Please help me sort my diet out!

[luke wilson]

I think I got it. Taking personal responsibility.

Right, is it ok to you know, read around, using the search function and all, then from what I think from what I have read, design my own menu (what I will be eating)... then after I have designed my own menu, can I ask if it is ok?

That way I won't just be asking people to just tell me the answers...

Is this fine??

 

[Beau]

Once you move closer to ketogenic, like Paleo, and get away from the evil foods, you'll find that eating a big ole breakfast of sausage, bacon, and eggs carries you pretty well through the day. Unlike the standard diet, it doesn't leave you craving food every couple of hours. But, it takes a little bit to get to that point. You need to be patient, and you need to plan your meals ahead of time. If you cook enough the night before, or cook large portions like on the weekend, then you can take a little meal for lunch with you to work and you can avoid eating cafe food. But you need to plan, and you need to WANT to change, otherwise you'll find yourself exactly where you're at.

Regarding honey, here's what Maria Emmerich, author of Keto-Adapted, wrote:

It's no secret that white sugar is a food you should consume sparingly, but is honey a healthier alternative? Honey may be less refined and more natural than white sugar, but honey is still high in calories and fructose. It contains sugar and calories just like any other sweetener. One teaspoon of natural honey contains 22 calories. Honey actually contains more calories than sugar, as one teaspoon of sugar contains 16 calories. The biggest problem with honey is that it is roughly 50% fructose.

Although honey is a fattening food, it does provide some nutritional benefits that are lacking in white sugar. Honey contains vitamins such as niacin, riboflavin, thiamine, and vitamin B6, though it contains only traces of these minerals. Additionally, honey doesn't even get close to the US Dept. of Agriculture's recommended daily standards. Although these trace vitamins might make honey a slightly better choice than white sugar, it's still not a healthy food. Despite the fact that several websites claim honey to be some kind of miracle food, most of these statements are mythical and unproven. If you still think honey is worth using in your baked goods because of the vitamins, let me put it another way: only 2% of honey contains vitamins! And in most cases, store bought honey doesn't even contain the pollen that is claimed to have health benefits.

Honey without pollen is a watered down, synthetic scam. The majority of honey on supermarket shelves is made from an ultra-filtering process that heats honey to high temperatures, using high levels of pressure to force it through exceptionally small filters to eliminate pollen. Why are they doing this? It is so manufacturers can hide where they are getting the honey from. And why would they want to conceal the honey's source? Well, because most of the honey comes from Chinese markets that are responsible for allowing dangerous antibiotics and ample amounts of heavy metals to enter imported honey products.

You might be thinking, "OK Maria, then I will only buy honey from my friends that make their own." In that case, remember that by weight, a homemade batch of honey is 82% sugar. Half of that sugar (40% of the total weight) is fructose, and the honey still contains only trace amounts of vitamins and minerals. Your body doesn't care whether you ingest honey or table sugar; once they enter your bloodstream, you produce an abundance of insulin. To your body, sugar is sugar. All types of sugar should be consumed cautiously, even if it is honey.

In short, if you want to sweeten your tea, better to use xylitol or stevia. I would highly recommend getting a copy of Maria's book.

 

[Psalehesost]

As mentioned in the thread "Ketoadaptation - Consensus", actually the paleo diet - and a long transition to paleo and then keto - is obsolete. With what we've learned, there's no reason not to go straight to keto. The quickest way to get up to speed at this point is to read Maria Emmerich's book Keto-Adapted, which covers most of what we have learned in the "Ketogenic Diet - Path To Transformation?" thread.

The recommended reading list and guide should really have mentioned this, but it hasn't been updated in a long time now since everyone's been too busy to review the pending new version.

Regarding honey, I know Laura says to remove honey... is this still the ethos? What's the word on Manuka honey? It has been super good to me..

The problem is that honey is full of sugar.

Anyways, now moving to the really hard part of the day... the hours between 9 am and 5pm... i.e. the hours at work. I'll be honest and say, I buy food stuff from local cafes. Usually I get soup but that doesn't really fill me up. Sometimes I get wraps but that contains gluten... Guys you can hardly buy anything without gluten!!

So what stuff can I have between these hours?? Preferably also some stuff to snack on in between... (PS I can make some stuff and take in - I am not Gordon Ramsey though so lack above average cooking skills!)

Why not simply do the last thing you mentioned? You can just make big batches of food whenever you cook (saves you time) and then bring a lunch box. Saves you money in addition to leaving the decision of all ingredients in your hands.

Paleo and keto cooking is also about as simple as cooking can get - all you really need is meat (and/or fish, or eggs, etc.), good fat, and salt. Cook, fry, bake, whatever - then salt it and it's done.

You can also look up bone broth on the forum for a very filling (and nutritious) "soup" that's simple to make.


