Don’t eat fatty foods and saturated fats – for years this has been the advice to live a healthy life. Low fat – reduced fat foods are in plentiful abundance in most supermarkets with the promise you eat these products to help lose weight. Stop right there – two things, first to make the food still taste good they replace the removed fat with preservatives,sugars and ingredients not intended to be ingested. Second we need fats!!!!

Keto Nutrition is fairly well known. In layman’s terms it’s where your diet/nutrition is high in fat, moderate protein and low in carbohydrates (carbs). Your body switches from using carbohydrates as fuel and instead converts fats into ketones which provides the energy and fuel for your body. Process is known as ketogenesis.

Why switch away from Carbohydrates you may ask…well in short carbs in any form are broken down into sugar – this stimulates the release of insulin and like a rollercoaster your blood sugar levels go up and down. Load your body with enough carbs and direct sugar over the years – your pancreas submits defeat and doesn’t efficiently produce insulin and congrats you are now diabetic (type 2). Diabetes is an epidemic – simple as that. Big subject I will dive into that in another blog.

So back to ketogenic nutrition – you consume 20g or less carbs a day…much easier said than done. Usually consists of portion of meat or eggs, 2 veg and loading high fat for taste. Check out this great infographic from lowcarbalpha.com to see what can be eaten:

The health benefits of a keto nutrition plan are immense. Obvious benefit is stopping the carb overload and diabetic link but the fat adapted ketone powered life chisels away the bad visceral fat (calorie intake dependent), fuels the brain with the energy it craves and brings clarity to thought and you sleep like a baby.

It can turn into a maths lesson to see if you qualify under the 20g and there are some serious keto warriors out there who take this shit seriously and I get it.

Personally, and I have been on the keto path for 10 months, I fall into the Low Carb – High Fat (LCHF) bracket. This ranges from 50 to 70 grams of carbs but there are days I stay at 20g. I combine this with intermittent fasting and WOW it’s a power keg. Training initially really struggled when reducing carbs and my body was getting used to being fat adapted. Running took the biggest hit…it was like lead legs pounding the street and that lasted for 4 months but you breakout at the end. The biggest difference is the brain – clarity and energy that makes my thinking so juiced it reminds me of my teenage years and those crazy ass’d dreams…So nice to have that back.

I am still testing the keto/low carb and intermittent fasting lifestyle combination and putting on weight is now an issue. Training two to three times a day, i burn alot and the window of eating is small and there is only so much i can fit in my mouth. I have a goal to gain 3kgs my spring 2020 – of pure muscle of course.

I will write a keto update after Christmas – will i cave into the Yorkshire pudding and goose fat roast potatoes???

Stay Relentless!