Thanks Sarah, it’s true the link is there along with most “smoked” foods. Being a retired Food Scientist you would think I would have remembered this 
. Like you I also find this stuff fascinating.
Tom
1 Like
There are so many of these things, easy to forget one of the things they are telling us not to eat!
As an aside, I’m enraged by the irresponsible treatment of of nutritional studies in the news. Headlines like the one I mentioned above not only cause confusion, but also can lead to poor choices on the part of people who overreact to the sensationalism, and a fear of real food. It’s hard enough to sort through all this stuff as it is, what with the USDA refusing to consider the last 10 years of research on saturated fat in its latest dietary guidelines, along with other oversights and conflicts of interest. There’s a great group called The Nutrition Coalition which doesn’t promote any particular diet, but whose goal is to promote the (shocking) idea that nutritional guidance should be based on science. Worth looking into.
1 Like
I remember reading about Paleo. Specifically the Robb Wolf book. A big take away was that plenty of people (scientists included) didn’t really understand how humans process food.
I am glad this thread was bumped, as I don’t often check this forum.
I have been doing something similar since January 1, and am interested in suggestions for improvement.
My strategies:
- no alcohol
- no bread/rice/chips/fries/potatoes
- no soda or anything fizzy
- no food before 11am
- no food after 8pm, with a couple exceptions
- lots of iced tea, which is getting boring
What I’ve been eating:
- soup: sausage/white bean, butternut squash curry, chili
- roasted Italian sausage, meatballs
- roasted or sautéed veggies in olive oil
- homemade red sauce (no sugar added)
- rotisserie chicken
- all veggies (except potatoes)
Snacks
- trail mix that includes dried fruit
- cashews and honey-roasted peanuts
- a couple pieces of chocolate every other day (except the day I ate an entire bar)
Exercise
- None except for walking
Issues
- Mild constipation the first couple of days, but that has resolved itself.
- Intermittent headaches. I thought it was the iced tea, but I just read the box: it’s decaf.
- Lack of sleep is a problem. I’ve found myself yawning around 8:45 or 9pm, which never happens. That’s too early for bedtime, so I push through. And then I’m up until 2 or 3am.
Results
I was down 6.5 lbs after the first week. The next weigh-in is January 15th. I don’t expect to be down that much again, but am optimistic I’ll be down at least something.
I am interested in suggestions to improve without getting too hardcore.
It’s true, a lot is still not well understood. Food is complicated in and of itself. And there are a lot of complex and interrelated processes going on in the body. We are learning more and more all the time, though, and I think those who are in a position dictating nutritional guidelines and policy should take care not to ignore wide swaths of research. There have been significant changes to recommendations as we’ve learned more - adding trans fat, for instance, and dropping dietary cholesterol limits (they did that one very quietly, presumably so as to have to admit they’d be wrong! ) - and ways in which things have lagged way behind.
Another thing to point out with bacon is that the only compound truly listed as a carcinogen are nitrosamines. These are only formed from the nitrates (if present) at temps over 350F. This is why I cook all bacon in the oven at 320F.
Another thing to point out with bacon, fat content is typically 40% plus oleic acid. Olive oil anyone? This is good fat content.
I can’t say enough good things about being a fat burner. I only did keto for a few months a couple years back and I was hooked. I switched to intermittent fasting right after that and have been going strong ever since. Not only has it improved health, it has made my life more convenient, AND it has made me a better athlete. Your metabolic (mitochondrial) ability to burn fat and subsequent benefits should not be underestimated.
Great points all. Similarly, lard is about 60% monounsaturated, largely oleic. Mind you, I don’t think saturated fat is evil, either, but that’s a different topic. It was a dark day when we stopped baking and cooking with lard and started using Crisco etc. instead and created the trans fat monster. Sadly, there’s too much prejudice now to go back, so labs are working round the clock to produce new fats that can make Oreos feel and taste right, but don’t have trans fats. Some substances in those, well, we basically don’t know what we’re dealing with.
I do IF in conjunction with keto, and it’s great, especially since it can be taken on longterm whereas I think keto is best for limited periods. IF imparts terrific metabolic flexibility.
