is literally 90% of what I've been eating for the past 21 days!
To follow the ketogenic diet is not an easy task, you have to like eggs! And fish! And be willing to throw all conventional wisdom about fat being bad out of the window. Seriously, I've been consuming butter, cream, olive oil, avocados and coconut oil by the bucket load! God knows how vegans follow this diet successfully.
But lets rewind a little.
What is the ketogenic diet?
A keto, or ketogenic, diet is a low-carb, moderate protein, high-fat diet that puts your body into a state of ketosis. During
ketosis, your bodies metabolism changes to burn fat as it's primary source of energy, rather than glucose from carbohydrates. Many studies show that the keto diet provides benefits for weight loss, health, and performance.
1 2 3I haven't had a chance to weigh myself yet as I don't own a set of scales. Lol, lame I know... but I didn't start this diet only to lose weight. I undertook the keto diet, along with giving up alcohol and caffeine, as part of a drive to heal chronic illness. There is a whole method to my ketogenic madness that you can read about in this post:
Healing Holistically - Lets Get Ketogenic
Before taking up this self-improvement challenge I was eating a diet with around a 20/30/50 % protein/fat/carb ratio, and was two stone (28 pounds or 448 ounces) over weight. This has effected my life in a number of ways, but most importantly has contributed to a liver disease that has undoubtedly exacerbated my other chronic illnesses. But I'm on a mission to heal... naturally 🙂
What do my daily eating habits look like now?
Avocado, Spinach, Pickle and a Poached Egg with Home Made Pesto & Chilli.
Frittata with Home Made ketchup, Avocado and Mixed Salad with Smoked Salmon and Salsa.
Mixed Salad of Avocado, Tomato and Spinach with Poached Egg and Home Made Ketchup.
Cheese Omelette, with Ketchup and Basil Mascarpone + Spinach Salad with Home Made Mayo and Sunflower Seeds.
Tools to Maintain Ketosis
An important practice is to track your calories and nutritional intake (macros) when you begin the keto diet.
I found a handy (FREE) calorie tracking website called
fatsecret.com where you can keep a daily food diary, adding amounts and ingredients that go into your meals.
Why is this important?
Because it is imperative that you stick to the proportions of fat/protein/carbohydrates to maintain the state of ketosis. My plan is to stick roughly to 70% fat, 20% protein and 10% carbohydrates.
Tracking your meals daily is an easy way to make sure that you don't go off track and waste all that time, and effort, by dropping out of ketosis.
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This is my full meal plan from yesterday.
As you can see, it makes hitting your macro targets easy, and allows for balancing between meals if you eat too much of one food group at breakfast.
I hope that this article has provided some resources for those considering the keto diet as a means to lose weight or help with health in general.
Thanks for reading 🌿
Sources of research:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26768850
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa0708681
https://annals.org/aim/article-abstract/1900694/effects-low-carbohydrate-low-fat-diets-randomized-trial
https://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb/ketosis
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Shared on twitter for the @ocd @ocdb #posh initiative, sharing the #steem love on the twitter-verse :)
Seems so tasty :D
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Ha ha... yeah they were tasty keto meals for sure. but ya gotta like eggs with my keto menu ;)
Is there a particular kind of eggs or any would do? Need to read more about that 20G of calories per day or less.
I stick to free range eggs.
You got it wrong there... no one could live long on 20g of calories a day... a male needs at least 1800/day.
It is 20g of carbohydrates/day, roughly 10% of your daily intake. But to be honest most people stay in ketosis as long as they stick to no more than 30g of carbs/day. I'm sticking to between 20-30 grams of carbs a day anyway.
that's probaby where i got it so wrong yes. am keeping an eye on my daily carbs now, though am very particular on fats & protein.
Goodluck to us both!
Wow, I haven't heard of ketosis, but if I can get you right, it's totally being dependent on fat for energy rather than carbohydrate?, Wow, the food looks good to the core but as someone who's constantly anaemic I'm more into meat and legumes as well as malted drinks and a whole lot of vegetables for folic acid
yes that is right Jose. Your body actually shifts into a different metabolic state under ketosis, it is an evolutionary adaption of humankind from early in our development as a species. Back in the distant past (like caveman times) there would be periods of the year where there was little food other than nuts, the odd berry and meat that could be hunted.
Meat is high in fat and protein. So, at those times of the year the nomadic neolithic man would undergo the metabolic metamorphosis of ketosis. We can still do it today as modern humans, but it takes strict eating guidelines ;-)
To be honest m8, I don't know if the keto diet would be good for anemia. Might be worth looking into... it boosts energy and mental accuity... but only after an initial period of adaption where it makes you feel rotten. They call that first week to a month the keto flu lol
I've already been through the keto flu and it was not pleasant. I might write about that next.
FoodiesUnite.netYum! You have been curated by @bahagia-arbi on behalf of . Thanks for using the #foodie tag. We are a tribe for the Foodie community with a unique approach to content and community.
Thanks for the curation and support 🙂👍
So, again I bump on your post and see these pictures that made me want to buy all these food instantly to try that out. I have been trying to build a healthier lifestyle as well by quitting smoking first in September last year. Since December I'm determined to start exercising, but some real life bills needed to be gone first. I took care of most of it now, but probably the next month will still be a bit tight if I'm out of luck :)
I'm trying to improve it all as good as I can, but you know real life can get in the way sometimes, especially with my daughter that brings home viruses from the nursery every few weeks ..
