Keto: Just Say No

The noun form of the word "diet" has two meanings:

1. 1.

   the kinds of food that a person, animal, or community habitually eats.
2. 2.

   a special course of food to which one restricts oneself, either to lose weight or for medical reasons.
3. 
   

More often that not, when we hear the term we often are referring to the latter of the two. Over the years on my health living journey, I have researched or even tried various "diets" (definition #2). The one diet that really got me second guessing all of the information from the internet and what "they" say.  (Who are the elusive "they" anyhow?) After a lot of research and prompting from friends, I tried keto before my wedding last year. After a stint of hardcore keto (bullet proof coffee, sub 20 g of carbs a day, moderate protein, high fat, and even going so far as to log my vitamins) and peeing on a lot of keto sticks, I stepped on the scale. 

Within 1 month I had gained 5 lb. Aside from the weight gain, through out the month of keto I physically felt terrible. My reflux had returned, after it had subsided in 2012 after I nixed gluten from my diet (definition #1 :) ). I didn't feel healthy. You know that feeling when you eat something really greasy and that grease might as well be seeping out of your pores? Yeah, that's how I constantly felt. That's the best way to describe it!

I then decided to step back and evaluate popular fad diets. Aside from my experience with keto, I firmly believe keto is a fad diet with major long term health ramifications. How can aiming to eat 150g of fat a day be healthy? How can one think that eating blueberries will make them fat?

God created foods such as apples, blueberries, sweet potatoes, chicken, etc all for our nourishment as human beings. We often times act as though our brains know more than our bodies - our bodies that were designed so intricately to function in ways that our brains still can't even begin to understand. So, how arrogant or foolish are we to think that our bodies don't know anything and we need to trick them?

Your body was designed to take in food for sustenance and to function properly. As you step away from "diets" (definition #2), you should start to listen to the needs, signals, hunger, etc from your body. It will tell you when you need to eat and what you need to eat. Now, if your mouth is wanting twinkies every meal, then that is not nourishment. You can choose wise foods, while not following unhealthy diets.