Thoughts about Ketosis

I was thinking about sugar and ketosis, zero carb, grains and all things connected this morning. It was actually very early this morning. We were woken at 2.30am with a 4.2 earthquake that felt more like a 5. The dog barked and barked, and a text came in from daughter no. 2. They were fine but shaken. I was surprised they texted because the quakes normally come from our direction, so we feel them much more than the girls do. However this morning I discovered the epicenter was right under their house, no wonder they were rattled! And thank goodness it was only a 4.2.

Anyway, after all that I found it hard to get back to sleep, and began to think about sugar, ketosis, grains and weight loss.

I wondered if the great feeling you get in ketosis is, in fact, the ketones, or is it just that in order to be in ketosis you must give up all fruits, starchy vegetables, sugars and grains. Is it the ketosis that makes you feel great, or is it the lack of sugars and grains. Last time I tried coming out of ketosis I ate fruit...I made a loaf that included a lot of stewed apple as well as mashed bananas. By day 4 I felt lousy, but that was a lot of sugar for someone who has not had any for a very long time.

Would you feel as good if you ate lots of nuts, non starchy vegetables and fruits like coconut, tomatoes, peppers etc in addition to your meat, fish and fats?

Who knows? Has anyone tried comparing it?

In my ultra running book they talk about aerobic training (no, not the bright lycra stuff we did back in the 80's) its about running within your aerobic capacity so that you turn into a 'fat burner'. It is, of course, necessary not to eat any sugar if you are going to do this (including fruit, grains potatoes etc) your body will burn sugar if it can. Then later after developing yourself as a fat burning athlete, you do the anaerobic training, and burn up your glycogen supplies thus training yourself to go both faster and further.

If one trains ones body to be a fat burner, by eating fat and protein but minimal sugar (carbs) could you get the same benefits as being in ketosis? This is the question I am going to attempt to answer this week or so.

I know I am a fully adapted fat burner. I know this because of my runs. I can run for 2 hours fasted, no problem and no 'bonking' or hitting the wall either during the run or after. Glycogen stores last for 45-90 minutes depending on the amount of training you have done. As I am out for longer than that and am fine I must be burning fat, from my (ample) stores.

This week then, I shall eat Paleo again. I shall not attempt to remain in ketosis. I shall not eat fruit as it has too much sugar, but I will eat nuts and seeds, as well as above ground veg, plus the usual zero carb fare.

Lets see how it goes.

No Longer The Poster Girl for Zero Carb!

So, last night I ate some almonds, and some avocado and tuna. I am no longer the poster girl for zero carb.

What happened?

Well a number of things actually, and together they spell the end of zero carb, at least for the moment.

Yesterday was not a good day. Amongst other things my purse was stolen at the post office. They got my credit card, my business debit card, my EFPOS card (NZ cash card) my driving license, my library card...the list goes on. There were other reasons it was a stressful day as well, but that was the pinnacle.

By 6pm, I was home alone and ready to binge on sons chocolate stash! But I didn't. However later when hubby and I got home again at 8pm we had avocado and tuna. Yum!

So how did I get to this point? It wasn't just the stressful day, although that was the straw that broke the poor proverbial camel. Over the last week or so I have been having fantasies about becoming a vegan! I find myself drooling at the thought of cabbage...or leeks! Have you ever considered just how wonderful a leek is? Tall and white and smelling gloriously of mild onions!

I do know that for dieters "listening to what your body wants" is the kiss of death for a diet. I don't know about yours, but my body wants homemade ice-cream, and special handmade dark chocolate from the SHE community at Governors Bay. Yet when one starts craving cabbage, of all things, one begins to wonder...

And I have been wondering over this last week. The trouble is we want two things. We want to be slim and we want to be healthy. We know that being slim is no guarantee of being healthy, but we want both! And we want them both now!

