Saturday, August 12, 2017

My Experience with the Ketogenic Diet


After menopause I gained about 20 lbs.  I was eating about 1200 calories per day and still gaining.  My diet was very low carb.  I was desperate as my sister will later die of a heart attack at 54.  I know that in our family the road to health and longevity was very narrow.  I lost 30 lbs on Medifast and loved it but did not want to continue to eat packaged food.  I began to research.

I found information on the Ketogenic Diet which is similar to Atkins but not identical.  I am a geek so I looked for scholarly info and found a bunch of lectures by Jeff Volek and Steven Phinney who are medical doctors actively involved in scientific research on the effects of the diet.  After hours of watching videos and reading articles I decided to give it a try.

One of the things I loved about starting out was figuring out the proper proportions of what they called "macros".  It was a steep learning curve but since I am a geek I enjoyed the new technology involved in getting proper proportions of macros while keeping calories reasonable.

Within a week I felt wonderful.  I was full and satisfied all day, I enjoyed all the high qualities foods I was eating and my mind became so clear.  I had energy and found that my mood was so much more stable and I was content.  I have a long history of being a food obsesser.  I would plan after one meal what the next meal would immediately be.  All of that was gone.  The only time I get weird and cravey is when I get hidden sugar, especially in Thai food.  I never even consider eating grain related foods or high carb vegetables or fruit because I don't want to lose this wonderful feeling of non attachment to food.

I am planning on having my blood work done in November so I can do a comparison with last year before Keto.  I will let you know how it goes.

In the meantime,

Be Well