#myketostory: Judi

Within the past year, Judi has made a major transformation using a ketogenic diet. Her story is on our Facebook page. Come show her some love!

It’s been year since I began my LCHF/keto lifestyle. One year ago I weighed 303 pounds. I felt awful and I had diseases that would only get worse if I did not change my life. Diabetes, high blood pressure, and sleep apnea were slowly taking my life away. I decided on May1, 2016 that I was going to fight. I would fight for my life. I would fight to keep my toes and feet. I would fight to keep my eyesight. I want to live as long as I can without pain. I want to see my grandchildren grow up. I was taking insulin every day in addition to oral medications for diabetes. I had terrible cholesterol labs. I was taking two different kinds of blood pressure medications. My face was attached to a CPAP machine every night. It felt like I was anchored to the nightstand. Things were getting worse month by month. That was it! I couldn’t go on without doing something.

Read the rest here: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10103041397651678

#myketostory: Jess

Jess has bravely shared her journey with keto on our Facebook page. If you have a story to share as well, please come and post!

Hi I’m Jess. 18 months ago I was over 230lbs, obese, depressed, withdrawn….working as a Personal Trainer and in gym management. Too tired to train, spin or be with others. Too tired to mow the grass, and participate in fun things. My body hurt all the time. I ate and drank and living in a small little world.

I knew I was in trouble and too scared to reach out for a doctor’s advice. I didn’t want to hear the words Pre-diabetic or worse, Diabetic. I didn’t have symptoms. I just was like held-captive.

My cousin and I decided we’d go Low carb together. 

Read the rest here: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10208763810074392

Why you shouldn’t exercise to lose weight, explained with 60+ studies

Vox has published an important article that breaks down the science of the correlation between weight loss and calories burned during exercise. The results might not be what you expected.

by Julia Belluz and Javier Zarracina on April 28, 2016

Welcome to Show Me the Evidence, where we go beyond the frenzy of daily headlines to take a deeper look at the state of science around the most pressing health questions of the day.

“I’m going to make you work hard,” a blonde and perfectly muscled fitness instructor screamed at me in a recent spinning class, “so you can have that second drink at happy hour!”

At the end of the 45-minute workout, my body was dripping with sweat. I felt like I had worked really, really hard. And according to my bike, I had burned more than 700 calories. Surely I had earned an extra margarita.

The spinning instructor was echoing a message we’ve been getting for years: As long as you get on that bike or treadmill, you can keep indulging — and still lose weight. It’s been reinforced by fitness gurus, celebrities, food and beverage companies like PepsiCo and Coca-Cola, and even public-health officials, doctors, and the first lady of the United States. Countless gym memberships, fitness tracking devices, sports drinks, and workout videos have been sold on this promise.

There’s just one problem: This message is not only wrong, it’s leading us astray in our fight against obesity.

To find out why, I read through more than 60 studies on exercise and weight loss. I also spoke to nine leading exercise, nutrition, and obesity researchers. Here’s what I learned.

Read the whole article here: http://www.vox.com/2016/4/28/11518804/weight-loss-exercise-myth-burn-calories

My Personal #myketostory. Come share yours on Facebook!

Come to our Facebook page and post your success story from going keto. Here’s mine:

Throughout my entire life I have consistently suffered through various medical issues. I was born premature and so growing up I had attributed my chronic issues to that. I’ve always had multiple digestive system issues and respiratory issues: chronic bronchitis and sinusitis to name a couple of things.

Progressing into my adult life I began developing more and more health issues. I continued to steadily gain weight without ever being able to lose it. I had persistent cystic acne, asthma, significant hair loss, frequently caught flus and colds several times a year and chronic pain throughout my body. I never felt well.

As the years went by despite developing a stricter, healthier diet my health issues worsened. I developed adrenal fatigue which led to extreme anxiety and chronic fatigue. My body was constantly in a very high inflammatory state and doctors told me I would develop an autoimmune disease eventually. I became allergic to wheat and developed sugar poisoning. I developed a serious form of eczema that spread across my entire body. I had a mass growing at the top of my spine and pre-cancerous cells I had to have surgery to remove. I had reproductive issues that I was advised may lead to infertility. I was developing advanced gum disease despite all my diligent care. Every day that I woke up I felt that I hadn’t slept a wink. I felt beyond fatigued with constant brain fog and malaise. I was in serious pain physically, emotionally and spiritually.

After countless doctor visits and zero answers or successful progression on their part I began to do a lot of research on my own. I did cleanses and elimination diets. I went vegan from vegetarian and even participated in a 21 day juice cleanse. I felt no better.

