Just starting out wanted advice

food
(Isaac Reign) #1

Is this a good start to keto?
Serving walnuts
Handful of kale
Handful of leaf lettuce
2 servings of beef
1 avocado
Half a onion

(Peter - Don't Fear the Fat ) #2

Hello Isaac and welcome to the Forum.
All those foods could be Keto. You can eat all kinds of food. It’s simple really but to start you’ll be checking the carbs in everything you eat and drink.
What is your goal? Are you doing it for fat loss?
Basically you need to eat Fat, Protein and less than 20g of carbs a day. This will put you into ketosis then amazing things happen.
So Red meat, oily fish, eggs, low carb veg or salad cooked in butter, tallow or ghee. Add generous amounts of salt.
You should eat as much as you want, just make sure it’s low carb and try not the snack.
Come back with more questions :grin:

(Isaac Reign) #3

Thanks I appreciate the feedback dude!
I’ve been neglecting my body a lot throughout the years and I’ve just been feeling my body tell me I need to get it together… stop drinking eating fast etc. I have a doctors appointment coming up in a few weeks and I’m prepared for bad news but I’m also gonna work to better myself before I get there starting today. I just ate what I sent at the top
Goals
-drop down from 230 lbs - 190ish lbs (I’m 6’4)
-heal my body (I’ve felt my heart pound after eating junk) and I haven’t exercised in a while, not counting today lol)

I’ve prepared my whole kitchen with veggies, nuts, avocado, chicken and beef as well as spices

Also I have a question, so the marker over seen through my own research is always changing as to carbs. I’ve seen dr berg, dr berry, and a few other dr on YouTube talk and some say 60g carbs some say 30g some even say if your young your body can tolerate 100g. How do u feel?

(Isaac Reign) #4

Also are raw veggies cool, why would you say cooked veggies ?

#5

There’s no real rule, the 20g thing is made up, that’s a leftover from Atkins that would basically guarantee getting into Ketosis. The more physically active you are, the faster your metabolic rare is, you can get away with more. Most people can push to around 50g and still be in ketosis most of the day minus that blip after a meal where you’re burning the carbs. But it’s really individual. Also, come to your own conclusions, but may want to rethink anything the comes out of Berg’s mouth.

I haven’t checked ketone levels in forever, but when I first started Targeted and Cyclical keto which is carbs for workout fuel and muscle glycogen basically, between eating the carbs, the workouts, burning and storing them as glycogen, you’d never see them drop because I’d burn/store them and go back into ketosis before I fully burned the ketones that were already in circulation.

(Isaac Reign) #6

Appreciate that man. Should I prioritize fats over protein ? And does protein affect insulin’s like carbs does?

(Bean) #7

I like that you are focused on whole foods. Great start!

You’re checking out some science, but maybe a little lost on the cooking side of things? For a complete beginner, this might be a good approach: https://www.reddit.com/r/keto/comments/50wbje/easy_7day_ketogenic_meal_that_helped_me_to_get/

You will need more food (like maybe double on the chicken, beef, and eggs) and get the largest avocados you can find or have two a day? Maybe a can of tuna in olive oil?), and skip the bars all together. Don’t under eat so that you are hungry and get into junky carbs. Lots of salt to help with keto flu.

The thing that’s hard in the beginning is decision making at every meal. This takes that out of the equation.

(Peter - Don't Fear the Fat ) #8

20g is a good start because then you can be pretty sure of gettimg ito ketosis. at 100g you might not.

You need both. Fatty meat or eggs or oily fish have good ratios. Some of us enjoy veg and a few carbs but neither are actually essential!

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #9

The real rule is to eat so little carbohydrate that your insulin drops low enough for your liver to start making ketones. That level of intake is different for everyone, and unfortunately, there is no home test for insulin (yet),

So we recommend starting with a limit of 20 g/day of carbohydrate. That level is practically guaranteed to get you into ketosis, unless you are extremely insulin resistant and need an even lower limit.

A good substitute for measuring insulin is measuring ketones in the blood, since if your liver is making ketones, your insulin level is by definition low enough. As you go along, you will discover where your true carb limit lies. You may also find that you feel better at a lower carb intake, even though you could eat more and stay in ketosis. That’s what happened to me.

After long enough on a ketogenic diet, you will find your taste changing, and you are less likely to crave sweet tastes. But carb addiction is a real thing, and it may be something you find yourself struggling with.

#10

You need to eat enough of both. It’s individual which should be your focus - but maybe you don’t need to prioritize either, just eat whatever you feel like. I personally need high protein for satiation and not a high energy intake while I love and tend to overeat fat so I need to put lots of effort into avoiding eating much fat and my basic attitude is eating just protein sources since ages (I am not nearly that perfect but that’s usually fine). Protein often brings lots of fat (too much in my case unless I base my diet on leaner meats). If one loves lean meats but eating fatty protein sources is hard or if they have a high energy need and/or a lower protein need, they should focus on fat more.

Protein has some effect on insulin but you shouldn’t worry about it on keto. You need the protein anyway… But it’s not good overdoing it so if you are prone to that, focus on avoiding it. But that’s rare, most of us automatically eat the right amount (or too little), too much protein is very rarely a problem. I too easily eat unnecessary much of it but never to the point where it could cause problems. My body feels what it wants, it works well. If your body isn’t as reliable yet, it still may be okay if you just make sure you don’t eat only lean meat and vegs :slight_smile: You probably need a quite significant amount of fat, you may not be used to that so it may seem much to you…?

