HELLO out there!
I have been seriously interested in nutrition for the last 5-6 years now and have learned about paleo, low carb and keto (read Good CAlories Bad CAlories and watched Fathead years ago). A few years ago I did a few weeks of low carb and lost ~15 lbs but eventually fell off the wagon and starting eating rice and Dr. Pepper again and as expected the weight came back on.
I saw a reference to the 2 Keto Dudes podcast in a review or comment on a review of Jason Fung’s book or The Big Fat Surprise and started binging podcast episodes. @Carl and @Richard have energized me to do a proper keto diet and hopefully make it a lifestyle.
I am mostly doing this for body composition purposes but also for my health. My BMI places me just over the border into the obese range and I’d like to drop it down a bit. I also have an old ankle injury that is constantly inflamed and causes me to limp on a daily basis. My thinking is that the reduced load via weight loss and the reduced inflammation by lowering carbohydrate intake, and thereby reduced insulin levels, might help reduce the chronic ankle pain I have now.
Last week I had my HbA1C measured and thankfully it was 4.8%, which I interpret as an indication that my cells and pancreas are functioning properly. 2 years ago I had my blood analyzed and it was mostly okay (just low HDL). I just looked back at it now that I’ve learned more about interpreting lipid panels and found that my TOTAL C/HDL ratio is really high (5.7) and my Triglycerides/HDL ratio is also very high (8.3). This is concerning to me since both of my grandfathers had heart attacks and died of congestive heart failure. I want to see what three months of keto will do for those risk markers, in addition to BF loss.
So far I have lost about 12 pounds, which is nice.
Lucky for me I really like cooking and I really like savory foods. Aside from Dr. Pepper I haven’t been much of a sweet tooth (for example when we make pancakes on the weekends I often have eggs and bacon instead) but I do like things like sourdough bread and basmati rice. I’ve found riced cauliflower to be a great substitute on Chicken Tikka Masala nights and meat, especially fatty cuts, have always had a special place in my heart. So I think I’m adapting well because of my taste preferences.
One thing that surprised me was how tasty bone broth is. I like to make stocks for cooking and regularly simmer bones and carcasses for 6-12 hour periods. But once I put a bit of salt in the hot stock and sipped it down on the commute to work I was blown away by the intense and deeply satisfying flavor. It was like biting into a properly cooked steak (without the texture of course). Who knew broth would taste so good?
Anyhow I figure I’ll keep this thread up as a progress log as I KCKO!