The Ketogenic Diet and Me
My
Pros and Cons of the Keto Diet.
The whole experience from that first shopping trip to four months on Keto was a continuous tweaking session. now I finally have a diet that works well for me.
These are my pros and cons of the Ketogenic diet.
A One-Size-Fits-All Diet
I
suppose; one-size-fits-all is
a good thing,
if you’ve got a diet that works. However,
as an
international diet, I found that
the standard
Keto diets do not fit every individual.
There are a lot of factors
that bear upon an individual
on Keto like environment,
and where in the world they
live when on this diet,
especially if you plan to
change your diet habits
for life.
The standard Keto diet for autoimmune disease did not take into account factors like a country’s climate and humidity. I mention this, particularly because, on an average summer day, Ceylon heat is upward of 87 degrees Fahrenheit and humidity levels can reach 85 percent or more; which always affected my electrolyte levels, diet, or no diet.
All the research I’ve done showed that I was doing Keto right; eating plenty and replenishing my electrolytes with lemon water and salt as instructed. I didn’t know why I felt low on energy even though I was following the diet and tips in the letter.
What I Learned.
I
have continued researching while being on the diet, and perhaps, the
most important thing I have come to learn is that while the bare
bones of a Ketogenic diet are ideal it takes tweaking to make it safe for individuals.
Here is one more thing I learned… Words Mean Different Things in Different Countries.
In Ceylon (Sri Lanka), the word organic often means something very different from what the world knows as organic. Often expressions like “nature identical” or “organic style” is what you’ll heard and it usually means that some type of synthetic “organic mimicking” fertilizer was used.
And this was my biggest problem…
Finding
the Food that the Diet Dictated.
I
found that most of the food
listed on the Keto food list was either unavailable in the country;
inaccessible online or completely out of financial reach. And
the cruciferous vegetables
and meats that were
available were not organic.
Unavailable food
On that first shopping trip, I discovered all the foods that are not available in the country, and there is plenty of them.
In the case of some foods, (like the 100% certified grass-fed/ finished beef) my country has not even heard of it!
Shellfish: clams, oysters, muscles; free-range eggs; Keto sausage; more than half of the cruciferous vegetables; and 100% certified grass-fed/ finished beef is unavailable for any love or money.
Then too, some of the simplest things have no Keto version… Like cheese and yogurt; and commercial chicken.
Inaccessible Supplements
Again the supplements that are so necessary to the Keto diet… nutritional yeast; MCT oil, electrolyte power, and others are unavailable and inaccessible in Ceylon. Some Keto experts market their own brands of pure, 100% Keto quality nutrients online; and they say it’s “accessible to all”. However, none of them ship to Sri Lanka!
Then too, I found the Keto “must haves” like almond flour, nuts, etc. are financially out of reach in Ceylon.
So, if I was going to survive on Keto long-term I needed to find alternatives to the things that were missing.
So what could I do?
What I Did to the Diet That Worked for Me.
In
all we choose to do, research is important and that’s just what I
did! I started researching every vegetable on and off the Keto list.
As it turns out there are so many not on the list that fit the
criteria of Keto. I then set out the plan for my Keto diet.
Stay with what was available and added fat. Though a lot of the food on the Keto list that was available was not organically “Keto friendly”; I decided to go with “what is” instead of what it needs to be... Eggs were just eggs, not the free-range or organic kind, and so were the chicken, beef, bacon, pork, etc.
Leave out all types of processed food, including cheese, yogurt, sausages, etc., ate curd instead, and befriend the peanut.
Add the greens, cruciferous veg, and some fruit that were not on the list of Keto. In Ceylon, we have many dark greens that are native to our country and culture that are not on the Keto list of vegetables.
To name just one example... Kangkung (water spinach); is low in carbs and rich in antioxidants and minerals. Just 100 g of Kangkung provides 55 mg (92%) of the daily required values of vitamin C and 6300 IU of the daily recommended dose of vitamin A. It’s essential for mucosal integrity, hair and skin health, and good vision. It also works as an anti-cancer, anti-aging factor at the cellular level in humans.
Stick with the supplements that I was already on and add spice. Supplements like vitamin B1, 6 and 12; D3, and electrolytes!… We get 100% natural, no added sugar coconut water straight off the coconut. Though it contains naturally occurring sugar, I considered it a small price to pay and the interesting thing is it didn’t spike much insulin when added to a meal (tested).
Instead, it provided electrolytes (sodium, potassium, calcium, and magnesium) when I really needed them and carbohydrates to help improve muscle function, especially after a heat-related fainting spell.
Adding spices like cinnamon, garlic, ginger, chilies, coriander, oregano, and others, packed with vitamins and minerals; instead of the unavailable condiments meant I could cook and consume tasty, spicy food that was full of anti-oxidizing goodness.
Forget the Keto recipes and just cook tasty food. Because all Keto recipes include ingredients that are financially out of reach, I focused on home-cooked food that tasted good.
Baking, roasting, and stir-frying, all took on a personal touch as I experimented with the herbs and spices available; as my home became filled with the aroma of delicious cooking. I even baked my own bread; created my own spice mixes, sauces, and condiments.
Increase my carbs intake from 20g to 50g two days a week. Yes, I did. In changing some carbs I was allowing more dark green vegetable carbohydrates and minute amounts of seasonal fruit or whole grain carbs on the weekends.
This gave my body the added opportunity to continue detoxing on a regular basis. In this regard, exercising self-control played a big part... An extra 50g of carbs means 1 small potato, not a portion of fries or one slice of whole-grain bread, no more.
Most important; I implemented and stayed on intermittent and prolonged fasting. In the case of auto-immune disease, this was non-negotiable. But I varied my fasts; 12 hours one day; 18 hours the next; 24 hours one time, then 46 hours the next.
This is not Keto!
The experts will say a big NO to all this. In fact, I say, it’s not Keto at all. It’s probably what the experts call “bad Keto” or “dirty Keto”.
In some ways, this is a medium-carb diet, and this along with the Keto lifestyle extras makes sure I keep losing instead of gaining weight; RA is under control; Osteomas have started to shrink and disappear. Skin is hydrated, Hair is luscious and healthy, and overall well-being has improved. I'm happy, healthy, and energetic.
Things the Experts Don’t Tell You About Keto and Fasting.
If you are pairing Keto with fasting, no doubt you’ve seen the benefits by now. Most of us do Keto for weight loss and though this was not the program for me, I did lose weight as well as get my autoimmune disease under control.
However, I stopped losing weight. Oh yes, ten weeks in, and my autoimmune disease was not yet under control. And try as I might, I couldn’t find out why. There were no articles or videos that explained the whys of this or what to do about it.
Worse still, I started having flare-ups, when the weather changed. And there was nothing about this or dealing with it through Keto and fasting either.
You can gain weight while on Keto. This I learned when I met someone who said she first stopped losing weight even though she had more weight to lose before she started gaining weight, four months into Keto and so she had to stop.
One very important fact I discovered… the experts don’t give you alternatives. You either eat what's on the list or... not?... They don’t concede you can change anything.
In conclusion, My advice to all you readers outside America; who are finding some of the same limitations that I did, the Ketogenic diet is definitely a great starter diet; whether it’s to lose weight or heal a disease more seriously.
However, after two and a half months on it, when your metabolism slows down or you stop losing weight as I did; find ways to keep it going that work for you. All diets have their Pros and Cons. None are fool-proof and I doubt you’ll have as many limitations as I did. Research is key and keeps tweaking until it works for you.
Great ideas on how to make Keto work for you. I will definitely try it out. Put this on Instagram.
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