By "all," I mean all.
A lot of people are thinking, "Well, I can go on a keto diet and cut out regular soda and hang on to diet drinks." These are soft drinks that are advertised as zero calories.
Well, first of all, they are not zero calories. Under US labeling guidelines, they contain few enough calories that they can be passed on as "zero calorie drinks." But they are not zero calories.
Also, recent studies have shown that people who drink diet colas actually have a shorter life expectancy. I know, it's shocking. It definitely shocked me. In fact, I got so stunned I swore off all sodas across the board.
It doesn't matter whether they are regular soda loaded with sugar, or high fructose corn syrup and other nasty junk, or they are the zero-calorie or low-calorie variety, I'm completely off them. And I suggest you do the same.
I understand that if you drink a lot of soda, it's going to be very hard to go cold turkey. Believe me, I can empathize. It took me a few false starts myself to finally get off the soda train.
This is why it's a good idea to follow one of the principles that I have laid out in Chapter 6: displace, do not replace.
In accordance with this piece of advice, eventually, cut out all soda. The key here is "eventually." This means that you have to start today.
It doesn't have to be bold. It doesn't have to be dramatic. You're not trying to impress anybody, you're not trying to be a hero, but you have to start today and gradually cut down.
If you do it gradually, it's actually much easier than you care to realize. But if you were to go cold turkey, that's going to be a little bit of a problem because of the dynamics that I have described earlier in this book.
Your body will put up a fight. Your body is used to doing things a certain way. Your body has grown accustomed to certain patterns, and believe me, it's going to push back.
Sooner or later, you will find yourself doing the same things as before. Before you know it, you will be eating the same stuff as before.
So, don't do things that way. There's no need for some sort of black and white change.
Again, you're not trying to impress anybody. You're not trying to put on a show. Instead, you want to adopt something that will stick.
Eventually Cut Out Grain-Based Snacks
Let me be completely honest with you. One of the biggest hassles with adopting a keto diet involves snacks.
A lot of the snacks available out there are grain-based. It doesn't matter what you're into. Maybe you're into corn chips, corn flakes, puffed snacks, rice cakes, potato chips, the whole nine yards.
When you look at the common laundry list of snack items in the United States and elsewhere, they have one common denominator, for the most part. I am, of course, talking about grains.
It doesn't matter whether that grain is rice or corn, or it involves a starchy vegetable like potato. They're all loaded with starch. They're all off limits to you if you switch to a keto diet.
This is why it's a good idea to eventually cut down on grain-based snacks as you load up on fatty nuts like walnuts or macadamia.
Peanuts are off limits. Peanuts are not going to get you to where you want to go as far as your keto diet is concerned. Stick to high fat "bombs" like macadamia and walnuts.
This is a little bit tricky because, normally, macadamia nuts and walnuts are often packaged with chocolate or something sweet. You're going to have to make the adjustment to these nuts in their pure form.
The good news is that you probably already have a taste for them if you have had macadamia and walnuts as part of some sort of mixed nuts package. Load up on these.
Slowly Cut Out Milk-Based Snacks
Milk is a very touchy subject for a lot of people. A lot of individuals switching over to keto can easily make do without soda. Many are able to make the transition to a grain-free snack system with very little resistance. The problem is, once they try to cut out milk and dairy-based products, that's when they get a little antsy.
This is why I suggest that you slowly cut down. I'm not talking about eventually, I'm not talking about a fast withdrawal system, but just slowly cut out milk-based snacks and meal items.
It really all boils down to pacing yourself in line with your changing tastes. This is definitely not something that you can rush.
Keep the meal plan strategies above in mind. Make sure you try all of them. If you're having a tough time with one, keep at it.
Again, there's no need to be a hero. There's no need to just take one giant leap. You're not trying to prove anything to anybody.
What's important here is that you're able to stick to the changes that you have made. A little bit of incremental change can go a long way.
Some people adjust very quickly. Others need a little bit more time. Just figure out which one you are and just stick to the plan of action.
Eventually, your body will get used to it. Eventually, your taste buds will adjust.
By this point, you have gotten used to eating keto foods. Again, we are displacing, not replacing. The focus here, at this point, is to highlight the keto items in your meals.
Think of it this way. You're in a big space, it's dark, and then there's a spotlight. There are several food items in the middle of the space. Instead of shining the spotlight on all the food items, shine it only on the keto items.
