While the paleo diet was having a profound effect on my glucose regulation, I still required all my medication to keep me well. I was taking Diamicron and Diabex for glucose control and Tritace for hypertension. Tritace, in particular, was giving me a number of undesirable side-effects.
I needed to refine or replace my paleo diet to somehow ameliorate the terror I sensed when I would think about my future. The future as described by my GP and dietitian was not a pleasant - or long - one; a quick descent into increasing decrepitude.
Dr Google was pressed into service and I was soon inundated by a torrent of pop-ups and ads for spurious and expensive diabetes "cures". However, while trawling through facebook, I stumbled on a discussion on the ketogenic diet and the efficacy and ease with which it could resolve metabolic diseases, including type 2 diabetes!
I now had a search term for Google that returned real information, real plans, and real solutions. ref 1 ref 2 ref 3
The first hurdle most people have to jump when beginning ketosis is the realisation that bread, potatoes, rice and starchy vegetables, sugar, soft drinks and most fruit were now out-of-bounds. Having already started paleo, keto was but another step toward real food and real recovery.
I read and researched the ketogenic diet for two days, working up the courage to face the keto flu that everyone said I would have to go through when becoming keto adapted. The process is now called carb-withdrawal. This occurs because your body is changing from burning primarily glucose for its energy to burning mostly ketones. The brain requires a small amount of glucose to function optimally and this is supplied by the liver using a process called gluconeogenesis - you don't need to consume any. However, the liver needs a few days to "learn" how much glucose to produce for the brain, and during this period, the body essentially experiences a prolonged hypoglycemia.
This hypoglycemic "keto flu" is the source of much of the medical and dietetic communities' aversion to the ketogenic diet as impractical. Their claim is that ketosis leads to brain fog, muscle aches, dizziness, and other discomforts. The keto flu was mild as it took me almost a month to adapt and it was over almost before I knew I had it.
Immediately, my blood glucose was better. Who would have guessed? Removing the sources of glucose from my diet led to less glucose in my blood! My energy levels grew and my mind sharpened considerably.
Astoundingly, my GP was worried. He confounded my ketosis with a dangerous condition known as ketoacidosis. I had to explain to him the difference between the two.
Ketosis is a state where your body's glucose remains low and your liver produces ketone bodies to fuel itself. This is what happens in the womb, in Inuit communities and tribal societies all over the world, it is a normal metabolic state.
It also occurred naturally in primitive human societies when the carbohydrate feast of summer ended every year and throughout the ice ages.
Ketoacidosis is a dangerous state that occurs primarily in type 1 diabetics but also in type 2 diabetics who no longer produce any insulin. It is characterised by very high levels of blood glucose and very high levels of keto-bodies at the same time. Ketoacidosis
The best thing about nutritional ketosis (keto) is that the food is delicious! Not only that but that hungry beast that continuously compels you to eat is tamed. Your appetite is now under control. Make sure you have plenty of eggs, cheese, cream, bacon, ham (not sugar or honey cured, though), fish, chicken, leafy green vegetables.
Drink plenty of water and don't skimp on the salt, especially when you are becoming keto adapted. Also, take a multivitamin and a mineral supplement for the first month or so to avoid cramps. After that, you won't need to. Salt is important, when your body is adapting to ketosis, you will lose a lot of water and minerals. Once you are properly adapted, your kidneys will conserve your electrolytes much more efficiently.
Real food.
The cheaper, fatty cuts of meat, lamb, pork, beef.
Chicken with the skin on.
Oily fish.
Deli meats.
Full-fat cheese.
Cream cheese.
Eggs.
Full-fat cream.
Grass-fed butter.
Water.
Tea & Coffee - sweetened with Stevia (an acquired taste, but worth it).
Olive oil.
Coconut oil.
Macadamia oil.
Lard.
Dripping.
Rendered duck fat.
Green leafy vegetables.
Broccoli.
Cucumber.
Cauliflower.
Avocado.
You can have a small amount of either nuts or berries, but it's really easy to get carried away with them.
Manufactured foods and so-called low-carb bars.
Margarine.
Polyunsaturated fats and oils.
Trans-fats.
Starchy vegetables.
Root vegetables.
Sugar, molasses, golden syrup, honey, maple syrup.
Bread, pasta, rice, cakes, potatoes.
Beer.
Anything sweet or starchy.
There are plenty of guides like this one or this printable PDF.
Next: What does the science say?
