Am I doing Keto diet Right?

[Colin_Reid]

Hey all!

First post here! Recently ive been trying the keto diet (well for the most part) and was wanting to discuss what I should replace from my diet to something that is keto friendly.

My usual diet routine has been like:

Breakfast:
either scrambled egg with bacon or without not always
Lunch:
chicken or tuna or sea bass or salmon with spinach and cucumber and asparagus
Dinner:
same as above
Snacks:
not always but sometimes pecans and coffee to keep me going

Now my problem is the dressings when I have salad stuff. I used to have low fat spreaded cheese (decided that was bad) but now Ive started using low fat mayo or coleslaw but in moderation?

Ive heard that you can have peanut butter, cheese slices and bacon on this diet but I do not trust myself with pb or cheeses so I dont have them. I know I have bacon but not always.

Colin

[PaulL]

The point of a ketogenic diet is to reduce chronically elevated insulin levels by restricting carbohydrate intake (we recommend an upper limit of 20 grams/day). The reason is that carbohydrate is reduced to its component glucose molecules in the digestive tract, which are then absorbed and stimulate insulin secretion.

Protein has a much lesser effect on insulin, especially when carbohydrate intake is greatly reduced. Fat has only a minimal effect on insulin (the minimum necessary to sustain life; insulin is essential to our health when kept at the proper level), so it becomes the logical source of calories to replace the calories lost from no longer eating carbohydrate. Therefore you need not worry about the amount of fat you eat, as long as you are keeping your carbohydrate intake as low as possible. You also need not worry about calories, because lowering insulin makes our appetite a reliable guide to how much to eat. Just eat when hungry and stop eating when your hunger is satisfied.

Some cheeses still contain milk sugars, so be sure to check the labels. The cheeses with the least amount of carbohydrate tend to be the ones that have been aged the longest. Walnuts, macadamia nuts, and almonds are not too bad in terms of carb content, but don’t overdo them. Fruits should be avoided, except for berries. Peanuts and other legumes should be avoided. Stick to leafy green vegetables and cruciferous vegetables, such as broccoli and cauliflower. Their high fibre content lessens the impact of the carbohydrate they contain.

As for what fats to eat, cook with butter/ghee, tallow, lard, and bacon grease. Saturated and monounsaturated fats are the healthiest (contrary to the dietary advice handed out for the last forty years). Avoid seed oils (soy, safflower, canola, peanut, cottonseed, sunflower, etc.), because they are high in inflammatory ω-6 fatty acids. Yes, they are essential to our diet, but in quantity they are not helpful. The best oils are the fruit oils (avocado, coconut, and olive), which make delicious salad dressings and mayonnaise.

[Colin_Reid]

Thank you so much for the quick reply this is what I needed to know : ). Also is it okay to add a tea spoon of honey into my black coffee?

[Shortstuff]

Honey is pure sugar so not advised on keto.

[amwassil]

A ‘teaspoon’ of honey is approx 7 grams. Honey is primarily composed of the monosaccharides glucose and fructose, plus some other polysaccharides and water (~18%). In other words a ‘teaspoon’ of honey contains 5.74 grams of carbs, mostly glucose and fructose. At normal blood glucose levels there is approx 5 grams of glucose in your body. So that teaspoon of honey just doubled your blood sugar concentration (and triggered an insulin spike). Is it worth it? I’d rather eat something nutritious, like a couple hundred grams of bok choy and get less than half those carbs along with a lot of micro-nutrients.

[steka]

Are you considering KETO for weight loss, or to treat a medical condition around insulin?

[Rockie]

Where do I go just to ask a question? Not to reply to someone else’s question.

[OldDoug]

Hi Rockie. Click or tap the three little horizontal lines in the upper right. You may need to scroll up to see them - they are right beside your avatar picture. Then click/tap on one of the topic groups like “Latest” or “New” or “Unread” or “Top.”

One the next screen, again in the upper right, you will see “+ New Topic.” Click on that and you can make your new topic. You make up the title you want, and there is a drop-down menu that starts with “Keto Chat” where you can pick categories and sub-categories if you want your topic to appear there.

---

There are other ways to do it, too. After clicking on the three little lines, you can look at all the categories – where it says “Categories (99 more) …” – choose a category and the same “+ New Topic” button will be there. Selecting a category and then “+ New Topic” will automatically put your new topic in that category.

[gingersmommy]

Good for you! Sounds like you are off to a great start.

You will get lots of suggestions here, but I would go to Ketokarma.com and get your fat and protein macros. For the first several weeks, try to stick to those loosely, and keep the carbs as low under 20/day as you can. Don’t be afraid of full fat products in their natural state. I have always used mayo from the beginning for chicken, egg, tuna salad, and home made dressing. I make full fat blue cheese dressing but use more sour cream than mayo, and balsamic vinegar with olive oil. I sear our meat in ghee (steaks), and olive oil (pork), and use bacon grease or butter to mix in with vegetables - delicious! I don’t cook very elaborate recipes, but I do like to make keto pizza. Delicious and so rich, you can only eat 4-5 pieces. I like the recipe with the egg and cheese crust - easiest, and very delicious. Try not to snack if you can. Your meals should be ample and satisfying enough to carry you comfortably from one meal to the next. You may likely find after a few weeks that you can get by with two meals a day and no snacks. Don’t be afraid of calories. You are very wise about not eating trigger foods (peanut butter and cheeses). I cannot eat peanut butter or nuts because they are too close to binge foods to me. I don’t miss them.

Best to you!

[kyarn]

You don’t need low fat anything. They replace fat with with sugar then disguise the sugar with another name. Even if it says zero carb on a label, you will learn to start finding the hidden carbs. Anything like, Maltitol, maltodextrin, starch, etc. (you can find all the other names for sugar in a google search), should be eliminated. I make my own mayo out of avocado oil. Just remember, fat is used as energy. You can’t do a low-fat, low-carb diet and expect to sustain it. Good work so far!

[ctviggen]

You are very wise about not eating trigger foods (peanut butter and cheeses). I cannot eat peanut butter or nuts because they are too close to binge foods to me. I don’t miss them.

This really depends on the person. For instance, cheese does not cause me to binge at all. I don’t eat nut butters though, and nuts themselves only rarely. I’ve had to give up bacon, except rarely. I always overeat bacon.