When Eating Carbs Is Your Job!

#1

Hey folks. I am looking for suggestions here. I’m back on keto and having a really good run of it, but I know of a couple of occasions coming up where I will have to eat carbs per work. It’s actually part of my signing on agreement.

I work for an artisanal foods mail order company. We source products from small suppliers all over the world to sell in our catalog and we make many of our own items locally. I am required to attend daily tastings, but these are always small and manageable portions and I often get to try cheeses, olive oils, etc, so those are pretty cool.

This week I am slated to attend a bread and pastry smorgasbord, where I am introduced to and educated on all of the products our Bakehouse makes, including a tasting of each one. Next week our Food Explorers group is attending a local brewery for a tasting of their menu and their beers.

So, I’m wondering if anyone has had to go in and out of ketosis on a planned basis and what recommendations you may have. Have you tried exogenous ketones? Can you personally attest to them? Etc etc… Thank you in advance!

(Karen) #2

You mean like a wine taster that tastes, swishes and spits in a cup or are are you required to swallow?

That would be super hard if you have to swallow everything. But yummy too.

K

(Erin Macfarland ) #3

Oh I love beer, that’s a rough gig, having to taste all those yummy things, lol. Here’s a couple of thoughts, they may be a bit out there but I’ll say them anyway! You could say you cannot eat anything containing wheat because you have an allergy/sensitivity. You might enlist your doctor to provide you with a note to support you if you explain your situation and how you are on keto to promote good health markers like low insulin and stable blood sugar levels. Your doctor might be willing to help you out in that regard. Another option is to, and maybe this sounds gross, taste and then spit out what you’re trying. Your contract might necessitate you tasting these foods but might night specificy you ingest them. Wine connoisseurs of course do this all the time. And you can even say you’re needing to adhere to your eating plan so you need to not actually swallow what your tasting. Of course you can always choose to just eat what you’re tasting, but this may lead to you feeling horrendous because things like pastries and beer will really make you feel awful after being on keto. You would probably experience residual cravings, and you might have hypoglycemia, headache, lethargy, etc. If you do choose to eat small amounts of the items you’re tasting, I’d suggest making sure you eat something like fatty protein along with or after eating them, and doing a vigorous workout including weight lifting before hand to promote the storage of extra glycogen in muscle tissue. You can then do something like take a long walk after the tasting to further promote burning through the extra glucose along with some fasting, and then get right back to eating plenty of fat when you eat again. This is all dependent too on how much of these items you eat. Are we talking you have to eat an entire pastry or just a small bite? A sip of beer as opposed to a full glass?? That will make a big difference in the strategies you incorporate as small amounts of these things will likely not affect you too much. I hope these suggestions help!

#4

If your doing keto for health reasons you have some decision making to do. I personally wouldn’t do it because for ME I’d go off the deep end within a couple days after that and may not come back I know that from doing it two other times.

If your thinking that exogenous ketones are going to put you back into ketosis, that’s not what they do / how they work. Forcing ketones into your system and being in ketosis are two different things. When you eat all that carbage, your liver and muscles will reload with glycogen, you’ll spill over and come out of ketosis. Until you deplete all the consumed sugar, then burn off the liver and muscle glycogen you won’t be back where you started. Assume a couple days if your metabolically healthy otherwise. Your not going to go back through a keto flu or anything but you gotta watch what you eat for a while so you don’t prolong it.

#5

Thanks! These are excellent suggestions! I had never thought of including exercise after a tasting event to minimize the negative consequences. My biggest concern is residual cravings, and I want to make sure I plan for success rather than being willing to casually accept failure.

I do employ the chew and spit method for the small tastings we do in our office. It’s yucky of course, but I can get by with it without anyone noticing. I know for these two particular events coming up this month that I’m going to be with some important folks, chefs, etc, and I definitely have to eat what they put in front of me. Normally, of course, I would embrace this. But I am nervous about going astray and losing all the progress I’ve made so far this year (10 pounds down!)

Thanks for your advice!

