There and Back Again – A Keto Journey

On March 1st, 2018 I fully committed to the keto diet.  When I say I fully committed to it, I mean I told myself that I would try it for a few weeks and then re-evaluate it from there.  After a few weeks, I committed to continuing the diet until the beginning of summer, and then to the end of summer and now I have vowed to continue until the Holiday’s.  Don’t get me wrong, the keto diet is a bit difficult to start and not unlike Bilbo’s and Frodo’s journey’s, you have to go through a lot of not so fun stuff to get to all the amazing benefits that people on keto talk about.  For those of you who don’t know who Bilbo or Frodo are, why are you reading this blog post?

For me the amazing benefits of keto have been fat loss, the end of food cravings, more energy, healthier blood panel results and increased mental clarity.  However, before you start you need to make sure that this is a healthy decision for you.  I would recommend you speak to your doctor and get a full blood panel to ensure there are no valid reasons that you should not try keto.  However I know you won’t since you are already on amazon.com buying keto snacks.

For those just starting out, I highly advise you to buy some form of ketone tester.  I have the keto-mojo, which tests your blood ketone levels as well as blood sugar.  This the most accurate way of determining whether you are on the correct keto path.

The initial stages of keto can be brutal with hunger, headache and fatigue which is lovingly named the “keto flu”.  I have read some horror stories online and learned that some of the reasons this initial stage can be so brutal is you; don’t eat enough fat, are eating too much protein, have hidden carbohydrates or any combination of the three. Any of these can lengthen your transition/torture into keto.  I have also learned that when you first start, you mostly lose water weight in the first few weeks due to the fact that sugar/insulin actually tells your liver hold onto sodium.  When you stop eating sugar and transition to fat your body no longer holds onto that much sodium which causes excess fluid loss as well other minerals like magnesium, calcium, and potassium etc. Loss of these minerals can cause some of these painful initial symptoms, if you aren’t prepared.  There are quite a few sciencey articles written on this subject with charts, graphs, arrows, letters and numbers that I don’t fully understand, and you can easily find them if you look here or anywhere.

So what would I recommend to deal with these “fun” initial stages?

1. Make sure to drink a lot of healthy fluids.  I would have on hand a good bone broth (homemade or store bought) and make sure to add some good sea salt to the broth to replace that sodium you are losing.  I also add a tablespoon of good California extra virgin olive oil or grass fed butter to offset the extra protein in the broth.  One bag of the Bonafide Provisions bone broth can substitute for a meal I have found.  Speaking of olive oil, you should really be careful about your olive oil as most of what is in grocery stores is not really pure olive oil.  There are many articles that you can find on the internet that discuss the olive oil fraud.
   

   
2. A good multivitamin and mineral supplement is extremely important.  Please don’t go to GNC or a regular grocery store to pick up your vitamins as those brands often use fillers and additives that are worse to take than if you weren’t taking any supplement at all.  Personally I shop on iherb.com and choose brands like “Designs for Health” and “Pure encapsulations,” among others, as they don’t contain a lot of the chemicals that many others do.  Just make sure you are checking the other ingredients list for additives as well as carbohydrates as some supplements contain wheat or rice.
3. Take it easy with working out.  I know many of you are concerned with the initial fatigue and lack of muscle strength when going on keto, and this is all completely normal. Be prepared that this phase could last for months until your body fully adapts so please do not get discouraged.  There are a lot of body building websites that discuss why you need to workout a bit differently during keto.  I have found with my own weight lifting that you need more rest in between sets to give your muscles time to recover.  Also temporarily increasing protein on days that you work out can also help during the transition phase with strength issues.  If you don’t normally work out but want to do some sort of movement, I would recommend walking as that can aid your transition into ketosis, and it will not tax your muscles limited glycogen stores like weight lifting does.
4. Eat more fat.  Cravings are something that the keto diet can curb once you have become fully fat adapted, but in the initial phases they can be difficult and can threaten to derail your keto journey.  If your cravings continue past the 2 or 3 week mark, it may be a sign that you are either still eating too many carbohydrates somewhere, or not eating enough fat, and your body still wants to burn sugar.  When your body gets enough fat and minimal carbohydrates it will start the process of ketosis and break down the fats you eat and your own fat stores.   Some people start keto and try and restrict their calories right off the bat like they would on other diets, and that is something you should not do when you are just starting.  I would make sure to have some sort of fat snack like macadamia nuts, or cheese with you, and when the craving hits, EAT THAT FAT!  Also, make sure that you are getting enough water throughout the day as sometimes thirst can be mistaken as hunger.  For those Lord of the Rings inclined readers, think of cravings as the one ring, an evil powerful force that will corrupt your soul and bend you to it’s master’s will…..sugar.

Please know that everyone will have a different time frame for getting into keto and overcoming all of the initial issues.  You will wake up one day and wonder why you aren’t hungry, tired or unhappy and then realize that keto has finally started to work for you……then good luck ever wanting to eat cupcakes again.