehydration. It is not an infection, so there is nothing to catch and it does not mean you have the flu.

How long it lasts varies from person to person. Healthdirect does not give a number, and we could not find an official figure, but the general advice is that for many people it eases over several days to a couple of weeks. If it drags on or you feel properly unwell, see your GP. Meanwhile, these steps tend to help:

• Drink enough fluids, especially in hot weather or after sweating.
• Get minerals from food, not extra tablets. Leafy greens, avocado, nuts and seeds are good sources of magnesium and potassium, and normal seasoning of your food covers most people's sodium.
• Ease into it rather than going straight to a very low carbohydrate level.
• Go gently on exercise for the first week or two.
• Eat enough. Fatigue is common when people cut carbohydrates and also cut total food.

If you are also using capsules, keep an eye on how you feel and read our guide on how to take AltBurn Keto capsules so you know what you are adding.

Who should not go keto, or should see a professional first?

Healthdirect states that for some people the ketogenic diet is unsafe, and it should only be started after talking to your doctor. It says the diet is not recommended if you:

• are pregnant or breastfeeding
• are at risk of an eating disorder
• have type 1 diabetes
• have kidney disease

Healthdirect also says low-carbohydrate diets can affect children's growth and should be avoided for them, and that if you take insulin or certain diabetes medicines you may be at risk of low blood sugar. It warns of a risk of diabetic ketoacidosis if you take SGLT-2 inhibitors and follow the diet. It adds that a high-fat diet can raise cholesterol. If you take any regular medicine, particularly for blood pressure, fluid or diabetes, talk to your GP before changing how you eat. Diabetes Australia and Kidney Health Australia both publish information for people living with those conditions.

An Accredited Practising Dietitian (APD) can build an eating plan around your health, budget and culture. Dietitians Australia has a "Find a Dietitian" search, and healthdirect lists the Dietitians Australia line as 1800 812 942. You can also ring healthdirect on 1800 022 222 to talk to a registered nurse at any hour.

What do the Australian Dietary Guidelines say?

The Australian Dietary Guidelines, published through Eat for Health, ask Australians to achieve and maintain a healthy weight and to enjoy a wide variety of foods from five groups every day: vegetables and legumes, fruit, grain foods (mostly wholegrain), lean meats, fish, eggs, tofu, nuts and seeds, and milk, yoghurt and cheese or alternatives. A strict keto diet cuts most grains and fruit and a good deal of legumes, so it sits outside that pattern, and that is why professionals recommend getting advice. Healthdirect puts the long-term message simply: the key to maintaining a healthy weight is an eating pattern you can follow over time.

Eat for Health also makes a useful point on scale. If you are carrying extra weight, losing even 5 kg can make you feel better and lower your risk factors for health problems.

What weight loss should you realistically expect?

Healthdirect says people on a ketogenic diet may lose weight rapidly in the first few weeks, but that this is due to water loss because you are eating fewer carbohydrates. It says there is little evidence to support the diet for long-term weight loss, that the loss often does not last and that many people drop out because the diet is so restrictive.

A 2014 systematic review of 19 randomised trials comparing low-carbohydrate diets with balanced diets of the same energy found little or no difference in weight loss at 3 to 6 months and at 1 to 2 years. In other words, what usually matters most is eating fewer kilojoules than you use in a way you can keep up. A healthy pace and a target are things your GP or dietitian can set for you.

Where does a supplement fit?

A ketone capsule is not the same thing as a ketogenic diet. A diet changes what your body runs on, while a BHB capsule only adds a ketone salt to your blood for a short time. In a six-week controlled-feeding study, adding twice-daily racemic BHB salts to a hypocaloric keto diet raised blood ketones further than the diet alone, but that is a lab marker, not a weight result. In the 8-week trial of BHB salts with modest calorie restriction in 51 adults, both groups lost weight and the differences between groups were not statistically significant. We go through these and other studies in our guide on whether BHB keto capsules work for weight loss.

Healthdirect's advice on ketone supplements is short: speak to your doctor before taking them. If you are still curious, the sensible order is to sort out your food first and talk to your GP, then decide whether a supplement is worth the money.

Only if you have talked to your GP

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Frequently asked questions

Related guides

Sources and further reading

• Healthdirect: Ketogenic diet
• Eat for Health: Australian Dietary Guidelines 1 to 5
• Eat for Health: Tips for losing weight healthily
• Dietitians Australia: Find a Dietitian
• PubMed: Naude et al. 2014, low carbohydrate versus balanced diets (systematic review)
• PubMed: Buga et al. 2023, ketone salts with a ketogenic diet (randomised trial)

Last reviewed 12 October 2026. This guide is general information. It is not medical advice and it has not been evaluated by the TGA. Talk to your GP, pharmacist or an Accredited Practising Dietitian about your own situation.