Keto & Aging
/Weight Loss Fluctuations (7.14.2025 to 7.20.2025)
Bette Davis once said, “Old age ain’t no place for sissies.” True that, Ms. Davis. But aging needn’t be a devolution into decrepidness, either. While we can’t stop the never-ending passage of time, we can do all within our power to meet the coming years armed with resilience, vigor, and even contentment.
“Yeah, right. Sure thing. You’re in denial”, you may think.
Now, now. Let’s not let cynicism and a defeatist attitude push us around, because I’m here to attest that I feel better, mentally, emotionally, and physically, than I did before I started following the ketogenic protocol. And that was over eleven and a half years ago. I’m sixty-seven, am pain-free (my joints used to scream at me), and take no medications, and the only supplement in my routine is a teaspoon of cod liver oil a day for vitamin D.
Can you beat that? Even if you’re decades younger than I? We don’t have to accept that we’re destined to fall apart, bit by bit, to dissolve into ourselves like the wicked witch of the west.
I’m melting! I’m melting! What a world, what a world! … blurp! …
Laying of the carbs isn’t a cure for every manner of dilapidation, disintegration, and disrepair associated with growing older. But if the trajectory I saw for myself when I decided back in January of 2014 was correct, and I feel that it was, I would be a hot mess, an amalgam of maladies, my days comprised of complaints, and wondering if grim death doesn’t have an upside. Dark, dark, dark were my thoughts as I sat at the breakfast bar in our kitchen, despairing because I knew that Type 2 Diabetes and insulin injections were just up the road for me. That, even more than the embarrassment of obesity, a state of being I had come to accept as unovercomable, led me to Google “how to not take insulin for Type 2 Diabetes?” Within a couple of clicks, I landed on the simple instructions to keep carbohydrate intake to 20 grams a day or fewer and to not eat if not hungry. I knew that carbohydrate restriction (the original “Atkins” diet worked for me in college when I wanted to lose the few pounds I had gained while living on campus, as well as a couple more in the following years when I had much more than a few pounds to lose. But the diet had fallen far out of favor and out of my head. On that January day, I was so far down, anything, including giving up tortilla chips and pizza, looked like up to me. The next time I ate, I laid off the carbs. Then, the next time after that, ditto. Huzzah! I started feeling better within a few days, and I haven’t looked back.
But what about getting wrinkled and saggy after losing a lot of weight? I’ve heard from people who are concerned about trading one unwanted thing—fat—for another unwanted thing: creases and crepey skin. One person shared with me that her mother warned her not to lose weight or she’d look older.
Wha?? Seriously … What?!
We need to adjust our thinking about age. There’s a sure-fire way to prevent growing older. Die young. Not an ideal solution, but an effective one.
Me? I’ll pass on that. Well, the ship has sailed on me being able to die young. But I’m more interested in growing older than I’m peeved about looking older. And I intend to age as vital, engaged, mobile, and healthy a pensioner as I can. We can’t control everything, and tomorrow is promised to no one. But I can control whether I gobble down tortilla chips and pizza. And cake. And M&M’s. And popcorn.
The tradeoff between eating foods that had been part of my life since childhood, or continuing my adulthood as long and as able-bodied as possible. Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.
Having quoted Better Davis, let’s also look to Jamie Lee Curtis’ words on aging. Growing older is not for sissies, and facing the future while making it the best it can be is the opposite of sissiness.
This word ‘anti-aging’ has to be struck,” she said in March 2022 at the Radically Reframing Aging Summit, hosted by Maria Shriver. “I am pro-aging. I want to age with intelligence, and grace, and dignity, and verve, and energy.”
You go, girl. I’m right there with you. 😉 👵🏻 🧓🏻
Disclaimer: I’m not a medical doctor, researcher, or Ph.D., but instead, 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!