I needed to refine or replace my paleo diet to somehow ameliorate the terror I sensed when I would think about my future. The future as described by my GP and dietitian was not a pleasant - or long - one; a quick descent into increasing decrepitude.
Dr Google was pressed into service and I was soon inundated by a torrent of pop-ups and ads for spurious and expensive diabetes "cures". However, while trawling through facebook, I stumbled on a discussion on the ketogenic diet and the efficacy and ease with which it could resolve metabolic diseases, including type 2 diabetes!
I now had a search term for Google that returned real information, real plans, and real solutions. ref 1 ref 2 ref 3
The first hurdle most people have to jump when beginning ketosis is the realisation that bread, potatoes, rice and starchy vegetables, sugar, soft drinks and most fruit were now out-of-bounds. Having already started paleo, keto was but another step toward real food and real recovery.
I read and researched the ketogenic diet for two days, working up the courage to face the keto flu that everyone said I would have to go through when becoming keto adapted. The process is now called carb-withdrawal. This occurs because your body is changing from burning primarily glucose for its energy to burning mostly ketones. The brain requires a small amount of glucose to function optimally and this is supplied by the liver using a process called gluconeogenesis - you don't need to consume any. However, the liver needs a few days to "learn" how much glucose to produce for the brain, and during this period, the body essentially experiences a prolonged hypoglycemia.
The dreaded keto flu.
This hypoglycemic "keto flu" is the source of much of the medical and dietetic communities' aversion to the ketogenic diet as impractical. Their claim is that ketosis leads to brain fog, muscle aches, dizziness, and other discomforts. The keto flu was mild as it took me almost a month to adapt and it was over almost before I knew I had it.
Immediately, my blood glucose was better. Who would have guessed? Removing the sources of glucose from my diet led to less glucose in my blood! My energy levels grew and my mind sharpened considerably.
Astoundingly, my GP was worried. He confounded my ketosis with a dangerous condition known as ketoacidosis. I had to explain to him the difference between the two.
Ketoacidosis.
Ketosis is a state where your body's glucose remains low and your liver produces ketone bodies to fuel itself. This is what happens in the womb, in Inuit communities and tribal societies all over the world, it is a normal metabolic state.
It also occurred naturally in primitive human societies when the carbohydrate feast of summer ended every year and throughout the ice ages.
Ketoacidosis is a dangerous state that occurs primarily in type 1 diabetics but also in type 2 diabetics who no longer produce any insulin. It is characterised by very high levels of blood glucose and very high levels of keto-bodies at the same time. Ketoacidosis
What do I eat then?
The best thing about nutritional ketosis (keto) is that the food is delicious! Not only that but that hungry beast that continuously compels you to eat is tamed. Your appetite is now under control. Make sure you have plenty of eggs, cheese, cream, bacon, ham (not sugar or honey cured, though), fish, chicken, leafy green vegetables.
Drink plenty of water and don't skimp on the salt, especially when you are becoming keto adapted. Also, take a multivitamin and a mineral supplement for the first month or so to avoid cramps. After that, you won't need to. Salt is important, when your body is adapting to ketosis, you will lose a lot of water and minerals. Once you are properly adapted, your kidneys will conserve your electrolytes much more efficiently.
DO EAT
Real food.
The cheaper, fatty cuts of meat, lamb, pork, beef.
Chicken with the skin on.
Oily fish.
Deli meats.
Full-fat cheese.
Cream cheese.
Eggs.
Full-fat cream.
Grass-fed butter.
Water.
Tea & Coffee - sweetened with Stevia (an acquired taste, but worth it).
Olive oil.
Coconut oil.
Macadamia oil.
Lard.
Dripping.
Rendered duck fat.
Green leafy vegetables.
Broccoli.
Cucumber.
Cauliflower.
Avocado.
You can have a small amount of either nuts or berries, but it's really easy to get carried away with them.
AVOID
Manufactured foods and so-called low-carb bars.Margarine.
Polyunsaturated fats and oils.
Trans-fats.
Starchy vegetables.
Root vegetables.
Sugar, molasses, golden syrup, honey, maple syrup.
Bread, pasta, rice, cakes, potatoes.
Beer.
Anything sweet or starchy.
There are plenty of guides like this one or this printable PDF.
Next: What does the science say?
How did your GP respond when you schooled homie the difference between ketosis and ketoacidosis? Was he accepting of your explanation?
ReplyDeleteNot really. His response was that I was kidding myself.
ReplyDelete