Keto thread

Out of curiosity, would both of you, Brian & Matt, be able to share a typical daily meal plan?

I tried keto for 9 months, 3 years ago, but I was losing too much weight as I have always been quite slim as it is.
Unfortunately, my body doesn't enjoy milk products, so yogurt and cheese were not possible.
I have always been very active and I just couldn't seem to get enough calories and finding convenient quick food before and after activities was quite challenging compared to the protein/carb bars you can easily eat.
Curious to know what your main intake of fat(s) is.

Today my typical breakfast is 1/2 a slice of keto toast fried in butter, and some sort of meat, Spam, sausage, point cut corned beef, ham, the meat varies, and 2 eggs. I'll vary it with keto pancakes with "grass fed" butter, but not often. All we use anymore is grass fed butter. Also 2 mugs of roasted grain coffee substitute (CafLib). That's my big meal of the day. If I had a huge salad the night before I'll finish it for lunch. If not then I'll find something light for lunch. Currently for lunch I have a small bowl of cooked rhubarb (loaded with fiber). For supper it's catch as catch can but I try to make it high in veggies. Sometimes a huge salad, sometimes meat and a cooked veg'. If I needed more fat for fuel (I don't) I would eat a lunch of dry sausage (peperoni or dry salami is just an idea). Since I'm not lactose intolerant I mix in dairy. But since I get too much fat I don't look to increase my fat intake. I made some "fat bombs" 2 years ago and I have one left. I've gotten rid of them for lunch when I remember I have them and just don't want anything much. Sweeteners are all keto friendly, mostly erythritol, stevia, or monk fruit extract. I don't miss the taste of sugar, and yes, sugar has a taste.

Since I'm a cardiac patient, when I take my meds (2x a day) I always take a huge amount of ground flaxseed with it. I stay away from highly refined oils. I want the Omega 3 and not the Omega 6 fatty acids. As I already wrote, dietary cholesterol is NOT a problem with serum cholesterol so I don't shy away from animal fats. My liver is in control and my lipid panel confirms that.

I can actually gain weight on my diet, but that's just not my goal. I want to maintain or slowly lose and I'm doing the latter. It's still calories in vs calories out and my calories in are just too much for the weight I'd like to lose. But I'm sooo happy with my present diet. If I dropped my alcohol consumption (not excessive) it would help a lot. Or at least I think it would help. Since alcohol isn't a carb it can be consumed and not kick oneself out of ketosis. Fewer calories in the diet = more calories of fat burned.

Celestino, for folks with a huge fat burn (not me) you just need to eat more fat if you wish to be in ketosis. There are fat bombs but dry sausage is a huge source also. It could also mean that keto isn't for you. It's not an easy way to eat and one of my Drs told me that. She tried it and couldn't do it, but gave my health high marks and told me to continue. Yeah, it's not easy but gets easier as one learns to be on it. It also helps if one cooks the vast majority of ones own food. We eat out extremely rarely. If we ate out frequently it would be extremely difficult.

I hope that make sense.

If you need more information re: anything it wrote a 'net search is your friend. Or you can ask here. But my daily carb burn and yours ae entirely different. But fats/oils are the far more efficient fuel. If you're burning carbs and getting the job done now you'll need far fewer fats to get the same job done. You just need to consume the fat you need. Do your research into the studies on fats. One was fraudulent and is the one still adhered to today. No other study had confirmed the fraudulent one. Dietary fat is not the enemy. If cholesterol is the problem look to controlling the liver, and it doesn't require a statin. Eating fat reduces serum cholesterol (yeah, seriously). But do your research and don't take my word for it. (Brian says... no that doesn't cut it!) If want you to enter ketosis, only do so because it's right for you and you did the research. But there is no reason to lose weight in ketosis even with a bicycle lifestyle. Just eat more fats.

Thanks, Brian, for all of your information.

Sure seems like I need and eat more calories/food than you as I am extremely active and I just feel so much better with a bit of carbs.
At the moment, mainly eating Yams and plantain for my carbs, but when playing footie, I need to incorporate protein bars and more carbs as they just work so readily as the sugars replenish my entire body after a strenous work-out.
I mainly eat two large meals per day, consisting of yams or plantain /meat or salmon/lots of veggies. All food is cooked by me at home. Snacks can consist of walnuts.
Use a healthy/large serving of organic unrefined coconut oil or olive oil with my meals.
Drink 1-2 cups of organic yerba mate and tons of water (sodium & potassium chloride) with lemon, every day.
I can easily maintain a very good weight eating this way and I feel so much better than trying to stay in ketosis. Not sure if my body is suited for it, but who knows.

Thanks again.

Yes carbs are a quick boost of energy. But they just don't last. That's why carb eaters need to eat every few hours. The human body has no good way to store them. Once in ketosis the body has no trouble maintaining high energy levels for active people. Don't judge my activity level and think everyone in ketosis can only achieve that. But ketosis is definitely not for everyone. One huge advantage, maybe not for you, is that once in ketosis one doesn't need to eat if one has a store of body fat. When I had covid I didn't eat for 4 days and didn't miss it. My wife was going nuts because she doesn't understand it. But I was fine, other than the illness, and just didn't need to eat. I regularly pass on supper if I've had my veggies for lunch. In fact that's what I did last night.

Thanks, again, Brian.
I've fasted quite a bit in the past, but having a very regulated and simple diet, my body doesn't crave it, any longer. I just need the calories and the food.

Maybe, in the future, I'll revisit a keto diet.

I baked another loaf of the King Arthur keto bread today and increased the "mashed potato" flavor by 2/5ths. It tastes pretty good but in a few days, after I get to it, I'll know more. Right now it's all sliced, packaged and in the freezer.

