Staying on the Keto Wagon

In my private support group on Patreon, members can access a "topic suggestion spreadsheet" and—you guessed—suggest topics for the short videos I record every weekday morning. (After over 850 of these "snippets," it helps to have input about subjects people want to hear!)

One recent submission was from a who advised they kept "falling off the wagon" after about ten days following the ketogenic protocol. They had, in the past, successfully followed the diet. They lost weight, felt great, and all the good things that can come when one lays off carbs. But there was some back-sliding with the predictable results: weight gain, joint pain return, generally feeling lousy. But this time around, staying on track seemed more challenging. In their words:

"Hello, Casey. I have been restarting every 10 days since the beginning of November. I have done keto well and have lost 50 pounds in the past (several times), and now, as I'm older, I feel like I keep falling off the wagon. I cannot get away with anything - I can't have caffeine (can't tolerate it anymore), etc., and I gain weight super fast now. I have just been in a bit of a rut for several months where I start to get back on board, start losing, and then ten days in - I lose focus or something. I guess I'm wondering about being able to really establish this habit ... since I keep getting off course at the 10 to 14-day mark. Thank you!"

A conversation I had just had with another patron inspired my response. During a one-on-one session, they shared with me a point made by a medical professional who cautioned against using phrases like, "I fell off the wagon." That is a passive way of diminishing our responsibilities for our choices. Let's face it—we don't fall off the proverbial wagon: we jump. One of the few things over which we have control is what we decide to put in our mouths. Absent someone force-feeding us, it is our forks in our hands which we raise to our pie-holes.

It may sound harsh, the idea that we are powerless in the face of food. But, c'mon, y'all. After all, we've been through in our lives, as varied as our histories are, do we want to peddle the idea that we are helpless in the presence of cheese puffs, that chocolate bunnies staring at us with their creepy eyes render us defenseless? Are fries omnipotent?

No way! No matter our age, gender, or stage of life, we've been through harrowing things. We've buried loved ones, lost homes to bankruptcy, had partners betray us. People have broken our hearts. We've endured terrifying diagnoses and even scarier treatments. But we crumble when presented with a muffin?

Please know that I used all the mental dodges back in the day. I didn’t do myself any favors. Just the opposite. Look at my before photos to see where self-delusion got me.

"I’m stronger than a cookie" is one of the best-selling slogans on my teespring shop. It's on stickers, shirts, mugs. I bought a shirt myself. And what does that have to do with staying on the wagon? It comes back to what we tell ourselves. Words matter. And those we say to ourselves matter the most. We don't fall, and no one has the power to push us. We decide (whether we want to own that fact or not.)

A suggestion I made was to, first, stop repeating in their head how they’ve failed before. Replace it with affirmations, replacing negative with positive thoughts: I will stay on track for 11 days. Then devise a visual reinforcement for those 10 days. It can be marks on a calendar, post-it notes with numbers 1-11 on them, 11 marbles moved from one to jar another. Whatever inspires. Then, after getting to day 11 successfully, do it again. Soon, there will be weeks of success stacked up. And it becomes easier and easier.

We are strong. We have survived. We choose.

Now, stay on that wagon and enjoy the ride. The view is great from up there.

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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!

Happy Easter. And Just Step Away from the Chocolate Bunny.

This obviously is not a solution for Passover. But maybe just double up on the beitzah and zero. :)

If you're reading this and you've already conquered Easter Sunday or the week of Passover without diving into bowls of Peeps® and foiled covered eggs or stacks of matzah and charoset, congratulations. Mazel tov! If you struggled and are now int he midst of a chocolate hangover or feeling bloated, that's ok. You can get back on the ketogenic track immediately.

Holidays are hard. And there's one just about every month. Even if a formal holiday isn't on the calendar, manufactured ones are all over the place. And virtually all of them revolve around food, family gatherings and ritual. It can be really challenging to resist all the foods we've grown up eating during these events. Particularly if there's the added 'bonus' of family ... tension ... shall we say? Take a houseful of food, throw in a history or interpersonal dynamics that sometimes are more like interpersonal dynamite, and it's easy to face plant into mashed potatoes and extra sweet spiral cut ham with pineapple and cherries pinned to the crust. And the chocolate bunnies. Oh, my, the chocolate bunnies.

Here's the thing, though. You can get through this. You can resist. And once you do, you'll feel so much better. Prove to yourself that you won't be dominated by a food product, no matter how anthropomorphized and adorable they are. (A bunny carrying basket of tulips just doesn't happen in nature, guys.)

And if this Easter or whatever most recent holiday wasn't your moment of triumph, don't worry. You'll have another chance in a few weeks. No matter when you're reading this.

You can do this. Truly. All it takes is that first time that you make it through, declining Aunt Ida's famous cobbler or Mom's triple butterscotch fudge or the fluffy biscuits someone just stopped off at Bojangles's for on the way to the house, you'll feel so awesome. Remember that no one has the right to guilt or cajole or bribe or demean you in to eating or drinking anything you don't want. They're not the boss of you. And neither is food.