There's a bit more to consider if you head into keto - which I would recommend for a quick change - but you'll read about that in Emmerich's book, if you get it. In short, it has to do with moderating the amount of protein you eat, making sure you get enough fat, etc. Regarding fat, there's a recipe to be found for something called a "fat bomb". You may find that a bit more complicated, but the steps are discussed in the recipe threads that mention it.

 

[Psalehesost]

I think I got it. Taking personal responsibility.

Right, is it ok to you know, read around, using the search function and all, then from what I think from what I have read, design my own menu (what I will be eating)... then after I have designed my own menu, can I ask if it is ok?

That way I won't just be asking people to just tell me the answers...

Is this fine??

You can go one step further when it comes to personal responsibility. If you read Emmerich's book - which is not too long - then in the process you'll learn enough to evaluate your own menus. It also covers common problems people run into (symptoms and solutions), so you'll be able to troubleshoot most issues on your own. If there's still something you need to know, of course you can ask, but at any rate it'll significantly reduce the number of things you need to ask about.

 

[luke wilson]

Consider the book bought.

Thanks for the recommendation. Before it arrives and I finish reading it, I'll still work on improving my diet.

 

[theos]

Consider the book bought.

Thanks for the recommendation. Before it arrives and I finish reading it, I'll still work on improving my diet.

While you're waiting for your book to arrive you can chew on this SOTT article regarding the keto diet: http://www.sott.net/article/267113-Ketogenic-diet-plan

Check out the links at the bottom of the article too. Happy reading! :D

 

[CNS]

Consider the book bought.

Thanks for the recommendation. Before it arrives and I finish reading it, I'll still work on improving my diet.

While you're waiting for your book to arrive you can chew on this SOTT article regarding the keto diet: http://www.sott.net/article/267113-Ketogenic-diet-plan

Check out the links at the bottom of the article too. Happy reading! :D

Great link Odyssey! The SO and I are getting our ketone meters and Emmerich's book this weekend. I am so excited to get started on becoming ketotic!

Luke, really, I think as Gawan suggested, it is more important for you to focus on your diet right now than psychology. I am finding that until I got my body straight by getting rid of gluten and dairy (besides butter of course), I was not able to grok or even really retain the information sufficiently enough to put The Work into practice.

Remember, it's about the here and now...and the health of our minds and bodies are codependent. That is to say, if one is not working well, the other lags behind too. So the best advice is to just immerse yourself in diet and wellness books and threads, and believe it or not, you may find that you will learn a lot about yourself while you make the journey!

Good luck. :)

 

[Dragon Snacks]

I try to keep it simple–

NO:
Sugar
White Flour
Alcohol
Caffeine

Eat mostly veggies and fruit and some protein.

I've cut down a lot on meat and seem to have more energy.

So why are some people against legumes?

 

[H-KQGE]

Start your day with something fatty. I have fatty minced pork with a cup of bone broth. Half a cup is fine, the fat level should be tolerable level. With my meat I have peas (okay) or green beans (better). The peas have more carbs than the green beans and to me at least, they're sugary. So either or the other is fine when transitioning, your mind/body will still probably be hungry for some sugar. Which is why paleo to keto was effective as its a gentle movement away from the "Standard American Diet." As said earlier by Psalehesost, this part has been rendered obsolete, but I think some people might struggle with the fat ratios/levels. This is where the "Fat bomb" recipe comes in. An extremely effective way of getting the quantities of required fat and at the same time, making it palatable (and fun).

So, putting paleo aside, those with full adaptation to keto will be able to better guide you in this respect. I'm up several hours before work to cook (on my cooking days) and eat and read. The above is my pre-work food, then when I return I have my keto-ice-cream (modified fat bomb, keto-custard. Read the threads recommended for more) and I'm fine until bedtime. I eat less than I did before (a few months ago) when still on paleo and actually, I'm going to eat half of my breakfast meat and save it for after work with the keto ice-cream. To clarify, that's one bowl of fatty mince (a day) with some greens, and a cup of keto "ice-cream." And I can't say that I'm hungry either, which is amazing as I was regularly hungry a few months before.

But reading those threads are still a must (you'll eventually see why) and you don't want any serious mishaps do you? Imo, the psychology and cognitive science goes hand-in-hand with diet (I kept up with both boards long before any attempts at change and it helped to process the info mentally and emotionally) where you can see just how the mind, body (not forgetting emotions) are inextricably linked through biochemistry. But yeah, on the psych stuff, take a "pause for the cause." You'll also need supplementation with your diet changes.

