I LOVE your recipes and entire program! You simplify eating healthfully and your recipes look delicious. I have arthritis and must eat a restricted diet that is anti-inflamatory. I can easily see ways to adapt some of your recipes. The diet forbids grains, beans, wheat, chick peas, potatoes, pasta, or any fruits or vegetables with seeds, etc. I was skeptical about this diet at first but if I stick to the diet, I really do experience less pain. I would so wish to have your recipes adapted for the home cook with substitutions of allowed foods for the forbidden. For instance, I am going to try to make your phyllo recipe using almond flour, and in other recipes using only pasture grazed dairy such as goat and sheeps milk cheeses, yogurts, eggs etc. Thank your for your inspiration and I would be so grateful if you would turn your gifted cooking attention to helping those of us in pain to adapt your delicious and healthful diet to include anti-inflamation recipes. There is a huge and eager market for this.
Although adding an exercise routine to your diet overhaul will help you burn fat more quickly than a dietary intervention alone, one JAMA study found that obese patients who change their diets first and begin exercising six months after their diet change will lose the same amount of weight after 12 months as those participants who eat healthier and exercised over the course of the whole year. In short: don’t put off your weight loss goals just because you don’t want to exercise. Change your diet today, exercise later, and you can still lose weight.
It is important to understand that the statement that carbohydrates are “nonessential” is not only factually inaccurate, it results in adopting a low-carbohydrate diet or ketogenic diet that increases your risk for a wide variety of chronic health conditions that may ultimately shorten lifespan, decrease your quality of life, and accelerate your risk for chronic disease.
I’m sorry…no we don’t. Sure, more studies will happen, and more information is always good. But, we KNOW that keto works. You can argue that all you want…but in truth, facts don’t care about your feelings. There are plenty of studies, both in groups and in individuals, that prove beyond any reasonable doubt that going on a proper keto diet WILL improve your life as a diabetic, and will often allow the person to reverse diabetes completely (type 2, obviously). Not to mention the weight loss and the myriad of other health benefits it provides.
In the study, researchers fed mice (!) a keto diet for three days (!), and then ran a glucose tolerance test. They noticed that while the mice on a keto diet had a lower fasting blood glucose, it got higher after the glucose tolerance test and there were signs of a reduced effect of insulin compared to mice on regular mouse chow. That’s basically it.
As always, I encourage you to speak to your own doctor about whether or not this diet may be right for you. And, if you decide to go for it, be sure to check in with your doctor regularly to make sure your body is responding well. Those patients who do respond well to the diet will be rewarded with less symptoms and may even be able to completely get off of their medications.
One of the most important ingredients is abundant physical activity. The base of the Mediterranean diet is an abundance of fresh fruits, vegetables, olive oil, beans, nuts, legumes, and whole grains. Next, add in fish and seafood at least twice a week, followed by some poultry, eggs, and dairy, especially fermented dairy like yogurt and cheese. The very top of the pyramid is reserved for a small amount of red meat and sugary treats (in small portions and for special occasions).
With fats being my main source of calories, my body and energy levels have never been better. When I educated myself on it and understood the science behind it, it was clear to see why my joints started feeling better, and ailments started to go away. I now have more “oil” lubricating my cells so they’re more receptive/flexible/malleable to the nutrients in my foods. People can loose weight very fast, but honestly the first 10lbs or so is a lot of water weight so that’s really nothing to write home about.
I believe that nature teaches us in wonderful ways about what works. Take the four seasons for example. I’ve adapted a ketogenic way of eating that is a cyclic method. I workout a lot, and a focus of mine is increasing muscle mass and strength. While I wouldn’t be able to maintain and/or increase those two factors with the amount of intense workouts I have, I don’t follow a strict ketogenic “diet”. I go about 3 weeks of being in keto, and then for a couple of days, I eat whatever I want. That means, I can eat cake, cookies, pies, whatever I want, for those two days. I even get to enjoy birthday cake ;). Then after that, I go back to keto. It’s work WONDERS. It’s EXTREMELY maintainable, I’m still loosing weight and achieving my goals. I’ve also been getting better at listening to my body and understanding how certain foods affect my body—which is something we’re not taught. It’s really amazing how we have such intelligent systems that are ALWAYS communicating with us. We just have to understand how to listen to them. Truly. The problem with a lot of our society, is that we are stuck in the high-end of the cyclic, or the feasting mode, and we think it’s normal! Hence the many ailments and medical conditions that keep increasing. The point is, there are many variations of following a ketogenic way of eating, and it DOES require a life-style change. Just like any other recommendation from a dietician or educator.
“For any individual considering a ketogenic diet, there are laboratory values that a knowledgeable physician should check prior to starting and throughout the course of the diet,” she says. “The best approach is to work with a registered dietitian that is knowledgeable in ketogenic diet therapies and can educate you on ways to make healthier choices on this plan than what dieters would randomly select on their own, along with appropriate supplements that are absolutely necessary on this type of diet.”
In Asia, the normal diet includes rice and noodles as the main energy source, making their elimination difficult. Therefore, the MCT-oil form of the diet, which allows more carbohydrate, has proved useful. In India, religious beliefs commonly affect the diet: some patients are vegetarians, will not eat root vegetables or avoid beef. The Indian ketogenic diet is started without a fast due to cultural opposition towards fasting in children. The low-fat, high-carbohydrate nature of the normal Indian and Asian diet means that their ketogenic diets typically have a lower ketogenic ratio (1:1) than in America and Europe. However, they appear to be just as effective.[53]
