Keto for Health & Fitness

As a teenager, I was very slim naturally. But as I stepped into my mid-twenties, the years of living a gigging musician's unhealthy life, with excessive drinking, zero knowledge of nutrition (I didn't even know what "carbs" were), I gained about 22 pounds. Which wasn't pretty on my tiny petite frame. I ate the same amounts as my 5'10" boyfriend and drank nearly as much wine. My exercise regime was made up of dancing on stage during the gigs. As I entered my 30s, I started to feel like I had lost myself. Not that being slim is the be all and end all, but I felt my confidence levels weren't there. I started to feel sluggish, I was constantly tired, and I'd throw my back out whenever I tried picking up an object heavier than ten pounds. So I started looking for "diets." I tried every diet in the books:

• 5:2—Totally unsustainable for me, I love my food! It was absolute torture and lead me to binge the next day.
• Carb cycling/carb timing—I was tired on low carb days and suffered from sugar rush on high carb days. Yes even on complex carbs!
• Low fat diet—Once again low fat diets didn't work for me, not only did I stay the same shape/weight but my skin started to look sallow, my hair lost its lustre and got thinner.

I started to suspect that I may have something medically wrong with me—thyroid maybe? I did a blood test but my thyroid levels were optimal.

My blood sugar levels, however, were in the high normal according to my doctor but basically knocking on pre-diabetes numbers.

I started researching diets best for diabetes and amongst droves of "eat a balanced diet with low GI" I stumbled upon ketogenic diet. Ketogenic diet means eating zero to very low carb but keeping dietary fats very high to use fat for energy and fuel instead or sugars and carbs. The idea was that carbs, in some people (not all), cause a body-wide inflammatory processes which react even worse when eaten with high fat foods. But here's the kicker: remove the carbs and our bodies are capable of learning to use fat for fuel instead—both dietary and our own fat reserves! It seemed complete opposite to what we're taught. Eat fat and you get fat, right? Turns out we've been taught wrong.

I had little to lose at this point, with my future looking like a lifetime of meds. So I decided to give it a go. My partner looked at me as if I had grown a third head when I announced I'm going carb-free. Me! A self-professed carb queen. I lived on pasta and bread!

It took me a few tries to get "keto-adapted"—it's a brutal process first few times. You body must create new enzymes to start to utilise "ketones" for fuel. These little things are produced in your liver and until you "teach" your body to convert them into usable fuel, the body rebels. I'm talking headaches that don't go away with regular painkillers, you get so thirsty that 3L of water is not enough, you feel weak, fatigued, and, frankly, angry at the world (some call it keto-rage). The weakness is due to lack of extra glycogen stores in the muscles. All of these symptoms go away after a week or two. The keto adaptation process would deter even the strongest if you don't know the end goal. You actually feel like your body is not well at all. The full keto adaptation can take up to three months. And that's only if you're stuffing your face with fats and only fats so that your body starts to "get it."

And then... One day you wake up and there's a mental clarity that was never there before. Stress levels are down, way down. There's no lack of energy or dips in energy as the day goes on. I started sleeping much better. I needed less sleep as a result. I was suddenly able to do these 16-hour days and not feel totally run down at the end of the day.

Within two months I lost ten pounds (about 5kg). I wasn't restricting calories, I wasn't even counting them. I was enjoying food again. My partner decided to give keto a go too. By this time we were both going to the gym about 4-5 times a week. But as I'll discover later, while I was exercising, I wasn't working hard enough to make a change in my shape. More on that another time.

So here we are, two years on and I am still largely keto. It's an enjoyable, simple way of eating, contrary to what most internet recipes will have you think. I am now a successful fitness competitor—on top of having a couple of businesses that require my presence in the office Mon-Fri for ten hours each day.

And yes the photo above is me. I am 37 years old and I've never felt better.

So what do I eat in a day?

I start my day with a couple of fried eggs and a good splash of organic cream and organic full fat milk in my coffee. Yum!

For lunch I have a green salad with avocado and/or Mozarella cheese. In the City of London where I work, I usually go to Pret and have one of those crayfish avocado salads.

I may have some pork rind as a snack. Alternatively, I'll have another creamy coffee or even some pine nuts or low carb beef jerky.

When I come home, I have some salmon with green beans and butter. Sometimes I'll have another egg if I'm still hungry and make myself a keto Caesar salad, with the fatty dressing from Asda Growers but without the croutons. I add pork rind instead. I keep it simple during the week.

On the weekends we sometimes do chicken thighs or wings baked in butter. I like to eat them with Frank's Buffalo Sauce—what's not to like!

Eating out on keto is easy too—I stick to a steak and simple salad and no one even knows I am on keto! On the days when I know I'll be going out I will restrict my protein, because keto is moderate protein. Consuming too much protein will make your body go through "gluconeogenesis" which means the body will create it's own extra glucose from the extra protein. Kicking you out of that hard earned ketosis.

In conclusion I would like to point a few things out if you're considering going keto: if you are not overweight and you don't suffer from energy crashes in the day, don't mess with that! Also if you're still very young and/or slim (sub 27 years old) I don't see a reason to do keto. You don't have a problem with carbs!

If, however, you've started to notice the "rubber ring" on your belly and it seems to be very resistant to diets and exercise, it's likely that your body is less and less able to deal with excess carbs that are all around us.

To remind you, on keto you must avoid:

• Rice
• Bread
• Potatoes
• Chips/crisps
• Carrots
• Swede
• Pasta
• Corn
• Quinoa
• Oats

Please note that if you've ever had any gallbladder issues, keto and high-fat may be difficult. Although I have a friend who has had gallbladder surgery and is on keto without any problems. I suggest asking a medical professional who is knowledgeable about ketogenic nutrition (most GPs have no idea about keto, sadly).

In the next write-up I will point you in the direction of my "substitute" textures I use when I want to have a takeaway. I will also write about moderate alcohol intake on keto. Because I'm not a nun!