I did a keto diet for what felt like a long period of time:
I miss the cognitive advantages of a food exclusion diet, no brain fog, fast thinking, better vocabulary, more energy. So why haven't I gone back to it? 🧐
- After a while, I found it boring.
- Chocolate makes me happy (as long as I control myself).
- My wife tells me that extremes aren't always a good thing, instead you should focus on finding a balance and exercising self control.
- I have found that 16:8 intermittent fasting gives me a similar experience to keto.
- I have stopped thinking that carbs are bad, and instead just started enjoying food more by putting less pressure on myself.
I have realised over time that I would be miserable without certain foods and the experience they bring, especially when eating out.
I love carbs, there I said it. Now I am off to eat some cake but i'll definately be training later.
Anyone else been on the carb/no carb journey?
Top comments (10)
I stopped eating 90% of the carbs I was eating before for a full 30 days and was able to lose 5 pounds. If I had coupled this with a lot of consistent exercise I bet the weight loss would be bigger. I'm back to eating more carbs now because just like you I also really enjoy them but I am hoping this experience will help with developing better habits. I very much agree with your wife's point that extremes are probably not healthy and we are better off finding balance and self control.
Also I have a friend who recently did Keto (took it very seriously) for 2 months. He lost a lot of weight (20+ pounds) but then started feeling kind of sick. After going for a checkup, his doctor said the Keto caused some issues so he stopped. I'm very skeptical of strict diets personally.
That’s interesting I wonder what issues his doctor found? I was exercising more during keto which will have added to my extreme weight loss.
16:8 fasting is going well though. Allowing myself not to eat until I am really hungry at about 11ish isn’t have making me appreciate food more 😃
He started with having difficulty swallowing which doctor blamed on eating too much fried foods. He was doing dirty Keto, bacon, wings etc. He started having migraines and some loss of sight. Doctor suggested to add some carbs to his diet and see if these issues persisted. Lesson seems to be that Keto would not be a good thing for people that have high cholesterol.
My friend was also doing 16/8 intermittent fasting while on Keto. I'm willing to give 16/8 a try myself but I already know I am going to have a hard time because my daily schedule tends to shift from time to time. I am not a fan of being super strict, doesn't feel like a natural way to live life. It all goes back to "finding a balance and exercising self control".
I do think there is a big opportunity for a health/nutrition assistant that can provide you with live data about your body. Not sure how far off we are from having this highly intelligent/accurate assistant, but would be nice to go about our daily lives normally and have this assistant tell us exactly how what we eat and what we do is impacting our bodies and overall health. Being able to access this data in a live manner I think would be vital in helping nudge someone away from bad habits.
Wow that so interesting, I haven’t heard the term dirty keto before! But it makes sense especially with high cholesterol. I ate a lot of fat but tried to eat as clean as possible.
I think what I am likely about intermittent fasting on 16:8 is giving my body chance to digest almost everything before it has to start all over again. I like the idea of that and then just eating a really good balance of everything during my eating period.
Yeah real-time stats like that would be amazing. Like your smart watching giving you a live feed of blood sugar, cholesterol, blood pressure, insulin etc
The BBC did a Horizon episode a number of years ago that you might find interesting as part of the conversation.
I'm a big fan of carbs (along with almost all other food). I'm plant-based so I focus on trying to get a wide range of nutrients, and as many whole foods as possible. To be honest, that's quite enough thinking about food for me! Otherwise I find my entire life revolves around my next meal...
" I find my entire life revolves around my next meal..." < I feel seen
Not many places on the internet where we can all have a civil conversation about carbs 🤩
You probably know the all-too common saying "You are what you eat", so it's no surprise people take their choice of diet very personally 😅
I've been waaaay too imperfect for waaaay too long to trip about these things anymore. I've seen people succeed in reaching their goals all kinds of ways, and have seen many people quit while ahead because the road was just too miserable.
At the end of the day, life is long and you are totally allowed to try on different diets or hairstyles or body shapes or workout programs as you go. Just keep what serves you and leave the rest, whatever that means for you today.
I love this 😇
I have also realised that a reduced or no carb diet like keto reduces my ability to sleep well. When I am on carbs, I sleep like a brick!