Newbie here. Question

#1

I dropped from over 250 lbs. to between 195 and 200 a few years ago. I track blood pressure, blood glucose and ketones on a daily basis. Ketones consistently measure between 0.8 to 1.8 mmol, but never above 2.0. I am not diabetic. I eat a lot of leafy greens and a decent amount a fat from avocados, eggs, bacon, coconut and olive oils; moderate protein (strength training 5 days per week). I do have about a 24 -30 hour cheat window from Friday 5:00 through Saturday night. I wouldn’t say I go crazy during that window, though. As you can tell, I do not yet measure macros.

So the question: If I plan to get 70% of my daily energy from fats and 20% from protein, and really jump into this lifestyle, where’s the room for the micronutrients / vitamins I can only get from leafy green vegetables?

Thanks.

(Jason Jodway) #2

There are no essential micronutrients you can only get from leafy green vegetables, and it is extremely easy to stay keto while including leafy green vegetables as they are low starch/sugar by nature.

#3

The obvious answer is: “the remaining 10%”. Mirroring what @Chimaera mentioned, since veggies are low in carbs you can eat a lot of veggies and stay under 20 grams of net carbs.

As an example, here is the net carb content of a few vegetables:

1 avocado: 2.5 g
1 cup chopped red lettuce: 0.4 g
1 cup chopped kale: 0.6 g
1 medium stalk celery: 0.5 g
6 medium asparagus spears: 1.9 g

You can have a large salad or several serving of cooked veggies and stay under 20 grams of net carbs easily.

I am big on eating veggies. I eat lots of them, and lots of varieties. I follow the advice of Dr. Berg since veggies are nutritious and I have always liked veggies.

Dr. Berg eats a lot of veggies on keto:

It seems to me that you are actually trying to ask something else. If you elaborate more on your concerns, we can help you more.

Why? If you are interested in getting the the maximum benefit from keto, I suggest you drop the cheat day. I have been on diets in the past that recommended a cheat day once a week but it will not be beneficial to you with keto and it will probably mess you up. It is better to eat healthy food all of the time.

Welcome to the forum and best wishes on your keto journey.

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #4

If you check the zero-carb/carnivore section of these forums, you will find that it is possible to get all necessary micronutrients from an all-meat and fat diet. Partly this is because meat, especially the organs, contains all the micronutrients we need, and partly because our body handles the micronutrients differently, depending on whether we are eating carbohydrate or not.

Remember that the 1927 experiment on Stefansson and Andersen was considered a failure, because they never developed scurvy, despite never consuming any of the then-known sources of vitamin C.