Need Help with Energy!

#21

Thank you all for your input! A lot to think about and readjust how I’m approaching this new lifestyle.

How does the Keto Diet and cardiovascular health come into play? I’m sure sausages and burger patties with mayo/butter help you with protein and the fat portion, but how healthy is it you overall? Or is it slightly different the way it’s processed since it’s being used as energy vs being stored?

I’ve seen some people who rave about losing weight and being “healthier” by consuming mass amounts of bacon, butter, cheese etc. So I’ve always been curious how to healthily consume your fats without putting your heart at risk for disease.

(Full Metal KETO AF) #22

Welcome @Bokchoi A thing that I already had and used came into more use when I started keto…a cheap $12 digital scale will help you with accurate portion sizes to enter in the app. Now looking at the first days food menu I am not seeing a high carb count. I wonder if your app is set to count total carbs rather than net carbs.

This is important to remember; you can subtract listed dietary fiber from the total carb amount and what you have then is “Net Carbs”. It’s really simple. Just keep net carbs under 20. I don’t see 20 carbs in what you listed as your example. Eat low carb veggies for the bulk of your daily allowance. The rest are from small portions of high fat dairy, eggs and nuts if you’re eating those. You have to eat a lot of low carb vegetables to get 15 carbs so don’t stress about things like broccoli and cabbage. You would have to eat platefuls to go over.

Eat an adequate amount of protein for your lean body mass. Like 1gram per pound. It’s just a goal, if you’re a little over or under it’s ok. That’s not a food weight it’s the protein in the item you’re eating.

Fats are easy, just put some butter on stuff, Olive oil on salad or anything, cook with coconut oil and bacon grease or other animal fat of your choice. Don’t be stingy with fats. Cook a steak and pour the drippings on top. Cook mushrooms in the fats left in the pan. Eat an avocado regularly. Fats are easy to eat without carbs.

Sardines in olive oil, a one ounce serving of keto friendly nuts (no cashews, peanuts and watch it with pistachios) macadamias rule for fat content. Don’t overeat nuts. Cheese 1-2 ounces per day of hard aged cheese like cheddar, Parmesan whatever. Full fat dairy products, no low fat versions. Bacon, pepperoni, salami are okay.

Use your scale, learn to read labels.

Here’s a couple of useful things to help you with food choices

I hope some of this is helpful Bok Choi! Love the name. :cowboy_hat_face:

(Full Metal KETO AF) #23

Fats are dealt with differently on a ketogenic diet as opposed th when carbs are present. There are 1000’s of threads exploring all these concepts here. Lots of science if you’re interested. Read up, trust the process, find your groove in the kitchen. It gets easier and education about what you’re doing is important.

But start basic. Keep your food basic. Don’t eat sausage all the time. Eat fresh beef, pork, dark meat poultry with skin, fatty fish like salmon and some lower fat fish like cod is okay just put lots of butter on it. There’s no set way to do this, it’s your way of eating. There are as many approaches as there are people here so you’re going to be reading a lot of individual ideas and people are always tweaking and experimenting with what they eat. Enjoy your new lifestyle and the improvement it will bring.

Make sure you understand what fats and oils to eat and which are harmful.

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #24

The idea that dietary fat causes cardiovascular disease is not actually borne out by any scientific research, and there are in fact a number of large, government-funded studies that show a correlation between higher LDL and lower heart disease. Most people on a well-formulated ketogenic diet find that their lipid numbers settle into the normal range by around the six-month mark.

It may help to know that the American Heart Association has been promoting the use of vegetable oil and vegetable shortening ever since the makers of Crisco gave them a huge donation in the late 1940’s. But it is starting to become clear that many polyunsaturated fatty acids have an inflammatory effect, especially when eaten in the quantities found in the standard American diet. In contrast, recent research indicates that saturated and monounsaturated fats are actually beneficial.

If you want to learn more, do a forum search on cholesterol. Several threads on that topic talk about the recent research and give links to scientific papers and to lectures by researchers.

(*Tame Those Ghrelin Gremlins) #25

Welcome! As previous posts avoid the higher carb veggies, definitely no brown sugars. If you’re hungry then eat but honestly it will do you good to get used to not snacking between meals. Just eat more at meal time.

For me personally protein fills me up more then fat so I tend to include good portions of meats and a small side of veggies and that usually is only about 4-5 carbs each meal.

Are you going by total carbs or net carbs? I didn’t catch if you mentioned it. Also my favorite snacks are dill pickles they are a good staple instead of “keto desserts”

#26

Thanks for your input! Net carbs. What are snacks are keto friendly? Eggs, string cheese, cucumbers with some lemon juice?

I am very used to snacking while I can try to tone it down, but I don’t eat that much during meals.

(*Tame Those Ghrelin Gremlins) #27

They are, but as my understanding is when you eat your insulin goes up, the goal is to keep it down without starving yourself which is why I don’t snack between but I do eat my little treats at meal time. If you’re not there yet that is fine. If energy is the problem that is normal as previously stated.

When I feel that way I seek out the salt and water. Keeping them up makes a big difference. Which is why I love pickles. I don’t care much to lick sea salt. I also have electrolyte pills too.

