Who Saved Your Life?

(Consensus is Politics) #21

I heard about keto for the first time on Steve Gibsons podcast, SecurityNow!. Although I poo poohed it as JAFD.

I was Dx with T2D 29 Aug 2017. My mindset was, “So… this is how I die?” I have lived through a plane crash (technically a crash. The wing of the 727 hit the ground due to pilot error, but any crash you walk away from is a good landing) I have been crushed between two vehicles (should have died, but was too stubborn) I have been electrocuted, and I have drowned. So with all of the spectacular possible endings I could foresee, this just seemed like an anticlimactic end to some very exciting times I have had. I stuck with the ADA choice of diet, and pretty much very little happened. After one month my BG levels were still hitting over 300 once in a while. Easily at least once a day.

Deciding not to give in, I started doing research myself about diabetes. [/verbose -off] I discovered this forum. I did an immediate face-palm. I should have thought about Keto from the get go.

To Steve Gibson! For teaching me about Keto. To all of you here at the Ketogenic Forums! For reminding me I had an alternative method. :vulcan_salute: Live long and Keto on.

(Mel Soule) #22

Yes and yes. My first mover was Butter Bob Briggs in this youtube video “Fasting and the Fifty Percent Insulin Problem” https://youtu.be/7sAqy1lnWXo Since 2/18/2017 that has led me down multiple rabbit holes of investigation. George Cahill and his analysis of starvation has been a rich source of reason and information. Jason Fung with his Insulin Toxicity video was very empowering for my nerdy self.

Then I found @carl , @richard and @Brenda whose passion and enthusiasm touched my soul, and powered me through times of elation and plateaus of despair on this incredible journey in my 69th year. Now I have you all on the forum to learn from and with. Life is good. Life is very good. KCKO

(Dawn) #23

OH MY!!! I completely forgot to mention Butter Bob! He was actually the very first youtube video I ever watched on Keto and Fasting. Shout out to BB.

(Tobias Månsson) #24

I’ve tried LCHF before, which gave good results but I found it hard to follow. While listening to .Net Rocks!, run by @carl, I found out about keto and after listening to the 2ketodudes podcast I was hooked and it grew from there. As a engineer working in R&D all the science was fascinating to me! :smiley:

#25

I have to credit my friend Kathy for setting me on the right path. After the difficult loss of both her aged parents in a single year’s time, she gained additional weight on her 58 year-old frame. When she told me a few months later that she’d been to a holistic nutritionist who set her on a low-carb path, I was supportive but I didn’t give it too much thought. I started to notice at work how she’d avoid eating with certain people, and I later discovered part of it was because how her former lunch buddies teased her for her meat-and-vegetables (Gasp! The horror!). I was impressed with her resolve as I watched her shed weight. A few months later, I went on an impromptu hike and to a tree-climbing event (ropes) with a friend. As I slowly hauled my heavy self up, I was disturbed by how hard it was! Later that evening, I looked at a few photos on my phone that my friend had made of me that day. For the first time, I really saw how heavy, round, and out of shape I was. My knees bent inward, and I could not avoid acknowledging the extra padding around my stomach and hips. So much for being a “healthy” vegetarian and an “active” person. A few nights later after book club, I called my friend, Kathy, and told her I was ready to make changes. I asked her if she would mind instructing me on what her nutritionist had told her to do. She kindly did, and that began my LCHF/keto journey 17 months ago in June of 2016. It has been great! I’ve eaten well (added fish to my lacto-ovo diet), lost 52 lbs, given up my acid reflux meds, and dropped from a very overstuffed size 14 pants and large shirts to loose size 6 pants and small shirts. I feel better than I did in my 20s, honestly. My friend is doing well, and she is still thriving on a low-carb diet for over three years now. We no longer work together since she retired, but we keep in touch by phone and see each other monthly at our book club. It’s encouraging to have another pal at the table who is ordering salad, passing on the bread, and choosing asparagus. :wink:

(Crow T. Robot) #26

It takes a village…

I can’t believe this thread (great, btw!) is 25 posts long and no one has mentioned Ted Naiman yet. He was my first “contact” with LCHF in Feb '16. His video explained everything so clearly, I immediately changed my diet and never looked back. Through Ted I discovered Jason Fung’s Aetiology of Obesity series on YouTube, bought his book, and started IF. From there, though Twitter, I was opened up to all the well-known luminaries, like Noakes and Fettke, and more too numerous to mention.

Jason wasn’t my first exposure to fasting, though. That was Michael Mosely’s BBC Horizon show on fasting, which also introduced me to Krista Varaday and Valter Longo. And from there, Mark Mattson. Through the Quantified Body podcast, I was introduced to Thomas Seyfried.

(Varda Meyers Epstein) #27

My neighbor. Two doors up. Her name is Chanah. When she told me she eats butter I thought she was whacked.

I came around. I’ve lost 46 pounds since July.

(Heather Miller) #28

My dr was my impetus to start last March when i refused to try “one more new drug” . She pointed me towards diet doctor and the keto dudes and i ran with it.

Second in line was my husband who jumped on board with me even though he is not diabetic (but has some extra fat) and has made it so much easier! Having no carb food in the housecmakes it so much simpler.

(Charlie Kathopoulis) #29

Dr Rod Taylor from Low Carb Down Under after a joint talk we gave several years ago - he put the final pieces in a jig saw I was trying to sort out.

