Out with dairy, in with fruits and vegetables

#1

Today I went dairy free. Once I made that decision it was surprisingly easy.

Instead of frying eggs in butter, I boiled them and had them with avocado and cherry tomatoes. Instead of my usual coffee with cream I drank black coffee and it was fine. Dinner today was tuna with more avocado and cherry tomatoes. Snack was a handful of nuts and seeds. And I’m feeling pretty good. This morning after my usual walk I sat down and planned a new weekly food shop as well as a new menu.

What I’ve come to realize, listening to my body, is that I want a much more varied keto diet. As I have decided to give this a year. So eggs, meat, fish and seafood as well as keto-approved vegetables, fruit, berries, nuts and seeds. When initially (to try and get into ketosis faster) I cut severely down on these, things started to go wrong. Mild burning in my stomach, constipation, headaches, and I realize one can supplement to do away with these issues also, but to me personally it signalled a deficiency that wasn’t going to make keto sustainable for me long term. With my new menu it is doable while still keeping to about twenty carbs. As one can vary what carbs to have on different days.

We’re all different doing keto for various reasons, for me it is to benefit my lipoedema and already it has reduced pain and swelling, which has improved mobility. I do believe by eating intuitively, if you can, obviously it’s different if you can’t digest certain foods, the body will show you the way and you will get to where you need to be. But I believe it’s about patience, about enjoying the food and feeling good, and just seeing how it goes over time. That’s what I’ve learned so far as a newbie, that nothing is set in stone and it is whatever feels right for you.

(Robin) #2

Good for you… you didn’t abandon keto, you just found what works for you within the parameters!
You are able to include fruits and nuts, but lost the cream. I was just the opposite, but like you… learned to read my body’s signal.
Way to go!

#3

Thank you. I do feel so much better having made this decision. Good for you that you can enjoy your coffee with cream and not have any problems :slight_smile: It’s a continuous learning curve, isn’t it? But so long as we listen to our bodies more than merely following science and studies which keep changing, our bodies, I believe, will get us on the right track.

(Allie) #4

Well done, we all have to find our own way :slight_smile:

#5

Thank you :slight_smile: And that’s so true.

#6

Wow, big change! It depends a lot on the coffee, some I almost enjoy even black :wink: Still not my fav style but works if I really want coffee but don’t want dairy.

It’s right to tweak and find our sweet spot if our very first style isn’t so good! I am glad you start to find your way (it probably will change later, I had wonderful times with one woe and after some time I had to change it as I changed myself).

#7

Yes I believe that’s true, that we keep changing, our appetites change as much as our thoughts as we gain experience, and both intuition and flexibility are wonderful things as life is change :slight_smile:

#8

An interesting discussion about modern nutritional deficiencies and nutrient densities of food.

#10

I’d say it’s still predominantly meat, and some fish, with some very small amounts of vegetables, fruits, seeds and nuts, to give the food a bit more variety. But my body seems to predominantly want bacon lol, always craving it. If I were to listen to my body entirely and not also to science I would gladly have some days where I went fully carnivore and some days with more vegetables, some days with a good amount of dark chocolate or hot cocoa lol. But I try to eat a varied keto diet, getting in a few cucumber slices and cherry tomatoes one day and broccoli or cauliflower another day and some days I blow the carb allowance on avocado or strawberries, nuts and seeds. It’s all very experimental.