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Damn, Miko, I’m into keto now: I quit bread but I can still eat meat and milk…
Quick question: how do you feel doing keto? I’m curious how it’s different than the old Atkin’s diet? I tried that one years ago, and it about killed me. I mean, yeah, I lost weight, but I felt like crap the whole time, weak and headachy, and the moment I gave up, I gained all the weight back.
I slimmed a lot first of all. It definitely works even if I was (and I’m not) the strictest practicioner (more strict at first, I must say, I’m a bit impulsive). I did not notice major problems except some “changes”, specifically: (1) less sleepiness and much more energy since day one (carbs make you sleepy, or at least me), I used to sleep some 9 or more hours every day (up to 14 some days), now most days I’m dandy with 6-8, however at first it was disconcerting not feeling the need for sleep; (2) some constipation, which got very bad one day after many months (got me a bit worried), but easily solved with some more fiber in the diet (earlier I was extremely regular and somewhat on the other side of bathroom urgencies, not anymore).
I must say I don’t do it in any strict way but have almost 100% cut all cereals and legumes, and try to avoid sweets as much as possible (dark 90% cocoa chocolate helps), I also eat potatoes because I made my own (experimental) blend of keto and paleo-diet: potatoes are tubers, so they are paleo, dairy is keto but not paleo, I almost don’t drink milk anymore but use abundant fermented milk such as kefir, cheese, etc. (this is for no particular reason other than milk spoils too fast for my rhythm of consumption I’m lacto-tolerant but I drink my coffee black and without sugar since long ago). I also have no issues with fruit because I’m not that much of fruit-eater and helps with sugar cravings (and also provide fiber and vitamins), the main thing I quit was Neolithic food (cereals and legumes, also sugar but not strictly).
In my experience I don’t feel like crap at all, all the opposite. Some lesser adjustments, fine tuning but otherwise it works great. I have to be careful with my love for sweets though and it’s an incovenience for social drinking (alcohol is carbs and so are sweet drinks). I do wonder what kind of adjustment you may need, for what I watch you need to get “fat adapted” (what I’m not sure what means exactly but surely that your body needs to re-learn to live on fats rather than on sugars, but unsure of the possible symptoms), how long were you on Atkins’?
I’d suggest cutting pizza, pasta, bread, cookies and sugar/candy to begin with. Make sure to eat enough fiber (veggies, fruit) and allow yourself occasional treats of your favorite high-carb food, but once a week or so, not every day, not every meal. I haven’t mostly felt any negatives other than cravings and that issue of constipation (low fiber problem no doubt), and the less need to sleep issue which is not really bad at all. You don’t probably need to be strict (from memory you’re not terribly fat, you can take it easy).
One key thing is probably intermittent fasting, which ironically can be done while eating, as long as you only eat fat, for example having “bulletproof coffee” for breakfast, what extends your no-need for food several hours every morning (I make it only with butter, it’s nice, although most of the time I prefer black coffee, maybe with some cheese or dark chocolate or eggs and bacon… many options). If your body gets no carbs (sugars), it does not produce insuline (or very little) and does not store all that food in your cells, apparently insuline is a system of the body to remove sugar from the bloodstream.
BTW, I’m wondering if you might have a principle of diabetes, which is closely related to weight issues for what I’ve learned. It could, I guess (I’m no expert), have caused your problems when the sugar (carbs) was retrieved. I can’t provide more advice because I really don’t know that much but this channel helped me to understand things a lot better: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIe2pR6PE0dae9BunJ38F7w
Thanks for the info. I’ve always been a bit hypoglycemic, and I really don’t want it to turn into full-blown diabetes. I’ve lost about 100 pounds with diet and exercise over the past several years, but I still have a little ways to go, and I’ve kinda hit a wall, so I’m considering other options.
I did the Atkins thing for about 3 months back when it was a fad and back before we had smartphones to track calories and exercise. Years later, when I got a Fitbit and a calorie tracker and turned it all into a kind of video game, I finally made some real progress.
Thanks for sharing your experience. I’ve heard a lot of people praising the keto diet, but I wasn’t sure if it was something I could really do.
First thing I learned about keto is that calories don’t matter… as long as they are not carbs or they are mostly fat (protein also activates insulin but much much less than carbs), that you should not feel hunger unless it is in a very controlled, almost pleasurable short-ish fasting experience, that if you want to lose weight by not getting enough calories you will almost certainly fail, because hunger is very powerful. It’s not about calories but about not storing, i.e. not triggering insulin. Fat does not make you fat, sugar does (and all carbs except fiber are cut down to sugar very fast by our digestive system: it does not matter if you eat candy or rice, ice-cream or pasta: it’s all sugar and gets you fat and possibly “diabetoid”).
Another thing that hurts is cortisol (stress hormone) but that part I don’t know much about. Ekberg has a lot (a bit too much even) advise on all aspects, even on exercise and there are probably other channels and sites on this — but somehow I got hooked by Ekberg.
But who really got me convinced was not him but a couple of lady researchers who have been actively warning against too much carb (WHO diet or worse: “SAD” diet, vegan diet). Another pre-warning was developing psoriasis, which I later realized (self-learning thanks to the Internet, health services are all about pharmaceuticals) that it was probably caused by low vitamin D: I had almost stopped eating fish because of concern about over-exploitation of the seas (I also was vegetarian once long ago but only for a couple of years as I truly craved meat and other reasons) and fish, so called “blue” (red) fish, is fundamental on this issue. As someone deeply interested on prehistory and genetics I realize that there’s A LOT going on biologically around vitamin D, which can only be obtained from the sun (depending on latitude and skin color but crucially oudoors lifestyle, and I’m rather coach potato) and that much of what we call “race” (and I mean here skin color) is actually biological adptation to low sunlight and lack of fish in the diet (this part since Neolithic mostly). Somehow, even being aware I thought I could dodge that bullet because it is critical for kids and youngsters (and pregnancies) and apparently less so for adults but maybe it’s also somewhat important for adults and psoriasis is one of the possible outcomes. Vitamin D is very important for the brain (classically it was only related to bones but it actually plays many health roles) so I’d say: make sure to eat some “blue” (reddish) fish now and then (and this is one of my major criticism to vegetarianism nowadays, especially in children because there’s no vegetarian food other than maybe irradiated funghi that can replace that fish).
Teal can remain vegan, I guess, she’s not human, but for us, especially in the delve (or the urban jungle, which is somewhat alike) we need some fish or otherwise magical food that gives us enough vitamin D to stay healthy.
I’ll post links to those researchers in a separate comment.
Dr. Georgia Ede: https://youtu.be/TXlVfwJ6RQU
Nina Teicholz (investigative journalist, former vegan): https://youtu.be/7Lww5WH7INI