Health Journey - Next Steps and Podcast Recommendations
After my recap last week, I wanted to talk about a couple things I’m going to experiment with the next little bit: sauna use and carnivore diet. And, if you’re interested, you can just skip to the bottom and find my choice podcasts as well as my Health Journey blog series all listed for your convenience if you want to know what I’ve been up to.
Health Journey - Part 2 Keto Flu and Initial Reaction
Thanks for checking in!
I decided to go full force into a ketogenic diet. Some people, including my functional medicine doctor, suggested I add one ketogenic meal at a time but since I had done the Whole30 diet, I decided to go all in. It was pretty simple since I was used to being mindful of what had sugar in it and what didn’t. However confident I was going into eating keto without worry, I was pretty grumpy because of the VEGETABLE limitations I had. I was sad about the lack of variety I would have my hands on. I started really getting into potatoes and fruit on a Whole30 diet…
Throwback to vacationing in Tulum, Mexico. Chillin' and wondering how to stop the bloat!
TMI alert: My period also came earlier than expected so the combination of a dramatic carbohydrate reduction, AND having to do an induced stool test AND having my period was NOT happy making. No matter how much water I drank (ok, I had coconut water too which has too many carbs for a keto diet), I still had the most splitting headaches I’d ever experienced.
There’s something called a Keto flush, that happens when you start to train your body to burn fat molecules instead of glucose for energy. Apparently, each gram of carbohydrate in your body holds onto 3 grams of water. Thus, the lack of carbs makes your body eliminate any excess water hanging around. And LEMMYTELLYOU, it’s been a couple of weeks and I feel a lot less bloated. I really wanted to get rid of the painful 3 months pregnant looking bloat I have been chronically experiencing. I was feeling lighter after doing my last Whole30 but then I went on a pasta making spree.. all in the name of RECIPE DEVELOPMENT. Ok, and personal enjoyment.
Spiralized vegetables are fun tho. Get this salad recipe here.
Hopefully this is my answer to years of painful periods! The only problem isssss this very restrictive diet. I had to actually apply to become a patient with this functional medicine doctor which included providing my personal goals for my long term health. One of them was to know how much food I can TASTE while recipe developing and working as a chef. OR I just move towards a paleo / keto blog and cheffing business. I really don’t feel like changing careers ENTIRELY, please. Not yet anyway – unless someone needs a full time karaoke / rapper / actress?
One of my cheerleaders, Rich, is confident that if anyone can come up with fun keto meals it would be me so I’m trying! I made a really delicious Asparagus & Roasted Red Pepper Frittata that was really delicious! If you want the recipe, I can write it out for you for the next blog post. Let me know and I’ll write it up.
Until next time!