(Disclaimer – if I get some terms wrong or misquoted, it is because I am STILL learning this very new concept…)
A New Food Journey
And just like that, things that I had been taught for YEARS have been turned on their sides.
As I said, years as an emotional eater, and surrounded by the same. We tried every pill, read countless books (no Google back then) tried ALL of the diets known to man, nutrition classes…YOU NAME IT, we did it.
Since I turned 40, I can’t lose weight for the life of me. I know our metabolism slows as we age, but this is ridiculous. Most of my friends over 40 are also experiencing the same situations with similar results. Life and time are too precious and I refuse to kill myself in the name of my weight. I know it is harder, but I won’t let it consume me. It took up SOOOOO much space in my younger life, I even hate the word ‘diet’.
Intermittent Fasting
One bestie has to work twice as hard at everything because she has thyroid issues. She too has worked her ass off time and again to try and lose weight. But her thyroid keeps her in “maintain mode” really, and it isn’t fair. Recently, we both came across Intermittent Fasting (IF) at the same time. I saw a woman on the news. She and I have done cleanses, fasts, juice fasts, etc. What we heard about IF was something different. Watching YouTube videos, reading up about it…something in my brain ‘clicked’.
I’d always been taught or read that you cannot drop below 1,500 calories a day or your body will think it is starving. It will fight your weight loss efforts by holding onto your fat for dear life (because it thinks you are starving). Lies by the diet industry for sure!
Watch the Magic Pill First
My friend reminds me of a documentary I had on my queue on Netflix called the Magic Pill. Use real whole foods to heal your bodies, rather than medications and processed JUNK. A couple of puzzle pieces fell into place about when, where, and why our food supply went to shit. Also, watching two autistic children – who were raised on shit diets of processed foods – do a 180 and IMPROVE when they are put on this other way of eating. A woman with cancer who cured herself with food – she never had surgery, chemo, OR radiation. She says ‘she applied science’ to her body. This is the same ‘eating style’ that many IF’s adopt for their meals and ‘eating windows’. A style that helps heal bodies, internal systems from the inside out and has caused people to LOSE EXCESS WEIGHT.
I’d heard of this style of eating before. But 47 years of diet crazes, year after year, can blind you to the good stuff and really wear out its welcome. We haven’t had any good stuff in this department in so long. Not another God-blessed DIET! But I decided to read more, research more and picked up the Complete Guide to the High Fat Diet: The Keto Diet my sister-in-law bought a couple of months ago and I dove in. Add the documentary, and I am a little pissed.
More False Information
As we see in the documentary, many years ago, the American Heart Association said high fats = high cholesterol = heart attack, disease, death, sickness, blah blah. Food pyramids promote carbs and grains. Both of which my body has been using as energy for years. And I have struggled with my weight for years also. And now I have learned, there are ways to make your body switch and become ‘fat adaptive’. Utilizing this very specific eating style will then cause your body to use FAT as a primary energy source instead! YEAH, I didn’t know this was an option either!
Ketogenic isn’t just another ‘diet’ like Atkins, Paleo, or South Beach. It is more like a hidden secret the diet industry doesn’t want you to know. It has been used with a lot of diabetics and has helped improve their sugar levels or taken them off their medications altogether.
I am still reading the book because it covers IT ALL and it is science and learning new things. But, I began Intermittent Fasting last weekend, the 15th of June in an effort to wean myself off sugar again. I started creating a larger ‘eating window’ to start, from 11 am to 7 pm. but I will narrow it down again to 12-5pm.
What I am Doing for Ketogenic So Far
I have gone cold turkey on carbs four days ago too. It is a necessary step to push your body into becoming ‘fat adaptive’. After 47 years of carbs, it will take at least 10-15 days to switch my body over. So I decided to go EXTREME with it. I have realized I am better at all or nothing when trying to get something under control or change. I am only consuming the carbs found in veggies and other small, natural locations. No sweets. No sugar. No pasta. No bread. No potatoes. BUT, I have to eat some chicken and turkey – instead of going plant-based – while I transition, to make sure I’ve covered proteins and any fat. I am adding MORE healthy fats because this is a HUGE key component to the health benefits and turning my body into ketosis. Fat-burning for fuel instead of glucose.
This book is an EXCELLENT source because it covers everything. But it is a lot to take in. I have to do it slowly.
So now THIS is the journey I have begun – IF and Ketogenic. I can already tell there is a difference. Being hungry off carbs is like this ache at the pit of your stomach that cannot be satiated. I can break a fast (right now I am going from 7 pm to 11 am daily, which is a 16 hour-fast. Once I get it more manageable, I will do two-24 hour fasts a week too) with a couple of bits of healthy fat and I am already not hungry. As we speak, I ate five hours ago, and I am still full. I can push through the hunger to work out, not like carbs.
So join me on this new journey! This is NOT hype (well it could be, but not mine!). Not sponsored content, who-ha, or anything! Let’s see how this works, it could be a GOLDMINE to me!
