First time I heard the word KETO was almost about a year ago. It was my husband, who always researches about new diets and new ways of losing weight as he actively working on his healthy journey (you can check it out and follow him here)
We were already living with low carb and carb cycling diet and tons of exercising. However, we seemed to be stuck for some month as no matter what we did our weight was not dropping.
As I never do anything without at least googling it first I went and googled keto diet.
The article I read stated it was based on low to none carbs intake, medium protein, and high fats.
We were already heaving low carb so I closed that page and decided to keep doing what we were doing.
The second time I heard the word Keto was several months later after my husbands dr appointment where Dr suggested to do Keto diet in order to regulate my husbands’ high blood pressure.
I still didn’t pay much attention to that. It seemed to be another of those super hot diets that are replaced by another hot trend several months later.
But as they say, third time is the charm. During one of the events that I was covering I met a guy, we started talking about food (of course it was a food-focused event) he told me that he was doing a Keto diet for already 2 months. Later that day we added each other as friends on facebook and then I saw his picture from 2 months before and this is when I got to see real results and went into deeper research about this diet.
That guy lost about 25 lbs in only 2 months without any type of exercising besides regular walking as he has a very busy and demanding job and extended hours just by eating correctly through the diet.
I did go deep into reading, joined a facebook group dedicated to keto (very friendly people you can join by clicking here) and talking to everyone. I met several people who live on keto all the time.
Of course, haters appeared right there and were present at all times, but hey, what would be life without them right?
So I decided to try this diet. It came very conveniently as Summer came with lots of traveling and tons of work and I was not able to cut myself a time to go to the gym.
It all seemed easy:
- No more than 18 gr of carbs a day
- Enough protein
- Lots of fats
- No sugar
My hardships started with fats. If you decide to read medical researches on this diet you will realize that fats are actually a very essential part of this diet. I was already eating less than 25g. of carbs a day and cutting a little bit more was not a problem but adding fats was the real challenge.
First of all, I was already used to the low-fat diet. My salads were dressed with just lemon juice and I did not eat fried foods. I was suggested to add fats through cheese, cream, butter… kinda hard when you are lactose intolerant…. (you can read here how I discovered I was lactose intolerant).
The avocado was my salvation for the first weeks. Later I found lactose free butter, cream cheese, and even lactose free cheddar cheese!!! (that was my happy dance day)
My second challenge was sugar. If you read my post about sugar you probably know I don’t eat real sugar. But my afternoons are filled with cravings for fruits. Well, fruits contain a lot of sugar and are not allowed at least at the beginning.
I bet you are thinking:
“oh I am fine there, I am using honey in my tea….”.
Remember those carb numbers? 1 tablespoon of honey contains 18gr of carbs.
It is all your allowance for the day. So NO HONEY! And if you are thinking:
” its fine, I will get my honey and will not have rice or pasta”
you are wrong.
Almost all food contains carbs. Cauliflower is very popular in Keto and still, it contains about 3gr of carbs. Even your supplements or your favorite mint gum. (train yourself to read labels) contains carbs. link here to my blog post
Here I found a great article on sweeteners that can be used with Keto Diet.
Ok, let me explain to you a little bit how it all works with Keto:
Basically, this diet rewires all your body. You will find it has been used for years for diabetes and some other illnesses.
At this moment you already know carbs is a fuel to our body. It is what gives us energy. As you stop consuming carbs, your body needs to find other ways of energy. And this is when you start feeding it fats. Your body probably will pause for a moment (maybe a week) and then will start burning that fat. Once it starts with fat burning you will be amazed. I encourage you to weigh yourself at least every 3 days because it happens that fast.
Of course, measuring your portions is very important because you don’t want to give your body more than it needs mostly if you are looking into losing weight.
Weight loss with a keto diet is fast but besides the weight loss, it improves all your body functions. You’ll start having even more energy. If there are days when you feel sleepy and lethargic in the afternoons it will not happen again.
Keto is known to even cure allergies.
Warning: Keto-Flu is real
After reading all those wonderful facts you probably will jump right into keto diet. Well, not so fast.
For me, it wasn’t difficult as I was used to eating very low carb diet. But for people with regular diet, where you have your daily sandwich and some rice or mashed potatoes on a side, jumping into a keto might come with what is called keto-flu.
While your body goes through that reset process you might feel like you are having flu. You might even have a headache and feel weak. It will not last more than 2 weeks. But there are ways to prevent that from happening.
4-Week KETO Preparation:
- 1st Week: My suggestion is to start slowly cutting on all sugars (those are the most difficult ones) do it for a week. I am not only talking about refined sugar but also about fruits. And please cut the honey right now. You can keep berries as blackberry, strawberry, and raspberry.
- 2nd Week: stop consuming bread, rice, pasta, and potato.
- 3rd Week: It is time to cut on more carbs. Here is the list of foods that I used to consume on regular basis thinking it is healthy but discovered that are high in carbs:
grains: chickpea, beans, corn (extremely high carb), carrots, beets, banana, pineapple, yogurt. - 4th Week: Start adding your fats. Peanut butter, cream cheese, cottage cheese, the avocado will be your best friend. Snack on seeds. Eat your chicken with skin, salmon is a very good source of healthy fats. You even can have mayo!
This step type introduction of your body to the diet will be easy to do and will not make you crave for unhealthy foods.
Once you are in, you already will be eating fewer amounts. But try to eat more often. When I started, even though I was kinda trained before, I spend many days feeling hungry. I could eat and eat and eat again. Don’t let it scare you, eat! That often eating is good as this will boost your metabolism.
Let me know how did it work for you. I also encourage you to do more research and to find out exactly how keto works and list of all benefits that it brings.
