Newbie from Ireland joining

#1

Morning from Ireland. Joining looking for info and support and to keep myself accountable. Have been familiar with Keto for a number of years now and implement it sporadically with good results. A major health scare 7 weeks ago frightened me into taking serious action and since then have been mostly keto and lost 10% of my body weight.
Off to have a mooch around the site and will be back later to fill you in on my story and maybe have some questions answered.

#2

Welcome (good choice, there is a good community and lots of info there) and good luck! :slight_smile: I am looking forward to hear about your keto when/if you feel like to share! It’s interesting to see different styles of keto from different people :slight_smile:

(Robin) #3

Welcome to the forum. Looking forward to your story!

#4

Thanks, I’m back.
Female age 56, short and fat. Younger was regular weight and it slowly creeped on as I became less active because kids got bigger and I took on desk based work. I’m only 151cm tall (4’11") so should be a pretty petite size. Was hovering at BMI of 30 for a number of years. 5 years ago I injured my hip and it affected my mobility. I’ve had various treatments for it but took a full time desk job and stopped all activity. Weight ballooned to 80kg with BMI just hitting 35.

(Robin) #5

Glad you’re here. Nothing more motivational than sharing your honest struggles. Most of us can relate in one way or another.

#6

Did lots of reading and research which brought me to keto
The Obesity Code
The Ketogenic kitchen (Patricia Daly and Domini Kemp)
The Glucose Revolution
The Complete Guide to fasting
All of which made complete sense to me. So I would take a keto approach and lose weight. Then a holiday or family event or just a random event would throw me off track.
Just to note I have a family history of heart disease, vascular issues and type two diabetes. And I cringe when I watch my family take insulin to “manage” it knowing it is doing more damage than good. And checking their bloods then eating cake.
So, I get to Christmas 2023, back at 80kg again with a painful hip limiting my mobility and quality of life. Movement, painkillers, steroid injections and other treatments have all stopped working so surgery was the next step. I saw a consultant in Feb 2024 and went away to think about arthoprapgic surgery to repair a labrum hip tear.

#7

I’m replying in short bursts, reason for which will become apparent. Back to surgery in a minute. A bit about my diet first. My favourite meal is bread, wine and cheese. I’m not a fan of red meat, I don’t like the texture of it and cannot digest a lot of it. I don’t like seafood or fish, though I would love to. I eat all vegetables except mushrooms and did eat most fruit. I drink water, herbal tea and very good French wine. I can be good for meal planning and food prep for a number of weeks and then one random slice of toast sends me into a spiral of hollow legs that need carbs to fill them.
Anyway, I arranged the surgery for mid June. I thought it was a minor procedure but was told no, it was major with general anaesthetic and 6 week recovery. I was terrified, Ive always had a fear of general anaesthetic and it frightened the bejaysus out of me. So since Christmas I have been eating my feelings and drinking my pain. Weight went up and on day of surgery it was 86kg, a BMI of over 37. As I was given anesthetic I felt like my body went into shock. But woke up a few hours later and was told all went well and I should be walking normally a few weeks later.
Things weren’t feeling normal later that day and after a CT was rushed by ambulance to another hospital. Two more CTs and an MRI confirmed I had a stroke.

#8

Yes, during or after surgery I had a stroke. My right side has been compromised. My face is numb, I have some loss of sensation in my leg, my right hand is very numb and weak, my right arm feels tight and heavy and I have some cognitive damage…I struggle for some words and have no concentration.
Typing is difficult and thinking is tiring, I’m using a tablet touchpad for this in short bursts. And to make it worse so far there is no evidence that the hip surgery was successful, I’m still hobbling on crutches.

#9

Health issues prior to this were low thyroid which was treated with Eltroxin. I was told cholesterol was a bit high but I don’t believe in medicating this, my attitude being my body is creating cholesterol because it needs it, I need to address the problem not just treat it. Never paid attention to blood pressure really, it might be up, it might be down but didn’t seem to bother me.
Well that all changed in the hospital, started treating me straight away with high dose statins, blood pressure tablets, two lots of blood thinners and then stomach tablets to counteract side effects. Totally against what my instinct would be but I didn’t have the science in my brain to argue it. I couldn’t remember it and couldn’t articulate it with a doctor who explained she was trying to save my life.

