Understandable. So just do what you can afford. Deli meat and veggies will get you where you need to be.
Anyone experienced with Dirty Keto?
Shinita
#23
If meat in bigger amounts is out, little meat then. If other good low-carb items are more affordable, I mean. If everything is pricy, thatās unfortunate.
Look at prices, ingredient list (I have written about it earlier, itās not worth it to buy some deli meat that is mostly water when you can much more value buying proper meat. and you probably want to avoid certain ingredients), use your knowledge about what satiates and satisfies you (chicken may be the cheapest here, by far but itās mostly tasteless and not satiating so I only use it occasionally. more now that I have an air fryer so crunchy skin is attainable! 
tasty chicken exists - for a higher price than beef or deer so no thanks), use sales, buy in bulk etc.!
It is good for food cost if you can eat moderate protein (even if it comes with fat fast and EF, itās my only wayā¦). Oh yeah, no need to spend much money on fat, fat should be very cheap. I do eat butter as itās awesome but very little. My cooking fat comes from my fatty pork 
Fatty (but not extremely fatty) meat is useful, a bit less protein but all the fat I needā¦ But the very fatty cuts donāt worth it to me, I can get that much joy, good protein and fat for way less.
But I write about meat again but itās the cheapest food for me hereā¦ And some is probably useful to have even if you canāt afford to eat a whole pound a day or something.
How expensive deli meat is? It makes little sense for processed stuff to be cheaper - but if it is, itās not for value or protein content, just per weight and you would need to eat way more of it. Meat is more effective, at least if you choose it well. But itās good to aid it with other items if you have good optionsā¦
PaulL
(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing)
#24
Out of curiosity, how is such a protocol defined?
A ketogenic diet is by definition one that lowers serum insulin sufficiently to permit the liver to make ketone bodies. This inevitably involves restricting carb intake, because the glucose in carbohydrates (they are actually nothing but glucose molecules arranged in various ways) is what raises serum insulin. Once insulin is low enough, you can prioritise your protein intake and add enough fat to compensate for the energy lost to the carb restriction.
This works, because (1) protein has far less of an effect on serum insulin when carb intake is minimal, and (2) fat intake has no effect on serum insulin. Also, given the relative caloric values of the macronutrients, it takes 400 g of carbohydrate to yield 1200 (kilo)calories, yet it only takes 133.3 g of fat to reach the same caloric value.
ctviggen
(Bob M)
#25
Thatās too bad. What about eggs? Fish? Any other animal-based proteins?
Even dairy, but you have to be able to handle dairy. Many cannot.
Alvin_Kim
(Alvin Kim)
#26
I have access to conventionally raised eggs and canned fish but thatās about it. I have absolutely no appetite for the fish though so Iām just eating eggs, bacon and processed sliced cheese. And salads of course.
robintemplin
(Robin)
#27
Hang in there with what youāre doing. Is it perfect? Of course not, but youāll get there. Good luck!
Shortstuff
(Allie)
#28
Deli meats are way more expensive than buying the cheaper and more fatty cuts of meat, I could never sustain myself on deli meats. Ground beef, chicken thighs / drumsticks / wings - way preferable.
Shinita
#29
Itās pork and sometimes turkey for me. All the other meats are either too expensive or I have other problems with them (cheap chicken is tasteless and leaves me hungry - but it can be a great option for many, I know people like itā¦ liver is too nutritious, sadlyā¦ IDK about other organs but they are less available).
I saw ground beef considered affordable many times but itās just not true for everyone everywhere. Itās clearly way too expensive for me (and I rather buy normal cuts for the same price, of course) so I only eat the cheaper beef cuts once per 1-4 months. It is a great addition, I protect my tiny amount but I am happier with my pork anyway. Some people donāt find it satiating though.
I know nothing about South Korea prices beyond meat being expensive as the OP wrote.
Deli meats here start above chicken thigh (I always consider the price on sale. I buy nearly every major food item on sale only, we have nice sales all the time so itās easy) but those are crappy, donāt worth it, no matter how poor we are (if I was poorer, I would eat more split peas and gluten, much better. NOTHING beats split pea prices, itās the cheapest protein source I can find. mere calories are cheap but I need my high protein. I just mildly dislike the stuff and find it boring. so I hope I can keep my meats).
And they end somewhere around fancy steak prices, of course.