In 2014 as I continued to scour the Internet for information and solutions I found a diet protocol called Whole Approach that seemed to address a few of my issues. I decided to give it a shot and shockingly lost twenty pounds within the first month of trying it. This was an enormous breakthrough for me because I had not been able to lose any weight my entire adult life.

As I continued to read more and more I finally pieced together that my issue was that I had developed insulin resistance, which is a pre-diabetic state. This explained my bodily reaction to grains and sugars of any kind including fruits. All of my random health issues and symptoms that seemed to not be connected were all originating from one source: I had too much sugar running in my body and my body was shutting down.

It was such a deep, heavy relief to finally identify and understand this. Once I did I began to invest most of my time into learning what I could do to reverse my insulin resistance and immune system issues. I eventually stumbled upon the ketogenic diet and its principles and the results of administering it were as if a light was switched on in the darkness of my life.

After months of staying on a strict protocol everything, and I mean everything that plagued me began to be relieved and went into remission. As of today I’ve lost a total of sixty pounds, my allergies have disappeared, I rarely get sick, my hair grew back in fuller, my skin cleared throughout my body and face for the first time since I was a preteen, my chronic pain disappeared and I’ve felt awake and clear of mind in a way that is indescribable until it happens to you. I sleep soundly and normally now and I when I wake up in the morning I feel alert and ready to start my day. I honestly feel the greatest gift we can receive is given to ourselves in the form of self care and wellness. I’m so grateful I discovered how to save myself and I hope the same for all of you.

I’m currently trying to lose another forty pounds, still researching ways to better my self and increase my wellness and working on rebuilding my life that took a huge pause when my body was shutting down. I begin to not feel well in familiar ways if I eat grains and sugar and do my best to stay away from them completely. I’m always working on new recipes and meal ideas and trying to recruit (annoy) my friends into eating the same way with me. I honestly feel like I’m living a second life that I’m not taking for granted for being given. One that was given to me by myself. When it comes to my recovery, progression and evolution as a person, I’m currently still on my way and hope that I always will be.

‪#‎myketostory‬

Keto 101 Q&A: What is Keto? Ketogenic diet? What are you talking about you crazy person?

Hi! Our official blog launch will be the announcement of a campaign for the Ketogenic community but for now I wanted to cover a basic intro to what Keto is. It’s commonly used as a weight loss tool but it is much more than that.

If you’re interested in beginning a ketogenic diet please speak with your medical practitioners first and do lots of research! Example why: keto diet is NOT recommended for people with Type 1 Diabetes so make sure your body is able to handle anything new you’re thinking of introducing to it.

I will include a lot of links and articles here and continue to do so but knowledge is power and I implore you to learn as much as you can.

Without further ado, here’s some Q&A basics from my personal experience:

(Last Updated: 04/26/16)

What’s Keto?
Keto is short for Ketogenic diet, which is based upon the principle of keeping your body in a constant state of ketosis.

What’s Ketosis?
Your body runs on the energy you give it through the food you eat (duh). Your body will either run on sugar energy or fat energy. If you burn through your body’s sugar energy supply, it will switch to burning fat instead. When your body burns fat for energy, you’re in ketosis. That’s pretty much it in a nutshell.

There are plenty of studies that show that the body runs cleaner on fat than it does on sugar (glucose/gycogen). It also reportedly helps and sometimes eliminates the issues that come with having excess sugar in your system (weight gain, diabetes, allergies, development of other illness such as autoimmune diseases). Many people lose weight this way (frequently it’s rapidly) and use this diet as a weight loss tool, but there are a plethora of other health benefits reported too.

So what’s going on in my body?
Your body is utilizing fat and converting it into energy to make your body run. Your body doesn’t have enough sugar (glucose) to utilize it as its energy source. Excess sugar is not being stored (as fat) and running through your system/blood as much as it would if you were consuming more foods that break down into glucose (sugar, carbs). Your body is also making ketones.

Yeah, it looks something like this.

So I tried low carb for (4 days) (1 day) (3 minutes) and I wanted to destroy everyone in my path and also eat New York’s entire supply of pizza what’s up with that?
Your body craves carbs because it’s used to running on sugar and is spazzing out that you’re not giving it what it wants. This where most people quit. Don’t! This doesn’t last forever. Once your body switches to ketosis your sugar cravings will be gone. Seriously. As long as you stay in ketosis. So don’t cheat. Or else you’ll kick yourself out of ketosis and go back to burning sugar and that will really suck.

