The story behind my keto diet experiment
This blog post delves into my history with nutrition, the reasons for my interest in the ketogenic diet, and a quick introduction to it. You may want to jump straight to my 6 month ketogenic diet plan post, which kicked off on 28th May 2017.
Every book on nutrition begins the same way. The author was overweight, unhappy and unhealthy, after a lifetime of eating in the manner which has long been the standard western diet. After years of education and experimentation they come to an understanding of how we should be eating, or more precisely, what works for them, and their life is changed for the better. There’s a sense of sadness at having struggled with diets that never worked and anger of how the conventional wisdom was wrong. At the same time, there’s a sense of gratitude in having arrived at the answers, paired with a desire to shout it from the rooftops, and help others who are currently in the all-too familiar position of feeling like their goals are out of reach, if at all even possible.
My history is a little different. Weight has never necessarily been the issue for me. Having been a programmer in small teams for most of the past 10 years, and having lofty ambitions of having a positive impact on many through technology — I’ve had a strong interest in boosting my productivity and performance.
But there’s been an issue that has been a hurdle at best of times, and a road block at it’s worst: fatigue. For most of my adult life, I’ve suffered from bouts of fatigue, and moments of brain fog, where focus is difficult, motivation is significantly reduced and every task is made that much harder.
At it’s most extreme, it’d take everything I have to not fall asleep during a meeting, or a university lecture, or just as frustratingly, during a social event. In moments of high energy I’d excitedly plan social events, only to cancel on the day as I’m in another slump which would have me about as much fun to be around as a wet flannel.
At the time, it wasn’t necessarily questioned — it was hilarious even. I was a university student, odd sleeping hours were the norm, our diets were poor (chicken kebabs, chocolate coated peanuts and Red Bull were not a rare occurrence) — but despite this, my situation felt extreme. I was still productive a lot of the time — but it’s the fluctuation in energy that proved so unpredictable and damaging.
Soon after leaving university, I began work as a full-time programmer — and the energy crashes were just as intense. The afternoon slump would leave me fighting to focus on tasks. I’d find myself watching the clock at times, jumping out of my chair at midday as hunger dragged me out of the office and into the local cafe for my full english breakfast or into the kitchen for the tuna and pasta bake I had brought in from home. Perhaps dragged is the wrong word — onlookers would have seen me and my hunger skipping hand in hand like lovers in the prairie. I was young, ambitious, I loved my job and the empowering feeling of being able to code. I was exercising, eating multiple times a day while trying to put on muscle, I was sleeping well — so why was I always tired?
A colleague of mine introduced me to the Four Hour Body by Tim Ferris. The book blew my mind, it claimed all I knew about nutrition was wrong, and forced me to question everything. And so begun a journey of gradually shifting from the conventional wisdom. That being for example, the idea that carbohydrates in the form of pasta and bread should make up the bulk of our diet, that fats should be kept to a minimum, and that fruit juice is good for you. Over the years I read and followed diets such as the Four Hour Body, The Bulletproof Diet, the Paleo way of eating. Each incremental change to my diet was reassuring me of the importance of nutrition to well-being, and that the problem of fatigue can be solved. The past year or two I’ve eaten a diet consisting predominantly of meats, vegetables and nuts, and I’m in the best shape physically and mentally of my life.
Why did it take so many years to reach this point? It’s an important question. A question which I believe the country and western world as a whole will be asking in the next 5 to 10 years. A question I will be exploring in future blog posts. It essentially comes down to the fact that the standard American or British diet, and the understanding many of us have grown up with, is flawed — and it’s going to take years for us as individuals and as a society to shift. Government, industry, and long held beliefs are slow-moving, and reflective of an understanding of nutrition which does not reflect the understanding that science holds today. As one of my favourite people on this planet, Tim Minchin, once sung:
“I don’t believe just ’cause ideas are tenacious it means they’re worthy”
Further, diagnosing fatigue is incredibly difficult — as you’re essentially asking: ‘why is my body not running optimally?’. There’s an untold number of potential factors at play. Perhaps the cause is nutritional — a deficiency in iron, vitamin B, vitamin D perhaps, too few calories, too much sugar, you’re lactose intolerant etc. Perhaps the cause is lifestyle: too much stress, not enough sleep, perhaps you’re an introvert, you’re depressed, not enough downtime etc. I touched upon this in an earlier blog post of mine, and feel that I have narrowed down the factors over time.
Despite improving my situation drastically over the years — my afternoon and evenings are still noticeably less energised than my mornings. I still suffer from brain fog more than I’d like. My role is challenging enough without having to fight with my energy levels in the process. More generally, my desire is not to merely survive the day, but to thrive.
So what more can be done, where do I go next?
Enter Ketosis and the Ketogenic diet (Keto)
“Ketosis is a metabolic state that happens when you consume a very low-carb, moderate-protein, high-fat diet that causes your body to switch from using glucose as its primary source of fuel to running on ketones. Ketones themselves are produced when the body burns fat, and they’re primarily used as an alternative fuel source when glucose isn’t available” — Jimmy Moore, Keto Clarity
The generally recommended percentages for the macronutrients in a ketogenic diet are as follows:
There’s a growing body of scientific studies that demonstrates the vast amount of health benefits that come from eating a ketogenic diet. Whether your interest is weight loss, mental clarity, better management of blood sugar levels, reduced anxiety, cognitive impairments, and even in treating and prevention of serious illnesses such as cancer. For an introduction to the ketogenic diet, two resources I recommend are the book Keto Clarity by Jimmy Moore and Dominic D’Agostino’s appearance on the Ultimate Health Podcast.
For me at present, the key interest is in the cognitive performance benefits, and as I’m quickly discovering: the effect the diet has on your hunger levels. I have a history of feeling like I was hungry, or that I could eat, all of the time. With the ketogenic diet, the idea is that you can go on for hours upon hours without craving food — and this is what I currently believe to be at the core of why ketosis works so well for weight loss: it takes willpower out of the equation when attempting to restrict calories. Although I do believe there is a lot more to weight management and fat storage than the simplistic view of “calories in — calories out” would suggest.
From my experiences with drinking bulletproof coffee at intervals over the past few years, I found the high fat did an amazing job at quashing my hunger for hours on end. Coffee in general would have me charged, although in every case I’d build a tolerance and then found it muddied the water when trying to diagnose my overall energy levels. It’s for these reasons why I have long been off coffee, and will remain so for the duration of this experiment.
The ketogenic diet requires a huge upfront commitment from the outset. For most, a switch to a keto diet represents a huge change in how they have lived up to this point. Sugar, and carbs in general have ingrained themselves so deeply into the fabric of our lives that it’s initially daunting to even wonder how one can live without bread, pasta, fruits, and milk, let alone without chocolate and other treats. This can seem difficult enough when eating at home, but when socialising or eating out, it’s going to require commitment and flexibility.
I’ve eaten low carb, in a Paleo inspired manner for the best part of the last 5 years. Thus it’s a simpler transition, and for me it means ramping up my healthy fats. That means: more eggs, bacon, avocado, cheese, butter, almond milk, fatty meats, coconut oil, macadamia nuts and double cream to name a few keto ingredients….. I accept!
That said, part of my journey will be to learn as much as I can about the process of getting into, and out of ketosis — and specifically, what room for manoeuvre there is for someone who is keto adapted, to relax the rules for a special occasion let’s say? Or will it perhaps even prove beneficial to intentionally bring yourself out of ketosis at regular intervals? There’s a lot to learn!
I’m fully committed. On with the 6-month plan!
