I’ve had quite a few people messaging me this week, all suffering
from significant health issues. They are all looking for advice and information
about keto. This blog post is to everyone out there who is ready to make a
change with their nutrition and heal themselves from the inside out.
While a ketogenic diet may not solve the panacea of health conditions
out there; I do believe it is a good first step to healing many of them because
it changes our metabolism by teaching our body to use fat as fuel and create
ketone bodies which our brain loves.
If you’re wondering whether you have a healthy metabolism or not, ask
yourself the following questions. Can you go more than four to five hours
without eating or getting cranky? Do you have sustainable energy throughout the
day or do you feel tired in the afternoon or after a meal? Do you have the
energy you need to exercise or do other physical activities that you’d like to
enjoy such as playing with your children or grandchildren? If you answered no
to some or all of these, then you may benefit from the ketogenic diet.
People are often overwhelmed getting started. They may see me
eating a carnivore diet and doing regular fasts without blinking an eye but let
me start by saying, it has taken me several years of going from paleo, to low
carb, then keto and doing Intermittent Fasting before getting to where I am
now. I would recommend that if you’re coming from a typical high carb diet,
that you go through a similar transition so that it becomes more of a lifestyle
for you, rather than just a diet that isn’t sustainable.
So, where to start?
First off, let’s make some substitutions of higher carb foods with
some lower carb foods. Try some cauliflower mash instead of mashed potatoes or make
French fries with rutabagas. Load your plate with lower glycemic vegetables
such as Brussel sprouts, asparagus, broccoli or salads alongside your protein
(steaks, roasts, pork chops, ribs, chicken or fish). Next, start substituting
the sugar you use in with stevia.
Next, you will want to get rid of the carbs and sweets in your
home. If you live with others who aren’t going to do the keto diet with you,
then at the very least, get the sweets and carbs that are your favourites, out
of sight.
Then, you will want to have some keto approved snacks on hand.
Sweets such as fat bombs (coconut oil, cocoa and stevia frozen in little molds)
and sugar free jello can be a lifesaver when your sweet tooth begins calling.
If you enjoy salty snacks then pork rinds with melted cheese on them or dipped
in salsa can be a great substitution to chips (I use to love nachos). Other
things that I kept in my fridge when I was transitioning was kielbasa and
cheese, hard boiled eggs, homemade beef jerky, cucumbers and celery sticks dipped
in sour cream or ranch dressing.
Be prepared to make an electrolyte drink. Carbohydrates hold onto
water in the body, so when you start a keto diet, you will lose water very
quickly. And with that water, you will lose electrolytes and this is what
causes the ‘carb flu’ (fatigue, heart palpitations, muscle cramps, headaches,
diarrhea, etc.). The solution to this is drinking 8 oz of water with 1 tsp sea
salt, 1 tsp cream of tartar (or No Salt/Salt Free which is potassium) and 1 tsp
of baking soda. You can add lemon juice for flavour if needed. Drink this every
few hours throughout the day. When I was transitioning, I carried a container
of sea salt with me and would add it to water wherever I was. You may still
experience some carb flu symptoms but this will definitely ease your discomfort.
Whenever you’re feeling low in energy, ask yourself if you’ve been drinking
your electrolyte water.
It is also very important to get protein in your diet. You need
20-30 grams of protein in a meal in order to stimulate protein synthesis which
maintains the physical structures of our bodies and promotes muscle growth.
This is extremely important as we age. There is a lot of debate around protein
and red meat. I personally don’t believe that we have anything to worry about.
I have done plenty of research and I think that eating lots of meat is
important for our well being. Meat, especially liver is full of nutrition, in fact, it has everything you need. I eat as much as it takes to leave me feeling
full at every meal.
Last but not least. Enjoy the food that you are allowed. The keto
diet can be very satisfying. Enjoy butter again, slather it on all of your
vegetables, eat the fat off of that pork chop and put some full fat whipping
cream into your morning coffee. It’s okay, the fat will help keep you feeling
satisfied and that is really important when you’re transitioning.
If you need ideas for meals, please check out the meal plans on my
blog!
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