My deli meat and other processed stuff starts at moderately prices pork level and ends a bit above beef thigh level, whatever that beef cut is called in English. We like the word āthighā (in Hungarian, of course) here, apparently so green ham, chicken quarters and whatever the beef cut is called simply āthighā (okay, the chicken one is more like āthigh with rumpā). I canāt afford having my meat in general that pricy, we spend the vast majority of our income on food already. My fresh meat costs about half as much as my processed meats for the same weight but I eat very very very little processed meats for various reasons. A little accent is nice but thatās it.
I am glad our meat prices are like this so I donāt feel a financial force to eat worse stuff than what I eat, itās not the greatest either but the greatest isnāt even easily available 
The local farms I know about very rarely offer meat beyond the processed kind.
So now I am curious about the South Korea pricesā¦ 
ctviggen
(Bob M)
#30
Can you get some of the cheaper meats, like liver or kidney? Maybe even brain? Liverwurst or bologna (if they have those there).
This is whatās on sale where I live:
One pound is about 1/2 a kilogram. The exchange rate is a bit wacky:
But hopefully, thereās something out there thatās not too expensive you can eat. Like you, Iām not that fond of fish.
LPT
(Luke)
#31
Dirty Keto to my way of thinking was when I pushed limits with foods that would maybe kick me out of ketosis , but would stay in ketosis , but was not very healthy. If you are looking to cure any disease, give it a proper go with all the good keto foods and recipes. I feel very well off steak and eggs. Eat a big bowl of salad a day , an avo. 
Good luck.
CaptainKirk
(Kirk Wolak)
#32
I would say you are talking about inexpensive (Cheap) keto.
Which can be incredibly clean.
First, there is fasting, time restricted eating, and drinking only water.
Pretty much free.
Dr. Ken Berry doesnāt care if you do hot dogs and mustard. If thatās all you can afford. (I canāt tolerate the carb count on hot dogs).
But Beef, Butter, Bacon, and Eggs. Can be had cheaply. As can Chicken Drumsticks. (I bought 12 for $5)
I would leave the dairy out. itās expensive/addictive.
But FASTINGā¦ If you have weight to loseā¦ I would press into fasting.
Because āNot Eatingā is the cheapest thing Iāve ever had to eat.
A 3lb bag of Walmart 100% beef hamburger patties is like $13
For most people this would be 1-3 days of meat. Say $2.00 for a dozen eggs.
you could have a 6 egg omelette for breakfast and 1.5lbs of beef for late lunch.
And that would run you $7 for that day.
I think processed foods, anything with KETO on the labelā¦ Is just a source of SEED oils.
And NOBODY should recommend seed oils to anyone trying to reduce inflammation, and especially to try to treat serious illnesses or mental issues, etc.
(Brain Energy is a great book on the topic, as well as videos from Dr. Chris Knobbe).
Shinita
#33
These items are all somewhat pricy though (beef is a luxury for many, eggs vary, I want good eggs, that doesnāt help). I am aware we all have different ideas about what is cheap and anyway, different countries have different prices. I often envied the prices of UKā¦ But Hungarians take long trips to neighbour countries because some items are so much cheaper there that itās worth to pay for the gas and the wear and tear of the carā¦ I still donāt know the South Korean prices, I hope the OP will say something about them, I am curious.
Chicken, yep, thatās cheap (here and everywhere I heard about). Too bad it doesnāt work for everyone, many people say itās just not substantial enough - but it still can used partially if the price is okay (at least it works for me, some occasional chicken paired with my proper meat and other items. other fowls taste better but they have the same satiation problem).
Dairy isnāt more expensive than the cheap meat I buy here in Hungary (of course, it depends on the actual items. I compared some of my staples) but one doesnāt necessarily need to half-live on dairy. As an accent, it can be invaluable, it IS for some of us. It is individual, of course, their importance, our sensitivity and if we can use it easily and happily in moderation. Oh and the prices in our country and even area.
I often thought about that. I canāt do that without some bigger motivation I have now but maybe the OP can. It still wonāt help much in the long run but until there is fat to lose (I donāt remember the OP writing about that and I looked back, still have no idea), maybe. Fasting has other tempting benefits anyway though itās not for everyone.
Right now I do fat fast days multiple times a week, that surely makes some cheap days, fat is cheap even if I use processed meats and dairy, not pure fat. And I eat low calorie there. I tend to eat protein so itās good fat fast days have very low protein but if someone need to up the protein on other days (I donāt know but it sounds logical to me), the costs go up thereā¦
A higher fat, lower (still adequate) protein approach is more easily come out cheap (when I compare the price of items, I usually only consider protein as that is the expensive one, fat is easy to get very cheap and I get it from my protein sources anyway) so it may be lucky if one is fine with a modest amount. But maybe there are benefits of a higher one.