#10

How do you argue with that.
Anyway, got home and started Occupational Therapy and Physio straight away. And tackled my diet too. And started more reading, The Diabetes Code, The Cholesterol Con, The Inflammation Spectrum.
So been keto now 7 weeks and lost 8.6kg which is exactly 10% of my body weight.
I’ve have a follow up appointment with stroke team tomorrow and really hoping to reduce the statins.
Hand to sore now to type so will follow up again with food choices and plan going forward.
Thanks for reading.

(Edith) #11

Wow! Thank you for sharing your story. You have come to the right place. You will not find another forum that is as kind and helpful as this one.

(Robin) #12

Bless you, that’s a LOT to deal with all at once.
Some of us on the forum have dealt with significant strokes and lived to tell the tale.
Cognitive issues may wax and wane. One week, I can read and retain a book a day. Other weeks, I read the same paragraph every day.
Be kind to yourself right now. Healing is hopefully on the way.
All the best.

(KM) #13

My support and sympathy for everything you’re going through, and welcome!

I just want to add, I know what it’s like to get sucked into a medical whirlwind. Sucky!! Suddenly these experts, saying you Must and you Can’t as if ownership of your own body was a debatable thing (or a even ridiculous idea) simply because you’re unwell. It’s scary as hell to stand up and say no, knowing these are supposed experts and if you take the risk of making your own choices you risk first extreme disapproval and then the very scary truth that it’s always possible they’re right and you’re wrong. (Nah!)

Just know this: you can say no if that’s what you decide. Yes is also ok. :slightly_smiling_face:. You will find supportive people here behind you, so glad you came!

#14

Welcome!! Stick around here and you will be successful. It’s a wonderful place with a boatload of info and active people willing to reply and provide support.

Kib1 is right, you CAN say no to doctors. I see it as a team approach, (and most of them don’t - they see it as an authoritarian relationship.) I’m part of that team so I have to do as much research as them. And what I found out is afterwards I’ve learned more than they did on a lot of things. Most doctors are not keeping up or they are solely trained to follow predetermined diagnostic criteria and triage you with medicine. That almost cost me my life when they missed my hyperparathyroidism. I found better doctors in another state who cured me. I don’t really trust allopathic doctors anymore. I said no and took back control of my own care. I still need doctors for some things, but a heck of a lot less than ever before.

I also was pre-diabetes 5 years ago and I followed their diet and their advice for 2 years and it got worse, and then I also became a stroke risk to boot. After 2-1/2 years Keto I’m no longer pre-diabetic, completely reversed, and no longer a stroke risk. Blood tests and heart tests are all healthy as can be.

I’m short too at 5’2”. I was 203lbs at my heaviest. I’m 153lbs today. Only 20 more lbs to go!

You can turn this around if you stay committed and don’t ever take your eye off the ball. Hopefully you can find some way you will enjoy fish. Like tuna fish salad (tuna melts with cheese are heavenly) I don’t really like much fish but I’m good with cod, and shrimp cocktail. Also the only way I can eat salmon is on Lox and Cream Cheese. I make my own Keto bagels for that. Yummy.

Try eating medium rare ribeye steaks if you can. It’s my favorite red meat. Tender and very flavorful. The fat is so much tastier than any other cut. I don’t like a lot of the other red meats because I don’t like lean or tough or well done etc., but a fresh beautifully cooked ribeye is something to behold. Or maybe you might find you like lamb? Or Bison? Bison is delicious. Veal is another tasty treat but all that is really expensive around me.

Just some ideas

#15

You went through a lot… I am healthy and I feel sorry for everyone who is far from it :frowning: Life is tough enough without that. Best wishes!

