Keto Misconceptions - 6 weeks in

Corrections added
When I started this Keto thing it was done sort of blindly. In the six weeks that I’m now ending (and will continue), I have done a lot of research and learned one primary thing – there are a LOT of misconceptions about the Keto diet.

In this age of Fake News and over saturation of information, I think we can all agree on one thing, a lot of dissemination of fake news is in the self interest of an opposing opinion. In this case, the opposers to keto would be many in the medical and pharmaceutical industries. After all, they are more interested in sick people seeking treatment via drugs and procedures than finding health through natural means.

So in this six week update I will cover not only where I am (at the end), but also the misconceptions I’ve learned that make keto seem so bad.

Misconceptions

You will be eating nothing but lots of fat from eggs, bacon, meats, and dairy. In truth, you will be eating a lot of that for the first week or two, but as you burn out all the sugars and convert your body to burning fat instead, your fat consumption decreases.

That’s the first part of this misconception. If you do keto properly, the fat consumption is used to just keep you feeling full so that you don’t crave and cheat on other foods. My keto calculation is 20 g carbs, 65 g protein, and 85 g of fat. I don’t have to eat 85 g a fat a day if I don’t need to.  I only need to watch my carbs and protein and then eat enough fat to keep me feeling full and keep away any food cravings. But, curiously, people looking to lose weight often see better results the more fats they eat versus less. I found this to be true later myself. 

So part two of this misconception would be regarding the types of fat being consumed. This is where many people, even those following keto, can get into trouble - the type and quality of the fat matters. You should be eating healthy fats like fish, avocados, and other high quality fats such as coconut and olive oil. I think people rely a little too heavily on dairy, which is high in calories and could (maybe) contribute more to bad cholesterol. 

I can eat all I want as long as it is no-carbs and high fat. In actuality, keto folk pay attention to carbs first and foremost. The standard goal is not to eat more than 20 g of carbs a day, which can be hard for people, especially when sugar is in everything these days. The second piece to this misconception is that calories do still count. If your goal is to lose weight, you are still faced with a calorie intake goal that you shouldn’t go over. Fat has calories, so just because you kept low in carbs doesn’t give you free rein elsewhere. You still need to stick to your calorie goal and not overeat.

Fasting

As of Christmas I had no belief that:

- I could go through a day without snacking or feeling hungry.

- Easily say no to carby things – especially sweets.

- That I could actually survive 18 hours without a single bite of food without my stomach crying out in rebellion.

- Have any interest in continuing past my six week mark.

Yet here I am with this daily routine now…

I get off work at 6pm and I go home and consume my dinner by 7pm. The next day I drink green tea and water until my lunch hour, which isn’t until 1:30. That’s 18.5 hours, if I can wait that long. And it’s been easy! I would never have thought I could go without eating that long on a daily basis!

At issue now is considering going 20/4. The reason? I'm finding I'm not hungry! But that does mean you have to put extra emphasis in eating hearty, healthy, meal. Many people even do 24 hour fasts or, rather, one meal a day!

So where am I now at six weeks?

My goal was to: go to six weeks, get my blood work done and then see how I felt. I wanted to get increased energy, rid of my tendonitis, check my gluten sensitivity, and lose a few pounds. I also planned to enjoy some sort of carby meal to celebrate/cheat at the end.

Yesterday I got my blood work done, which I’ll go over in a minute.

I actually had no desire to go out and celebrate/cheat. I was a person who thought about food all day long, contemplating what I was going to eat for my next meal, and thinking about sweets all the time. I am now a person who doesn’t think that way at all anymore. It’s all because I’m just not hungry. So at this point I figure I’ll wait until something comes up where I sort of need to cheat because I’m out with friends or something. Otherwise, I’m keeping with what I’m doing.

I’ve lost 10 pounds.

The tendonitis is gone.

It doesn't seem that gluten is the issue, but rather carbs and blood sugar levels.

I’m sleeping really deeply and better than I have in years. Keep in mind that last year they gave me a c-pap machine and told me I have mild sleep apnea. This may be true, but I’m not using my c-pap machine and I’m sleeping great now!

Not only that, I used to be falling asleep at my desk at noon and need a nap every day during my lunch hour. I’m no longer falling asleep at work and I can easily make it through the day without my nap! (I still like to take them often though.)

Now to my blood work

I’ve always had high cholesterol and so I have put off getting any blood work done for three years in the typical tendency to ignore it so I don’t get bothered by my doctor. I got my full blood work done yesterday and while the overall results were good for thyroid, potassium, metabolism, etc, my cholesterol was worse than ever.

The thing is, they say it can take quite a few months for your body to adjust and start switching to outputting of more good cholesterol than bad. So I don’t want this test to deter me.  It actually kind of makes me more determined to continue this keto journey further to see how my blood work changes month to month.

Soooo…..

I plan to keep on going and I’ll keep you updated along the way. OK?