I generally start my day out with a b'fast of butter fried (keto bread <2 grams carbs/half slice) toast, egg(s), and sausage. I recently spied a sign for fresh eggs from a small scale chicken rancher and checked it out. She has duck & chicken eggs. OK, so I never had duck eggs before but they are my new favorite. The albumen is less and the yolk is bigger and creamier. That's exactly what I want on top of my toast. Compared to the higher quality eggs at the supermarket (per marketing) those s'market "factory" eggs just can't hold a candle to the eggs Meg puts out for sale, and I'm super picky about the eggs I consume. The small producer has my business.

Alas! Ducks only lay in the spring/early summer and are getting ready to stop. What a shame. Something to look forward to next spring though.

I recently started experimenting with a Keto diet. I'm starting to get more and more strict as the weeks go on. So far, for me, its been fairly easy other than the lack of bread (like you've mentioned, finding a good keto bread substitute is a challenge).
My wife and I got one of those mini waffle irons and its been an awesome addition for our quick keto breakfasts. Yesterday I attempted a quick keto bread recipe on it: Egg, Almond Flower, baking soda, mayonnaise, and water. It... sorta worked. I probably need to cook it longer but as another user here said "it still tastes kinda eggy". It's certainly the better one I've tried, just too soft for my liking. Overall it was delicious as I made a waffle fried egg with cheddar and some ranch seasoning. Added some ketchup (yeah i know not keto) and had myself a little breakfast sandwich.

I'm certainly looking for some really good meal ideas. Im starting to feel like I need more veggies in my diet. I've been eating lots of Cauliflower (cauliflower mash, cauliflower rice) and its been really great. I hardly miss mashed potatoes and regular rice at all. Doing lots of bell peppers and spinach. I haven't noticed much weight loss yet which is my goal, but I don't own a scale so maybe it's happening.
I certainly look forward to watching this thread for new ideas! I'm certainly hoping to find a good Keto Coffee Creamer recipe or store bought one that works!

On keto, fat is your friend, so you can use the real deal coffee creamer, half and half or cream. The folks who say fat will kill you? BS. The study all of that is based on was fraudulent. Everyone who tried to duplicate that study, and there have been many, has found just the opposite is the case. It's OK to consume fat and it actually drops the LDL while boosting the HDL. But fat is calories and keto is still calories in vs calories out if you want to lose weight.

Ketchup is OK on keto. Just go easy on it (you're going to need measure and count carbs) and I think it's Hunts that has a no sugar added version; it's good ketchup. I know Amazon has it. FWIW, if you don't live in a metro area Amazon is your friend. Lots of keto items found there. Amazon feeds me. But my supermarket is getting much better with keto items and this is low population Maine.

example of carb counting: I had liverwurst and onions tonight. In 150 grams of onions, a medium onion, there are 12 grams of carbs. I try to stay under 20 grams per day and definitely under 40. So between both items and my 2 grams of carbs in my morning toast that was all the carbs for me for the day. No tree nuts tonight. One makes choices.

All veggies are carbs, but there are some that are low carbs, eggplant, celeriac, celery, radishes, I'd need to look it up but probably Jicama, leafy greens (spinach, kale, Swiss Chard, probably more I'm forgetting), you mentioned some others. If they're leaves they're low in carbs and high in nutrition. But they still contain carbs. Cooking veggies makes the nutrition more available meaning you don't burn as many calories to get it. Raw veggies makes your body work to break it down and work = calories burnt. Raw food, chewed, and not blended and drank is best for calorie burn. That's if your gut can handle it.

Red and black Raspberries are OK in moderation. Most other fruits are a no-no unless you count carbs and measure them out. Yeah, I know that sux. I love(d) fruit but I won't even touch it. Rhubarb is a veg' but I cook it as a fruit and that helps. It's low carbs. I'd need to check, but I think I remember Starfruit being low in carbs.

Salads are also your friend. I like salad so it's no big deal for me, but I know not everyone does. The dressing can be as simple as oil and vinegar. I can make a meal on salad but they're chefs salads with meat and cheese.

To help make the bowels happy ground flaxseed is also our friend. I take medications every morning and with them I put 2 heaping teaspoons of GF in the 1/2 glass of water and drink it down right away. GF is a moderator. I take one medication that definitely upsets things. Plus GF is loaded with Omega 3 fatty acid and I'm betting you don't get enough of that. Few people do. And GF has zero net carbs. It has other "benefits" too but I'll let you discover them for yourself.

For another breakfast item I'm making gravlox. I love gravlox. You might know it as 'lox. I haven't decided if I'm going to smoke it yet or not. But I'm also going to pick up another salmon fillet and cure it also. On a thin slice of keto bread toast smeared with cream cheese, or in an omelet, it will be a welcome break. If I smoke it it will be with cherry smoke.

We can have pancakes and biscuits, again, in moderation. I use Carbquik to make those quick breads. I've been known to make a synthetic syrup for them, but adding flavor to the pancakes in the batter and just putting butter (when I write butter I mean actual butter containing butterfat) on them works just as well. Of course in keto we can have bacon or sausage with them.

Get some ketoacidosis piss test strips to test and see if you have entered ketosis. Ketoacidosis is extremely dangerous and we don't want that condition. But the test strips work for us as well as it works for folks in danger of that condition. When just entering ketosis the body doesn't quite now what to do with the ketones and they come out through the kidneys and they'll be seen on the test strips. After you've been in ketosis for a time the body will better handle the ketones and the test strips will be useless. But it's good to see your progress as you enter into the state of ketosis. You'll probably find it interesting, I know I did. Your pharmacy should have them.