Look out on those threads for things such as milk thistle, (liver support) trace minerals, ALA (alpha lipoic acid - a vitamin like fatty acid) NAC (N-acetyl cysteine -amino acid for protein structure) amongst others. In one of Casteneda's books it's said that "being good at what you like is easy, being good at what you don't like is the real challenge." Or something similar. I think that applies here regarding a possible block in not wanting to read such important information on those threads. Once you begin to DO, you'll accelerate your learning and your interest will surely grow in something that was once uninteresting.... learning IS fun!

 

[Mr. Premise]

It's really simple, Luke. Eliminate all gluten. Don't eat anything that is or was a seed (grains or beans/legumes, nuts). Eat as much saturated fat (animal fat) as you can. Don't eat anything with milk protein in it (milk, cheese, etc.) butter is OK. Don't eat fruit (too much sugar). Keep carbohydrates below 25g a day ideally. You'll feel great and never be hungry. Eat all the bacon, eggs, sausage, meat you want as long as you have lots of fat with it.

 

[Anthony]

I try to keep it simple–

NO:
Sugar
White Flour
Alcohol
Caffeine

Eat mostly veggies and fruit and some protein.

I've cut down a lot on meat and seem to have more energy.

So why are some people against legumes?

Legumes contain anti-nutrients. It's their self-defense mechanism against
predators. Fruit is mainly poison, not only because of fructose but also because of
all the pesticides.

 

[Wisteria]

Once you move closer to ketogenic, like Paleo, and get away from the evil foods, you'll find that eating a big ole breakfast of sausage, bacon, and eggs carries you pretty well through the day. Unlike the standard diet, it doesn't leave you craving food every couple of hours.

Ooh yes! I have bacon and eggs cooked with a tablespoon of coconut oil every day for breakfast. It keeps me going until dinner. I remember it being difficult to remove bread from the equation at first, but once you get used to it, it becomes second nature. And using loads of fat makes breakfast (and all meals) so yummy and filling!

 

[Alana]

It's really simple, Luke. Eliminate all gluten. Don't eat anything that is or was a seed (grains or beans/legumes, nuts). Eat as much saturated fat (animal fat) as you can. Don't eat anything with milk protein in it (milk, cheese, etc.) butter is OK. Don't eat fruit (too much sugar). Keep carbohydrates below 25g a day ideally. You'll feel great and never be hungry. Eat all the bacon, eggs, sausage, meat you want as long as you have lots of fat with it.

It is actually a lot simpler to eat the paleo/ketogenic way, and you also end up spending less money on food. Once you get and read the Keto-adapted book, you will see that it contains simple recipes. Some of them you will want to change a bit, since she is using dairy cream sometimes if I recall correctly, but you can substitute it with coconut cream/milk. Make fat-bombs once a week and keep it in small cups in the freezer to have everyday. It's really fun after you get the handle of it, to change your diet, and to notice how much better your brain and body works without all the carbs/sugars.

And I agree with CNS that the diet changes are more important for you right now than the psychology reading. After your brain balances with the diet changes, you will see that some "issues" you have are due to giving your body the wrong fuel all this time. Plus, you will see that you will be able to read faster and retain more of what you are reading. But take it a step at a time and have patience.

 

[Ollie]

Once you move closer to ketogenic, like Paleo, and get away from the evil foods, you'll find that eating a big ole breakfast of sausage, bacon, and eggs carries you pretty well through the day. Unlike the standard diet, it doesn't leave you craving food every couple of hours.

Ooh yes! I have bacon and eggs cooked with a tablespoon of coconut oil every day for breakfast. It keeps me going until dinner. I remember it being difficult to remove bread from the equation at first, but once you get used to it, it becomes second nature. And using loads of fat makes breakfast (and all meals) so yummy and filling!

You may like to do this too. It is simple and easy, and, if you fry/cook excess bacon you can take it to work for lunch, with the lard left over from cooking. Also, hard boiled eggs are a good addition for lunch/dinner too (plenty of advice on the net for how to ensure that the eggs are hard :)). So, lunch/dinner in the office can be cooked ahead of time.

And, I agree with the other advice given, and, as Alana has stated - 'you also end up spending less money on food.'

 

[Skyalmian]

It's really simple, Luke. Eliminate all gluten. Don't eat anything that is or was a seed (grains or beans/legumes, nuts). Eat as much saturated fat (animal fat) as you can. Don't eat anything with milk protein in it (milk, cheese, etc.) butter is OK. Don't eat fruit (too much sugar). Keep carbohydrates below 25g a day ideally. You'll feel great and never be hungry. Eat all the bacon, eggs, sausage, meat you want as long as you have lots of fat with it.

(to Luke) Don't forget the gluten clones:

_http://primaldocs.com/opinion/19-foods-that-cross-react-with-gluten
_http://paleoplan.com/2013/04-22/bad-news-guys-coffee-can-look-like-gluten-to-your-body