Keto

10/27/25

My weight is up 10 lbs this year. As I get older (now in my mid-50's), I simply can't get away with eating (and drinking) like I could when I was younger. It doesn't matter if I work out more (and in truth, I don't work out as much as I used to). What matters is carbs, sugar, alcohol, and fried foods. To eliminate these completely isn't realistic, but I can adopt alternatives.

Craving desert? Have a flavored toothpick.

Pay attention to the triggers. I learned recently that explained how we are drawn unconsciously to the dopamine-boosting activities that others are partaking in... whether it's pizza, alcohol, or sweets.

A memorable acronym to help you stay on track with a healthy ketogenic diet is K.E.T.O.S.I.S. This framework simplifies the core habits needed for sustained ketosis and long-term health:

Keep carbs low (20–50g per day)
Eat real, whole foods (unprocessed meats, veggies, nuts, seeds)
Track macros (monitor carb, fat, and protein intake)
Optimize electrolytes (sodium, potassium, magnesium)
Stay hydrated (drink water consistently)
Include healthy fats (avocado, olive oil, fatty fish)
Schedule meals/prep ahead (to avoid temptations and stay consistent)

The best advice for entering ketosis and sustaining a healthy ketogenic diet revolves around lowering your carbohydrate intake, prioritizing healthy fat sources, managing protein levels, maintaining hydration, and monitoring your progress. This approach supports both effective entry into ketosis and long-term health.

Entering Ketosis: Key Steps

Reduce daily carbohydrate intake to 20–50 grams, focusing on minimizing hidden sources and tracking intake carefully.
Increase healthy fats in your diet, such as avocados, olive oil, nuts, eggs, fatty fish, and seeds, to provide adequate fuel for ketosis.
Moderate protein consumption (not excessive) to support muscle maintenance but avoid excess intake, which could disrupt ketosis. A daily range of 0.55–0.77 grams per pound of lean body mass is suggested.
Consider short-term fasting or intermittent fasting to speed transition into ketosis, if appropriate for your health. - Engage in regular physical activity to deplete stored glycogen and encourage ketone production.

Sustaining a Healthy Keto Diet

Stay hydrated and supplement with electrolytes like magnesium, sodium, and potassium, as ketosis can increase fluid loss and imbalance.
Opt for whole, minimally processed foods, avoiding trans fats and highly processed meats. Choose quality sources of fat and protein.
Pay attention to nutrient intake—include leafy greens, cruciferous vegetables (such as broccoli and cauliflower), and seeds to cover fiber, vitamins, and minerals.
Test and monitor ketone levels regularly to ensure you remain in ketosis without drifting into unhealthy extremes.
Plan meals to avoid carb-rich food pitfalls and limit dining out, which can hide sugars and starches.

Health Considerations and Common Pitfalls

Watch for “keto flu” symptoms (headache, fatigue, dehydration)—increase water and electrolytes during transition.
Avoid over-consuming calories from fat if your goal includes weight loss, and continue to prioritize balanced nutrition.

The ketogenic diet is a very low carb, high fat diet that requires drastically reducing carbohydrate intake to shift the body into a metabolic state called ketosis, where it efficiently burns fat for energy instead of carbs. Generally, this involves limiting carb consumption to around 20 to 50 grams per day and filling up on fats.

Here is an expansion on the foods to avoid, recommended foods, and a sample meal plan and snack ideas for the standard ketogenic diet (SKD).

Foods to Avoid and Reduce

To successfully follow a ketogenic diet, certain high-carbohydrate foods must be reduced or eliminated. It is generally recommended to avoid carb-based foods like grains, sugars, legumes, rice, potatoes, candy, juice, and most fruits.

Foods that should be eliminated or significantly reduced include:

Sugary foods: This category includes soda, smoothies, fruit juice, cake, candy, and ice cream.
Grains or starches: Avoid wheat-based products, pasta, rice, and cereal.
Fruit: All fruit should be avoided, with the exception of small portions of berries or strawberries.
Beans or legumes: Peas, lentils, kidney beans, and chickpeas.
Root vegetables and tubers: Potatoes, parsnips, carrots, and sweet potatoes.
Unhealthy fats: Processed vegetable oils and mayonnaise.
Alcohol: Beer, wine, liquor, and mixed drinks.
Low fat or diet products: Low fat mayonnaise, condiments, and salad dressings.
Certain condiments/sauces: Ketchup, barbecue sauce, teriyaki sauce, and honey mustard.
Sugar-free diet foods: This includes sugar-free desserts, syrups, sweeteners, puddings, and candies.

Recommended Foods

You should base the majority of your diet on whole, single-ingredient foods. Key food groups to include are:

Sample Meal Plan

The ketogenic diet allows for a wide variety of tasty and nutritious meals. It is important to rotate the vegetables and meat over the long term to ensure different nutrients and health benefits.

