KetoQandA

Simple: If It Fits Your Macros. This basically means that if your goal is up to 50 carbs in a day, and you currently have 20, you can eat 30 of anything you want without leaving ketosis.  Harder: There are a lot of people out there who have a lot of weird interpretations on what Keto is, from misrepresented science to borderline religion. Some sites/groups are strict about what foods "are Keto", this often has to do with a breakdown of carbs as a percentage. This is not based on science though. Your body produces ketones when glucose is significantly restricted, that's it. It doesn't know or care whether that came from tuna or Krispy Kreme.  There are lots of lists of "Ketogenic Foods" so some of this may stem from that, but these lists are typically just very low carb foods. This is not a list of magical items that create ketogenic states better than others, it just gives people who need more variety a list of options. 

Simple: Not needed, they are inaccurate and when they do work it is only for a short period of time. Harder: Ketostix measure ketone levels in urine, these are primarily for diabetics to ensure they are not in danger from ketoacidosis. For the first few days or weeks of a ketogenic diet your body isn't as efficient at using ketones as it is producing them, so the extras come out in your urine and the sticks change colors based on the concentration of ketones (hydration level drastically affects this). As your body adapts to being in ketosis it is better able to utilize all of the ketones you produced and you will therefore have fewer to lose through urine. So, Ketostix can be used in the beginning, though they are not needed, to confirm you are producing ketones, but later won't tell you anything at all.

Simple: Without being in a ketogenic state your body does not produce glucose (carbs), so you have to eat it. This spikes your blood sugar, creates an insulin response, and if you eat too many they will get turned into fat. In Ketosis however your body does the reverse, it breaks down the fat you already have and turns it into energy.  Harder: While glucose can be used directly without any conversion, ketones must be made by the liver, the benefit is that they are produced from fat. Ketosis acclimates your body to running on fat instead of sugar, giving you a nearly never ending supply of energy from parts of your body you would probably like gone anyway. Your body does need some glucose to run, fortunately it is also made by the body itself during ketosis.

Simple: Keto is short for ketosis, or the ketogenic diet. When carbs are restricted enough your liver will produce a new type of energy called a ketone, when it does you are said to be in ketosis and a diet that does this is ketogenic.  OK, so? The so is that a ketogenic state forces our liver to make ketones from fat. so instead of eating sugar for energy we can create it ourselves from the fat we have stored on our body. For most people this is a very good thing. It is important to understand that this is nutritional ketosis, something we do on purpose with our diet and not related to a dangerous condition called ketoacidosis. These have nothing to do with each other outside of the word keto used in the name. Harder: On a standard diet, your body runs primarily off of glucose from your blood, these are sugars/carbohydrates. This glucose in your blood is commonly called blood sugar as in my blood sugar is low.  Your muscles, organs and brain all run off...

The purpose of this site is to research and post answers to common questions about Keto. This is not medical advice, or really any advice for you, but an attempt to answer common questions. My goal is to make 2 or 3 versions of answers for each question. The first would be a higher level, general answer this would be followed by more detail, sources, and the science to back it up. Lastly will be some sort of analogy that helps us come to grips with some complex topics. Comments are turned off, too many people misread or misinterpret down in the comments and cause confusion, this is meant to be a reliable resource for answers backed by information with as little bias as possible. I am not a web guy, so be patient as I work on this thing.