It’s 10:30 PM at night and I’m making myself a plate of bacon.
Why you ask?
Because we started doing the Ketogenic diet.
Not because it’s the hottest thing in weight loss right now, no we have NOT seen the Magic Pill… but because Alan wanted to try it out. See his friends did it last year and lost a TON of weight, like a second person ton of weight… and he’s been itching to try it ever since. BUT because I do the cooking, he never did.
I at first pushed back against him on this diet because my Mom is a long time user of Atkins and I’ve seen her weight yoyo back and forth for years. In fact, I GAINED 10 lbs on her Atkins diet because I was not following, but the meals she was cooking for the family were high fat…. high fat AND high carb, that was a no no. So she lost 20 lbs and the rest of us gained like whales haha.
Anyway, so I was NOT on board the Keto train at ALL.
Then last year I was diagnosed with postpartum depression and when none of the recommended treatments worked, I turned to food as my source of healing. Not the pint of ice-cream from the freezer, but literally eating my way in to harmonious balance. The book The Ultra Mind Solution by Mark Hyman had all kinds of studies to back up that good fats were GOOD for your brain and healing. I was tired of having my symptoms treated, and truly wanted the underlying cause to be treated.
So here we are doing Keto… I caved haha. And to be totally honest, it has not been that bad thus far. We are finishing up our 3rd week. I’ve lost 9 lbs. And overall I’m feeling much better. My energy is returning (I’m no longer dragging at 11pm when I finally get some alone time). My skin is clearer. My moods are much more stable. And I’ve not really felt that hungry.
Now variety is not Keto’s strong suit. I miss my snacks. I LOVE Cheez-It’s (no pork rinds do not cut it). And Alan desperately misses sweets (the few Keto treats we’ve tried all came out tasting like garbage… and no it’s not my baking skills). So there’s that.
But overall it is a lifestyle that is actually pretty tame (even though the “do not eat” list is hella scary when you first see it)… for the most part we eat this way naturally anyway. We just subtract the grain we would have had at dinner. It’s cutting out the side of rice or potatoes we would have had. So we don’t really feel like we are losing out on much. And there is so much that we CAN eat!
And because I know that at the end of the day, this is what busy Mom’s want to know- is it doable? ABSOLUTELY. While I have preferred to make most of my meals fresh every day (requiring a little bit of prep), many of the meals can be prepped in bulk ahead of time. But the best part is that they’re kid friendly. There is nothing weird about that them that would make your kids turn their nose up at it and make extra work for you to prepare a second meal. There’s no strange spices that make the burgers taste funny. Prepare your families hamburgers like you have always done, remove the bun and ketchup, and voila!
I’ll share more as more develops and as I find recipes that are actually amazing! So far Pinterest has failed me big time, so if you have some Keto Recipes that you love, please feel free to share them with me in the comments!
*please note all opinions expressed in these posts are my own. I am by no means a health expert. I am also not a ketogenic diet expert. I am just a busy Mom who is finding success on an eating lifestyle. To make drastic changes to your lifestyle, please talk to a health practitioner if you have questions.
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