Living a Keto Lifestyle

Seven months ago I came to a point in my life that I had to make drastic changes for my health.  I have lived with Epilepsy for 30 years and have struggled off and on to control my seizures.  I have had to change medications, stop specific activities and take leave from work to name a few.

I was in the middle of a medication change back in November of 2016 and the medication was not helping and I was having a hard time adjusting.  So I made the choice to do a massive overhaul of my diet, my life and my goals.

I began a strict ketogenic diet and over the last seven months have had to try different things to find what worked for my body and my wellbeing.  Today I am seizure free, at a healthy weight, I heavy lift 3 days a week, I run an Instagram account that talks about my life with Epilepsy and living a keto lifestyle, started my own Massage Business and adopted a puppy.

The journey over these past months have not been easy but they have been well worth it.  I am truly in an amazing place.  I have not been good at keeping up on my blog and I want to change that.  I have my macros dialed in, I am in constant ketosis, I no longer need to test ketones and glucose every single day and find I don’t have to focus on food prep all the time.  I completed 90 days of blood testing and know my patterns and what I need to continue a life of being fat adapted.  With that being said…..I can change my focus a bit.

My goal is to try out experiments using different products, review products I have used and give tips on living a keto/lowcarb/high fat lifestyle.

Stay tuned for updates!!  Check out my Instagram Account @thetraininsideme

What does Ketogenic/Modified Atkins mean?

What does it mean when I say Ketogenic/Modified Atkins?  Well if you visit my Instagram account you will see that I say "Ketogenic Recipes with a Modified Atkins Approach".  WHAT?  Lets just break this down one thing at a time.

Ketogenic Diet: aka long-chain triglyceride diet

Keto means-ketones and genic means to produce.  This diet is geared to produce ketones which the body then uses as fuel instead of the normal carbohydrates.  It is a high fat diet low carbohydrate diet which is typical prescribed by a doctor for children with Epilepsy. Basically 3 to 4 grams of fat for every gram of protein and carbohydrate.  It is very strict and everything must be measured (liquids, meat, snacks and basically everything you ingest).  The goal is to get the body into ketosis which in simple terms means the body is using ketones for energy.

Here is a site with tons of info..I use it regularly

http://www.charliefoundation.org/explore-ketogenic-diet/explore-1/introducing-the-diet

Modified Atkins aka MAD

It is a less restrictive version of the keto diet.  There is no weighting of food and no limits set on fluids and calorie restriction like the ketogenic diet.  It is very often used for adults, it makes eating out at restaurants possible.  There is no restrictions on protein and 35% of the diet consists of protein.  One still must eat high amounts of fat and the biggest key is sticking to the low carbohydrates typically 15-20 grams a day.

Here is a site with more detailed info

http://www.charliefoundation.org/explore-ketogenic-diet/explore-3/modified-atkins

Now that you have a bit of information and maybe you even checked out the sites and the hyperlinks.  I hope with that brief bit of overview explaining how I am doing it won't go over your head.  I will admit when I started out I was so confused and I am still learning each day.

So I use the fitness pal app to help me track my food and it gives me a rough idea of my percents of fat, protien and carb intakes for the day.

100% of my food intake is broken down like this

Carbs-10% no more than 50g a day

Protein-25% My goal is 150 g a day (it can be hard but I have a trick)

Fats-65% My goal is 200g a day (this is difficult and I usually make it 120g)

My protein is high because I am trying to gain back 10 pounds of muscle since I was so sick from my medications and I need to feed my muscles while I weight train.  Once I hit my goal of 130 lbs I can drop off a bit so I can maintain the weight.

I measure my foods to insure I am meeting my grams and I put it into my fitness pal.  But I allow wiggle room when I go out.  I focus on total grams of each thing and not about ratios to each thing like the ketogenic does.  I am more about the total intake for the day,making sure my carbs are kept low and no more than 12 grams of sugar a day.  You maybe thinking this is crazy to keep track of but it isn't.

I use many ketogenic recipes because they help with insuring I get my fats.  I eat no grains, that means no bread period. My carbohydrates come mostly from vegetables and fruit and I span them out of the day.  I eat a small serving of berries with breakfast ALWAYS!! And some veggie with my meals.  Lots of leaf greens because they are low in carbs and I can eat more of them.

If you would like to follow along and see what I eat from day to day Follow me on my Instagram account.  Just pick up your Iphone and type in  the train inside me all one word.  Or click here https://www.instagram.com/thetraininsideme/

Crockpot Chicken

This recipe is based off of one from Stupid Easy Paleo the recipe on their website is called Crockpot Turkey Breast.  The only difference is I used a whole chicken.  The meat will literally fall off the bone.  Its tender and amazing, I love making this recipe!!!

Crockpot Chicken 

 Ingredients

• 1 whole chicken
• 1 cup fresh cranberries
• 1  orange
• 2-3 Tablespoons Herbs de Provence
• Sea salt and pepper

Instructions

1. Prepare the veggies: rough chop the onion and slice the carrots (fairly chunky since you don't want them to disintegrate in the crock pot).
2. Put the onion and carrot into the crock pot.
3. Place Chicken on top of veggies.
4. Sprinkle the turkey breast generously with Herbs de Provence, sea salt and pepper.
5. Slice orange, and arrange the pieces on top of the turkey.
6. Pour the cranberries over the top.
7. Pour about ½ cup of water into the bottom of the crock pot.
8. Set the crock pot on LOW for approximately 4-5 hours 

Surviving the Flu

I feel like I stalled out or slowed down to a crawl.  You see I caught the nasty stomach flu earlier this week.  It made it very hard to eat my needed fats and proteins.  All foods smelled bad and the simple idea of eating anything high fat made my stomach turn.  We can't forget anything I tried to eat simply just came right back up.

