I Was Diagnosed With Metabolic Syndrome and Why I Started Eating Keto

I had been eating the Medical Medium way for a few years, and I considered myself pescatarian, ate whole food plant-based, and ate no dairy, meat, poultry, or eggs.

Diagnosis

6 weeks ago (August 2020), I decided to see a medical herbalist, Richard Whelan, I had wanted to see him for years, but I think I wasn’t prepared to face what he might say about my health. My goal was to get my high blood pressure seen alternatively, and I had not long been diagnosed with high cholesterol.

Well, I got a bit of a shock; he did quite a few blood tests by pricking my finger and running it through machines and looking at it under the microscope. Listening to my heartbeat and taking my blood pressure.

He said as soon as he saw me, he knew I had metabolic syndrome, which is a combination of high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and holding weight around your middle area that’s so stubborn that everything you try won’t budge it. And I had tried so much, as well as exercise. Nothing shifted those numbers.

He said it wasn’t a case of if I get diabetes, but when. He considered me pre-diabetic.

I was speechless; I mumbled that I thought I ate really well and healthy, that I did like refined sugar, but for the most part, I wasn’t out of control.

So he gave me some herbs for my liver and some other vitamins and herbs to take, magnesium acetate, chromium, vitamin b complex, st marys thistle and hawthorn, and reishi. (affiliate links)

Keto

He then said he wanted me to eat Keto.

I was like, “Keto?????” what????

I was aghast; I said that Keto had thrown my thyroid out 4 years ago, going low carb.

So he asked me what I was prepared to do; I said I was prepared to research it. And he was happy about that.

Thyroid and Keto

So I got to doing research solidly for about a week. He had suggested I sign up to dietdoctor.com, which I did.

And I spent a lot of time trying to work out why keto wouldn’t throw my thyroid out again as it had done.

Then I got to work out why it happened.

I had been eating dirty keto. Which is basically just eating all the fatty foods like sausages and bacon and meat and eggs, and none of the vegetables.

I spent quite a bit of time exploring vegan keto and decided it would be too hard.

So I brought some meat, eggs, and other foods and threw out most things from my cupboards with higher carbs. It was very hard to throw out my old foods, which I considered healthy.

I have come to find out that those foods are healthy for some people, just the same as keto doesn’t work for everyone.

Stomach Upset

So, I seemed to do quite well the first few weeks; I went into the keto flu stage as my body was adapting, then I was struck down with diarrhea.

I went off all my vitamins and herbs. After 10 days, I went back to my old way of eating to see if it was perhaps the fat; perhaps I had changed my diet way too fast instead of slowly adding foods.

I did a food tracker and was about to make an appt with my doctor when I came right.

So I did ok for a week, then this past weekend, it started again. I dissected what I had been eating, and finally, I could work out what was causing it because it was going to suck if it was the fats.

It was sucralose. The sweetener in the Powerade zero I was using for electrolytes when I was feeling the keto flu. Which was a vicious circle because I would think I would need to be replacing electrolytes because of the diarrhea and then drink more.

Moving Forward

I haven’t weighed myself in a few weeks, but I was starting to lose weight steadily, and this morning I measured my waist and realized I lost 15.5cm in a month.

I really do like eating keto. It's very satiating. I have introduced some dairy but not much. I am eating chicken mostly, some meat, and eggs. But this time I am eating a lot more vegetables than I was doing last time.

I had a blood test a few weeks ago, and my thyroid is in range, and my liver results are all in range too, something I haven’t seen for the 4 years I have been having blood tests.

I will give you updates on how I am going from time to time.

Postscript: 5 months after starting keto, I started to have anxiety and went for a blood test. Sure enough, what I feared would happen, I’m early stages hyperthyroidism, I have upped my carbs, and have an appointment to see Richard in early February 2021. I have lost 12kg.

Postscript: 2022 My thyroid is back in range, I had to start eating carbs, I put weight back on, so decided to go Low Carb which is eating around 100 grams of carbs a day.

I would say I have not sorted this issue yet.

Kate Strong is an Intuitive/Healer and specializes in soul healings, the emotion code, body code, cord-cutting, past life healings, ancestral healings, and she writes courses.

She also likes to blog about lots of different topics on mind, body, spirit.

You can find her at https://www.katestrong.com, where you can sign up for her newsletter.