Regarding doctors, I am totally with @Just_Juju. We should say no to them quite often as they like to think they know best even when they just use some old thing that would make me wanna kill someone, totally unnecessarily. Okay, all my experience is about broken bones but that’s simple and they STILL want the outdated methods that cause unnecessary suffering. Once one didn’t even care about the opinion of the one doing the X-ray and I bet the latter knew if my bone was broken or not… When it’s not such a simple injury, it’s much worse as it’s easy to fail and when it is something where diet is important, doctors are often quite clueless as I have heard and it’s believable looking at the guide from so-called experts. Anyway, it’s individual. Doctors rarely look at the individuals properly, it’s more work… But we can do some work for our own health, even without proper medical knowledge, sometimes it helps. I easily made the better decisions multiple times and there was very little or no research involved. It’s the same with dentists: some just wanna get out the tooth even if it is quite possible to save it. I almost always felt I should make the decisions about my own body, thankfully I like my own health and well-being very much and I have no problem with saying no even if I am not asked at all. It’s MY body so I call the shots - unless I am dying after an accident and there is a surgery, I hope my guardian angel works well then. But such procedures are where I best trust doctors, those things are more clear and only they have the knowledge anyway, not me. But when it’s not so urgent, more individual… It’s better not just to let them do whatever they think right when it’s not that hard to figure out that it’s not.

(Bob M) #16

That makes it a little tough, as it limits you to chicken and other fowl. Maybe pork, if pork isn’t “red meat”. I tend to eat a ton of beef, and think it’s the best meat for me.

What do you eat when you’re trying to eat keto?

#17

Welcome to the forum Tipperary! Great to have you here. Gosh you are tackling a huge amount of challenges at the moment, sorry for what you’ve been through. I so admire that you are taking your own health in your hands, educating yourself through all the reading, and taking control of what you can, like physiotherapy and diet.

I hope you find in Keto the excuse you always needed to fill your life with delicious, gourmet cheeses of all kinds! It seems like, with your tastes for fancy red wine, you may enjoy a cheese and charcuterie platter. Olives, nuts, cheeses, sour pickles and cured meats, maybe some baby mozzarella (oh hang on, that’s also cheese actually) and I suppose you could add a vegetable crudite or two as well. (One item I really like for this grownup snacky sort of meal is fresh white anchovies in vinegar, they tend to sell them at Italian deli’s and markets. I know you said you don’t like seafood but these are pretty exquisite!)

Anyway, don’t worry about beef, I like it myself and eat it a lot, but there’s certainly lots of other things to eat. I’ve gone and made myself a bit hungry, actually…

Welcome to a diet of minimal deprivation! I hope you get the health benefits you’re after. I personally find it a very powerful way of eating with almost immediate rewards.

#18

Thanks all for the replies and words of encouragement, I will come back to them later. Back to diet, as I’ve said I don’t like red meat, it’s the texture and the taste. I do like chicken but get bored of it. I love eggs, I love cheese, I like avocadoes sometimes…it’s hard to get decent ones here. I can eat minced beef in small amounts, so burgers, meatballs, Bolognese. And eat sausages and ham but limit them due to the fact they are processed and have additives. I’m a good cook and now all food is home made, in fact some of it is even home grown. I am the queen of soup and always have one on the go made from home made chicken stock. I can tolerate some fish, I like battered and deep fried cod, not keto I know but pick the batter off. Its something about the texture that’s not the same cooked any other way. I am often jealous off my husband watching him eat a giant platter of fruit de mer on holidays, I will taste it all but genuinely can’t stomach it. Lately I’ve been tasting oysters, we will order a dozen when out and I will have one of them. I will enjoy the one but wouldn’t want any more. I can’t seem to eat a lot of protein at one meal, even if I eat a burger (not a processed one but proper minced beef) I wouldn’t get through all of it. But remember, I’m small, so a full one is possibly too big a portion for me anyway.
As I’ve said I’m Irish, I’m living in rural Ireland and that means a few things to be aware of.
Any stats I give are European, weights, volumes, medical stats
I use the Irish medical service, we have public and private healthcare and I use both. My hip is being looked after by private health care and my stroke by the public service. But it’s a small country and everything is inter related.
Our food here is good, all meat is naturally produced outdoors and local.

