"So, tell me, what do you actually eat?"
"But, if you don't eat fruit and vegetables, won't you get scurvy?"
"Don't you miss fruit/bread/doughnuts?
"Can you actually run and not eat any carbs?"
These are just a few of the questions I get asked so I thought I might try and answer them.
What do I actually eat?
I eat anything from the animal kingdom. I know this is not politically correct, but I don't actually eat much. In fact I eat so little I reckon I have a smaller footprint them many other 'normal' people. I normally only eat once a day, and not much then.
So I eat any meat. From mince to steak, to roasts. Pork, lamb, beef, venison, whatever. I also eat fish, and could eat shellfish, but sadly it makes me very ill. I have butter, cream, eggs. I could eat cheese, but I dislike it.
I don't eat sausages, or cured meat, except a bit of bacon very occasionally.
Basically if it comes form an animal I eat it. If it doesn't I don't. The exceptions are salt, pepper and a few herbs and spices for variety. I eat maybe 6-8oz of meat a day. In addition I have a number of cups of Earl Grey tea with heavy cream.
I don't appear to have scurvy, but believe me, at the first signs (bleeding gums I believe) I shall be running for the vitamin C tablets as quickly as I can, as well as changing my diet to prevent it happening agin. At the moment, however, I am fit and healthy.
I am not a slave to this way of eating. It suits me now, and it is an interesting experiment. But if it stopped suiting me, I would stop. I am not daft! I have a lot of energy, and mental alertness, and I like feeling this way. I sleep well at night, I have no reflux or heartburn and I have enough energy to run. I also have a very small appetite. Apparently being in ketosis suppresses the appetite. This is a good thing as I have a family...who all eat grains and sugar and I have those things in my cupboards and at my dinner table. It would be very hard to diet if I was still craving these things.
Do I miss sugar, grains, fruit or vegetables? And the related question, don't you get bored with your diet?
To be honest, yes I did at the begining. I really craved bread, or sweet things. Passing up chocolate was very hard, particularly when I was given some organic handmade dark chocolate at Christmas....
As time passed though the cravings became less and less, and now I don't really crave anything at all.
I do get bored however, and I tell myself that I can stop at any time. I could become a vegan tomorrow if I so wish. It is entirely up to me. So I say, just for today, I shall stick with the diet, and leave tomorrow to itself. This works for me.
Other zero carbers say that as time passes they cease to see food as entertainment and merely as fuel and so they don't worry about the boredom bit. I am not sure I find this reasuring. I like family gatherings, friendly get-to-gethers, and the like and the resulting sharing of food. But my main goal is to no longer look like the back end of a bus. So I shall deal with this first, and then, maybe, I can relax a little on special occasions.
Can you run and not eat any carbs?
Amazingly, yes. At least for the moment. This morning I did my longest run to date....11k. I took a very long time, I must be the worlds slowest runner...but I did it. People run marathons in not much longer than I did 11k, but I still ran for just over 2 hours with no problems.
I had a cup of tea with heavy cream before I set out, and at the domain at the half way point there is a drinking fountain, so I had a couple of mouthfuls of water. I did not take a drinking bottle. I did not appear to run out of fuel, and I certainly did not need any of those gels and special drinks. Maybe I would go faster if I had them, who knows? Maybe we need to look into this in the future, but for now it is fine.
Again, I am not a slave to this way of life. As I do longer and longer runs I may need carbs. In which case I shall have them!
So there we are, I live in ketosis, I run, and I eat zero carb. All seems well so far. I am getting fitter by the day, my mind is bright and alert...no brain fog....I sleep well at night, and whilst I don't actually like getting out of bed in the morning, it is not much of a struggle.
And yes, after 3 months of running, I am again losing weight! I plateaued with weight loss whilst I lost inches and gained muscle, but I am losing slowly and steadily again now.
Are you zero carb? Do you run? How is it going for you?
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