What is this Keto thing?

"Do you not know that your bodies are temples

of the Holy Spirit,

who is in you,

whom you have received from God?

1 Corinthians 6:19a (NIV)

I don't know if I said it previously or not, but when I decided to start really getting healthy it was because I was tired of feeling sick all of the time, or actually being sick all of the time.  My blood sugars were out of control usually running in the 200s or more, and I felt drugged, sluggish, sleepy, had blurry vision, and was irritable.  My feet hurt, I was extremely hot all of the time and I was miserable and no good to my family, myself or anyone else.  

My first decision was to cut out anything containing flour, corn, potatoes, rice or sugar.  That was very hard, but it wasn't working as well as I had hoped.  I was substituting quinoa for carbs and even though I was doing better, I wasn't quite getting the results that I wanted.  

Then I saw a film on Netflix called "The Magic Pill".  If you want a little more information about keto, then I highly suggest this film.  I saw that people were curing their diabetes, losing weight, getting clearer skin and one lady was able to cure her cancer.  

So I decided to look into this keto thing more seriously.  

I am not an expert, I am learning as I go.  However, I am extremely happy and excited about the results that I have had.  My sugars are almost normal most of the time.  I'm not as hungry as a used to be, I have lost weight, I don't get hot as much as I used to, and the pain in my feet has all but disappeared.  All positives.  

So what is keto?  The easiest way that I can explain it, is that keto takes the government approved food pyramid and flips it upside down. 

In the USDA food pyramid, the base is made up of carbs; bread, grains, rice, cereal, and pasta.  The next level up is fruits and veggies, followed by dairy and the smallest part at the top is fats.  

https://www.conceptdraw.com/How-To-Guide/picture/healthy-foods/Food-and-Beverage-Health-Food-USDA-Food-Pyramid.png

In the keto pyramid, all of this is reversed.  The base of the pyramid and the majority of your calories come from fats.  Healthy fats such as olive oil, coconut oil, nuts, avocados, butter, and ghee.  Also on the base is your proteins,  which we all know is meat.  The next level is your green leafy veggies.  Kale, spinach, lettuce, bok choy etc because these particular vegetables have less carbs and are high in nutrients.  Colored vegetables are next because they are a little higher in carbs and then dairy.  Now the key to dairy here is that most keto plans exclude milk.  I don't drink milk anyway so that doesn't affect me.  I do use almond milk if I have to.  But the dairy level consists of cheese and creams, like heavy cream and sour cream. The top of the pyramid has your carbs.

https://antranik.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/keto-food-pyramid.jpg

When doing a keto plan you want the majority of your calories to come from fat, followed by protein and then your vegetables.  Most people on the keto plan try to keep their carb intake under 20% for the day.  This can be hard as so many products have added sugar in them.  

We discovered this when trying to buy pasta sauce.  Most of it has sugar.  Even some sausage has sugar added.  In fact, almost every processed product has sugar of some form added.  So unless you are eating the foods as God made them, fresh, unprocessed from the ground or raw from the animal to be cooked, you are going to struggle with your carbs.  I am even finding out that the majority of salad dressings has not only sugars but also bad fats. 


Now there are die-hards out there that tell you that you have to eat organic, and you have to count macros and calories, which is all good, but what I like about keto is that you do the best that you can.  I personally can not afford to eat all organic food, and there is a lot of food that you don't need to eat organic.  I also can't afford to eat grass fed either.  So I do the best that I can, and I still am seeing the benefits.

Keto can be as easy or as hard as you make it.  I, however, prefer easy and affordable.  

I like feeling better.  I like being able to take care of my home and my family. 

I also believe that it is my responsibility as a christian woman to take care of my body.  It is God's temple and my spiritual home.  It is my job to build it up and not tear it down.  Lysa TerKeurst, who is one of my favorite Bible study teachers and leaders has a study series called Made to Crave and I use that along with my keto plan to help keep me on track.  

Food is such a difficult thing, because you need it to live, but it can control your life. I had found myself in a place where I didn't care.  But now, I have found myself in a place where because it is working for me, I don't want to give up.  I want to keep going and I don't mind telling people now that I don't eat certain things because it is about me being healthy.  It is about my well-being.  The better I feel, the easier it is to deal with my life as a whole, emotionally, physically and especially spiritually.  Joyce Meyer even tweeted the other day that "It is a proven fact that the healthier we are, the happier we are."  

I can tell you that today, I am happier than I have been in a long time and most of it is just because I feel better.  I am so grateful for that.   

I don't know about you, but if my body is the temple where the Holy Spirit dwells, I don't want to be giving it junk.  I want to give it the best that I can.  

Keto may not be for you, that's fine.  But health is for everyone.  I encourage you to do your best to be healthy.  I only regret that it has taken me this long to make this decision.  

Hopefully there will be more great results in the future!