5 Reasons to Do the Keto Diet

Today I wanted to write about 5 reasons to do the Keto Diet.  These reasons convinced me and I’m loving it!

On December 27, 2016, I decided to join my fiancé Sarah in doing the Keto diet.  Keto was new to me but I had a good example of someone who was having great success.   I had already lost 40 pounds through diet, exercise, portion control, and counting calories,  the standard things we’ve been taught.

However I found myself dealing with a 4 month long plateau.  I’d tried everything to break through but with no success, I was very frustrated.

Here are the 5 Reasons I Decided that Keto was for me:

1. The Science Behind Ketogenics Was Strong:

So what is keto or a ketogenic diet? I’ll try to explain a lot of science and information very concisely.  The Keto diet is a high-fat, adequate-protein, low carbohydrate diet.  It’s been used in the medical community since the 1920’s as a treatment for epilepsy and seemed to work well with children.   Basically the idea behind the diet is that you switch your body from burning carbs (glucose) for fuel to burning fat.  By doing this your body produces a ketones which have been proven beneficial to your body.

2. Keto Promised Fat Loss and Weight Loss: 

So this one seems a bit odd as I write about it.  There is a difference between weight loss and fat loss.  With the main difference being when you lose weight you are probably losing a combination of muscle, water, and even reducing the size of your internal organs.  The keto approach talked about losing Fat and not just weight.  It talked about changing my bodies energy source from glucose created by eating refined carbs, sugars, and starchy vegetables.  Here is a pretty good video from GlutesofGlory on YouTube with some excellent points about the differences between weight loss and fat loss.

3.  I Could Eat Bacon, Butter, Eggs, and Other Great Tasting Filling Foods:

This was a total no brainer for me.  That is why I was attracted to Atkins back in the 90’s, I just didn’t understand how it worked or the science behind it.  I love the fact that with Keto I’m not counting calories or concerned about eating low fat this, low fat that.  The Keto diet totally counters everything that I’ve learned about nutrition and dieting.  But if you take the time to do the research you’ll find that it makes sense.  There is more and more information from the medical community were doctors are finding out that the Keto diet can help with countless health conditions like Type II Diabeties, Alzheimers, hyper tension, depression and even as a therapeutic treatment for some cancers.  Since I’ve started eating this way my co-workers notice the changes, but I think that many of them think that I’m just refraining from sweets or snacking.  Most people don’t realize that I’m eating bacon, like other people pop potato chips, I’m always doing my coffee with butter in it and people think that’s really strange – I guess 3 months ago I probably did as well, now that’s just a normal way of life.

4.  Keto Promoted Great Health Benefits:

When I started my Ketogenic type diet I had already been diagnosed as a Type 2 Diabetic, I was taking metformin 1000 ml per day, I was on kidney medication, and cholesterol medication.  As of March 20, 2017, I know longer need to take metformin because of the lifestyle changes I’ve made using Keto. To be truthful my A1C numbers had already begun to improve when I lost 30 pounds, doing a standard diet. But the numbers didn’t dramatically change until I started doing Keto (I’ll write more about the why behind that in another post).  Keto promised greater energy and mental clarity and I can attest to that.  Keto promised better regulation of my moods, and I an truly testify to that.  I live in the Pacific Northwest and I regularly suffered from seasonal depression because of all of the rain, I’ve notice this year that my mood is so much better.  I’m not as aggressive or angry when driving, I’m a lot calmer.

5.  Keto Seemed Doable to Me:

So I’m not sure why this Keto/Low Carb lifestyle seemed more doable this time around.  It could be because I had already made a serious commitment to lose weight, I had a pretty strong mindset to lose 100 pounds.  To my way of thinking Keto was just another tool, or method to reach my goal. Keto to me seemed simple, eat more fat, moderate amounts of protein to maintain muscle mass and low carbs.  So when I counted the cost of doing Keto it meant that I wasn’t going to be eating bread, donuts, candy, rice, and some fruits.  All things that I could learn to do with out.  I do occasionally get tempted to get a glazed donut, but when I think about how much I’ve gained doing Keto, its easy to pass that by.

I’ve adopted Keto as a lifestyle because I really love the results i’ve seen and that I’ve seen in others.  I know that it is totally unrealistic to think that I will never eat potato chips, or donuts, or pie again, but when I do it will be a concisous decision.  In my opinion eating the Keto way, is the perfect diet for long term health and weight management.

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