Trendy keto made up of old stuff - it still works

#1

Food is fun. I have been doing some fun stuff as Australia moves into the season of spring. Getting out into the fresh air and forests to look at the wildflowers. This part of Planet Earth is bursting with rejuvenation and renewal. And along with that comes a seasonal reinvigoration of health, goals and ways (of doing).

Winter was a season of steady as she goes. My blood ketones were measurable, just. I got through watching those around me suffering colds and flu. But I seemed immune again for another winter. Trust me, Iā€™m not a paragon of health by any means. But I am determined at being low carb.

So, while out on forest adventures when I got back to the cabin there was no connection to the ā€˜worldā€™, even though I was finding deep connection to nature. In front of the log fire I would listen to stories and pat the Labrador snoring at my feet. The stories were downloaded podcasts.

I listened to a Dr. Phillip Ovadia, ā€œStay off my operating tableā€ episode, and a Dr Boz episode next to each other. They described some eating hacks to try. I think a decade of preparation was enough to try them.

  1. Sardines for 3 days
  2. Eggs, butter, and salt for 5 days
  3. Butter for one day

That was the selection. So, I thought, why not do them all in sequence over 9 days.

Looking around the supplies in the isolated cabin I had only two cans of sardines. But I had dozens of eggs, and plenty of salt, and enough butter. I also had coffee. So, through the trial I have had two cups of black coffee in the morning as an addiction crutch.

I started with the eggs only, and got keto flu, it brought back the memories. It was beautiful to be on familiar ground back at the memory of the start of my nutritional health journey where I went from a standard western diet to fasting on Christmas Day 2014, and straight into a massive headache and keto flu. Baby I was back, but this time I knew where I was going.

More story in the commentsā€¦

#2

I listened to this Ovadia podcast because it was demographically accurate for a white, middle-aged, male in their late 50ā€™s. (Yes, this tribe are the perpetrators of much of the worldā€™s heartache).

The key prong for me was the finding (n=1) that doing the egg-only eating with time restriction achieved the best results. Better than sardines or a dry fast.

https://www.youtube.com/live/j9rOEQC4bUI?si=hFyWHrBM51KgGVhr

Further back, I had also listened to this podcast episode:

Yep, what can I say, Iā€™m influenced by influencers. I suffer health from being infected with influencza.

#3

Then I watched Dr. Boz and her well justified concerns about egg-only eating (with a preference for sardines).

Followed up with this one on sardines only eating. Finding that pan frying the sardines improves the ability to enjoy the experiment.

#4

After one week on eggs, butter, salt, coffee and water, I had lost 6.6lbs of body fat measured on bioimpedence. I had a reminder of what keto flu was like and easily fixed it with increasing the salt. My blood ketones went from a fasted morning level of a ā€˜traceā€™ 0.1 mol/l to a nutritional ketosis level of >0.5 mol/l, and I felt great with that (like my brain was humming along in a menthol coolness). The first sardines day was more challenging, I was attracted to the fruit bowl, and there are different guidance advice on timing that eating. Iā€™m eating three cans of sardines per meal in 2 meals separated by 6 hours. The sardines are delicious Atlantic caught Portuguese-style sardines in olive oil. I pour away the free floating oil and fry the sardines in their intrinsic fat, and add some salt. The fruit craving was turned off by eating a tablespoon of salted butter. That makes me think I need to adjust the fat energy part with the sardine experiment.

Yes, this looks like orthorexia. But it is not a permanent dietary methodology. Itā€™s a trip down nutritional ketosis memory lane for a week or two.

(Bob M) #5

That sounds like a good way to eat sardines. I never thought of that.

Sounds like an interesting way to test.

(Central Florida Bob ) #6

I need to pay attention to this stuff. Iā€™ve been at the same maintenance weight range for a couple of years and honestly think I need a refresher course on how to lose some weight.

(KM) #7

Good reset!

Iā€™m always startled when I fast and then renew my ā€œketo vowsā€ and realize whatā€™s crept in again. Oh, but itā€™s Lite beer. Oh, but itā€™s only a 1 oz. bag of chips that came with hubā€™s sandwich. Oh, I donā€™t eat out that often so hey, Iā€™m sure fish enrobed in a quarter inch of flour fried in old seed oil is somehow fine, itā€™s fish, after all. :roll_eyes:

(Bob M) #8

My wife was following someone who did something similar, though I think he added in a week of just bacon.

I think itā€™s an interesting idea. I like sardines, and I particularly love lightly smoked fish. This is an example:

https://www.vitacost.com/bar-harbor-wild-smoked-mackerel-fillets?CSRC=BPA-070718001170-bing_shopping_standard_x_us_catch+all-&network=s&keywordname=&device=c&adid=869885063880&matchtype=e&gclick=&ds_agid=94512670998&targetid=&msclkid=3d65feee898d17b8b745960c53e8f63f&gclsrc=ds&gad_source=7&gad_campaignid=9225637654

Youā€™re only looking at about 250 calories per can, but I really like them.

Iā€™m not sure I could do too many days of fish though. Even eggs, not sure how many days I could do.

Itā€™s a very tempting reset, though.

#9

The 3 day sardine ā€˜fastā€™ finished on day 2. I was getting a reflux reaction. Which made me wonder about the quality of the ā€˜oliveā€™ oil. Now I am back to steak and eggs.

But I am wondering about fresh fish and butter as another 3 day test. That way the oil is not a confounder.

Iā€™m trying a new butter. After the two days on sardines this butter tastes like ice cream. If I do a one day butter ā€˜resetā€™ now, like Dr. Boz has recommended, it will feel like eating ice cream for a day, just not bowls full of it, more like a dessert spoon at a time (10ml).

I accidentally did a 4km walk because I was looking at spring wildflowers and birds while in the midst of the hack. My blood ketones went up to 1.9 mmol/l while my blood glucose was 4.0 mmol/l. It was a natural high feeling. The GKI was 2.

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