Restore Your Temple

What exactly is intermittent fasting? When do I fast? What can I have while I fast?
Well, there’s many definitions and many variations. Throughout my 13-month journey, I’ve tried just about every variation of fasting there is. A quick google of these terms will give you all the info you need. I’ve done 24 hrs 2-3 times per week, 36 hrs 2 times per week, 18:6 daily, 16:8 daily, OMAD (one meal a day), EF (extended fasts, meaning anything longer than 3 days), ADF (alternate day fasting), you name it, I’ve probably done it. My favorite is a 24 hr fast. I feel like it’s the most beneficial while being the most doable. My fasts are always water, black tea, black coffee only. But I will admit that once I felt disciplined in that, I added one Tbsp of heavy whipping cream to my coffee. If you’re fasting for spiritual reasons or weight loss, then that won’t break your fast. If you’re fasting for autophagy (google it), then leave out the heavy whipping cream.

What do I eat on keto?
There are so many resources on the internet about how to eat keto so I don’t feel like I need to go into it all here. But basically, the foundation of this way of eating is green veggies. Lots of them. Seriously, load up on your green veggies. Then add protein (chicken, beef, eggs, turkey, veal, fish, pork). Don’t worry about fatty meats. Fat is OK, don’t be scared of fat. Speaking of fat, the last step is to add in healthy fats. Healthy fats are Avocado, Olive Oil, Coconut Oil, Butter (yes, butter!), cheese, nuts, peanut butter, almond butter, full fat dairy, chia seeds, flaxseeds and things like that. I usually cook my green veggies in these healthy fasts. So yummy!! Don’t get me wrong. I do frequently indulge on bacon and cheese, those are my treats. But it isn’t the foundation of my eating. The foundation is green veggies and protein.

There are some unhealthy fats and these should be avoided: margarine, vegetable oil, canola oil, safflower oil, soybean oil, things that have been fried, hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated oils found in processed products.

Do you track calories?
No, not really. I’m more focused on my macros (protein, fat and carbs) than I am on calories. Actually, I don’t even care about calories. But I used an app called MyFitnessPal to track my carbs. By default, it also tracks calories. Since its already there in my app, I have noticed that it’s very hard to go “over” on calories when you cut out the carbs. As an result, I’m usually under on my calorie goal for the day, but that is just happening naturally, I’m not focused on that at all.

Did you exercise?
No ☹ Not because it’s not part of a healthy lifestyle, it is! But I just haven’t tackled that part of the journey yet. I do try to get out and walk as much as possible. But that is just so that I won’t be so sedentary. It’s not like I’m breaking a huge sweat or anything.

How do you resist temptations?
First, get that bible study, A Taste for Truth. That probably helped me the most. It’s about a mindset change. Second, once your body detoxes, the cravings really do go away. It’s like you look at certain foods and your brain says, “that’s going to make you feel like crap”, rather than your brain saying, “ooohhh, that looks so yummy”.

How do you do this while feeding a family?
I didn’t change a single thing about the way I cooked. I only changed what I put on MY plate. For example, my family loves spaghetti. I still make spaghetti all the time. But on my plate, I have a large Caesar salad. On the side, I have a bowl of the meat sauce topped with yummy parmesan cheese. No noodles. Think of it like a bowl of chili, but with spaghetti sauce instead. It’s surprisingly filling and really good.

I’m not kidding when I say I didn’t change my cooking habits. I make tacos but mine is a taco salad. I make fajitas, but mine is a fajita salad. I make chicken and rice but mine is a chicken on a bed of lettuce. I make Chinese stir fry but mine has an extra serving of veggies and no rice. We go out to eat Mexican food every Sunday. I skip the chips and have a chicken fajita salad with guac and ranch. My kids still have pizza and chicken nuggets and Mac&cheese. I just have a salad during those meals. Or I scrape the top off the pizza and eat that.

How do you go out to eat?
You can pretty much get a grilled chicken salad anywhere you go. It’s perfect. And on keto, you can have plenty of dressing to make it super yummy. At Italian restaurants, you can order your favorite bowl of pasta and ask them to sub sautéed veggies for the noodles. I have done this at many different places and they’ve never told me no or looked at me like I was crazy. You don’t know what you’re missing if you’ve never tried sautéed veggies smothered in alfredo sauce with a beautiful green salad.

My friend sells supplements that get you into ketosis – should I try those?
For the love of your wallet, no! It’s the process of depleting your glycogen stores that works, not the mere presence of ketones in your body. You can take those supplements and your urine sticks will indeed find ketones in your body. But your body isn’t using those ketones for fuel unless you have completely burned up all of the glucose in your body. Keto is popular right now.  People are trying to make a quick buck off of it.  (I’m not talking about your friend; he/she is most likely believing they are truly helping people.  I’m talking about the companies that made the product in the first place).

Aren’t you afraid of starvation mode?
Nope. Read the science, this doesn’t exist. I think where this concept originated is due to the fact that daily caloric restriction DOES LEAD to decreased metabolism. Why? Because if you rely on food for energy, then decreasing food will lead to decreased energy intake, which will be matched by decreased energy expenditure. However, as food intake goes to zero (i.e. fasting), the body switches energy inputs from food to stored food (i.e fat). This significantly increases the availability of ‘food’ and this is matched by an increase in energy expenditure. Studies have proven that IF actually increases your metabolism by up to 14%.

But won’t you lose muscle?
I haven’t lost any muscle. I’m fit and strong, and I haven’t been exercising through this journey. My muscles had lots of workouts when I was 60 lbs overweight. Just imagine carrying around a 50 lb bag of concrete all day long, every day for over 10 years. Now that the fat around those muscles has melted away, I’m very lean and toned. I’d show you my muscles if I weren’t so modest, so you’re just gonna have to believe me 😊 Again, Dr Fung has a lot of scientific evidence of this on his website and in his book.

I tried keto once, I felt awful!!
Oh, you got the keto flu! I know that most people go through this in the beginning. I did not experience that, but I think it was because I had been IF for 3 months already. I think I went through keto flu my first month of fasting. It was really hard and I wanted to give up so many times. But again, what I had read just made too much sense. I knew that if I pushed through, it would be worth it.

How do you track net carbs?
In the beginning, I used an app called MyFitnessPal to log my food to understand how many net carbs were in each thing. But now I don’t have to track it anymore. I just instinctively know how many carbs I need to eat for the day.

Can you eat fruit?
In weight loss mode, keep fruit to strawberries, blackberries, blueberries and raspberries only. Once you are maintaining, you can add an occasional piece of whatever fruit you want. I have not had any desire to add any fruit other than my berries, so I haven’t done that yet.

How do you feel about artificial sweetener?
Avoid it. Yes, it is 0 carbs, so technically it fits in the keto lifestyle. But guess what it does? Raises insulin. Guess what else it does? Causes you to crave more sweet things. I do have an occasional treat with artificial sweetener, but I always feel better when I avoid it.

I’ve heard that keto makes you lose your hair?
Yes, that happens, but it is only temporary. It actually happens anytime your body goes through a major change, not just with the keto diet. Google “telogen effluvium”. It’s completely temporary and the hair does come back.