Let’s try to think of the last time life didn’t happen. If you’re like me, It was sometime around age 11 . But we all turn to using life as an explanation why we simply throw in the towel on so many things …
Read MoreMedical professionals go through years of education and training. They have more medical facts crammed in their noggins than there are cat videos on YouTube. They deserve the respect society often pays them. There is one glaring exception, though: nutrition.
Read MoreIt is inevitable that when one embarks on a new dietary regime, the focus falls on what we weigh. That makes sense if the reason for making a change is to lose weight. This often leads to weighing ourselves—a lot. What does the scale have in store for me today?
Read MoreIn our attempts to wrangle our health and happiness to a place of confidence and success, wrest control of our lives, and make better choices, we rely on supposedly trusted sources.
It is not always easy. Frankly, sometimes it's impossible.
There are certain truths that, while not necessarily self-evident, we want to believe. We like to trust that if something appears in writing, it must have been vetted, checked for accuracy, and is honest.
Ha. That's a laugh. We all know better.
The thing is, even if we tend to be skeptical by nature, our desire to believe what we want to think can over-rule questioning a statement that beggars incredulity. We may question whether two plus two equals four, but we'll accept that a food product that boasts the word "keto" on the packaging is anything other than a valid nearly zero carbohydrate cookie. Spoiler alert: it's not.
The term keto is not regulated. Heck, it barely existed a few years ago. So, food purveyors can describe something being keto when it is, in truth, the opposite. A good rule of thumb is to assume that any item on grocery shelves that self-identifies as being "keto" isn't. Why? Because the ingredients that prepared-foods require to be shelf-stable are the opposite of low-carb/ketogenic. Think flours - even alternative ones like almond flour - are carbohydrate-dense. (You'll remember that the protocol - as I learned it and have practiced it, anyway - is to limit carb intake to 20 grams/day or fewer - total carbs, not net; if it's not on Page 4, don't eat it; don't eat if not hungry; stop eating when satiated.) Nuts are not on Page 4; ergo, flours made from nuts aren't either. Making so-called "keto" cookies is not a thing. Truly. It's like selling a vegan chicken egg. Oxymorons, all around.
The thing is, we may want there to be the mythical baked good that is not carb-based. We may also want self-cleaning houses and poop-free diapers when we raise our children. There are no such things. To believe otherwise is magical thinking in the extreme.
If we need to avoid carbs, the thing to do is to - wait for it - avoid carbs. We need to lay off cookies, cakes, granolas, ice-cream, popcorn, etc., Even if the food-seller uses large, block letters reading "KETO" on the packaging. It just isn't. Their job is to try to sell us things. Our job is not to be sold a bill of goods. We are in control of our decisions, whether we like it or not.
Take the extra few seconds required to look on the back of the packaging, realize that total carbohydrate counts per serving (and check out what the vendor measures as a serving!), and make your decision based on the numbers, not on the marketing.
Don't blame keto for what the opportunists did.
Disclaimer: I’m not a medical doctor, researcher, or Ph.D. but rather I’ve been fortunate to have had the time and resources to research the ketogenic diet, also known as LCHF (low carb/high fat). The information I share is based solely on my understanding of that research. We are all responsible for our own choices, including what we put in our mouths and there’s no substitute for each of us checking things out ourselves. And I’m not a medical professional in any way. Go Keto With Casey is not a medical site. “Duh,” you might say. But best to make it clear to all. I welcome questions, comments, and even civil criticism. I’m still learning. So, if you have something to add, go for it. Links in this post and all others may direct you to affiliate links, where I will receive a small amount of the purchase price of any items you buy through those links. Thanks!
There are certain topics that elicit frequent questions from people who have embarked on or are merely contemplating the ketogenic diet. Common subjects of concern or inquiry include questions regarding impacts on cholesterol, losing hair, gaining skin folds, or how to replace a favorite aunt’s recipe for strudel. Another recurring question is one that came to me recently from a reader of this blog. She put things very succinctly:
I just don’t understand how to stop the cravings?? It’s such a daily struggle!! How long did it take you to conquer this feeling??
The idea that we have - and are sometimes powerless against - cravings (a notion that food manufacturers are pleased to reinforce) is so entrenched in our psyches that we don’t question it. It’s a given: I crave, ergo, I must consume. Those who haven’t incorporated this notion into their daily lives are singular souls indeed. And I was not one of those rare folks.
That was, at least, until becoming ‘food sober’ gave me a different and, dare I write, clearer mind about some of our assumptions regarding where food has ranked in our lives as compared to where it should rank. Let’s face it, food has led us around as if we were little cockapoos and it was our haughty owner.
The question posed above led to a couple of immediate thoughts in my mind. One is that no one ever died from a food craving. Really, REALLY wanting a particular food is not fatal, nor an actual emergency. (Sorry but, “get me a danish and nobody gets hurt” has lost its humor when Type 2 Diabetes is a growth industry for pharmaceutical companies and many of us can barely squeeze behind the steering wheel of our cars.) The good news is, we can break out from the yoke of cravings and they need no longer be in the driver seat.
First and foremost, we need to recognize that sometimes when we ‘crave’ a food, it might be that we are habituated to eat it. If every day after work there is a ritual of putting down the house keys, placing the briefcase or purse on the table, heading for the fishbowl of cookies on the counter, grabbing a couple to eat (mindlessly) whilst sorting through the mail, we may think we are craving cookies if that schedule is disrupted and we’re not at home but caught in traffic. “Man, I really want a cookie!”, percolates up into our thoughts as we sit in the car. That’s more like a circadian rhythm. You always have a couple of cookies right about now. But let’s be logical about it, cookies aren’t going to do us any good, no matter when or why we usually eat them.
Second, we don’t crave what we don’t eat. Those of us who didn’t grow up on a steady diet of squid probably aren’t pining for it on a regular basis. So the trick is to stop eating the foods we tend to crave.
One of the aspects of a well-formulated ketogenic diet is that, when carbohydrate intake is reduced sufficiently, our hunger and appetite are naturally suppressed. (It really is true, I promise) Thus, we eat less. And we don’t crave what we don’t eat. It may take a few days, but it works. Physiologically, that is. If we are bound and determined to allow some foodstuff to lord over us, then that’s a conversation one needs to have with oneself. And part of that conversation needs to include advice to ‘get a grip’. A craving is not directly connected to our central nervous system. There’s no involuntary reflex of lifting a hand to mouth in response the ‘I want some fries’ craving stimulus. Eating is still a behavior. One which we can control. It’s just so much easier to do so when one is burning fat for fuel rather than burning glucose.
In short, keeping carbohydrate intake to 20g/day or fewer (total carbs, not net), eating fatty sources of protein, not eating if not hungry and stopping when satiated will get you where you want to be, craving-wise, in short order.
There may still be work to be done in the behavior department, but even that is easier to face when not having to swat away intrusive thoughts of food.
The protocol is legit. It is simple. It is safe. And you’re stronger than a cookie.
Disclaimer: I’m not a medical doctor, researcher or PhD but rather a I’ve been fortunate to have had the time and resources to research the ketogenic diet, also known as LCHF (low carb/high fat). The information I share is based solely on my understanding of that research. We are all responsible for our own choices, including what we put in our mouths and there’s no substitute for each of us checking things out ourselves. And I’m not a medical professional in any way. Go Keto With Casey is not a medical site. “Duh,” you might say. But best to make it clear to all. I welcome questions, comments and even civil criticism. I’m still learning. So, if you have something to add, go for it. Links in this post and all others may direct you to affiliate links, where I will receive a small amount of the purchase price of any items you buy through those links. Thanks!
@ Casey Durango 2024
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