Now, this means that you're not cutting out all the other foods on your meal plan. You're just emphasizing, as far as your attention and your taste buds go, the keto-friendly items.
This is how you prepare yourself for the scale-down process. Otherwise, it's easy to just hit a plateau.
Seriously.
I've seen this happen. I've advised a lot of people who transitioned from the standard American diet to a keto diet, and this is the wall they keep hitting. They can't let go of the other foods because they focus on all the items on their meal plans.
You have to start looking forward to the keto items. You have to start celebrating their taste profiles.
Get yourself excited about these foods more than the diet.
This is a key change in your mindset because a lot of people who are pumped up about the keto diet are pumped up about the weight loss.
Let's be completely honest here. They couldn't really care less about the taste. A lot actually have misgivings, but they are excited about finally getting rid of that nasty spare tire they've been lugging around in their midsection since what seems like forever.
Believe me, I understand where these individuals are coming from. But until and unless you get excited about the food itself, instead of the diet or what you could get from the diet, you're going to have a tough time.
There, I said it.
Sure, you may lose quite a bit of weight. It may seem, at least from the outside, that you're doing well.
But eventually, something will get knocked lose. It's only a matter of time until you go back to your old eating patterns because you focus on all the items in your meal plan.
Unfortunately, not all of them are keto-friendly. This is why it's really important to get used to eating keto foods and highlight them or focus on them more when you eat.
When you're looking forward to your next meal, get excited about the keto food items. Do this for several days, if not weeks, and then you will be ready for the scale-down process.
Start to Scale Down Your Carb Intake Dramatically
Please understand that our goal here is to trigger ketosis using diet. This involves a transition phase.
But eventually, you must be fully ketogenic.
In other words, at a certain point in time, you must flip over to using fat as your main energy source instead of sugar. This is the point where things get real with the keto diet.
All the previous chapters that I've walked you through prepare you for this point in time. This can only happen when you start to scale down your carb intake dramatically.
How come? As I have mentioned in a previous chapter, if insulin is in the picture, you're not burning fat for fuel. Seriously. It really is that simple.
If you eat more than 12 to 25 carb grams every single day, your body will be producing insulin and you're mostly burning sugar throughout the day for energy.
At this point in time, you're going to have to scale down your carb intake dramatically so you can get below the 12 to 25-gram maximum daily carb intake threshold.
Thankfully, there are two wonder foods that you can rely on to get you there.
Your Keto Wonder Food #1: Eggs
I don't know about you, but I've always had a softness for eggs. They're compact, they're pretty straightforward, they're definitely easy to prepare, and they are loaded with nutrition.
Eggs are packed with all sorts of vitamins and nutrients, and they really don't pack much calories on a gram per gram basis.
Did you know that Weight Watchers no longer give points for eggs? If you don't know the Weight Watcher system, when you eat certain food items, you are given points. And you can only eat so much food until you hit a certain point threshold.
If you go over that maximum point threshold, you're going to gain weight. If you eat below it, you lose weight.
For the longest time, Weight Watchers was giving eggs points. Well, they've wiped those points out.
Now, you can basically eat quite a bit of eggs.
This is in keeping with recent research that shows that eggs are not bad for you. For the longest time, eggs were demonized in the United States and elsewhere as these cholesterol bombs.
Well, it turns out, after decades of research, that it's sugar that is making us sick and fat. Not eggs. And definitely not dietary fat. Interesting how things change, right?
This is why it's a good idea to load up on eggs. Maybe you like them boiled, maybe you like them sunny side up, it doesn't matter. Load up on eggs. This is a great keto food.
One to two eggs should be fine. They fill you up and they make you feel fuller for a longer period of time.
Your Keto Wonder Food #2: Avocado
As I've mentioned earlier, avocado is not exactly a "default taste" for most people. It's not like you wake up one day and you just say, "I can't wait to enjoy a plain avocado." That rarely happens.
Either you eat avocado in the form of ice cream, or you turn it into guacamole. But as a fruit by itself, added into a salad of greens, that takes some doing. It definitely takes some getting used to.
But if you really want to take your keto diet to the next level and scale down your carb intake dramatically, load up on avocado. It's loaded in fat, but it also has dietary fiber and is loaded with vitamins. It's really good for you.
And it is actually easy to get used to because it's very versatile. You can mix it with all sorts of greens.
You can mix it with egg. It's good stuff.
