About a week and a half ago – 3 weeks into eating a LCHF diet – I added high intensity interval training (HIIT), as often as time permits, which isn’t much – I think I’ve had 4 sessions since I started. I do 30 seconds of running uphill (5.5 mph, 6% incline), and then 4 minutes of slow walking (2 mph, 0 incline). Repeat 4 more times. So really I’m doing only about 5 minutes of hard work per week. Since I started this I’ve lost 5 pounds and my fasting blood sugar has dropped from around 114, where it’s been stuck for 3 weeks, to about 102. Post-prandial blood sugar (at 2 hours) is usually in the 80s.
I’m sleeping better, I have more energy, my mood is better than when I was eating carbs every day.
My usual diet:
- Breakfast: eggs (1 whole egg plus 2 egg yolks cooked in coconut oil) and 1/2 of an avocado. Sometimes a couple ounces of meat if I’m particularly hungry, but I notice ketones drop quickly if I eat too much protein.
- Snack (because I can’t make it the 6 hours till lunch without one): bulletproof coffee (16 oz coffee with 2 Tbs unsalted grassfed butter and 2 Tbs MCT oil. Yes, I’m using the actual, authentic mycotoxin-free upgraded coffee from Mr. Bulletproof himself).
- Lunch: 1/2 avocado, 1-2 Tbs. homemade mayo, about 4 oz of chicken/fish/steak, a bunch of kalamata olives.
- Snack – whatever coffee is still in my thermos, maybe some macadamia nuts
- Dinner – a small-medium portion of whatever my family eats – last night it was cod cooked in butter. I have been avoiding the veggies to see if it makes a difference one way or the other.
I’m hungriest in the morning, and have been eating till I’m not hungry anymore. I might experiment with getting rid of that last egg white, and see if that reduces hunger by reducing impact on insulin levels.
Current supplements:
Medications:
- Hydrochlorothiazide – 25mg/day (for hypertension)
- Methyldopa – 250mg 3x/day (for hypertension)
I quit taking the Metformin. It made my breasts stupid big and really sore and after 3 weeks it just wasn’t going away. I figured I could manage without it eating Keto anyway. So it’s gone. Now, a couple weeks later, my bras still don’t quite fit. Hot flashes are starting to come back as hormone levels return to baseline.
Marriage update: Things are on cruise control. It’s a real pain in the ass to split up. For now, we’re just getting through the day to day, no movements in that direction. He doesn’t want to split up and I’m not sure my life would be better if we did. We get along well so it’s not painful. Not the marriage I thought I had, but many things in my life are wonderful, so this is fine for now.
A request was made for my extremely easy homemade mayo recipe. I have to admit it’s not MINE, exactly, because I got it from here. I did tweak it a little so I’ll share the recipe as I make it:
Coconut Oil Mayonnaise
Equipment:
- 1 glass jar with a mouth wide enough to accommodate a stick blender. I’ve used Vlasic dill pickle jars and 16-oz wide mouth Mason jars. Both are great.
- A stick blender (I use this one).
Ingredients:
- 1 egg
- 1 cup of fractionated coconut oil (the kind that is liquid). I use Carrington Farms, which is available at Walmart.
- 1 Tbs lemon juice (more if you like it a little more sour)
- 1/4 tsp salt
Instructions:
- Put everything in the jar.
- Get the stick blender and put it in the jar, resting it on the bottom of the jar.
- Hold on to the jar. (<– Once I didn’t do this and the jar spun right off the counter onto the floor. A serious waste of good ingredients).
- Turn on the blender for 20-30 seconds, moving it up and down a little to incorporate all of the liquid into the emulsified mayo.
- Done! Refrigerate for up to 2 weeks.
Some info about fractionated coconut oil is here. Apparently it is liquid at room temperature because the long-chain fatty acids are removed, along with some of the health benefits of coconut oil. I made the mistake of trying this recipe with regular (melted) coconut oil once and found myself with an unacceptably solid final product. The fractionated oil works well for this recipe, and still has the health benefits associated with MCT oil, without the PUFAs found in other liquid oils.
I’ve tried this recipe with other oils. Olive oil (“extra light”) tasted good but even good olive oil is 12% PUFA. The same is true for avocado oil, though I never tried that one. I tried it once with regular olive oil (not the “extra light”), and it tasted way too strong. I tried making it in a bowl once, rather than in a glass jar…it didn’t emulsify. It needs to be in the narrower container to come together. I already mentioned my foibles with using regular coconut oil and letting the jar spin out of control….Ok, I guess that’s it. The recipe and instructions above has never let me down.
Oh and speaking of PUFA…check this out. Michael Eades, a long-time leader in the low-carb community seems to be turning his attention away from blaming sugar and towards the evils of PUFA. Very interesting. And score one for Ray Peat.