This keto journey started for me, when I had heard so many people talk about their success. I kept thinking it was like Paleo. That was untrue. I learned this as I studied the concept behind keto and the way to eat healthy while on a keto eating plan.There are many ways one can eat a keto diet. Yes, I used the word diet, but now is not the time to get into my why for the use of that four letter word.
There is the “Dirty Keto Way”. This is eating anything and everything as long as it is a keto approved food & it keeps you in ketosis. Some of these foods include pork rinds, sugar free everything, cooking with butter & lard, cheese on anything, and meat at every meal.
There is, what I am going to call a “Normal Keto Way”. This is where you choose to eat mostly healthy foods but you limit some of the okay-ish options. This is the individual elects to use butter and lard on occasion, opting for olive or avocado oil instead. Veggies are included in almost every meal, dairy is limited, and meat is not consumed at every meal.
Then there is the “Clean Keto Way”. This is eating whole foods, no sugar free foods, grass fed meats, organic vegetables, and you make all your own sauces & seasonings.
I am the “Normal Keto” eater. I don’t want to eat dirty, and one day I will eat more toward the “Clean Keto Way”.
I chose to eat the keto diet after making the grown up decision to talk to my doctor, have my blood numbers tested, & read a couple of books behind what keto is & why it is claimed to be so healthy for people to eat this way.
I believe we should all do our due diligence to study what you believe. One of the books I read was “Wired to Eat” by Robb Wolf. I really appreciated his approach to the fact that there is not a one size fits all eating plan. I say this to let you know that I don’t believe keto is the one eating plan for everyone. I believe that we have to be students of our own bodies and learn what does, doesn’t & needs to change to make our bodies work in optimal performance.
Carbohydrates are not the devil and people who eat them are not killing themselves because they choose to eat that way.
I do believe that there is an optimal way to eat for health, weather you choose to let you body burn glucose for energy or ketones for energy. What is that optimal way to eat, you ask? In my opinion it would be a diet of whole foods. If you cannot grow it or make it yourself, then you shouldn’t eat it. No processed box food with items in it that you are unable to pronounce or that sounds like it should’t be in your food.
Even keto foods should be prepared at home, with a whole ingredient, that you made on your own. How can you do that? There is this great building in most towns or towns nearby called a library. It houses books, and many are now online. Our library uses “OverDrive” an app you can download onto your phone and check out books from there. I have found so many of my favorite keto recipes in books.
I started researching keto in January of 2019, when I made it my goal to go from 223 pounds to 150pounds. I did not start eating keto foods until March 2019, because I wanted to get foods out of my house that were not keto friendly. Waste not, want not.
My husband found me a blood ketone meter on Facebook marketplace. Blood ketones are the most accurate way to test your ketones. This is an expensive option though because the monitors are not too expensive, however the strips for them start at $1.00/strip. There are also urine strips, these are the least accurate ways to test your ketones. This is also the least expensive way to test ketones. It is said that if you pee out enough ketones to turn that strip a good dark color, that you are more likely not using ketones in your body like you should, you’re expelling them. I want to say have not tested this theory, it is only what I have read. Another way to test ketones in your body is a ketone breathalyzer. I have read that these are somewhat accurate, however the device is expensive.
When I started this journey though my cholesterol, triglycerides, & LDL were all high. So along with researching how to eat a keto diet along with lowering all of these essentially bad things for my body.
After 6 months I went back and had these numbers tested again. My HDL had went up (good), LDL went down (good), VLDL went down (very good), triglycerides went down (good), cholesterol went up (not so good).
After talking to my doctor though she was ok with me continuing on my keto journey. Her advice was to eat leaner, healthier cuts of meat. Use healthy oils to cook my food and exercise. We scheduled another date to run my lipid panel again, for 3 months down the road.
As this date is approaching quickly I want to say, I haven’t done so well at changing my eating plan or exercising for the 3 month time frame. I am actually nervous to have my numbers tested, but I will stick with the appointment. I have started exercising and I took some time off of artificial sweeteners and a couple weeks I refrained from dairy.
With all of this said, if I go in and my doctor says you have to give up a keto eating plan, then the truth is I will beg for one more try to get on track and get my numbers in order before looking to switch eating plans.
But however my keto journey ends I want to know that I did all I could and I did the best that I could. I want everyone to know that keto doesn’t work for some because it can put their lives at risk due to the added fats in your diet and you are genetically wired to have high cholesterol or high blood pressure. Don’t give up! Keep researching your body and what works for it. What makes you the healthiest you that you can be? Learn from your bodies response & work with a doctor that will support you in making you healthy.
I will post more on this keto journey after my 2nd set of blood test results are in.
Keep building your health and fitness journey on petal at a time…
Crystal