Good or bad

[scaperdude]

I’ve been following a keto diet plan for almost 6 months now with some excellent results. I was wondering is it a good or bad idea to go off the diet sometime and eat more than 20 grams of carbs per day? Say for meal one day, a day here and there or some other schedule where you don’t limit carb intake.

Good or bad is relative. I stopped keto last March, and my blood pressure was 110s/60s. Even after I stopped keto and started eating desserts, I lost another 18 pounds. Was that good? Well, I liked having desserts, so did that all year… Even ate some oatmeal raisin cookies from the store that had hyrogenated oil… guess what? Yep, this November my diastolic BP was back up into the 80s.

My response? Go back to keto. Even when I do keto I probably eat around 50 gr carb/day, and feel great. So I don’t really think the carbs from vegetables affect me poorly. It is the other stuft. Too much sugar and refined oils is BAD for my CV health.

Can someone address this issue?
There are those who follow a so called “normal” diet where they eat more than 20 carbs daily who don’t have health issues, don’t have diabetes, don’t have any health issues due to diet. Maybe they don’t load up on carbs however they eat more than the 20 grams daily and they’re fine.

See above. Yeah, me. 20 gr of carbs from vegetables is nothing. I was perfectly healthy. My fasting insulin was 4, my blood pressure was 110s/60s… beautiful. It depends somewhat on the type of carbs imho. Too much sugar causes glycation. I believe that and refined oils cause oxidation of LDL. So, I did a blood oxLDL test this last Nov as I was starting keto to see what happens after I do keto for a bit. I wasn’t high, but I def wasn’t as low as would be ideal I think. So that is what a year of eating desserts did, and I would say it was BAD.

I think when we’re young and healthy we can consume almost any foods without doing much damage. However what happens as we grow older our bodies become less efficient and if we continue eating the way we did in our youth, consuming huge amounts of carbs we get sick in all sorts of ways. Point being, it’s never too late to change ones eating habits.

I’ve been forced to the same conclusion myself. My metabolism has slowed. I cannot eat the same amount of sugar I used to. Our mitochondria aren’t as efficient as they used to be. But def, eating the sugar and processed food is hard on them, and damages them more than they would be otherwise, so I wish I had changed my ways before my BP started to go up. I am thankful to keto though, cause I feel it will keep me out of the Drs office and off medicines. I just don’t want to go there.

Haven’t had my thyroid checked but just wondering if a strict keto diet has led any others to feel a lethargy that they hadn’t experienced before the diet change. As I said many times, weight was never an issue with me.

No issues with lethargy here. If anything, I feel my energy level is a little better over the course of the day than before keto. I don’t get as tired around 3 pm. I like that.

Eggs, cheese, meat, chicken, cooked in coconut oil, salad, steamed vegetables. I add sea salt, drink water or seltzer.

Looks pretty good. Did dropping cow dairy help your BPH?

So is it necessary to periodically exceed 20 grams of carbs for health?
What about when you’re sick? Can you have a little honey with tea, toast with jam and cut back on the protein?

No, it is not necessary, but I feel great above that level. I am easily 50 gr of carbs all the time on keto, and my health checks out beautifully on that. It is when I introduce the desserts/sweets that I seem to run into trouble - of course then I am not Keto.

[trucha]

The shoulder tendonitis has transformed from sharp pain to a dull ache with once awhile having a flareup. Thanks for asking.I forget to mention I’m still using whole milk products, full fat cheeses, yogurt including goat cheese.

I would think it would be wise when you get sick with a bad cold and or a fever or sore throat to increase the carbs a bit and eat less fatty meats.

[MeganNZ]

I would think it would be wise when you get sick with a bad cold and or a fever or sore throat to increase the carbs a bit and eat less fatty meats.

That’s an interesting statement. What are you basing it on?

[trucha]

Just a gut feeling. When you’re sick do you really feel like eating a high fat meal? A piece of toast with butter might make you feel better for the short term. Some hot fluids, tomato soup.Then when you feel better you can go back to a keto friendly diet. What do you think?

[Shinita]

When you’re sick do you really feel like eating a high fat meal?

Yes. When sick, when I am dying from the heat, always.

I am all for following your body so if it really says it wants leaner protein, give it that
But why the carbs? For energy? Indeed, maybe your body do want calories, just not from fat… Never happens to mine.

And as my body prefers as little plant carbs as possible, no, it doesn’t feel better from carbs. I just get hungry and desire more fat than usual then.
And I have perfect carnivore “toast”* and hot soup

*I made it today from my eggy sponge cakes I use as bread And ruined the thing with a little garlic but I have a very undisciplined, miserable, gloomy day and I just don’t care… But I am healthy and anyway, ate a bunch of other food with it, it’s a leaner day this far due to my skinless turkey.

