Advice on fibre and getting my 5 a day please

(Lucy ) #1

Hi there, I’m fairly new to Keto so have a few questions for you pros out there please.

  1. I’m finding it hard to get my fibre quota per day without going over carb count. Using broccoli, chia seeds etc should I be taking physllium husk? I’m struggling with a little constipation despite 2-3 litres of water per day.
  2. I like getting my 5 a day in veg but again pushing myself over carbs to around 30g per day with veggies even though I only use low carb ones… all adds up.
  3. Calories are around 1400 per day which I find easy as I’m not hungry. I’m 147 lbs so close to the end of my weight loss journey as need to lose around 10lbs. Does anyone have any advice on whether calories matter, should I measure these as well as carbs?
  4. My ketones go up and down and I measure with a blood ketone meter - I’ve managed up to 0.9 but seem to only manage a light Ketosis at 0.4 -0.6. Will I start to burn fat at this level or should I be pushing for higher numbers?
  5. Finally - fats, I’m enjoying olive oil, butter, avocados, ghee, coconut oil - any other good fats I should be adding? Oh I get my omega 3s from oily fish and eat nuts and seeds although carb soon add up with these!
    Thanks for any help!
(Alec) #2
  1. Drop any idea of fibre requirement: just don’t even think about it, not required.
  2. Don’t eat 5 serves of veg a day. Simply not necessary. Not required. 5 a day is a marketing gimmick and frankly a lie. Ignore it.
  3. Do calories matter? Oh, boy, you have no idea what you may unleash with that kind of question. :joy::joy:. Bottom line, my advice is to eat to satiety, don’t count calories.
  4. Your ketone level is just fine and it means you are “in ketosis”. You are burning fat, which is what you are trying to do. You may well increase your ketone levels if you dropped your vegetable habit above.
  5. Your fat list looks good, how about adding some mayo and some lovely fatty meat eg some BACON!!
(Lucy ) #3

Yeh forgot to mention I eat sausages and bacon! Low carb high meat sausages obviously :roll_eyes:
Thanks for your feedback

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #4

Well, Dr. Fung has some thoughts on that:

(Jane- Old Inky Crone) #5

To add to what @Alecmcq said, I would also drop the nuts and seeds as they’re high carb and, depending on what seeds you’re eating, can cause problems.

(MooBoom) #6

Prepare to have your mind blown :exploding_head:

Low carb down under ‘from fibre to the microbiome’

(Alec) #7

Why is it that almost everything we’ve been told about diet and nutrition has been so utterly wrong? The hit rate is just stunning.

(MooBoom) #8

@Alecmcq To avoid sounding like a die hard conspiracy theorist, I’ll have to go with ‘the free market’ on that one.

(Consensus is Politics) #9

That, and policy makers first make themselves immune to any wrong doing on their part.

You cant sue the doctor if he is given standard advice that has been agreed upon by consensus (CONSENSUS IS NOT SCIENCE!!!).

I’m getting sick and tired of hearing doctors answer a question with, “as we all know fat is bad for you”. :face_with_symbols_over_mouth:

(Alec) #10

I am always very suspicious of anyone who starts a sentence this way… in any walk of life.

(Fast Freddy) #11

You should be having 1-2 avocados a day, plus flax seeds, pumpkin seeds, fibrous veggies etc

That will help you.

(Cristian Lopez) #12

I thrive on nuts and seeds under 20 net carbs a day, infact most of my fats come from closely monitored pufa to mufa fat ratio nuts?

(Liz ) #13

Use magnesium citrate for regularity rather than fiber

(Ethan) #14

Do you know your APOE status?

#15

Keep your magnesium up which will help in more ways than one, MCT oil is also a very good fat for us which also helps to keep things moving, sometimes too well so tread lightly. Those aside backfill with fiber. You’re going to get no shortage of replies saying you don’t need any dietary fiber at all, which is true for some people, and not for others. I never added in any fiber that I wasn’t already getting for the last 2 years of eating keto. Lots of problems down under and a colonoscopy says that was the wrong move. Since then I’ve been supplementing fiber in daily and haven’t had any of the issues I’ve had the last year and a half.

(Consensus is Politics) #16

It has been a very long standing myth that fiber helps with regularity. Unless by regularity you mean regularly constipated.

When I started Keto in Oct 2017, I strive to keep carbohydrate intake as close to zero as possible. That includes “leafy greens”. The closest thing to a veggy I eat is a little bit of grilled onion I might mix in with my pork belly or chicken thighs. Less than one gram of carbs. Or the avocados I eat pretty much every day. Just one, nearly every day.

Pre-keto I had constipation on a regular basis, even taking Metamucil. I swear metamucil made things worse. Excpet for the days when I ate low bulk foods like soup.

Constipation, hemorrhoids, fissures (if you dont know that one, dont look it up, you will be sorry you did) GONE! The past 18 months completely free from them. Prior? Pretty much every day. Now? Gone. Difference? Stopped eating carbs. Science? Anecdotal to be sure. But like the old joke,

“Hey Doc! It hurts when I go like this…”

Doc, “Then dont go like this…”

So I dont plan on going back. There is NO REASON WHATSOEVER to NEED to eat veggies. If for physical fitness. Sports. Lifting. Endurance. Power. Can all be obtained without carbs. Just fat and protein.

I’ll try and find the link to that couple that rowed a boat from San Francisco to Hawaii, they only brought ketogenic meals with them. They broke the world record by a week or so. They felt like they could keep going once they got there.

Anyway… looking for that link to the story now. Be back in a bit.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwi5g-6RwZniAhUhWN8KHSG7DLcQzPwBegQIARAD&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.celebrityhealthfitness.com%2F22066%2Fcouple-rows-2400-miles-fueled-low-carb-ketogenic-diet%2F&psig=AOvVaw3WhbQ-uHS1DhHffrOaT5tp&ust=1557871344158701

(Ethan) #17

What did the colonoscopy determine? How was that caused by no fiber?

#18

At about 6 mo into the first year I started having trouble going, I always eventually went, but struggled and basically pooped like a cat. Lot of struggling and kept having blood in stool and in the bowl. Used a lot of MCT and all the normal stuff and it worked most of the time but without consciously doing that stuff I’d return to normal in a couple days, and only go every couple days. Told myself I was just making less waste because my bodies more efficient, I heard that somewhere. Apparently from all the forcing I did over time (which really didn’t seem THAT bad) I stretched out some spots and now have diverticulosis. Not bad, but it’s there. Doc said since it’s not too bad there’s not a huge change of it stepping up to diverticulitis, but it’s definitely from me ignoring the problem. After the colonoscopy they had me on stool softeners for a week and fiber supplements at least twice a day (and of course plenty of fruit, which isn’t gonna happen), now it’s just the fiber. Haven’t had a single instance of hard time going, blood, pain, nothing. Only thing that’s changed it me supplementing in the fiber at this point. Diet’s exactly the same.

(Ethan) #19

So carnivore otherwise?

(Alec) #21

K
I am not a carnivore, BUT, I have been leaning in that direction recently. Previously I would never have gone to a restaurant and had just a steak. But today, I just did. What did I have for lunch? Pork and beef. That’s it. So today I reckon I am carnivore!

Do I occasionally eat veg? Yep, which is why I would never claim to be carnivore, but with the various things I have been learning, I am less and less compelled to eat veg.

If I do eat veg, it would be peas (I love peas, very unketo but there you go!), cauli, broccoli, spinach, occasional salad.

Did you have some questions on carnivore?