Stop telling newbies to eat more fat!


(Empress of the Unexpected) #298

That’s what they say. I am out of test strips at this point but when the budget allows, would love to experiment again. I am eating way over what Chronometer says I should be eating. Before I started the no dairy challenge, cheese intake alone was taking me over.


(Edith) #299

I can’t eat cheese, but pork rinds have the same effect for me.


(Empress of the Unexpected) #300

Day three no cheese, no stomach ache. Funny story, had the real deal pork rinds today. Yuck! My husband had been picking up a bag from a small Mexican restaurant. Loved them. Today, strangely, he directed me to a different Mexican restaurant. Hot off the presses. I got so grossed out. I asked what the difference was. It loosely translated to the kind I liked was “fabrica” and “chemicals.” I will just do without pork rinds of any type in the future.


(Helen) #301

hi, im a newbie as in only a couple of days , im totall confused already! I have no concept of grams I understand 50% of my plate needs to be salad and I like a bulletproof coffee in the morning and can live without my beloved frothy milk :smile: I’m not overly overweight but do carry the horrible spare tyre and need to lose about 5 kg , I have always been taught oats and whole grains are ok and up to now had a sweet tooth but am comfortable dropping that, I would follow a diet to the letter but can figure out where my nutritional needs are going to come from and what they are in the first place !! I instinctively know Keto is right for me but that’s it , I thought I was an intelligent woman but the more I read and watch the worse it gets .


(Edith) #302

Welcome. You will figure it out. It is easy to start with the basics: fatty meat, eggs (if you can tolerate them), leafy greens and other low carb vegetables, and everything cooked in fat: animal fat, butter, ghee, olive oil, coconut oil, avocado oil. It’s best to avoid the highly processed vegetable oils. If you don’t have any issues with dairy: low carb dairy including cheese, heavy cream, and butter are also okay.

You want to keep your carbs to about 20g per day. That’s a fair bit of greens for example, but it can be broccoli, cabbage, etc. Protein needs to be moderate. Keto is not a high protein diet. Then fat to satiety. Just eat until you are satisfied and then don’t eat again until you are hungry.

The only caveat is making sure you get enough salt. Keto is diuretic and sodium leaves along with the water. You will need to get about 5 grams of sodium a day. That’s about two teaspoon of table salt or almost three teaspoons of Himalayan salt. So, that can be gotten through what you eat and supplemented via salting your water, drinking broth, or bouillon tea. Magnesium is another electrolyte that most people need to supplement. If you keep your electrolytes up that will help avoid the keto flu.

It helps to read some books. “The Keto Diet” by Leanne Vogel is pretty good and has some good recipes. Her recipes are dairy free. “Keto Clarity” by Jimmy Moore is also a good, easy read. If you like something more technical there is “The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Living” by Stephen Phinney and Jeff Volek.

Once you start getting settled in to this way of eating, it is quite easy to be creative. There are tons of keto recipes out there. There is a thread on this forum called “Boring Keto”’ or “What Did You Boring Keto Today” (something like that), which is a great place to get food ideas and see how other people eat keto.

Good luck.:four_leaf_clover:


(Diane) #303

The thread with food ideas is:


(Helen) #304

Thanks :pray: I think I might have been overthinking it :grimacing:I might just keep to this forum it seems very informative and easy to follow, and I think I managed to get it as far as food goes at least today :joy:


(Gabe “No Dogma, Only Science Please!” ) #305

Yep! Don’t worry about macros. Avoid sugar and starch. That’s about all there is to it!


(Bob M) #306

My theory about protein and ketones: It’s not the proteins that cause ketones that go up or down, it’s the fat. For instance, you eat 2,000 calories a day, and you increase your protein. Assume your ketones go down. You think it’s because your protein has increased. I think you’re wrong. I think it’s because your FAT has decreased. Similarly, you increase your fat content (and decrease your protein content). Assume your ketones go up. Is this because you decreased protein or because you increased your fat? I think it’s the latter.

A corollary: if you eat a lot of fat, more than your body needs for calories, your ketones will go way up.

I say this because I have a year’s worth of continuous glucose monitor readings showing meals with a lot of protein (more protein in one meal than most people eat in a day) do not cause ANY rise in my blood sugar level. Zero. Zilch. Nada.

And yet, I think (though admittedly it’s tough to tell) that increasing my fat content causes an increase in ketones. I know it does if I eat a ton of fat. And yet, I easily maintain ketosis eating a ton of protein.

So, to me, this means fat affects the level of ketones much, much more than does protein. Much more.

Now, are higher ketones better? They are if you have cancer. Otherwise, I’m not sure they are any better.

For me, fat is not filling. Protein, on the other hand, is filling.


(Natalie) #307

YES I totally agree I wish so many others would understand this, what I would also honestly say to newbies or even other ketoers, is to not be afraid to eat protein! A lot of other people on keto try to eat extremely low amounts of protein thinking protein can easily kick them out of ketosis. They also do this do have their macros be 85 to 80 percent of fat and like 4 percent carbs(Which in my opinion thats unnecessary).Honestly what newbies should do(if asked their doctors of course) is to start interment fasting to create a baseline for fasting and also to run on fat longer, then later on progress to regular fasting(but they could also just do interment fasting only if they wanted)


(Cathy) #308

You may be correct but the problem with testing blood glucose in efforts to determine the effects of food (quantity and type) is a problem because blood glucose measures your bodies ability to keep it under control. If you are insulin sensitive, blood glucose will not rise as quickly or stay as high compared with a person who is insulin resistant. Dr. Ron Kraft makes a very good case for this.

The other problem is that extending the digestive track with food is also considered a trigger to raise blood sugar so it might not be the protein or fat but the physical fact of the extended gut. This is according to Dr. Richard Bernstein. He is the guy who has learned to manage his type 1 diabetes and went on to write about it and share many of his ideas. Quite an interesting story.


#309

What does this mean?


(Cathy) #310

Like a food baby. Eat too much and the digestive system becomes extended.


#311

Bernstein talks about a type 1 diabetic who was filling up on lettuce (overfilling) and still got high blood sugars - he claims filling up on gravel would do the same :woman_shrugging:


#312

Oh you mean distended. Gotcha. I thought it was something else.


(Cathy) #313

Sorry. Obviously distended is the correct term.:brain: fart!


#314

:rofl::rofl::rofl:


(Benny) #315

This is one that I’m now finding hard to understand. For each “expert” saying don’t care about calories and eat more fat in adaption others are saying if you eat too much fat you’ll not lose weight. I then think…right…you need to add more protein to stop being so hungry all the time then hear “too much protein turns to glucose” I’m now just over 2 weeks on this journey and I’ve been taking fat fat fat thinking it’s the way to adapt and let my body know it’s my new preferred fuel. Am I doing it wrong once again ?


(Gabe “No Dogma, Only Science Please!” ) #316

My biggest pointer would be to read my original post on this, above, and to follow the basic guideline of eating limited net carbs, adequate protein, and fat to satiety:


(Wendy) #317

Benny there are lots of opinions on this. So do your research and remember what works for one may not work work the same for another, at least exactly the same.
I’ve shared before that I’ve lost weight and several sizes not worrying over how much fat or protein I eat but eating real foods, avoiding processed stuff and keeping my carbs low, not eating bread or sauces, not obsessing over macros, and this has worked great for me.
So don’t stress over HOW you do keto. Pick a way that you believe is right for you and stick with it consistently. If you don’t see progress after a month reevaluate and either change something or stick it out a little longer.
I just eat normal sized meals, did intermittent fasting, mostly skipping breakfast. Make sure you drink enough water, salt your food, take a few vitamins and or minerals if you want. This is suppose to be a healthy way to eat for the rest of our lives.
I hope you find it as successful and stress free as many of us here have.
We all have our struggles and our opinions of what the science shows. And our own experiences. Go live yours!