Heads up! There will be a detox period that I’m not sure why isn’t more widely discussed. I will do a post on this because it’s a very important topic! Many people also quit on this diet because they begin to feel ill in many different ways. This is your body detoxing and transitioning. Keep going. It is not going to last forever but you have to push through it. And make sure you’re getting enough electrolytes. Once its over, you will feel like sunshine and puppies and melted Velveeta cheese. This isn’t unique to this particular diet. Anytime you clean out your system you will have a period of Herxheimer Reaction. Read up on it!

So who should consider this diet?
Many groups of awesome people have found success and remission from their dietary/body issues and/or illnesses by utilizing a ketogenic diet. Here are some of the issues reported to be resolved:

• Weight loss, inability to lose weight, weight gain, inability to gain weight
• Allergy symptoms and inflammatory symptoms that are caused by grains and/or sugar consumption
• Cardiovascular diseases
• Skin ailments such as Rosacea, Eczema, Acne, cysts, darkening of elbows and neck (Acanthosis nigricans)
• Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), Irritable Bowel Disease (IBD), Celiac Disease, Gastrointestinal diseases and distress
• Over abundance of yeast (feeds off sugar) in the system such as Candida (in the digestive tract), Yeast infections, Fungal infections
• Bodybuilding, Muscle growth
• Sugar addiction / Carb addiction
• Pre-Diabetes, Insulin Resistance
• Type 2 Diabetes
• Metabolic disorders, Thyroid issues
• Autoimmune disorders such as Lupus, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Fibromyalgia
• Neurological Disorders such as Epilepsy (especially in children), Schizophrenia and Alzheimers 
• Cancer, polyps
• Infertility, Pelvic Inflammatory Disease (PID), Reproductive system issues

Isn’t fat bad for you? Doesn’t eating fat make you fat? Clog your arteries? Do bad things to you that make you regret last Friday night and question your life choices?
Nope. This is also a destroyed myth. Just like sugar, fat is not stored as fat in your body unless you eat more fat calories than you are able to burn off. Fat is essential to the human body and nourishes and fuels every cell. And it takes longer to break down in your system than sugar. Which is why you feel satiated longer when you eat fat.

Wait so what you’re telling me is %^@$ lettuce. Bacon life all day everyday?
Nah you still have to eat your vegetables. In fact they should make up a significant part of what you’re eating no matter what diet you choose. This is a common myth that can be very harmful and makes the keto community look bad. Human bodies were made to run on plants, too. Fiber, antioxidants, minerals, vitamins, magical deliciousness—all these things are derived from eating a variety of vegetables. Just make sure you’re always consuming fats.

So if you don’t eat meat you can’t do this—
Nope. I’m a vegetarian. There are keto vegans as well. If anything being keto allows you to focus MORE on consuming nutritious foods and vegetables and consuming a more colorful diet because you are eliminating starches and grains which would otherwise make up a bulk of your meal. I eat tons of different foods and I always feel satisfied. I don’t remember the last time I felt hungry.

So what do I have to do?
Keep your total daily carb/sugar intake under 40g. Some do and suggest lower depending on individual needs/metabolism. I do 20.

Get 70% of your calories from fat, 25% from protein and 5% from carbs/sugar. Keep your protein intake moderate unless you’re bodybuilding. Don’t go crazy. Too much protein will also spike your insulin and kick you out of ketosis.

Eat lots of greens, fibrous, low-carb vegetables, a moderate amount of low-carb nuts, beans and seeds and most importantly, good fats derived from sources such as (low-carb) dairy, meat, fish and healthy oils. You’ll know you’re eating enough fat because you’ll feel full and satisfied and not hungry. Done.

What else do I have to do?
Stay up on your electrolytes. Magnesium. Sodium(salt). Potassium. Make sure you have them every day. They are depleted more often on this diet. And drink tons of water. Try to chill out on the caffeine. Yeah, it messes with your metabolism too.

All of this is obviously more complicated than the short answers I gave above, but we will dive into it all through future posts. Also, please look through the resources tab and check out the other sites listed there!

Here are some sites that do a great and thorough job at explaining all this as well:

http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/mind-guest-blog/the-fat-fueled-brain-unnatural-or-advantageous/

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2016/01/31/high-fat-low-carb-diet-benefits.aspx

https://www.reddit.com/r/keto/wiki/keto_in_a_nutshell

http://ketodietapp.com/Blog/post/2014/06/24/Practical-Guide-to-Keto-Paleo-Diet-for-Health-and-Long-Term-Weight-Loss

http://ultimatepaleoguide.com/ultimate-beginners-guide-keto-diet/

http://josepharcita.blogspot.com/2011/03/guide-to-ketosis.html

http://paleoleap.com/paleo-guide-to-ketosis/

 

And if Godzilla can do it so can you (train cars have zero carbs).