So for the first day of the flu I laid in bed trying to sip water.  Finally I made a conscious decision that I need to stop beating myself up and just get better.  An get better fast.  So this is what I did.

I stopped thinking about things in regards to grams, I just threw it right out the door.  It was all about getting some kind of food in.  But there was this part of me that was not going to have any gluten or wheat PERIOD!!

This is what I did:

1.  Drank plenty of Stomach Ease Tea (Yogi Tea)

2. Ate Jilz Gluten Free crackers (Cracked Pepper and Sea Salt)

3. Drank Recharge and watered it down (Knudsens Orange flavor)

These three things helped me survive the stomach flu and not need to eat bread to calm my belly.

I won't lie Recharge had more sugar than I wanted but it has no added sugar or artificial junk.  It is fruit juice with Electrolytes and that is what you need when your sick.  Be it a cold or the flu.  An I was willing to bend a bit for the 3 days I was sick.  That is also why I watered it down because of the sugar.  Do to my Epilepsy keeping sugar to a minimum is important.

I had never had the crackers, my little sister got them and I must say they are not only good but the meet the requirements for me in my new eating style.  No sugar which is perfect.  One serving is 10 crackers with 5 grams net carbs, 3 grams of protein and 8 grams of fat.

The Stomach Ease tea has been my go to tea for years.  Whenever my belly feels off I have a cup, simply answer to my tummy upset.

It depends on what city you live in in regards to locating these goods.  Most supermarkets carry Yogi Tea now days and possibly the crackers and Recharge.  If not try your local co-op our alternative nutrition store.  There is always the internet can't ever go wrong there.  So maybe stocking up for the coming into that season.

Be healthy and Be prepared!!!

Fat Bombs

Its important when eating a Ketogenic based diet to get  just the right amount of Fat and Protein.  With out it the process of ketotsis can't occur and for me I can't keep myself seizure free.  I will save the explanation of ketosis for another post, just know for now its when the body begins to burn fat instead of carbohydrates.

What's a Fat Bomb?  Its are any low carb recipe or food (cream cheese, macadamia nuts) with a significant percentage of fat, 85% fat or more.

These little guys are easy to make and give you the needed fat I require.  I currently need to consume 200 grams of fat a day and its really hard to do with just my meals.  Eating one of these gives me a big dose of fat in a little bit size treat.

Here is the recipe for today's batch.  I found it at “Butter Is Not A Carb” click on the link to check out more of their recipes.  I made my own changes to the recipe.....

***I opted to use 2 teaspoons of Agave instead of Stevia
***I also used my own homemade peanut butter instead of store bought.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Fat Bombs

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Total Time: 35 minutes

Yield: 24

Serving Size: 1

Ingredients

• 4tblsp pasture butter
• 8tblsp virgin & unrefined coconut oil
• 4tblsp unsweetened peanut butter
• 4tblsp unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 packet Stevia or sweetener of choice
• Silicone or plastic mold, 24 cups

Instructions

1. Place butter, coconut oil and peanut butter in a microwave-safe container - microwave on high for 35 seconds or until melted; whisk to combine.
2. Add cocoa powder and sweetener - whisk to combine.
3. Pour evenly into 24 molds - freeze for at least 30 minutes; store in the freezer in a Ziplock bag.

Nutrtional Information

Per serving: 80 calories, 2g total carbs, 1g net carbs, 9g fat, 1g protein (Note: Please remember these numbers are based on the brands I used and may vary slightly with other brands.)

Plot Twist

Life has many "Plot Twists" and mine is no exception.  Did I know that I would be writing another blog and it would be strictly about my Epilepsy Journey?  No, I didn't think six months ago I was sure I was going to just change my medications and life would find its way back to what is my normal.  Well I am here writing you because it didn't go back to what was my normal...it went to what should be.

During this past summer I was in the process of titrating of some medications and going onto some new ones.  Ones that are more affordable and would be a lower dose.  It started out fine if you don't count all the crazy side effects.  An I won't even get into that here.  Let me seed this along......and give you the short version.

I ended up sick unable to eat..I lost 20 pounds and in the end I had a gastritis from the medication being to rough on my stomach.  The doctor and I decided or better yet I called and said take me off the medication.  Currently I am on 100mg of that nasty shit and will be off of it in 2 weeks.  I started having seizures when they took me off but I started getting better right away and was able to eat.  I am not gaining my weight back but I should get there.

I did research and decided instead of all those nasty side effects of medication I would try the Ketogenic/modified atkins diet.  My doctor was totally on board.  I figured since I had already flushed my body of all sugar and carbs this would be easy and it has been so far.

So this is my PLOT TWIST.....I am on a new journey using food to heal myself......Lets see how this goes.  I am feeling happy and positive and optimistic.  10 days so far and feeling great....

So check back in I will be posting all about my diet, my alternative treatments, my medications, my daily struggles and anything I think is epilepsy important,