Keto-Approved Snack Ideas

If you find yourself hungry between meals, there are several healthy, keto-approved snack options:

Cheese
A handful of nuts or seeds
Olives
Fatty meat or fish
One or two hard-boiled or deviled eggs
Beef jerky
Bell peppers and guacamole (raw veggies)
Celery with salsa and guacamole
Strawberries and plain cottage cheese
90% dark chocolate
Full-fat Greek yogurt mixed with nut butter and cocoa powder
Keto sushi bites
Fat bombs
Keto-friendly snack bars
Smaller portions of leftover meals

7/31/19

Getting back into it ... slowly. I am realizing that trying to abruptly and dramatically change my diet is hard. Instead, what I'm doing is slowly removing carbs from my meals. I don't want this to be a short term fix, but rather a permanent lifestyle choice. When given the option, I choose Keto!

Tip: Instead of focusing on the foods you can't eat, focus on the foods you can!

Ranch Dressing
Sour Cream
Cottage Cheese
Avocados
Popeye's Chicken Strips and Blackened Ranch Dressing (make-at-home recipe)

12/24/18

I felt SO MUCH better when I cut the carbs and sugar out of my diet. The immediate satisfaction they bring is quickly diminished by the ill effects I feel as a result.

So my DBTC for 2019 is to give myself credit each day I prep for keto. This typically entails 30-60 minutes to prepare keto-friendly meals & snacks for the day. Let's face it - the world we live in is not very keto friendly!

11/7/18

Avoid spicy foods. Why? Because the way you instinctively know how to 'cool' your mouth after something spicy is by eating something with sugar. Sugar = Carbs. The more you eat spicy foods, the more likely you'll also get sugar cravings.

11/2/18

Back at it!

The reason to eat like a thoroughbred is evident - you quickly discover you need the energy to do everything you want to to in life. You also need to extend your life because in order to get it all done, you can't be knocked off the board too soon! When you get off track (and you will), it is much easier to stay motivated to get back on track when there is a real, meaningful reason involved. This is a habit that will improve your quality of your life physically, mentally, or emotionally.

Resource: Don't Break the Chain (blank worksheet)

My 'approved fuel' list:

Premier Protein (30g Protein, 3g net carbs) available at Costco
Cauliflower Rice

Tips to stay on track

Seynani to curb carvings for sweets.
Avoid intoxication - you will crave the foods you shouldn't eat!

9/18/18

Ready to get back to it. This past week I was traveling for a week and given the food choices where essentially a buffet everyday along with eating out, it was not feasible to stay off the carbs. But the main reason? There were a lot of foods I wanted to try that I knew I'd never get the chance to try again.

The result of eating all those carbs again (with really no restriction whatsoever) is that my belly is back and I felt hungry again.

Now that I'm back to my own routine, I have more control over my pantry and will attempt to get back into Ketosis. My goal is to try to make it 30 days again, but this time I will allow myself up to 20g/day of Carbs and the carbs I do eat will be high in fiber.

9/8/18 - Day 13 of my Keto Diet.

Yesterday I slipped. It was a long day after a long week and I was fatigued. I had ice cream which we got free for getting a flu shot and then I had two classes of wine. Before I went to bed I had a couple of dumplings. None it really tasted all that great, and what was more noticeable was how unsatisfying they were to addressing my hunger!

9/8/18: Ketosis Level: ___ mmol/L

I am reading an article about the dangers of too much processed meat and not enough nuts.

I know nuts are not generally on Keto diets, but I've decided it's an exception I plan to stick with. I'm also going to look at beans because I need more fiber in my diet!

I recognize I am not eating vegetables beyond my daily salad which is usually limited to lettuce, avocado, tomatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, and usually a protein like fish, chicken, or salami.

Here is my daily target according to the Keto Calculator:

Fat: 120g
Protein: 113g
Carbs: 20g

Note, when I ran the more advanced version of the keto calculator, taking into account my workouts:

Fat: 154g
Protein: 102g
Carbs: 25g

You can read more on optimal ketone levels here. The author interviews several people, so you get a good summary.

Why Keto ?

I am not overweight. I am trying keto for 30 days for:

Increased mental clarity
Stress & Mood Management
Reduced inflammation (at 50, I'm feeling way too many aches & pains and back pain returns more often, which I believe is due to inflammation)
Reduce constant hunger - I was a carb junkie - and as a result, I was always hungry. I was on a insulin roller coaster due to heavy intake of sugar.

I do carry a slight beer belly - and I'm certain, based on past experience, this will also get rid of those 'freshman 5' which I've never been able to lose and have always been in my belly region.

Food Options

I'm eating at least a salad a day. I found a low carb tasty dressing at Costco: Chosen Foods Lemon Garlic Avocado Oil. And here's a low carb Ranch option as well.

