I'm a self experimenter and if there is a new diet out there, if I think it has scientific base, I’ll try it. Past experiments have included 19 years of vegetarianism, a year of eating raw food, 3 and a half years of being vegan, low fat diet, high protein diet and of course intermittent fasting for the last two years. For the last year though I embarked on an experiment to explore the claims about the ketogenic diet .
Originally used as a treatment for childhood epilepsy, the ketogenic diet started to come to the forefront in the last few years as a way to get your body to burn fat. It’s a controversial one because of its high fat content, which we have been lead to believe is a sure fire way to increase cholesterol and to give you heart disease.
Every time I told someone I intended to do a ketogenic diet, they asked me If i was worried about my cholesterol. Of course being me, I looked into it and found that the information that we have been given about diet and nutrition and the role of cholesterol in the body has been not only wrong, but also, that the truth has been suppressed to protect a market of pharmaceutical drugs.
I embarked on this journey in March 2019 and through a lot of trialling and failing, figured out how to do this diet to be able to maximise my fat burning potential. Here are 7 things I discovered on this journey into ketosis:
1. Keto Is Not About Eggs, Cheese & Bacon
Keto has a reputation for being able to eat all the meat and eggs and cheese you like, but this is simply not true. The health benefits from keto come from combating inflammation, the root cause of diseases such as heart disease, diabetes and alzheimer's disease. Dairy products by nature are inflammatory. The health benefits come from raising the amount of healthy fats (coconut, avocado and olive oils, egg yolks, ghee and saturated (yes, saturated) fat). They also come from the plentiful green leafy vegetables you can eat.
2. The Mental Clarity Is Amazing
One of the reasons I wanted to try keto was this mental clarity that everyone was talking about. I can confirm the rumours, they are totally true. When you switch to burning ketones in your brain it's like another level of clarity.
3. You Are Not Hungry
The reason this diet rose to popularity because of its appetite dampening effect. Its true, hunger is not the same on keto, you can easily fast for long periods of time without being bothered by hunger pangs. Because keto enables you to burn fat efficiently, your body can switch from dietary fat to body fat seamlessly.
4. Your Capacity For Exercise Changes
I noticed early on that my preference for exercises shifted from more intense exercise to lower intensity exercise and my endurance got better. Also my ability to sustain a steady state increased with my ability to burn fat. Much less getting tired after long periods of endurance exercise.
5. You Lose Water Weight
In the first week of doing keto I noticed a drop in my water retention. The first few days i saw my body dumping water because its carbohydrate that holds water in your body. This is also a reason that you have to look after your hydration much more carefully than when you’re eating carbohydrates.
6. Your Skin Looks Much Better
It’s probably due to the increase in consumption of healthy fats and green leafy vegetables and an increase in thirst (due to your body letting go of water with the decrease of carbohydrate).
7. Keto Flu Is Real
I spent the first 4 weeks at least with the symptoms of keto flu because I didn’t adequately supplement electrolytes. Your sodium requirement is very high when you’re in ketosis as your body lets it all go with the water that carbs hold in your body. I learned to add more salt to my food and drink electrolytes while exercising.
If you’re interested in the ketogenic diet I have created a meal plan that help you see if it's for you. Click here for my FREE 7 day meal plan here or if you want to get my 28 day meal plan you can purchase it here for only $26. Connect with me and share with me on Facebook and Instagram how my recipes turned out for you on social media
@trainermim and use hashtag #trainermim
Can't wait for you to taste my creations on social!
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