Your Keto Wonder Food #3: Cauliflower
I include cauliflower here knowing full well that it does have carbohydrates. This is why it's a good idea to use moderate amounts of cauliflower. Maybe you can prepare it once every other day, or a little more frequently.
I include cauliflower here because a lot of us veterans of the standard American diet are used to eating a significant amount of carbohydrates every day. In my case, I used to eat a lot of rice.
Cauliflower saved my life as far as my keto diet goes. Why? Instead of loading up on brown rice, red rice, or plain steamed white rice, I make cauliflower "rice." You just grind it up and then you fry it.
You can turn it into "fried rice" or you can serve it plain fried or sautéed. It has roughly the same consistency as rice, but it's loaded with protein instead of carbs.
Of course, you should only eat a moderate amount of protein daily. You can't go overboard with protein because, as I have mentioned earlier in this book, your liver actually turns protein into sugar.
This is called glucogenesis.
You don't want this to happen because you want to minimize the amount of sugar, regardless of its source, in your system for ketosis to work its wonders.
I'm not going to lie to you. Switching to a new diet can be very challenging. It definitely will take quite a bit of effort. It definitely requires a lot of focus and willpower.
And if you want to stick to a diet and keep the pounds off indefinitely, you're going to have to focus on consistency.
Thankfully, there are certain tweaks that would enable you to convert your keto diet into a keto lifestyle. This really is the secret to any kind of weight loss program.
If you look at diet just as a means for you to lose a few pounds here and there, then chances are, you're going to regain those pounds. It's only a matter of time.
On the other hand, if you look at your weight loss system as a gateway or a transition point to a different lifestyle, then the weight is probably going to stay off. That's how it works.
Keep the following tweaks in mind. I don't expect you to master all of these the first time you try them.
Usually, it takes a while to get used to them, but eventually, they will become second nature to you as long as you give them enough focus and importance.
Eat Only When You're Hungry
I can't even begin to tell you how many people eat out of obligation. I know that sounds crazy. It definitely sounds ridiculous, but it's true.
I know it because it happened to me. This was my standard practice. I would look at my watch or my mobile phone and notice that it's a certain time. That's when I know it's time to eat.
So, regardless of whether I'm hungry, or regardless of how busy I am, I just sit down and enjoy my meal. That's a serious problem.
Because if you're not hungry, you don't have to take in those calories. You can just lose yourself in your work or you can just focus on what you're doing regardless of the time.
It doesn't matter what your schedule is, if you're not hungry, you don't have to eat.
This is a hard habit to break. A lot of this has to do with our upbringing. Our parents, bless them, would sit us down at certain fixed times.
In my household, we were expected to eat from 6 to 7:30 a.m., and then from 11 to 12:30 p.m. Our final meal together would be from 6 to 8:00 p.m., depending on people's schedules. But those are the time ranges.
When you've been doing that for many years, it's hard to break free. It's hard to try something new. It's as if your body clock has essentially evolved around those schedules.
But there's really no rule written on granite stone that dictates that you should eat out of obligation because of time.
If you want to convert your keto diet into a lifestyle that you can stick to for life, eat only when you're hungry. This is the most empowering thing you can do.
You're eating to live. You're not living to eat. I know that sounds like a cliché (and it is), but it's also true.
You're not eating out of obligation. You're not eating out of custom or tradition. You're not eating because "that's just what I do."
No. You're eating because you want to. And you should only want to eat because you're feeling hungry.
Drink First When You Get Hunger Pangs
It's very easy to just go to a drive-thru or to the nearest restaurant or even a corner grocery store and buy some ready meal when you feel hunger pangs. After all, you are hungry. You're doing something to take care of the hunger as soon as possible.
I get that. That's what most people do.
The problem is, the hunger that you're feeling may not linger for long. Those hunger pangs may be temporary.
This is why I suggest that you drink first when you get hunger pangs. You'd be surprised as to how quickly your hunger dissipates.
The secret here is to drink first. Now, don't go crazy. There's no need to go overboard. You don't have to whip out a liter of water or a gallon jug and start pounding away.
No. Just a small cup would do. See if it does the trick. And then have another glass.
Another trick that I use is to first drink warm water. If you can get it, drink a little bit of hot water.
You'd be surprised as to how much of your hunger pangs is actually just your body looking to rehydrate itself.
Stick to this plan: drink first when you get hunger pangs, drink warm water first, then drink more cold water. If that doesn't do the trick, then decide to eat.