#6

Ah, that makes sense. I’ve had exogenous ketones suggested to me on my Instagram account by fellow keto dieters, but am not familiar with what they do. I’m doing keto mostly for weight loss, though I do enjoy the health benefits as an aside. I’m very inclined to comfort eat / binge eat. So I’m mostly worried about going carb crazy anytime I veer off the beaten path.

(Erin Macfarland ) #7

@snork_porkler if you absolutely must eat what you’re tasting then I’d stick to taking the smallest bites/sips you can and using those exercise/fasting strategies along with eating something more substantial along with the sweets and beer, like a fatty steak, to prevent blood sugar issues which would lead to stronger cravings. Let us know how it goes!

(Ken) #8

It sounds like your larger tasting events are infrequent. In that case, you really don’t have to be overly concerned, as long as you clear the carbs out afterwards and don’t make large intakes a chronic pattern. You can consider fasting after each one, not eating again until hungry. You might also avoid fat as much as possible during them. Carbs and fat together synergistically increases the insulin spike. Lipolysis will be suspended temporarily, but will soon resume. You appear to be able to handle your small daily tastings by keeping amounts low, which is key. Fasting is better than consuming dietary ketones.

(Chris) #9

I agree with Ken. Infrequency makes it not such a big deal IMO, you just need to be self-aware. Recognize if these events are causing more cravings and whatnot. Fasting afterward can help speed you back into ketosis as well. Don’t make into a punishment though.

For exogenous ketones, unless you’re competing in an ironman or marathon, save your money.

#10

This has been really helpful. Thank you all for your knowledge and insight. I had an uneasiness about continuing keto given my vocation, and my concerns have been assuaged. It’s probably more manageable than I was initially thinking. Thank you!

(Ken) #11

I’d love to have your job.

(Barbara) #12

The best way to squelch any residual cravings is to load up on the highest fat foods you can get your hands on. I think “fat loading” negates “sugar loading” and the satiety value is much longer lasting. It might take a day or more but the fat will win out. Good luck!

#13

If you eat something that drives you out of ketosis, fasting is the quickest way to get back in. It could take a couple of hours to a couple of days, depending on your body.

When my BK is above 3 mmol, no single meal will drive me out ketosis. On the rare occasions I am out of ketosis, my BK rise about 1-1.5 mmol per day fasting. This is anecdotal, your mileage will vary.

(Alex S) #14

Totally the best way of knowing!

The amazing benefit of quantitative ketosis, is that measuring your BK (blood ketone measurement) after eating certain foods lets you know for sure , what eating a certain food or carb does for your body.

For the OP: Amazon.com , KetosisTools.com , and heaps of other sites out there offer blood meters.

I’ve been reading Volek and Phinney’s Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Living, and their opinion is in line with mine, and that is: you don’t need to measure ketones to achieve results on a low carb diet. But if you do you have the reassurance of knowing when you ARE and AREN’T in the fat burning zone.

  • Keto Writer
#15

Neat, thank you for the links! I have been considering getting one of those. I’m the type of person who just HAS to know what’s going on with my body. I use the strips and weigh in daily and have an Excel spreadsheet with all of this data. BK meter sounds perfect for me. :joy:

#16

Great call. I’ll have to do some research on highest fat foods. Maybe start the morning with a BPC and a fat bomb. Thanks!

#17

Yeah, they’re good for putting you back into ketosis after you’ve ate a carb filled meal.

I’ve tried a couple brands and they all taste horrible and do the same thing. The “Kiss My Keto” Pink Lemonade flavor is the one I’ve had the most experience with since it’s the cheapest, usually $40 or $50 for a 30 dose supply. I still have a couple jars of them left, after they run out I’ll probably stop buying them since they cost a lot. Maybe I’ll save half of the last container for slip up’s.

(CharleyD) #18

Yep, deplete glycogen stores (anaerobic activity) so that your body will do something productive with the glucose.
Drink Apple Cider Vinegar prior to eating anything starchy.