Could Keto ever be a "less restrictive" dietary lifestyle?

food
#1

One of the biggest criticisms of Keto is that it’s incredibly restrictive, and that people simply won’t stick to a restrictive diet long-term. I see a lot of folks on here who are making it work, but even I struggle to stay in ketosis because I feel like my food choices are so limited (as someone who lacks time/resources/skills to cook all these different dishes).

If you think about it, though, it took thousands of years for humans to come up with all the carb-rich foods we have today. Let’s pretend that we wake up tomorrow and the entire world has switched to a keto-centric diet. Would the diet be less restrictive if the demand for low- or no-carb was much higher? What would be the low-carb equivalent to something like bread?

#2

I do not find keto restrictive at all. I eat real food and not processed junk.

(Erica) #3

I think it only feels restrictive because you can’t “eat what everyone else is eating.” Just remember, that’s also why it works.

(Running from stupidity) #4

IMHO, that’s completely wrong. It’s like criticising vegans for being too inclusive and loving of people who eat differently from them.

If anything, we’re eating more unusual stuff now.

(Michelle isaacson) #5

I am sensing an Oxymoron here!

Vegan’s being inclusive! :rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

(John) #6

ALL healthy diets are based on eating real foods, prepared from real, non-processed, non-manufactured ingredients.

Unfortunately, that can require developing new habits - like learning how to shop for all of that healthy real food you haven’t been eating, learning how to prepare it, and in some cases learning how to cook and learn new recipes.

This is both a big challenge for me (fitting in the time) and also a source of some enjoyment - it turns out I am a pretty good cook when I have the time for it and have all of the ingredients I need. I make some wonderful meals.

But some days, when I am getting off late from work, the thought of having to shop for groceries on the way home, then cook, so I can eat, and then spend another 30 minutes cleaning the kitchen and running the dishwasher, is not always appealing.

However, I am making myself do that because if I am going to succeed over the longer term, I MUST change my habits and the way I think about food. Yesterday I stopped at the grocery on the way home (late - about 7:30pm) and was just there to pick up some almond milk. However, they had a good deal on steak (good sized NY strip for $4.18) and I grabbed a broccoli crown from the produce section. Got home and had pan-seared steak and steamed broccoli with butter.

The more I do it, the more it’s like tearing off the top of a bag of chips or making a ham and cheese sandwich - it’s just something you do when you want to eat. Heat the skillet, chop the veggies, salad greens in the bowl, grate some cheese, drop in that steak / salmon / chicken / scallops and cook it up. Veggies in the steamer or saute in another pan in a tasty fat with some spices and seasonings. Boom - hot, fresh, healthy meal that tastes awesome.

As far as restrictive - I eat a wider and healthier variety of foods now than I have in a long time. A wide variety of meats, fish, vegetables, greens, dairy, nuts, healthy fats.

That’s the issue behind why the modern way of eating results in bad health outcomes. It is convenient and doesn’t take a lot of time to eat manufactured edible food-like products. Eating healthy takes a commitment of time and learning.

There are ways to do low-prep and limited-cooking eating that is still keto. That’s what I would would consider hard to follow long term myself.

(Candy Lind) #7

It would be … low-carb bread. That is, it’s just bread made with healthier ingredients. It’s not exactly like your basic wheat-yeast-gluten-sugar disaster, but LCHF has been around for enough years that there are skads of good recipes out there. And just because you’re not used to cooking or baking doesn’t mean you can’t learn!

(Empress of the Unexpected) #8

I love meat and veggies and fats. Every two weeks or so I go off plan. For only one meal.

(Candy Lind) #9

We should all have this on a plaque on the wall in our kitchen! :+1: :+1: :+1:

(Allie) #10

I don’t find it restrictive at all, it’s just mindset really - yeah there are things that are best not consumed, but why would you want to consume things that harm you anyway? Think about all the things you can safely consume without negatively affecting your health, and focus on finding new things that properly suit your needs.

It’s the same as life in general really, focus on and be grateful for what you have rather than trying to hold on to what is gone and no longer helpful.

(Erica) #11

and in addition to low-carb bread… I think it would become more normal to wrap things in lettuce instead…or make cheese wraps (fry shredded cheese in pan as if it were a crepe…wrap things in it as if it were a tortilla).