#28

Hello!

Everything was extremely helpful. I was fretting about cabbage and broccoli being starchy although I didn’t see it listed on some pages I googled after I got to work.

Interesting what you said about my food yesterday as not being less than 20g. Maybe the calculator is off or maybe I’m not inputting correctly. It is set for net carbs at the moment. For the cabbage, I guess it’s kind of “unhealthy”’since it’s full of cream cheese, sour cream, and heavy whipping cream topped with parm and a tablespoon of ranch seasoning. I was 10g over yesterday!

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(Full Metal KETO AF) #29

It was all that added dairy. Dairy is allowed but don’t go crazy! I don’t make creamy sauces a lot. I do basic stir fry, oven roasted, sautéed or steamed vegetables. I eat Bok Choy a couple times a week, make my own sauerkraut and Paò Caí, cauliflower fried rice (cauliflower grated), stuff like that with a meat entree. Simple without lots of tomatoes, cream cheese or heavy cream. I do that now and then but I try to eat a bit lighter most days. A good lettuce wrapped burger or meat on top of a salad is great too and simple.

#30

If you’re worried about your heart risk, you may want to look into a Coronary Calcium Scan It’s a CT scan of your heart and is another marker that can let you know your risk from blocked arteries. I’m in the US and it wasn’t covered by insurance, but was less than $100. It gave me peace of mind.

(*Tame Those Ghrelin Gremlins) #31

Yes definitely the cream cabbage cutting into more then half your carb allowance. Sorry :neutral_face:

(Carl Keller) #32

I know lots of people are saying drop the cabbage but I love the stuff and see nothing wrong with being moderate about it. If the majority of your carbs are coming from above ground vegetables, then you are doing your body a favor.

Some of my favorite keto vegetables are:

broccoli
cauliflower
mushrooms
brussels sprouts
green beans
cabbage
asparagus

I will usually have 2 cups of 2 types per day and I mix it up so I don’t bored with them. Two cups of any of these vegetables is 12 carbs or less. My goal is 20 net carbs per day but I don’t fret if I go over a few carbs because of vegetables.

(PSackmann) #33

Out of curiosity, what was the breakdown for the ranch seasoning? If it was pre-made, I’d ditch it for now. Spices have carbs, and pre-made packaged seasonings can have a lot of hidden carb sources. Similarly, while you’re getting into this, cut back on things like the Lemon Dill Aioli. That’s 20% of your daily carb allowance for a condiment. Eating more simply helps you to control your intake in carbs as well as ingredients, and helps to re-set your taste buds for whole foods.

(Alex) #34

adjust your condiment selection and drop whatever cream mix is used with your cabbage. veggies are not an essential part of a ketogenic diet. if anything, start making your own creamed cabbage at home if it’s a must-have item. mix cabbage, butter, heavy whipping cream and whatever spices you prefer in a pan on the stove, maybe some shredded cheese too, and your carb count will drop to only 3 or 4g net carbs per cup. 12g net carbs seems excessive so i’m not sure what else is mixed in with it. instead of dill aioli with your salmon, consider using other condiments like soy sauce or hot sauce which are carb-free, or make your own aioli using avocado mayo and a squeeze of lemon juice / spices. regarding cardiovascular health, i got rid of pain that i had directly in my heart and improved my breathing with this diet after just two weeks of following it. i also run a couple times a week and have more energy doing so and am in better shape than ever while never running out of breath like i did pre-keto. i’m living proof that burgers and bacon and eggs will not negatively impact you or your arteries. provided you’re keeping your carbohydrate intake below 20g daily, you can eat as much of those things as you want, and you’ll be healthier for it :+1: fat is fabulous, protein is just peachy, and carbs are the killer. keep calm, and keto on

#35

Thank you! I’ll check out the link on my lunch.

So in conclusion, eating bacon and steak every day isn’t bad for your health? If so, :exploding_head::bangbang:

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #36

Bacon and steak are the reasons I went keto in the first place! :bacon::bacon:

Just kidding, but they certainly are inducements to keto on, let me tell you! :+1:

People are afraid of arterycloggingsaturatedfat, but saturated fat actually seems to improve health, not destroy it. It’s carbohydrate that causes most cardiovascular disease.

#37

Thank you!

I love tomato sauces :sob: But I definitely felt that the creamed cabbage tasted too good to be too healthy. I will have to learn how to simplify foods. Because if there’s anything I do well, it’s making huge heapings of extremely rich foods.

Also — thank you about my name! My last name is Choi, so my friends nicknamed me that. I love it!

#38

And it’s insane because society has always been taught that’s FAT IS BAD. We’re all brainwashed in thinking that at one point in our lives so entering something so new and interesting as keto, it’s kind of a shock! I will need to check our above links and do some of my own research.

I LOVE THIS FORUM!

(bulkbiker) #39

only for the last 50 years or so… before that everyone ate butter and cooked with lard…

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #40

Speaking from experience, that is so Puritan as to be ridiculous. You are allowed to enjoy your food! Tasty food is what helps keep most of us keto! :grin::bacon::cow2::pig2::sheep::duck::goat: