Surprising Thanksgiving hangover and revelation

#1

I’ve been extremely strict KETO since the beginning of June and have been rolling along just fine, with almost no cravings or temptations. Absolutely no grains, starches, sugar, alcohol, anything even medium carb.

Yesterday I decided to have a tiny “glass” of wine and champagne. We’re talking about 1 ounce of each. I also ate a TEASPOON of Junior’s Cheesecake and a TEASPOON of pumpkin pie filling. Most of this was more curiosity than anything else.

The good new is two-fold. 1) I don’t like alcohol anymore. I actually had poured myself about 3 ounces of both the red and the champagne and just couldn’t drink either of them. They both, immediately, made my head feel weird and not good. I’ve also just plain lost the taste for them somewhere in the last few months. I poured all but a few sips of each down the drain. 2) I don’t like sugar anymore. It’s hard to believe. I was such a sugar addict. I don’t like the taste of it. I really and truly don’t like sugar. Pumpkin pie has always been my all-time favorite pie, but after one little nibble, I thought, “Meh. I would enjoy a strong glass of Bengal Spice tea with a bit of stevia and some heavy cream in it more than this.” The cheesecake was just short of a spit-out.

This is a revelation for me. All my life I have intensely craved sugar and starch. If I were to ever limit them, it was hellacious. All I could do was wait until I could eat them again. This is gone. Totally gone. I have no cravings, no desire, nothing. It’s a M-Fing miracle.

The bad news: Just that amount of sugar has given me a hangover. I feel like I drank 5 shots. I have a mild headache (I never have headaches), I feel lethargic and bloated. I feel dragged out and tired. I’m drinking lots of water but will wait for another hour or two to eat, as I do intermittent fasting. I expect that it will take me another few hours to feel good again. I’ll go for a swim in the ocean soon (I swim outside in the ocean every day possible) and that will help clear my head.

It’s possible that the turkey added to this. I got a smoked turkey, which was delicious, but there was 1 gram of carbs in it - probably added sugar in the smoking process. Hard to tell. If I eat leftover turkey tomorrow and feel unwell after eating it, that will be my answer.

I didn’t go for any starch yesterday, but I’m assuming I will feel the same way.

I’m free from sugar at last. This is a wonderful thing.

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #2

This is pretty much par for the course on a ketogenic diet. If you wish to drink, the hard stuff has the least amount of carbohydrate, but drink sparingly, because many people find that the quantity of alcohol they can handle is greatly reduced on keto (your liver will thank you, in any case). I, too, find that I get hungover and bloated if I overdo the carbohydrate, even if I don’t eat enough to kick me out of ketosis.

#3

I lost my taste for most alcohol during my one and only pregnancy 22 years ago. Once I gave birth, alcohol was like poison to me. This lasted for 15 years or so. It’s only recently that I’ve been able to drink just a little bit, but, clearly, now, even that is out again.

I probably consumed no more than the equivalent of 1 small teaspoon of sugar yesterday, but it was definitely enough to make me feel crappy today. Like I said, I won’t eat any of the smoked turkey today and then see how it makes me feel tomorrow.