[Shortstuff]

Makes no sense to me tbh.
Why give the body something isn’t not used to dealing with when it’s already struggling with illness?

[Shinita]

MAYBE it is habit? I saw so many times that this sickness or that requires only carby food… I never cared about it but probably many people do and they get used to it.
And even I know what is it when we just follow our old habits and beliefs even if they proved to me ineffective, I have this with coffee when I have a headache. It helped as a kid and I STILL feel compelled to try. It never works.
Maybe sometimes. And it doesn’t hurt and I am DESPERATE, hate pain.

[Fangs]

how ya feel better?
got the carb/sugar fix? google what sugar does for all ‘addictions’ boosts in the body, yea ya ‘feel better’, lol
just sayin’
I am 6 yrs carni now and if I ate a piece of toast to feel better feeling sick I would then probably end up in hospital now HAHA

so excuses to eat sugar are all out there and if ya feel bad but only sugar intake/carb grains etc is the focus then one hasn’t gotten over ever their sugar/carb grains etc addiction.

your body does not need it. NO. So?
just thoughts to ponder on it

[MeganNZ]

Hmm I’d have to go to the supermarket to buy something with carbs in it, which I wouldn’t want to do if I was feeling unwell!

[Shinita]

That helps to avoid them a lot!

Lucky. I live with a high-carber and I cook with carbs… It has some desensitising effect but disadvantages too.
But if I am sick, I don’t want carb poisoning. Or even what little carbs often give me, feeling a tad less well. it must be some super good stuff. I can imagine I would eat honey (doesn’t help with health directly but may cheer me up a bit due to its wonderful flavor) though I rarely keep that at home, now we have it as I baked with it in December, my SO diligently eats it up, good boy. I LOVE the taste of good honey (if I can handle the intense sweetness)… So I prefer not to have it around though it’s good training.

But I would need my proper food first. And after. Fatty meat and eggs, tiny honey on a walnut wafer, some sausage. That’s a lovely rebellious* sickness meal that doesn’t hurt me.
*Because it’s not carnivore and even includes deliberately eating some pretty dense sugar. It’s still very much keto (no way I could eat much from that insanely sweet stuff, no matter how delicious).

[trucha]

I only suggested short term going with the carbs when sick and not that much. I have no addiction or problem going back to keto once feeling better. And I have never had a weight problem.

[MeganNZ]

lol @trucha, suggesting eating some carbs when feeling unwell on a keto forum is likely to get a few anti-carb eating responses

[Shortstuff]

The body functions better without carbs. I can add them here and there when I feel like it and get no bad effects, but physically I feel better and sleep better avoiding them completely.

[trucha]

I dont think a slice of toast with butter is exactly high carb.

[Wendy198]

suggesting eating some carbs when feeling unwell on a keto forum is likely to get a few anti-carb eating responses

But a ketogenic diet is not a zero carb diet. I have been eating up to 100g net carb lately and still measuring 0.4 blood ketones (maybe because my carb consumption is very spread out?). For those of us experimenting with a keto WOE for reasons other than metabolic syndrome or sugar addiction, upping carbs when the body craves them seems like a reasonable experiment in possibly feeling better. For me, I have GI issues that keto has helped but not solved. After cutting out all grains for over a year, I’ve recently found that a single piece of very toasted traditional sourdough bread with lots of high quality butter can be helpful. I would not eat more than one. Of course, for those with intolerance to gluten, this obviously would not work for them.

[cvkemp]

Here is my thoughts, why eat something when you are already sick that you know can cause inflammation and possibly make you sicker? I use to have sinus infections and colds all the time, since I started the keto lifestyle I haven’t had either.

[MeganNZ]

Oh I agree completely. I just had a chuckle at some of the responses.

[Fangs]

SO IF this is you, to me 'you sound very ‘there’ ya know.

what actually do you require in answers to what?

if anything I would be one celebrating life that ‘I got there’ and ‘found me’ so what is lacking you are trying to find? If I personally, and this is ME here chatting, I wouldn’t need to know more, I would live life on plan as it suited me to the fullest but somehow you are ‘searching?’ not sure on this one.

just wondering on it

[Wendy198]

Well, it’s an interesting exchange for me, because I am currently trying to get out of ketosis so I can restart. I had great results the first 8 months on this WOE, but then my body seemed to have figured out what I was doing and reverted back (mostly) to my pre-keto state. I am thinking if I get out of ketosis and then shock my body back in, I might regain some benefits. Only problem is I can’t get out of ketosis!! I never ate an “unhealthy” diet (desserts and junk food) and never will, so I guess that makes it harder.

[MeganNZ]

What benefits have you lost @Wendy198? Hopefully some long term ketoers can give share some of their thinking here.