(Erica) #12

I think OP may also be referring to the fact that it does feel restrictive, at times, in social situations. For example, Christmas time. You may have no desire to indulge in the sugary sweets, but there does come a moment where you feel ‘left out.’ Again it’s for good reason, but you can’t deny it makes social situations very different than when you can join in consuming the carbage! lol

#13

There is no question, keto IS restrictive. There are millions of foods you simply cannot eat (or at least, you can only eat a titchy bit of).

However, it is no different to any other diet/WOE. the fact that you are following a specific diet/WOE, is by its very nature… … … … restrictive.

Where keto differs slightly, is that we can eat a LOT of the foods which we enjoy. This helps to ‘hide’ its restrictiveness.

(KCKO, KCFO) #14

I eat more variety of foods this way than any other eating plan I have ever been on, WW, Zone, ediets’ CICO, South Beach, etc.

I struggle to stay in ketosis because I feel like my food choices are so limited (as someone who lacks time/resources/skills to cook all these different dishes).

Lack of time, you don’t have 15 mins. in your day to steam or stir fry some veggies? You can get frozen ones precut up, many stores now have cauliflower pre-riced, both frozen and fresh. My local chain grocery store has zoodles from zucchini and butternut squash. They also have frozen pizza crusts from cauliflower, and pizzas with chicken/cheese crusts.

What resources are you lacking? No kitchen equipment, a knife and instant pot will let you cook tons of meals without a full equiped kitchen. Money? Just buy what is on sale. Dr. Ken Berry has youtube videos on budget keto and how to get started. And youtube is full of how to videos on cooking just about anything you can dream up.

As Richard Bach says, “Argue for your limitations and they are yours.” So focus on what you can have and do and not what is too expensive, etc. You can do this if you really want it.

Good luck sorting it out.

(Banting & Yudkin & Atkins & Eadeses & Cordain & Taubes & Volek & Naiman & Bikman ) #15

Lettuce. Cheese. salami.

What version of bread do you want? Sandwiches? Toast? Bread on the table ahead of meal? Scarpetta? Bread serves a lot of functions in carb world. For hand meals, like sandwiches, leaf lettuce is the most natural replacement. For pre-meal bread, cheese is better. For toast, bacon. For scarpetta, I don’t have anything, but veggies could work…

The problem with this thinking is thinking that bread needs a single replacement, or even replacement at all. Restructure meals so they don’t need bread. Eliminate breadsticks, use the protein and veg to scarpetta, don’t have toast, and if you need a sandwich, make a lettuce wrap.

(Banting & Yudkin & Atkins & Eadeses & Cordain & Taubes & Volek & Naiman & Bikman ) #16

So much this. Focus on what you CAN have, and how much richer that is.

(Hyperbole- best thing in the universe!) #17

Health is ALWAYS restrictive, physical, mental, social or spiritual. Lack of restriction is the root of all health problems. You have to not eat the foods that are bad for you, not laze about when you need to move, not hang out with negative people, not do things that harm your conscience. Freedom of choice doesn’t mean freedom from consequences.

The social restrictions seem to be the hardest with keto. I’m happy eating at home by myself and don’t miss Doritos when I have bacon! But scheduling fasting so I can still eat with friends gets tricky. Thankfully I’ve made enough progress that even if my friends don’t totally get it, they also don’t want to mess up what I’m doing. So if I say no thank you they respect that. (Fruit is the hardest for them to get. But we’re getting there.)

All easier said than done. But good goals nonetheless.

(Allie) #18

The social restrictions seem to be the hardest with keto.

This must make be why I don’t struggle, I’m anti-social :joy:

#19

It is all about the mindset.

There comes a point when your brain switches from can’t have that… or that… or…
To
goodness! You mean I can have that? AND that? And whoa… that too? This is FAB!!!

I mean, how many ‘healthy diets’ do you know where you can breakfast on smoked salmon, cream cheese and scrambled egg? Lunch on low carb mug cake and cream? Then dine on sirloin with buttered mushrooms and crumbled stilton on a bed of green salad with EVOO?

We are bound by our imaginations, not the ‘diet list’

(Hyperbole- best thing in the universe!) #20

It does help!