It is rather like the self-improvement problem. Do we want to read the the Secret (The Secret) and other law of attraction books like this one? Then we can show gratitude and attract all the money we want into our lives. Or do we prefer enlightenment and a life of eternal bliss? Of course we do, so we read Eckhart Tolle (here) or Thich Nhat Hanh (here here and here). And then we find we cannot have both. As Jesus pointed out in the sermon on the mount, one cannot serve both God and money.

And does this apply to weight loss? Actually, the quickest way to lose weight, as any anorexic will tell you, is to simply stop eating. Works every time. Not exactly healthy though, is it?

The trouble with regular diets is that somewhere out there, there is an expert who will tell you that their particular diet is the only way to both weight loss and health. And of course, happiness, success, lots of friends and the ability to eat an occasional piece of chocolate without putting on 5kg overnight.

You want to eat low carb? Sure, try Atkins and co. Want lots of fruit and veg? Try vegetarian, vegan or Paleo. Like baked goodies, but don't want gluten? Then try the Wheat belly diet, or the specific carbohydrate diet. Zero carb? Charles Washington's your man. He'll prove zero carb is the way to live forever!

Maybe it is possible to both diet for weight loss and be healthy and maybe it is possible to be rich and enlightened.

But maybe in order to achieve this we need to start at a different point. If the goal of wealth is to be a philanthropist would you start at a different point than if the goal is to be simply wealthy? Well, maybe. You want want your business to be ethical, for a start, and you would consider ethical investments as well. Maybe environmental considerations would come into it, rather than abiding by the minimum required by law. You would certainly want good working conditions for your employees, even if that means spending a little more upfront. So, maybe it would take a little longer to achieve your goals than it otherwise would.

Can we apply this to dieting?

We want both health and weight loss. Are we prepared to take things a little more slowly in order to achieve both? And if we do, then we simply HAVE to enjoy the journey. If it is going to take 3-5 years to lose the weight, then we cannot sick to an unmanageable diet for that time. It has to be flexible.

And obviously we have to pick the right way of eating. Just like, if we want to be philanthropists we have to look after our own employees, if we want to be healthy we have to look after our own bodies. If we want to be healthy what do we eat? And there I am stuck. The only thing the experts actually seem to agree on is that sugar is bad.

So maybe we start right there. Sugar is bad.

I shall look at sugar in more detail in another post.

Falling off the Zero Carb Wagon

Honesty first! I fell off the zero carb wagon today. This is what happened.

I was very hungry when I woke up, but assumed it would pass. I had a cup of tea and went for a run for about an hour. Shower, another cuppa and on with my day.

Around noon I had to go to the post office, so I hopped on my trusty bike and cycled to the shops, and back again. Daughter 1 who works just down the road turned up at 1pm for lunch. She had brought some Kumera (sweet potato) soup and asked if I wanted some. It smelt fabulous, and I was soooo hungry. I declined and ate some scrambled eggs. I felt a little better for a while, but by 4pm I was ravenous again.

This is very unusual for me, I normally only eat once a day, in the evening, and I don't eat much then. I do get hungry from time to time but not like this.

Son arrived home after a difficult school day and begged for pancakes. He is gluten free so I cooked up some buckwheat pancakes. Hubby decided he would have some too. The smell of the pancakes was wonderful and it took everything I had to calmly go on making them, and not actually eat any.

By supper time I was done for. I ate some of the stir fry veggies I had cooked for hubby.

So I am not zero carb today.

Is this good? Is this bad? Should one follow what ones body wants? Or should I have been stricter and stuck to my guns and not eaten the vegetables?

And of course, where to from here? Back to zero carb tomorrow? Or try eating Paleo for a few days and see what happens? I suppose I can go back to zero carb whenever I want.

So many questions, and no answers.

I can assume that as I am running further and (slightly) faster my body requires more food. Yet we are told again and again, as runners, not to eat the calories back, not to have the sandwich after a run or you won't lose weight. But as Paleo and zero carb people, calories are not supposed to matter, so maybe I should eat if and when I am hungry. Part of the problem is that I have 2 goals, I want to be a runner and I want to lose weight.

I have no idea what I shall eat tomorrow.