My Keto Experiment

Inspired by... I'm not sure what... multiple references to it on the comments section of a blog I follow, Runs for Cookies (a blog by a woman who has lost 125 pounds and kept it off for multiple years, despite mental health issues), I read a book called the Obesity Code by Jason Fung. He argues, compellingly, that most diseases of modern times are due to our diet. Our bodies are not adapted to the massive amounts of carbohydrates we eat. Every time we eat, our insulin spikes. These frequent spikes cause inflammation throughout the body causing obesity, diabetes, cancer, PCOS, hypertension and Alzheimer's Disease, which he calls Type Three Diabetes (I didn't know that Alzheimer's is much more common in folks with diabetes). He advocates a very low carbohydrate diet and often, intermittent fasting.

For the most part, I feel pretty healthy. But I do have PCOS, though it's luckily under good control by taking Metformin twice a day. Without it, I would be heavier and have irregular cycles and acne. I started taking it when I was TTCing for Calliope and never stopped. My hemoglobin A1C, a measure of blood sugar over three months, was prediabetic a few years ago but is normal now. I have no idea why it got better. I get very anxious at times, especially around my period. It was terrible last month when I was so stressed about finding someone to rent my Brooklyn apartment -- thankfully it rented at last. I also get anxious sometimes about my longevity as an SMC -- I need to be around for a very long time for these girls of mine. And if I could drop a few pounds -- I've been about 20 pounds over my ideal weight since I developed symptoms of PCOS in my early thirties (from taking birth control pills, though the medical literature would tell you that's impossible) -- that would be amazing. Interestingly, I think I've lost a few already as a result of living a much lower stress lifestyle and getting more sleep since moving to Mexico. My doctor always told me that stress (cortisol) can cause weight gain, especially around the stomach, and my experience definitely supports that!

On the other hand, I have a lot of negative baggage around dieting. I had sworn to an intuitive eating way of life. I find that when I create rules for food for myself, I tend to immediately rebel. I do better when I listen to my body.

So I am wading into this experiment with caution. I lost weight by getting sick from the air pollution in Mexico City and couldn't eat for a few days so that muddied the waters a bit. Was I feeling queasy from my developing bronchitis or from trying to eat Keto? Hard to say. I did two weeks on and then took ten days off for our trip to the US -- too hard to maintain a strict diet way of eating (WOE) while staying with family (who believe in the high carb, low fat diet that has been thrust upon us by the American government for more than fifty years, with all the evidence in the world stating that it's unhealthy). And now I'm back to Mexico and feeling better.

So today is day three (round two). I just tried out my new blood sugar and ketone monitor and my blood sugar is 83 and my ketones were 1.3. Which means, I think, that I am in low grade ketosis. Since it's only day three and it's supposed to take 4-5 days to get into ketosis, I'm very pleased. When I am ketosis, my body is burning ketones from fat instead of glucose. Right now I am adding a lot of fat to my diet to fill myself up as I get used to a low carb diet but the hope is that over time, I will need to eat less fat and will burn energy from the fat in my body stores instead.

Time will tell!

If things go well, I will post before and after photos. For now, I feel pretty good. I started to feel a little wonky yesterday afternoon so I drank some electrolyte replacement solution in water and that helped. Apparently dehydration is common with ketosis.

I've been fasting 12-16 hours over night (from 9 pm until anywhere between 11 am and 2 pm), depending on how I feel. It's pretty cool. I get hungry but I also feel weirdly good -- very focused and calm and energetic. By fasting, I'm allowing my insulin levels to get even lower. The lower the insulin levels, the less inflammation there is, over time. Then I have two meals, a few hours apart, with no snacking in between. It pretty much goes against everything I had ever read but his book made a ton of sense to me.

Anyone else read his book or doing Keto or intermittent fasting? I'd love to hear from you!