I’m now 2 weeks into this year’s keto stretch and things are going really well. After a couple of days of headaches, easily addressed with some extra electrolytes, I feel terrific. I have tons of energy, less back/muscle pain, and quality sleep. My workouts feel great, too.
I didn’t really need to lose any weight, but I like getting super lean once in a while (my husband doesn’t like it so much, lol), and am down 5 lbs without consciously restricting calories. I will lose no more than another 5. I like to drop a little below ideal, so that when I transition to maintenance and having wine again, I can creep up a bit and still be nice and lean.
More importantly are my blood test results. I have consistently:
– Ketones consistently between 3 and 3.7 mmol/L
– Blood glucose between 70 and 90 mg/dL
– GKI (Glucose Ketone Index, the ratio between the two) roughly between 1 and 2
A GKI between 1 and 3 is considered a high level of therapeutic ketosis. There is very interesting and promising research being done in this area, using metabolic therapy to treat brain cancer (and some others), Alzheimer’s disease, Type 2 diabetes, epilepsy, Parkinson’s, chronic inflammatory disease, and brain injuries. The GKI is used to measure therapeutic efficacy. I don’t have any of these. Still, the thinking is that a low GKI indicates optimal metabolic function at the cellular level, and that periodic use even for healthy people can be beneficial for overall metabolic health, longevity, weight control, and even cancer prevention. In some ways, you are in fact cleaning out your system and cells, as a low GKI, especially with IF, is a good indication that autophagy is taking place.
The best part of this diet is that it’s easy. Yeah, I miss noodles and bread and wine, but there are so many wonderful foods I can eat, it’s not boring at all. Anyone who follows my Instagram has seen a bunch of our meals, and can appreciate the variety that’s available. Plus, a high fat intake is very satiating, so I’m never hungry between meals.
I’m not advocating this diet for everyone. But if you are interested in any of these things, I encourage you to do some research!
Way to go Sarah!
How do you get your blood test results-finger prick? Not sure I feel like doing that but I would like to know that info.
I was out on a business trip this week, so it was pretty difficult to be good, but I did the best I could. Probably malnourished and certainly didn’t drink enough water. I had headaches yesterday and last night which I’m attributing to not enough water. I’ll be out of town again next week so the challenge increases.
I’ve lost 8 pounds in a bit less than 2 weeks-good but not great but better than where I was. My goal is to lose 30 pounds in the first half of the year-while traveling every other week and moving-yikes!
Hi Dan - Yep, I use a blood meter (finger prick). It’s the only way to accurately test both ketones and glucose. It’s really no big deal, takes less than a minute, and doesn’t hurt. There’s an initial investment for the meter and some strips, of course. I use the KetoMojo, which is highly regarded, calculates GKI for you, and allows you to track your readings on an app. If you are serious about keto, you really need to test. Every body is different and getting your numbers right takes some trial and error. The good part is that once you’re established and your results are consistent, you can test less often. If you get into it, you won’t really need to test at all, since you’ll know from experience how much of each kind of food is the right amount every day. Then you can sail along, unless you have something unfamiliar or go to a restaurant where you don’t know what’s in the food and need to see how it impacted you.
That brings me to a good point - I don’t think there’s any reason to do keto if you can’t commit to it. It’s not like other diets where you can cheat or have a few bad days with no consequence beyond losing weight a little more slowly. If you can’t establish and stay in ketosis for at least a few weeks (anywhere from 3 to 6, for most people), then you won’t ever become fat adapted, which is the whole point. If you can’t commit enough to get the full benefits, why do a diet that is as rigorous as keto? Ketosis isn’t at all necessary for weight loss. Just do a nice carb-conscious real foods diet with some portion control. Of course it won’t hurt you to do pseudo-keto, unless you are eating a ton of fat on “good” days and a ton of carbs on your “bad” days, which is the worst scenario, and you can definitely get some benefits, it just seems like setting yourself up for frustration.
It’s tough to do keto while traveling - possible, but difficult. You have to pack at least some of your own food, I find.
Keto works well for me but so does a well balanced low cal diet and exercising a few days per week. I use an app called MyNetDiary to keep track of caloric intake and calories spent in exercise and baseline metabolism. I can achieve higher level of ketosis with a strict keto diet but it’s kinda nice to be able to have some carbs, including wine, by concentrating on taking in fewer calories than I burn, which is all that really matters if you are trying to lose weight.