Now, go make it a great day, no matter what it is on the calendar.

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Our Week in Food (3.26.2017)

Here's our week, food-wise. You'll see liver (deep fried in bacon fat), egg drop soup, shrimp & broccoli, shiitake mushrooms, bok chop, cream cheese pancakes and lots of ribeyes. Even homemade cheese crisps. The one shot of a large bowl of homemade bone broth is a teaser for an upcoming 'how to' video on making your own. Spoiler alert: You let bones simmer for a couple of days. Done. :)

All this food is keto friendly, easy to prepare and really satisfying. Don't let anyone tell you this diet is about deprivation 'cause, well, it's not! 

Disclaimer: 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 amazon.com, where I will receive a small amount of the purchase price of any items you buy through my affiliate links. Thanks!

Hunger? What Do You Mean, "What Does It Mean?"

Okay. I've got to admit that I think I have this who ketogenic diet thing pretty dialed in. I've lost 95.4 pounds since I started the program whose tenets are pretty basic and straight forward: keep carbohydrate intake below 20g a day, eat only from the allowed food list and eat only when hungry. The point is that, when carb intake is low enough, the liver stops pushing glucose into the blood. Without the glucose for fuel, the body switches to burning ketones (fat). And as long as one doesn't overeat dietary fat (more on that in another post), our body's on board fat is mobilized and all is right with the world.

Yes, yes. I'm the queen of ketosis. I'm a happy fat burner. Let's go down that simple check list:

• Carbs low? Check
• Keeping to the allowed food list? Indeed
• In ketosis? Always
• Eating only when hungry? You bettcha....uh... well... Let me think.

This What is hunger on keto? What is it when NOT on keto? That is the question. For more information on the ketogenic diet and links to items mentioned in this video, see below.

Here's the thing. Figuring out what hunger actually is has been a true challenge. Several months into eating this way I was tripping along, loving life and this diet. I had lost about 45 pounds but things had really slowed up. I had an opportunity to ask a world expert on the ketogenic diet, Dr. Eric Westman, why I had seemingly stopped losing weight when I was in ketosis. He asked several qualifying questions and then got to that last one, "Are you eating only when hungry?" I replied pretty much as I wrote it above. I stammered out something and then realized that, no, I couldn't say I did. I ate when it was mealtime. Only low carb and proper 'keto' foods, but the meals were mandated more by the clock than my body needing to be fed.

This led to a practice of asking myself whether I was eating out of hunger or habit. The next trick was to figure out what hunger actually felt like. It doesn't seem like we should have to really over think something so basic as whether we're hungry or not. We don't spend a lot of time pondering whether we're tired, chilly, hot or if we have to poo. We just know.

But our bodies have been jacked up on glucose for decades now. And since glucose can't be stored in the blood (we only have about 5g of the stuff in our bloodstream) our brain keeps calling for more every couple of hours. That's when you feel the need to mid morning after having downed a gracious large breakfast of a slice of whole grain toast with a slather of fat free strawberry preserves, a glass of orange juice - which is really a slice of sugar with a slather of sugar and a glass of sugar. Ten thirty rolls around and you need a muffin (sugar). So goes for lunch, then mid-afternoon slump, then dinner. All you can do all day is think about food because your brain is hankering for glucose.

Ah, but when fat-adapted, your brain doesn't have to yell at you to eat. The steady flow of ketones (our brains do beautifully using ketones for fuel) which come from our body's fat stores, quiets all that noise. No more 'feed me, feed me, feed me now or pay the consequences!'

The thing is we can still be in the habit of eating, even long after the roller coaster of glucose induced hanger is gone. And more than that, we an be so worried that we'll get hungry, we fret about being more than 45 minutes away from our next feed.

So I've been working on being truly mindful of eating. What is hunger? Am I hungry? How much is enough? And I find the more I practice this, the less space food takes up in my mind. As I've said and written before, food is no longer the boss of me. 

While humanity has spent millennia trying to be free from hunger, we're in a position to be free from food. Maybe we can spend the extra time and brain power or solving other problems. 

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Disclaimer: 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 amazon.com, where I will receive a small amount of the purchase price of any items you buy through my affiliate links. Thanks!

Follow Up and My Opinions. Again.

This is just a quickie - or, at least, a quickie or me - following up on yesterday's post regarding weight gain and how I'm totally fine blaming it on the month of January. Illogical, you say? Maybe. But that's my story and I'm sticking with it....

Anyhow, the scale finally stopped it upward trajectory. I was not really concerned about the uptick but won't lie that I'm not happy for the correction. Plus, I offer a couple of opinions. I'm lousy with those!

A follow up to a previous video on weight gain in January, plus what's the difference between keto and paleo. Also, how do you eat out on this diet? For more information on the ketogenic diet and items mentioned this video, see below.

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Disclaimer: 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 amazon.com, where I will receive a small amount of the purchase price of any items you buy through my affiliate links. Thanks!