Ketogenesis is an established metabolic event well known for decades. In 1976, after graduating from college I worked with Dr. Sidney Ingbar. He was the author of the medical textbook “The Thyroid” which was considered the Bible for all endocrinologists. Recently I have returned to the basics of that research over 40 years ago. Fact, low calorie, and low carbohydrate diets work.
People lose weight, diabetes goes away, and the truth remains, when the keto diet ends, the weight all returns, often in a vengeance. In our clinic at Harvard, we kept patients on 800 kcal a day. Total carb intake was 60 gm. Your brain needs that to function. In three months most patients had achieved their weight loss goal. Six months later, it was back to diet land. Even the show “The Biggest Losers” has tracked their original group and the results are dismal, most of the contestants had gained more than 80% of their weight back. So what is one supposed to do?
I have been working with many patients over the past 4 decades and it is clear, we all want to enjoy life and food. Patients come in every day – “Oh, I had a wedding, a baby shower, July 4th, Christmas, birthday, anniversary, graduation, Monday holiday…” and on and on. Let’s face it, every day is a challenge.
Manging the Keto Diet
Step 1. Make fasting for over 16 hours a routine weekly, if not daily. Stop eating at 7 PM then start after 11 AM. Do this three or four times a week. The first week is the most difficult but I have found making the choice not to eat was easier than what to eat.
Step 2. Eliminate ALL processed foods. This includes soda, canned goods, and anything from a can or box with a list of ingredients.
Step 3. Cycle your calorie intake by 50%. 25%. 10% every two days and ONE day of the week celebrate life and everything you want to eat.
Step 4. This diet is NOT about meat and animal fat. Load up on avocados, quinoa, wheat berries, millet, and everything green in the grocery.
Step 5. Hydrate.. simple. I personally love kombucha for my mid-afternoon pick me up.
Step 6. Eliminate dairy and olive oil. Yes, all you yogurt addicts, cut it out..and olive oil goes right to your belly. You may MIST the oil on veggies but maybe invest in a hot air fryer, pressure cooker, DO NOT use more than 2 tablespoons of oil a day! Watch on youtube… why olive oil is BAD for you.
Step 7. STOP EATING OUT and start cooking!
I maintained this for 10 years. Then pregnancies and kids took over. After menopause, I put back on the freshman 15 and could not lose it until I went back to my old habits. Old habits should be hard to break.