My continued journey
I started my journey by going gluten free after being diagnosed with Celiac’s disease. This then led me to start re-evaluating years after I made this first transition. It was at this point that I began to look at eliminating sugar and grains. This was a slow change over the next two years of my life. I began by completing a 21 day sugar detox using this book. This book changed my outlook on everything I had been consuming for the previous 10 plus years. I had one portion covered by being gluten free but that was only one part of the puzzle. Sugar was destroying my body. I tried to complete a Whole 30 but at that point I was not ready as I was so addicted to sugar. The sugar detox gave me the tools to see what was needed. The three level program allows you to begin as a slow transition and by time you are to level three you would be full paleo. Two years it took my belly to heal. I thought it was already healed until I started to see the improvements that gluten free alone did not clear up. I finally got rid of the brain fog that had been haunting me for years. My energy started to improve even though I had been telling myself it had already improved. The exhaustion was slowly dissipating!
My paleo journey continued for a little more than two years before I started seeking more. I knew I could improve further. I started to hit the books and research again. This research led me to the Ruled Me website. Something seems to click! My body had been telling me I needed more fat and I knew my family history of insulin resistance. I just did not realize the journey I would begin once again. Life changing! I took the steps slowly as to avoid the keto flu. I was already low sugar from following paleo but I had noticed even a small amount of coconut sugar would make me crave more and more and more until I had consumed way too much. This feeling and the ultimate exhaustion after consuming it was part of my deciding factor of moving forward with Keto.
So I began Keto. For all of 2015 I experimented with it. I struggled to gather recipes that I would be able to serve to my entire family. I found a few Facebook groups but most seemed very hostile and aggressive. I did not want any extra stress! I started to feel better the more fat I ate and the longer I distanced myself from even my beloved fruit. My husband thought I was crazy. Fruit is good for you, he would say. I tried to explain how a person with insulin resistance processes even the smallest amount of fruit. He did not understand. He has a fruit smoothie everyday which is loaded with sugar. I became stronger and stronger the more I stuck to it. A year later and I was serious about this change. It had become enjoyable for me and after eliminating dairy for nearly all of my life, I was able to enjoy it again without stomach upset. So, in February of 2016 I began to count my macros and really watch every aspect of the Keto diet. I use the Cron-o-meter app to track all of my food. I thought I was doing everything right but nothing was budging with my weight. It wasn’t until November, too many months later, I had my first Keto aha moment. I was reading a FB post that I had already read a hundred times before. This time it stuck! The formula for me:
Fat Target is = goal weight
Protein Target is = half of goal weight
Carbs Target is always 20 carbs or less
This equated to 140 g of fat, 70 g of protein and 20 carbs. I had slowly lost about 6 pounds but once I realized my protein was double what it need to be and my fat was way too low, I started loosing regularly. I am currently up to 20 lbs.
The stress of work took a toll on me during my Christmas break and I ended up with a sever sinus infection. Just as I was getting better I woke up with the very violent flu. It is now week 4 of healing and I feel my body is finally on the mend. This last month has been incredibly rough as the antibiotics did not work fully but they did mess with my belly. It had taken me the last two weeks of loading up on probiotics and trying to consume as much bone broth as possible but I am healing. I am on the mends and hope to start practicing my yoga regularly to help with the stress. I am also seeing my ND monthly again to keep me on track. She is fully supportive of Keto and I hope to continue to improve.
I know this is a long post and not really full of specific details. I just wanted to get it all put down in writing. I might go back and add more specifics as I get back into posting regularly again.