Keto - Day 1

It seems most get into Keto first and then slowly adapt to fasting. I’m doing it all backwards.

I’ve gone from experimenting with fasting to being, what I’d like to think is, a real “faster” over the last two years, but I’ve never really gotten into Keto. Sure, I have the strips. Yes, they’ve turned pink a few times for a few days, but I wasn’t really in a place where I was ready to go all-in on the fat-heavy diet. And, with Keto there’s just no half-ass-ing it, is there?

As someone who reads (ok, “listens to”) everything I can in the fasting universe, it is impossible not to cross paths with the trendy diet and be curious. The concept of switching from burning sugar on a traditional diet to using ketones for fuel makes a lot of sense since I believe Dr. Jason Fung and others who teach that Type II diabetes and many chronic diseases are a product of insulin resistance and a chronically inflamed body. I’m extremely curious about Keto’s health benefits, the lack of mental fog, the eradication of cancerous cells, the effortless weight loss that is described, etc. However, I felt like I was already getting a lot of that from fasting, so despite my love of butter and bacon, I was not dying to try something so restrictive that forced me to forgo beloved carbs.

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Why am I finally trying this?

  1. I am reading (ok, fine. “listening to”)  Dr. Boz’s book, Anyway You Can. About her 10+ year journey trying to cure her mother’s Leukemia. She lays out so many great benefits and her own journey of making the leap to this fat-fueled lifestyle that it is hard not to want to give it a try.

  2. Initially I tried ADF (Alternate Day Fasting) as an experiment and learned to LOVE the lifestyle. If the people who turned me on to fasting believe this is the best way to eat, who am I to doubt them without any hard evidence or personal experience to refute it?

  3. And, finally, I LOVE a good challenge. It used to be fasting for 36 hours was a big challenge for me. Now, *yawn*, I can do that in my sleep.

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Of course, I’m kicking off June with a 36 hour fast or so, to jump start my Ketosis month. Right now, as I sip coffee on our back patio with two very sleepy puppies at my feet, I feel excited and a little apprehensive. I’ve never been someone to share my life so publically before (usually I stick to 1-2 people) and usually I prefer to try things in secret – so I know if I will succeed or fail, before I tell anyone. This, therefore, is a double challenge for me.

My plan is to stick to <20 carbs per day for the month, period. The way Dr. Boz suggests and then start measuring ketone levels via the pee strips tomorrow. I also have a Ketone/Glucose monitor, so once I know I’m in Ketosis I can start calculating those fancy ratios everyone is talking about.

This is not an easy switch for me. Even before I’ve begun, I’m already trying to figure out how to make this lifestyle work for me with the least amount of disruption. Last night as we sipped on glasses of our favorite boxed wine, I asked Ben how I could calculate how many carbs were in this glass. He didn’t know off the top of his head, but he’s going to look into it for me -- perks of a fiancé who’s a biochemist.

If you have any tips for making it through your first week of Keto, I’d love them!!

xoxo

KO