Anyway, I decided to buy a gym membership soon for 3 months as we're not really sure if we will live in this area after the three months, so I'm not going to commit to a 6 or 12 month contract. But honestly, I find it too expensive. And before that, I need a pair of shoes to wear and at least a jogging pants because my winter clothes and shoes, they won't work lol..
Until today, I found out that the park where I walk every day bringing kiddo to school has a bunch of outdoor gym equipment wow! I tried a few things and I will start tomorrow by just doing the simple (read: not hurting my knee and back) things and take it from there.. This way I won't have to spend any money and can get in the flow / routine ..
But the food it another story, I'm so out of inspiration lately when it comes to healthy food, and I never ate an avocado any other way than on an avocado sandwich lol. These pictures are saved in my phone because looking at them I want to eat it, that's a good sign!
Oops, I wrote a full book here, the bottom line was: I feel ya, and I'm proud of you that you're taking care of yourself! I hope soon, I can add some healthier diet to my routine as well, you were an inspiration for it here, so thank you for that!
<3
ha ha, no worries Anouk :) I really appreciate a thoughtful interesting comment like yours, no matter how long it is. I can write novel length comments myself sometiems ;-)
It's great to hear about your health goals, and I get that it's harder with a baba to look after.
My local park has a similar set up where there is outdoor equipment all around the circumference of the park on a joggers path. I gave some of them a go last year when @nathanmars was still on steem and pushing us all to do push ups on twitter lol
I did a few mini-vlogs where I filmed 5 repetitions on some of the equipment in my local park.
That is a biggie! Well done to you! I gave up about 10 years ago, but then always slipped back into having a cigarette when I drink. I was smoking pretty much 2 or 3 times a week before Christmas as I was drinking more than usual. But what I didn't mention in this blog was that I also gave up alcohol, caffeine and sugar... so the cigs were quite easy for me as I'd never got properly addicted again with not being a daily smoker.
But I remember how hard it is the first time, when you've been a daily smoker. I was like the incredible hulk for months when I first gave up cigs, anything and everything just made me sooooo angry lol
This is awesome to hear. I might share some of my healthy keto friendly recipes on steem over the next few weeks. I'll tag you into the posts at the end if you like?
Thanks again for your awesome comment @anouk.nox :)
Yeah I would struggle with this diet being a vegan, although I do eat avocados daily when they are in season here, which is now. I look forward to reading more about your progress xxxx
Yeah, it isn't for everyone... and honestly, if it weren't for health reasons I wouldn't be doing a full keto diet as it's very restrictive.
But, if it works it will all be worth it. I'm feeling a slight increase in my energy and mental acuity which is promising :)
that's great to hear and a real good sign, here's to lots of healing for you my friend xxx
I could easily eat those meals, it looks and sounds delicious. Tracking all these calories sounds like a different kind of story though.
No matter what, I hope it's benefitting you one way or another. I guess the main question is:
How does it make you feel?
Thanks for sharing your journey to improved health with us, mate!
@vincentnijman
If you like what we do, consider delegation or following our curation trail on Steemauto. All are welcome to join us on Discord.
P.S. You got some fancy plates and curtains? ;>)
Yeah, the calorie tracking can be a pain in the ass, but once you get used to it it takes about 10 mins to plan for the day using that tool I shared in this post.
The benefits are showing already @vincentnijman
As I mentioned, I'm doing this diet for more than just weight loss but I weighed myself yesterday and have dropped from 17.1 stone to 16.6 stone in three weeks (24 pounds or 112 ounces weight loss). As far as reductions in symptoms from my chronic illness are concerned, it's a little slower progress. I do feel like I have more energy, and the abdominal bloating is slowly decreasing which is awesome, but it is taking longer than I thought. I won't know for sure until about week 6 I think :)
Thanks for the curation buddy :)
Lovely pictures, Rowan!
<p dir="auto">I'm fond of eggs (but, not <em>that much ;) <p dir="auto">Wishing you recovery, my friend <code>_/|\_Cheers dude.
Yeah, I think that the mountains of eggs I'm eating takes a special type of crazy ;)
Luckily I've always been blessed with an over-abundance of crazy lol
Thanks man, I really appreciate it. Things are looking good so far. I have more energy day by day, also yesterday I weighed myself and have dropped from 17.1 stone to 16.6 stone in three weeks (24 pounds or 112 ounces weight loss).
Crazy is a good word in my book :)
Congrats, on weight loss; i know it’s not easy. But, criticism is tougher (from the missus —- especially, if you’re vain like me) so, I’ve lost a few pounds, too. Hope to keep ‘em off!
Hi..will you advise this to those with high cholesterol?? Is any meat advisable?
Hi immarojas.
Yes, meat is fine m8. I've been a vegetarian from an early age, hens why I don't include meat. Anything high fat + protein, with low carbs is fine. But a word of caution, you have to follow the diet strictly to see the benefits. As I mentioned, I'm doing this diet for more than just wieght loss but I wieghed myself yesterday and have dropped from 17.1 stone to 16.6 stone in three weeks (24 pounds or 112 ounces weight loss).
I hope this helps :)
Very helpful yes. I need to lower my cholesterol level so lowering my sugar and carbs is the target. I sucks in omitting meat lols. Cheers!
im lucky that eggs are a fave of mine and happy to eat plenty of them on lchf!
Nice! I love eggs too :)