Sure, if weight loss is your only goal, then you don’t really need keto, per se. I’ve often said that any diet can work so long as it 1) produces a calorie deficit, 2) doesn’t raise insulin, and 3) is sustainable. The tricky thing is that, while calories “in” is easy to count, calories “out” is more complex than exercise + BMR. But that’s a good enough proxy for most people.
The main reasons to do keto are the satiety factor (no cravings or hunger pangs), no calorie counting, becoming a fat burner (see Kenny H’s early post), the brain boost a lot of people experience, and the superb blood sugar/insulin regulation. Plus the metabolic theraputic health effects that I mentioned in my last post.
Sarah, thank you for sharing. This is really good info.
I am not doing full Keto yet. Instead, I have totally eliminated bread/rice/fries and am sticking with 16:8 intermittent fasting (8pm to 12 noon). I am down 9.5 lbs in 2 weeks. Week 1 was more challenging with hunger pangs, but that has mostly subsided during week 2.
I am treating January as a month to reset. Intellectually, I know that I am ~30 lbs overweight, but Dryuary gave me the mental push to take action.
That’s a great start, well done! If you ever want to go full monty, let me know - I’ll be happy to help you get started.
Tonight’s post-dinner conversation with my biochem professor wife:
Me: “I’ve lost a decent bit of weight and I’m not really doing full keto.”
Wife: “You have been very good about avoiding carbs.”
Me: “I’m not in ketosis though, because that makes your breath smell.”
Wife: “You are totally in ketosis! I just wasn’t going to say anything about it.”
So I got that going for me, which is nice.
Hahahha! Intermittent fasting alone will put you into mild ketosis, so even with mild carbs up to 20g you are probably in ketosis, and even over that probably for a good portion of the day.
im doing the same, 16/8 split. not really looking to lose much weight but i find sticking to this schedule ‘forces’ me to eat less which can’t hurt.
Four weeks in and fully fat adapted, I am more convinced than ever that keto is a great diet for people who tend to have sluggish metabolisms, especially around carbs. Some bodies can burn carbohydrates like crazy, and others tend to store them. If you fall into the latter category, I highly recommend giving keto a try.
I’m down 8lbs, and can only afford another 2-3, so will shift to maintenance soon. I sent a flexing glam shot to my best friend who responded “Holy sh-t, Sarah!” And this is at nearly 50. My energy continues to be great, sleep is high quality, back hurts a lot less, never hungry between meals, no cravings, no calorie counting, no real portion cutting, blood sugar never above 90. The food is amazing and feels super clean - everything seems to taste better. We made pressure cooker carnitas last night and had a lettuce wrap taco night with all the fixings. The other night it was a 12oz well-marbled pork chop, sauteed greens and salad. Huge piece of pan seared swordfish with Bernaise sauce. A big serving of goat curry over cauliflower rice with coconut greens. Tomorrow I’m making Beef Rendang.
As I’ve said before, this isn’t the approach for everyone, but it has a lot to recommend it.
1 Like
Like Sarah I am closing in on 50, will be 46 this year. Over 2 years of 16/8. I eat healthy but eat whatever and as much as I want. Now granted I am an avid runner but I haven’t touched a weight in almost a year. Let your body adapt to fat burning and fasting, find a balance that works for you.
Kenny is much braver than I am - no pictures forthcoming here!
“For you” is so key. There is no one size fits all approach, though I really see no downside in adapting your body to fat burning.
IF works really well for some people. Interestingly, though, it can be more generally useful for men than for women. Fasting up to a certain point is a hormetic stressor, which in the right dose triggers an adaptive response that makes us stronger and healthier. But too much of it can have the opposite effect, and everyone’s point is different. There is some evidence that men’s metabolisms tend to speed up, become more ready for action and insulin sensitive, when under metabolic stress. Women sometimes go the opposite direction, lowering metabolism when under metabolic stress, presumably to remain in a state where they are fertile. So women (okay, everyone) should watch themselves carefully and listen to their bodies when giving it a try.