In a nutshell, on a keto diet, I'm removing the following from my diet:

Sugary foods: Soda, fruit juice, smoothies, cake, ice cream, candy, etc.
Grains or starches: Wheat-based products, rice, pasta, cereal, etc.
Fruit: All fruit, except small portions of berries like strawberries.
Beans or legumes: Peas, kidney beans, lentils, chickpeas, etc.
Root vegetables and tubers: Potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, parsnips, etc.
Low-fat or diet products: These are highly processed and often high in carbs.
Some condiments or sauces: These often contain sugar and unhealthy fat.
Unhealthy fats: Limit your intake of processed vegetable oils, mayonnaise, etc.
Alcohol: Due to their carb content, many alcoholic beverages can throw you out of ketosis.
Sugar-free diet foods: These are often high in sugar alcohols, which can affect ketone levels in some cases. These foods also tend to be highly processed.

I'm replacing those with these:

Meat: Red meat, steak, ham, sausage, bacon, chicken and turkey.
Fatty fish: Such as salmon, trout, tuna and mackerel.
Eggs: Look for pastured or omega-3 whole eggs.
Butter and cream: Look for grass-fed when possible.
Cheese: Unprocessed cheese (cheddar, goat, cream, blue or mozzarella).
Nuts and seeds: Almonds, walnuts, flax seeds, pumpkin seeds, chia seeds, etc.
Healthy oils: Primarily extra virgin olive oil, coconut oil and avocado oil.
Avocados: Whole avocados or freshly made guacamole.
Low-carb veggies: Most green veggies, tomatoes, onions, peppers, etc.
Condiments: You can use salt, pepper and various healthy herbs and spices.

Here's a good sample keto meal plan.

44 Foods

Here's a list of 44 recommended foods to eat as a ketoian:

Eggs
Beef
Lamb
Chicken
Pork
Jerkey
Salmon
Trout
Sardines
Shellfish
Broccoli
Tomatoes
Onions
Brussels Sprouts
Cauliflower
Kale
Eggplant
Cucumber
Bell Peppers
Asparagus
Green Beans
Mushrooms
Avocados
Olives
Grapefruit
Strawberries
Apricots
Almonds
Walnuts
Peanuts
Chia Seeds (while high in carbs, high in fiber, so net is low carb)
Cheese
Heavy Cream
Full-Fat Yogurt
Greek Yogurt
Butter
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Coconut Oil
Water
Coffee
Tea
Seltzer Water
Dark Chocolate
Herbs & Spices

Dessert Options

Given a lifetime of love for desserts, I know this is going to continue to be the most difficult part of sticking to it. As such, I'm trying to make sure I have sweet options available to me when I really crave them.

I do keep snack packs of Cocoa + Coconut Almond butter with when I feel a hunger crash and/or intense sweet craving. They are perfect because they are only 4g of carbs and high in fat.

More dessert options:

Root Beer Float
Keto Chocolate Bark: 99% Dark Chocolate + Stevia + Coconut Butter chocolate bark (I make these in advance and put 'em in an ice cube tray).
Ice Cream Alternative: Mix in blender 1/2 cup greek yogurt with Strawberries and 1/4 cup of Almond Milk

Have you heard about Yonanas? It turns fruit into soft-serve like treats. Typically, you add over-ripe frozen fruit like bananas, berries, or mango. It produces a smooth "ice-cream" Like treat.

Food & Mood Journal

Yesterday I fell off a bit (I think) because I had a few carbs and a half a glass of wine. We had friends visiting and too many temptations at the Farmer's Market (Kettle Corn). As a result, I lost some of the good feeling I had the day prior.

I'll admit with friends in town and food being a big part of our connection, it was very difficult to avoid ALL the carbs. Needless to say, carbs slipped in a bit, but I at far less than I normally would have (2 fries instead of 20 for example, or 1 chip instead of 10).

What I realizing is that I'm not getting enough fiber in my diet and all that meat is causing constipation.

First obvious choice is to eat more fish and less meat, but here are low carb/high fiber foods I need to incorporate into my daily food plan:

Flax Seeds
Chia Seeds
Cauliflower
Broccoli
Spinach
Avocado
Unsweetened Coconut and Coconut Flour
Wheat Bran

Fat Bomb Recipes

Vanilla Fat Bombs Dipped In Chocolate

Servings: 10-15 Prep Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:

1 cup coconut butter
1 cup coconut milk
1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
Stevia to taste
1/4 cup 100% dark chocolate

Directions:

Melt the coconut butter so that it's soft and heat up the coconut milk so that it's warm to the touch. Mix together all the ingredients (except the dark chocolate). If it's difficult to mix together, then place into a saucepan on a very low heat. Let cool and then form ping-pong sized balls from the mixture (approx. 10-15). Place the balls into the fridge to solidify for 2-3 hours. Melt the dark chocolate (in the microwave or on the stove), dip each of the balls into the chocolate, and place the dipped balls onto parchment paper. Place back into the fridge. Net carbs - approx. 1g net carbs per fat bomb ball.