Got fat, gettin’ thin, Ketogenic lifestyle – helps prosthetic longevity

Well to be fair, I ate a lot. So that is probably where some of the bill went. Additionally, I feel satiated way more now – with minimal food.

I haven’t tracked my carbohydrate intake, but I am guessing it is something like this:

Fat:80%
Carb: 5%
refined carb 0%
Protein: 10%
Fibre…I dunno…take it out of the carbs?

Some days the carbs are close 0%

Actually probably have 8-10 to go still….

Hi Kelly,

Although I can be a voracious reader, I did not use a book. What I did was hear about Dr. Tim Noakes, author of The Lore of Running and its many newer editions. He was getting sued by the South African Dietetics Association for promoting a very fatty diet, which surprised me because I know that he had always recommended the food guide = heavy on the grains and carbs. Me, not being a scientist trusted his advice – even though I knew that refined carbs were bad (sugars or flour-made products).

So I followed the story and lo-and-behold the Dietetics Assn, were apparently backed by big cereal, like Kelloggs or some company like that. Noakes won both times.

What endeared me to his about face – 180 turn – is he is apologetic, assumes he has done harm to people and admits very openly that he was wrong (what he learned in school was wrong).

So hence, the research began. I watched at least 30 videos, perhaps parts of another 20-30 videos on YouTube of scientists, doctors, researchers in seminars and TED talks etc, and the research – which is still ongoing and is by no means complete – shows some things we have believed to be true for 40+ years – the opposite is true, for example:

Fats don’t make you fat because they are fats.
Carbohydrates (CHO) are not a great fuel source, we don’t have enough stored in our body for much longer than a couple hours of strong effort.
Coronary artery disease is not caused by fats, but by fats + CHO
Saturated fats are healthy (paradigm shift)
LDL does not rise because of fats, but because of fats +CHO
A fat-heavy diet actually raises cholesterol but brings the HDL up in balance.
So CHO is clearly a problem, here.

Also:

When the food guides came out in the first world countries in the 1970s like in Canada, American RSA, UK, Australia, NZ etc etc, they were grain and fruit-heavy and root vegetable heavy = CHO.

The rise in obesity, diabetes type 2 and coronary artery disease started in the 1970s. All three are at an epidemic state right now and are unusual in human history.

There are other maladies that science is right now researching where a ketogenic diet may be able to improve conditions of Parkinson’s sufferers, Alzheimer’s and certain skin issues and cancers. Also, it has been known to stop epilepsy in children for over 100 years.

There are some down sides like VO2max is limited – I notice this on uphill running, I feel like I am spewing volumes of lactic acid when I run uphill. Also, it doesn’t favour 100% of the people, just most and there is no specific diet or lifestyle that you can make up and apply to everyone and that is another reason why I liked Noakes’s attitude, he was asked that question and he said “no”, you eat a ketogenic diet, but adjust it to work for you – everyone is an experiment of one.

So I have been on it for about 45 days. I immediately and it happened so fast, I don’t even remember it happening….I dropped 20-25 pounds. Now I don’t know if this is my imagination, but I go to the gym to do a standard weight workout and I check the mirror and it appears I respond like I did in my teens or 20s – in fact I look in the mirror and I swear I look as good as I did when I fought as a boxer 30 years ago – shredded. Not sure if I am lucky or that is a side effect of a very fat-heavy diet.

So thinking more about what I have eaten, here are some examples:

Wake up fasted: litre of coffee.
Lunch: handful of nuts or a handful of meat, like salmon or beef.
Dinner: Tomatoes sliced up with cheese, coconut oil and salt and maybe a bowl of broccoli or a package of bacon. I know very different things.
Late snack: Hunka cheese.

Sometimes I will have a massive salad with above ground veggies only.
Sometimes I will have a bowl of plain yogurt, blackberries, full-fat cream and flaxseed.
Sometimes I will eat a package of pepperoni and burp around on my walk at lunch.

I was never satiated as a CHO eater. I am always satiated as a fat eater.

Not very scientific….but the nuts, oils, meats, veggies give me fats from a variety. Very little CHO toward almost none, NO refined carbs, little but some processed foods, moderate protein.

Here is one thing I noticed that really makes me happy:

No big bloaty days. The abdomen is not in pain (I thought pain in the abdomen was normal), less rear-firing gas.

Not going number 2 as often as I used to, which I hope is good….doesn’t seem right.
This spring weighed as much as 170 or close to it at 5’8″. Currently at 144-ish. After a big bike ride I was 138/139 and I was 148 the other day, so I think I should think in ranges, rather than a single number.

One final comment:
Last weekend I went out for a 101-mile (163K) road bike ride. Now most summers I fit in one or two of these, but several building up to it, 100K, 120K, 140K etc etc.

It has been two years since I rode more than 70K. I went and did it and felt I could have gone another 50K, there was no sense of a bonk coming on at all. I took no gels or bars, just water with electrolyte mix.

This reflects the science out there that a ketogenic diet will allow you to go all day without a bonk, but limits your upper end speed.

At age 51, I am good with that.