Keto

I wanted to give a diet update. Starting February 1st, Michael and I are trying the Keto Diet.

I did a “low-ish carb” diet a few times last year and the year before and lost 10 pounds or so and was 9 pounds from my pre-pregnancy weight. Honestly, I was not a huge fan of the low carb diet. I felt like crap most of the time. While I wasn’t necessarily hungry, I just felt like I had low energy a lot and when I worked out I felt like garbage. I felt it most when I ran. I found that I could only do the low carb diet thing for about 4 weeks or so at a time and then I’d have to take a break because it made me feel so crappy.

Well, I decided to give Keto a try. I’ve been hearing so much about it for a few years now and it seems like MAYBE it’s better than a low carb diet? Maybe?? I don’t know. All I know is that after gaining back all the weight I lost (and a few extra) on the prozac last year, I needed to do something and just doing what I did before to lose weight wasn’t working.

The challenges of Keto were going to be 1) Giving up fruit– I love fruit…  2) Finding the hidden sugars that are IN EVERYTHING and … 3) Giving up my coffee creamer.

I went to the grocery store and looked at the different creamers out there. The Almond milk creamer sounded good but it had sugar cane. The Coconut Creamer, which I’ve tried before and is delicious, also had sugar in it. Then I found this one:

Seemed promising!

As for the food part of the Keto Diet… I did some research and used the Diet Doctor website and their Instagram feed for ideas and recipes and meal plans. I made a list and honestly it wasn’t far off from what we already eat on a regular basis. We just had to stop eatings things like sweet potatoes, beans, etc. We don’t eat rice or pasta on a regular basis, maybe once or twice a month, so giving that up wasn’t a hardship.

What was hard, was processed food — EVERY processed food– has sugar in it. So simple things like salad dressing, even if it’s just a simple vinaigrette, you look at the ingredients and it has sugar. Same with our favorite blue cheese dressing. So aggravating! The good news, my Trader Joe’s Goddess Dressing that I use a lot does not have sugar in it! YAY! So I can use that and then Michael will make a Caesar dressing for us to use (he makes a great one) and I make a pretty good mustard vinaigrette). The downside to homemade dressing is that it doesn’t keep long. Oh well.

Another challenge to the Keto diet will be variety and not getting sick of eating meat and cheese. I’m working on different menus and meal plans for variety. We got this black bean pasta at New Seasons that is supposedly Keto-friendly? (I’m not really sure how since beans aren’t allowed? But maybe because the protein is so high and the fiber count makes the carb count low?? I am still researching…) We plan on having this pasta with pesto not marinara (which is not keto friendly, boo).

And of course, the bone broth:

So this week I am working on eating some of the things around the house that are NOT keto friendly (like the carrots and the tuna salad I have that has sugar in it–WHY IS THERE SUGAR IN IT?!?!–and the homemade sourdough I made). And starting Friday! Keto!

QUESTION: If you are on Keto, any tips?