Step Away from the Keto

As with most diet trends I have jumped on the bandwagon at some point and used my body as a guinea pig. Desperately trying to find a way to lose wait for good has lead me to abuse my body and in the end only left me gaining even more weight back. Like many I have grown up in busy household consuming the Standard American Diet (SAD). The convenience along with the added sugars and fake fats lead us to overconsume and under nourish. It is so easy to run through a drive-thru, especially as a rushed mother headed off to evening practices. Even knowing this is bad for us we cave into the ease of it all.

One of the many fad diets I have tried out and found temporary results with is a form of Keto. This has us eat a diet very low in carbohydrates and high in protein and moderate in fat. For me, this is only achievable for a short amount of time and it turns me into an irritable lunatic to boot! As someone who struggles with binge-eating I thought for sure that removing the majority of carbs from my diet would help curb binges. Turns out I can binge on high fat foods too even those made from healthy fats.

Fast-forward to the present I am at my heaviest and am finding it difficult to lose weight. I may have damaged my metabolism with all of these crazy diets over the years. Yo-yo dieting is my middle name. As I wrote in a previous post I have been dealing with weight and food issues for a very long time and getting an education in Health and Wellness has added fuel to the sense of urgency that I must become a certain size or fit into a box that I assume others think I should fit into. Last year I learned I had gallstones which can come from eating a diet high in fat such as the Keto diet.

After all the years of dieting I have never found myself in the position where I gain weight so easily and it is hard to get back off. I've always been able to lose 20 pounds the first week of a new diet (not that this is healthy or that I would suggest it for anyone). Now I am finished with fad diets. I am working on eating whole and unprocessed foods and practicing intuitive eating to the best of my ability. I am still in the beginning stages and fall off often and that is okay. It is time to heal my relationship with food and I hope that you want the same for yourself. If you've been hurting your body with crazy diets that are making you crazy and in the end even heavier I ask you to take an honest look at the behavior.

I for one am sick of killing myself to lose the same 40 or 60 pounds over and over. It's like I'm on a hamster wheel and not getting anywhere even though I have worked my butt of with blood, sweat, and tears. It's exhausting and actually a little insane. This week my current Masters level nutrition class is all about carbohydrates. These are our friend. The majority of our calories should be coming from carbs. They are where most of the energy we run on comes from. Let's stop demonizing carbs like fat was demonized beforehand. Yes, we want to be consuming whole grains. Yes, we can eat our fruit and starchy veggies. Beans, absolutely! The type of sugar in beans isn't even processed in our bodies the way other sugars are. Beans are a great replacement for meat. I was definitely not eating beans on my Keto diet.

I just had a homemade soup of veggies and barley for lunch with a side of veggies. I really love veggies! lol Believe it or not I ate slowly and mindfully and noticed when I was full and through out part of my food. This is unheard of for me. I am not stuffed. I am not craving a bunch of refined carbs. I am completely satisfied and feel ready to take on the rest of my day. I say this as someone who has made nearly every mistake possible with food. Step Away from the Keto or any other diet that tells you to try and practically eliminate an entire Macronutrient!