(Mahe) #30

I knew about the diet but i thought this was also one of those fad diets… Then i came across few youtube videos by DR Vijay Raghavan. He is an Indian doctor trying to tell Indians not to eat rice and bread :-:smile::smile: In India our staple is RICE and this was one of the most difficult addiction to overcome(Including Sugar).I started watching more videos on keto( low carb down under, Dr.Fung etc… ) and eventually started it 2 months back…Lost 10 pounds( 10 more to go) and have tons of energy. I am trying to get my father to start Keto but it is difficult for him to even think that FAT can get him off of medication. He has T2D. :frowning:

(KCKO, KCFO 🥥) #31

Love that your Dr. pointed you to keto and the 2 KDudes too. Wow, that is a rare Dr.

(d154762c9ec400062a7b) #32

Started with the Hartwigs(Whole30/Whole9) and has continued with Dr. Richard K. Bernstein and the Diabetes Solution. While I was not incredibly overweight, I had gained almost 50#. My then PCP kept telling me I was going to die(glucose kept rising, not quite diabetic but getting there). I also looked and felt pretty ugly. Did the Whole 30, lost weight, Started monitoring glucose with a cheap meter. Decided that I needed to go further and found Bernstein. While his diet is not listed as keto, it pretty much is. I’ve been ketoing for almost 2 years, have kept the weight off(never been smaller). The minute I eat more carbs than my body will tolerate, I gain a pound or two. Go back to keto, weight drops like rock, back to normal. Blood pressure is good, not off meds for those(that’s ok) but no diabetes drug. Diabetes runs in my family, so that doesn’t mean I may not get it eventually as I age. Right now doing great. Down from almost a 2X to a 4/6/8. Final note, I eat like a horse, just the right stuff, though. Good luck to all! It’s working for me. Even my husband is impressed.

(d154762c9ec400062a7b) #33

Brava. When people get upset when I won’t eat that piece of candy or cupcake offered, I just picture my sister’s amputated leg at the ripe old age of 60 and her dying at 62 due to heart failure. She was only 3 years older than I am now. Ain’t going there without a fight. Good luck and keep it going.

(Samuel Ashford) #34

Drs Michael Eades and Mary Dan Eades. In April of 2003, I got my first blood panel back after going low carb, as a result of devouring their book, emphasized text_The Protein Power Lifeplan_emphasized text. My triglycerides went from 147 to 47. 147 is not horrible, but 47 is way better. At that time, that was my main concern. I wasn’t tracking glucose or insulin in those days. Now, who aren’t familiar with their book, the intervention phase of the diet is virtually carb-free. So, there is no doubt I was in nutritional ketosis when I began this journey, though I wasn’t tracking ketones at the time

Over the years, I have been on and off the wagon. Recently, I went back through a lot of family photos over the past 15 years. It is pretty clear that I had a lot of weight gain over those dark times, but when I went back faithfully to a ketogenic diet very recently, the weight loss was remarkable, and I feel tremendous.

The depth of gratitude to the Eades, and a long list of others after them, including Stephen Phinney, Jeff volek, Jimmy Moore, Adam Nally, Sarah Hallberg, Eric Westman, Tim noakes, and the list goes on and on… is felt on a daily basis. Even if I don’t have a lot of close family or friends who support me in this, the people I have mentioned have been my rock over the years. Thanks so much!

(Jayne Thompson) #35

Butter Bod I watched his You-Tube about insulin resistence and I have know I am insulin resistant for a whild but didn’t really understand it. I hade trouble figuring out how to reply to posts on thi s and this morning it just made sense.

(Larry) #36

I must say it was my Doctor. 4/1/2017 I was insulin resistant, a1c was 7.9 I had high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, over weight by 175 lbs. after 3 months no BP meds a1c down to 6.5 down 40 lbs. Now 11/13/2017 still no BP meds , A1C 5.4 insulin resistance muct better, and weight down 80 lbs. !!! Thank you Dr. Newton !!!

(Keto in Katy) #37

Eric Westman and Gary Taubes.

(I want abs... olutely all the bacon) #38

My doctor handed me a free copy of Dr. Atkins book 22 years ago, which started my journey. The 2KetoDudes, Carl Franklin and Richard Morris, entered my world in early 2016 and provided the inspiration and knowledge needed for many n=1s and connecting with amazing keto communities and resources.

(Keto Travels) #39

I can’t really remember anymore who first pointed me to keto (or rather low-carb) but I think I have to give credit to a book called “The loss of Sadness” (it’s on depression, not weight loss, but I highly recomend it! https://www.amazon.com/Loss-Sadness-Psychiatry-Transformed-Depressive/dp/0199921571) which first put that rebellious little thought into my head that maybe it wasn’t me being weak-willed, lacking character, being an emotional eater, etc., etc, maybe there were other factors involved in not being able to lose weight that I should be looking at. I really cannot tell exactly how I got from that book to looking into PCOS, and from there into low-carb diets, but I can tell you that it somehow first got me thinking to look beyond the belief so kindly reinforced by my environment all my life that it was all my fault.
That eventually - took a few years - led me to looking for an obgyn with a speciality in endocrinology and get myself that PCOS diagnosis, which was immensely liberating! See, I told you it wasn’t that easy for me, I told you there was something wrong with my body! From there, the only weakness to overcome (and that took a few years again) was a tendency to trust other people’s judgement over mine (friends, trainers, experts) and waver and eat some quinoa or buckwheat or sweet potatoes … things a body “should” be able to digest and thrive on. It can’t be healthy to cut out whole foodgroups, oh no!
I credit my 40th birthday with the final shift - somehow immensely liberating, I am now entitled to a mid-life crisis, no? It made me wonder whether I actually cared about anyone’s opinion tTHAT much and decided I did not and so why not just try stuff? First project, change jobs. Once that was at a satisfactory degree (survived first evaluation), change body was next. So here I am :slight_smile:

(O. Kur) #40

Cause I am a T1D Dr. Bernstein was my main influence. But Prof. Tim Noakes with his Trialvids made it all clear for me…