Week 1 is in the bag, and, as promised, I am here to give you the good, the bad, and the ugly🙂 Please remember that I was already low-carb for the previous 3 week, so I didn’t experience any Keto flu. **If you want to start Keto, but are intimidated, start by taking out sugar, grains, and high carb foods before you jump into the deep end of the Keto lifestyle (don’t worry about tracking in the beginning).
THE GOOD: It was relatively easy to resist temptation knowing that I am healing my body. I even resisted pizza and donuts pretty easily 😯. I did, however, dream that I was eating an amazing pastry😂. I ate some delicious meals and was able to intermittent fast for 14-18 hrs every day, save one.
To refresh my Keto knowlegde I am reading The Case for Keto by Gary Taubes and The Big Fat Surprise by Nina Teicholz. I also read up on intermittent fasting on DietDoctor.com (https://www.dietdoctor.com/intermittent-fasting). Overall it was really nice to hit the reset button.
THE BAD: I decided to track my macros for the 1st 2 weeks, so I could get a good idea of my strengths and weaknesses. I hate tracking macros!! For some reason it really stresses me out. It takes a bunch of time to weigh, measure, input recipes, etc. I definitely don’t plan on tracking my macros forever. I hope, eventually, intuitive eating will come naturally, and to have enough knowledge to estimate where I am at with my daily macros.
Tracking was not in vain, though. I did find that it was easy for me to stay under 20 net carbs a day. Balancing protein and fat was a little more challenging. It was really easy to get in more than enough protein (Keto is a moderate protein diet, not high protein), but getting enough fat was surprisingly hard. I don’t think I am going to stress if I go slightly over on my protein at the moment, but I do want to get in the right amount of fat since that’s what’s fueling my body now.
I also learned the importance of looking at nutrition facts when eating out. I treated myself to some egg bites from Starbucks and an iced green tea without sugar. I took my treat to one of my favorite PNW locations, had my Bible time, and ate brunch. When I input my carbs I was astonished that the 2 egg bites had a whopping 9 net carbs!! Lesson learned! Egg bites will be a rare treat and not a regular occurance .
Columbia River Gorge Oregon
When your body switches it’s fuel from carbs to fat, it really does need an abundance of healthy fat to make it run well. Eating healthy fat (lard, beef tallow, butter, avocado oil, coconut oil, full fat cheese, cream, sour cream, fatty meat) is the key to living on a Ketogenic/low-carb diet.
As much as I hate tracking my food, it is helping me analyze my food choices for the day and eat in a way that will optimize my healing and weightloss.
THE UGLY: I started my lifestyle commitment to this way of eating on March 1st, just 7 days after having my gallbladder removed. Needless to say my digestive system didn’t react well to eating low-carb/high fat (LCHF) this week. Eventually this shouldn’t be as big of an issue, but it’s miserable, none the less.
My husband graciously gave me a mental health day on Wednesday. For whatever reason I woke up and just cried about every little thing. All of the trials we are currently dealing with overwhelmed my brain and I crashed. We took a Teacher In-service Day (😝) and daddy took the kids to the park and to run errands, while I rested and worked through my emotional craziness.
I don’t think this was diet related. I felt good physically, I just needed a day to regroup.
I really wanted to make sure I reset my Keto journey with good and encouraging information. I watched some documentaries, read some LCHF success stories , calculated my body fat and macros (links below) , and generally “renewed my mind.”
I was encouraged by those of you who called or messaged with your own struggles and desires to learn about and commit to healing your bodies. It’s nice when we have a community to support us!
Next week I will share 1 or 2 recipes that I’m currently working on, so stay tuned!
https://www.dietdoctor.com/?s=success+stories
https://www.ruled.me/health/success-stories/
https://www.ruled.me/keto-calculator/
Ravings of a Bacon Starved Mind 
Those green beans look amazing!
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They tasted wonderful!
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