#19

So at the moment I am still at home recovering and day is something like this.
Wake up, some peppermint tea and physio
Maybe a walk, 3km on crutches.
More herbal tea, maybe Mulberry leaf tea.
If I can get a lift I go to the pool, I’m now pool walking for 12 lengths and swimming with arms only for up to 28 lengths. Then I do some arm physio with a pool noodle.
First meal is anywhere between midday and 4pm. It could be a fried chicken breast and green beans sprinkled with cheddar. It could be a spinach and feta omelette with broccoli. It could be stir fried courgettes and peppers with a slice of ham. It could be Thai green chicken curry soup. Or fresh salad leaves, tomatoes, avocado, grilled aubergine. It might be followed by some cheese or yogurt. I make yogurt pots with about 8 frozen blueberries in the bottom, a teaspoon of chia seeds and 125g of full fat greek yoghurt.
Second meal is more of a snack, and depends on what I had earlier, cheese or yoghurt pot if I haven’t had it, or nuts and olives. I add fresh green garden herbs to everything ( my mint tea from the garden too) and sprinkle veg with seeds.
Herbs, tomatoes and courgettes all come from the garden
Chicken is organic and eggs always free range
I use butter and extra virgin olive oil. I use cream and coconut milk. I eat above ground vegetables. I use lots of herbs and spices. My one failure with veg is carrots, I like adding grated carrot to soups and sauces.

So average day now is one main meal and a snack meal. A walk, a visit to the pool and one to two physio sessions.
2.5 lites water and maybe 5 mugs herbal tea, peppermint, green or mulberry leaf. The tea to water ratio depends on the weather. My evening “cocktail” is sparkling water with a wedge of lime and some mint. And some part of the day will have a square of dark chocolate. I haven’t given up wine but it is now only an occasional drink.
I don’t feel hungry, I’ve never experienced keto flu and while I am at home at able to eat to my own timetable this is easy. I fast for between 18 and 22 hours and this suits me and I don’t feel hungry. I don’t weigh or measure food or work out macros, it’s just too much palaver and takes away from the pleasure of just enjoying a meal.

#20

Prior to Christmas my weight would hover between 75kg and 80kg. If I stayed focussed I could lose up to 500g a week. As said family all have type 2 diabetes and I was determined I wouldn’t so was monitoring my bloods. I use a Keto Mojo monitor and while not brilliant my readings would always be in around the 5s. Maybe 6ish in the morning and dropping through the day, not spiking with food. I would enter mild ketosis maybe half the week.
But then since Christmas I just went off the rails. As I said I was eating my feelings and drinking my pain. Work became very busy and I lost my own pattern of mealtimes having to fit in with set break times. I was having a pastry and chicken wrap at 11am, crisps at 1pm, chocolate or biscuits at 4pm, probably something with chips at home at 6pm and a glass of wine quickly became a bottle of wine. This made me even more hungry in the morning so two slices of toast in the car in the morning became normal. I seemed to be surviving on bread based meals and wine. Add to this that I wasn’t doing any exercise at all.
I suppose major health issues were on the way but the surgery and my stress levels about it accelerated that. Blood sugars were tested in the ambulance and were at 15, with the immediate stress and fright I had I wasn’t surprised.
Was sent home on 80mg statins, blood pressure tablets and blood thinners. It was the wake up call I needed and as soon as I got home immediately changed my attitude. Am monitoring blood sugars now and not only are they high but seem to be getting higher, usually now in the 8s when fasting. I know it’s not an overnight thing but I could be fasting for 23 hours and still have a high reading. I had to stop checking for a while because it was really stressing me out. I believe statins can cause this but also some reading suggests fasting to can cause a glucose dump. I’m not going to get hung up on this yet though and just go with an overall improvement plan.