Another Health Update: Keto

Theology and Politics from a Conservative, Biblical Perspective

Just wanted to provide a bit of an update for both my wife and I and I thank everyone for expressing concern and prayers for my wife. It’s greatly appreciated.

We have had weekly appointments with my wife’s doctor and she is doing very well. Things are healing nicely though it’s taken more time than we thought. At this point, it looks like my wife might have the second phase of her reconstruction surgery in June. Her doctor wants to see her again sometime in May to make final determination. The second phase of her surgery is only supposed to take a few hours and there will be no drains inserted this time. This surgery will “balance” everything out and make her feel whole again. For her sake, I’m certainly looking forward to that. Would appreciate your continued prayers here and we are certain God will see her through this. After this second surgery, there is a final touch up, which includes tattooing a matching color on her new areola area to match the other one. Then, hopefully, all will be well and done.

As for me, I have been marveling at the fact that both my wife and I are on the Ketogenic Diet. As I’ve said before, I hate using the word “diet,” because it implies a temporary nature and points to a time when you’ll come off the “diet” and eat “normally” like you used to do. For us, this is not at all true. We are on this until the Lord takes us home.

The Ketogenic Diet – for those who are unaware – is a way to eat very healthy foods, including good fats. Yes, there are actually good fats as opposed to bad fats that people should be eating. The good fats literally feed our bodies and our brains. In fact, our brains desperately need good fats. People who go on a low-fat diet of any sort will lose weight, but will also often starve their brains in the process. A starved brain will develop all sorts of maladies.

For over the past month or so, my wife and I essentially eat two meals per day. We have a hearty breakfast around 10, a light snack in the afternoon, and a hearty meal in the evening. Our breakfast normally consists of:

• two fried eggs
• uncured bacon and/or sausage
• fresh spinach leaves
• cheese (from either goat or sheep milk)
• avocado slices

I’m absolutely amazed at how satisfied I feel and it lasts for hours. This is why I can simply eat a very light snack in the afternoon made up of goat or sheep milk yogurt, with fresh fruit and pecans) and not get hungry until dinner.

When I first read about the Keto program (from Dr. Berg), I wasn’t convinced, but decided to try it. He doesn’t necessarily recommend only eating twice per day, but says if you end up doing that, it’s fine. I was hesitant but found that it came rather easily. There are a few days where I might eat more only when I’ve been working around the house outside and use a good deal of energy, but in general, eating two meals a day has become our program. Dr. Berg calls it “intermittent fasting” because our bodies burn the good fats we ate at breakfast, instead of burning muscle.

As far as weight loss/gain, I’ve found over the past 5 – 6 years that I’ve changed my lifestyle so drastically, that my body will lose 3 – 5 pounds and then plateau for a bit. Most recently, I was stuck at between 165 and 170. Now I’m comfortably down to 162 and I’m not trying to lose weight. This is one of the things Dr. Berg says. You don’t “diet” to lose weight (which is what most people do). You “diet” to start feeling better and as an aside, you’ll also lose weight. This is absolutely true in my case.

We went to a wedding and reception this past weekend and I was careful to eat only what I thought was good for me to eat. There were a number of beverages available that people were raving about so I tried the one that was a lemonade/strawberry blend. One sip told me that it was FULL of High Fructose Corn Syrup! I quickly set it aside and went back to water.

When it came time for the cake, though it looked very good, both my wife and I passed on it. It had dairy, gluten, and I’m sure a number of other things that I could not eat. No loss at all.

As I said, this is a quick health update and I hope these segments benefit or encourage you. Knowing what I know now and eating the way we eat now, if 5 – 6 years ago someone had said to me that I’d get to a point where I’d avoid all the many things I avoid, I would likely have grown seriously disheartened over that.

Now however, I find that because I went slowly, step by step, it was very natural to simply stop eating/drinking those things that are questionable at best and terrible for me at worst.

For anyone who is having issues where food is concerned or may not even know that food might be the culprit for your aches, your pains, and your general feelings of blech, you may wish to pick one or two things and remove them from your eating lifestyle. I’m convinced that the three most egregious things for many people are:

• high fructose corn syrup (HFCS)
• gluten
• excitotoxins/MSG

Just think how much better you might begin to feel if you eliminated those three things. However, that it not necessarily easy because those three things are in so many food/drink products, it’s really pitiful. Though some food products do not list MSG as one of the ingredients, all too often, a combination of ingredients is used to create the presence of MSG. Because it was created, it does not need to be listed on the ingredients list.

I used to drink the “Simply” juices, but they list “natural flavorings” as an ingredient. This can often be code for “MSG” or MSG-related ingredients. I contacted the company (Coca-Cola) and asked and they basically said they could not reveal that information because it is “proprietary.” Okay, so I no longer drink their products because of that. I mean, they were completely unwilling to tell me if they either 1) added MSG to their flavorings or 2) if any of the ingredients added to their juice line created MSG or MSG-related substances. I’m not sure how that knowledge is proprietary, but Coca-Cola is certainly willing to hide behind it. So, I don’t need their products.

Folks, if you will not watch what you eat or drink, then there is a good likelihood that you are doing some harm to your body, including your brain. We know so many people with cancer, dementia, Parkinson’s, etc., and we wonder if at least some of that could have been avoided had they eaten better.

Go to any store and look for people who are overweight to obese, shuffling along and/or using one of those wheelchair motorized grocery carriages. These people do not see the connection between what they eat and drink and their health or lack of it.

We can and should do better. I sense my energy coming back up and stabilizing. I can work around the house doing jobs from one to another without feeling like I’m going to collapse. I am sleeping better. I do my best to walk 10,000 steps per day. I keep track of my blood pressure and heartbeat. In short, this is the only body and brain the Lord gave me. I wish I had started this lifestyle regiment 10 years ago or more, but at least I’m on it now and I do see the benefits.

I’m amazed how many times I’ll talk to people who suffer from stomach problems or other gastrointestinal issues and do not make the connection that it very likely has something to do with what they eat. On some occasions, it may be separate but selecting the food and drink to be consumed is the best way to have control over your body and brain.

Again, when I started this journey I was 255 pounds in a 5′ 7″ height. I am now 162 and still losing. I’m expecting my body to stop around 155 or so, but it may be 160 or 150. I really don’t know but I do not that my body will stop losing weight when it determines it is at the correct weight for me. In the meantime, I’m feeling better and enjoying life more.

Theology and Politics from a Conservative, Biblical Perspective