The items in your first comment are fine, it’s individual though and I have no idea what servings are. If you mostly eat meat for protein, you need a decent amount, if it’s just a pound a day, for example, you probably need a lot of other protein. But I don’t know about your protein need, I just suppose it’s not less than mine, a non-muscular short woman with some exercise here and there… And a pound of meat is just a start for me, it’s simply not enough for a day. (But yes, I do need high protein for my stats as far as I know. I am starving without it. And I do lift and whatnot.)

(Ethan) #11

When you say “you can hear your heart pound after eating carbs” IMO that’s a pretty good sign that a keto diet is going to help you a lot. You can even turn “bad news” at the doctor’s into “good news” but it may take 3 or 4 months. So if the Dr says “you need this or that medication” (and he will) just say I’m going to be Keto for a few months and I’ll check back after that. IMO, if you’ve made it to 64 without Keto then you’ll make it to 65 with Keto and without any new meds.

I think 20 g carbs is a pretty good thing to shoot for at the beginning, and if it turns out to be 35 g or 50 g then that’s OK. Good luck!

(Peter - Don't Fear the Fat ) #12

You may have a Keto friendly Doc but they are rare. It’s best not to tell them and when they’re shocked by your health improvements that’s the time to reveal the secret. (not medical advise)

Yes, also you make mistakes in the beginning, I was sure carrots were OK … theyre not.
Get into ketosis then see what you can and can’t tolerate

#13

Carrots are okay for most people I suppose. They are carby but the taste is so effective a little goes a long way! Almost everything has carbs so it’s better to focus on the ones that make a huge difference :slight_smile: Higher-carb, tastier vegs (onion, carrot, green peas, very important soup ingredients for newbie me) were worth it to me, green leaves and cauliflower weren’t but it’s highly individual, of course. And we may get plenty of carbs from animal products alone so plants should be severely limited (from my old viewpoint. 1kg vegs was nothing to me and I disliked most of the very low-carb ones) unless one has a generous carb limit. The restriction may not feel like one for many, it did to me. But I just started to eat most vegs raw at some point and it solved the problem for a while. But I did vegetarian keto, it must be way easier with meat. Unless one has too strong ties with carby food. My bane was vegs, now it’s fruit. It’s good there are so many various kind, I just figured out which scratches the itch best per carbs and which I should avoid for reasons. For some of us, there is a long time to learn, experiment and figure out our sweet spot. I sacrifice time and effort to avoid sacrificing joy or resist temptation as I just can’t do those. One may just tough it out. Oh and sometimes it’s good to go super strict to see what we feel restrictive isn’t so bad :smiley: It was highly useful for me a few times! Sometimes it turns out things aren’t as difficult as we fear anyway.

(Bob M) #14

I usually prioritize protein over fat, but I like higher protein. For that last question…there’s a lot there. I was always under the impression that protein affected insulin, but my blood sugar is ridiculously stable if I just eat meat, no matter what my protein intake is.

(B Creighton) #15

I have always prioritized protein. If you do that, and eat some animal foods, you are going to get enough fat. And don’t starve yourself. Eat until you are satiated… I generally eat at least a 2 course breakfast, and dinner except when doing OMAD. Sometimes by adding a protein smoothie in for lunch, I am not even hungry at dinner, but eat it anyway when working out. I put that avocado in my protein smoothie to give it body… creaminess. I eat more than a handful of kale, but eat a kale, cabbage, and radicchio salad with a homemade MCT, balsamic vinegar and herb dressing. Toppings include tomatoes, hemp seed, a few nuts, etc. My salad will be the 2nd course of my dinner and fills the plate. As long as you keep those carbs down, the weight should come off. I do make a coconut oil fat bomb when working out, but it was mostly to find a palatable way to get down 3 gr of GABA. I figured out that this alone is about 1000 calories, but otherwise I don’t count calories… just carbs… except when doing low carb… then I just enjoy my food… :slight_smile:

(Isaac Reign) #16

I appreciate all the advice u guys it really makes this feel like a community, also have one last question about electrolytes. I started feeling all types of symptoms thought I was dying. Had heart palpitations shortness of breathe felt weak had lost my appetite…. Found out the hard way that was because of I didn’t get enough salt because as soon as I drank a pedialyte ( breaking keto obviously) or drank a lmnt I felt better. Figured out that was the keto flu.

  • how much salt do I need a day on keto
  • how should I take the salt ? wether that’s a cup of salt water plus salting my food
  • since I’m taking in so much greens do I have to supplement the other things like magnesium and potassium? ( my daily intake of potassium was around 3k mg and magnesium was around 300 mg or more )
(Isaac Reign) #17

I was actually getting around 3300-3600 mg of potassium
But my sodium was pretty low at around 5-700 while being active and I lost my thirst as well. I assume my body sent signals to hold on to what fluid and salt it had left

(Peter - Don't Fear the Fat ) #18

You may have to experiment a bit with electrolytes … I was intially underdoing it when I first started. I add mine to a pint of water and drink it slowly well before the 1st meal. Then I salt my food too.
If you overdo it you might cause disaster pants … if that happens cut back a tad.

#19

Supplementing electrolytes is individual. I don’t do that personally as I don’t need it.
Some carnivores don’t even salt their food (no idea how that works). Others like me just salt to taste. I tend to have 1 teaspoon of salt per day and it’s enough for me on every diet (and it’s awful to have way more). Others need way more. Some people need salt between their meals when doing IF! I can stop getting sodium for days, no problem (under normal circumstances). So it’s highly individual and for some it just happens naturally.

I personally HATE salted water with a passion (if it’s just water. soups are fine but they can’t be too salty either) so if I add salt (as an experiment), I just eat salt, with water afterwards. But having some very salty food may be an option too. So, that is individual too.

(Isaac Reign) #20

I apologize if I’m asking a lot of questions but how much water do you usually drink a day