for the last year I’ve been cycling on/off keto while at the same time working on adding muscle mass, with decent success as shown by DEXA. I am coming to the conclusion that adding fruit around the workout time has benefits beyond a pure keto approach.
- recovery + strength do seem be much larger
- the pumps are better, the muscles are just fuller due to the water retention
- my body burns through the carbs extremely fast, i can feel my body heat going up significantly, while also dropping very quick
- my fasting glucose is much lower, around 80 vs 100
- I still have detectable ketones via blood test. between 0.4-0.8, even AFTER eating 2 bananas+1 ounce of maple syrup/honey
- total carb count is around 100-150g /day
- my digestive system works great, and is better then on pure carnivore.
- I totally understand the idea of being pure/zero carb and that the body will eventually adjust, but the gains outweight the drawbacks IMO. those short insulin spikes have also muscle building benefits.
- my TSH is lower with this approach and my T3/T4 higher
overall I don’t see a reason to be on a pure keto diet anylonger. my food is virtually all meat + fruit, with no vegetables of any kind (Saladino type diet)