Low-carb and Keto Tips

Here are some things that have helped me to stay low-carb since January. 2021.

  1. Give this diet a chance! It takes up to a week to get into ketosis where you stop feeling hungry all the time. Some people suffer what is commonly called "keto flu." I never experience that, but just know that it is normal and will go away in a few days.
  2. Try eating fewer meals. Many low-carb dieters eat only once a day, others eat twice a day and some even eat only every other day. Until recently in our history, humankind always suffered from food insecurity. You ate when you could and you fasted when you couldn't. Also, most religions still practice periods of fasting. For some reason we have become so used to having food all around us that fasting sounds like cruel and unusual punishment, when it is actually perfectly normal and nothing to fear.
  3. Never grocery shop when you are hungry.
  4. Plan your meals.
  5. Consider meal prep at least in the beginning.
  6. Keep cooked proteins on hand at all times for when you really need a snack: hard-boiled eggs, pepperoni sticks, canned fish, canned meats, deli meat, pork rinds, leftovers (cold steak is one of my favourite snacks). If you can handle dairy, you might be able to snack on cheese, but cheese is a trigger for many of us. Dark chocolate, nuts and nut butters are often triggering, but they can be decent snacks if used wisely and sparingly.
  7. If your goal is to lose weight and your progress is truly stalled, look at your snacking habits and food triggers. Some people can't even have certain technically-low-carb foods in the house, like mayonnaise, cheese, dark chocolate or nuts. If any food causes overeating, binge eating or carb-craving, these are trigger foods for you and need to be kept out of reach. This is, of course, much easier if you live alone as you can just leave them at the store. If you live in a multi-person household, you may have to resort to willpower for awhile until your low-carb diet becomes a habit, or until the rest of the household is happy to eat low-carb for the most part. Cooking dinner for multiple people is easier if you make a protein, some low-carb veggies and a starch. For example, chicken, broccoli and rice. Everyone else eats the rice, you don't. If you make a meaty pasta sauce, add pasta at serving time for the other household members. You can have your meat sauce over cauliflower rice or you could just eat the meat sauce like you would chili... in a bowl topped with some sour cream and/or parmesan cheese. While you won't have to restrict fat in general on a low-carb diet, do be careful of high-fat foods like cheese and sour cream. Too much fat can still slow down or stall your weight loss.
  8. Take magnesium to prevent leg cramps at night. These are common on low-carb, as you lose more water than on a high-carb diet, and therefore you may need to increase electrolytes. I take 2 tsp. of a product called Natural Calm (magnesium citrate) in carbonated water in the evening. It improves sleep, supports heart health, and prevents constipation since your fiber intake may be lower on low-carb.