ABOUT CARBS! 20-25 NET CARBS PER DAY
Typically, our American diet is loaded with carbohydrates both from various “sugars” and from foods that your body immediately begins to convert to sugar as soon as you start to chew. We (and especially our children) consume hundreds of times the amount of sugar/carbohydrates our body can process properly.
Start with what we drink (which can be so damaging). One can of cola contains 11 teaspoons of sugar. Would you knowingly sit down with a bowl of sugar and pour 11 teaspoonfuls into your system and believe that it is OK? Surely not! This doesn’t even account for the flavorings and colorings and chemicals that “enhance” the flavor of soda. The same is true of our awesome Southern staple – sweet tea!
Many of us also “wash down” every second or third bite of savory food with a sweet swig of one of these favorites. That in itself is a guarantee of future gastrointestinal issues. When you chew food, beginning with your saliva, your body’s own chemicals start to break down that food for proper digestion. When you are continually mixing drink/liquid with food intake, you are diluting the gastric juices and weakening their potency so that your stomach and digestive track are unable to properly process food. Our bodies are amazing, yet our choices can bring unintended lifetime consequences.
It is better to consume as little liquid with food as possible. Have your drink well before your meal (which keeps you hydrated and feeling full) so that you aren’t as thirsty or hungry as you sit down to eat your meal. Another great help is to consume your pre-meal drink with a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar, which can counteract high carb/sugar foods with as much as a 30% to 40% when taken before a meal. Our goal is to limit carbs and up the fat in our diet. Yes, keto is high fat/low carb!
With a ketogenic lifestyle, your goal is to limit sugars/carbs to 20-25 net carbs per day. Almost all the foods we eat (except meats generally) contain carbohydrates. Even some processed meats will indicate carbs on the nutrition label, and it’s easy to get confused trying to count carbs due to the “marketing techniques” used on most processed foods. One cup of cooked brown rice has 46 g of carbohydrates. Fruits and savory foods can fool you!
The formula that we use indicates an equivalent glucose rise (by injecting insulin to combat it). When you see the number of carbs listed on a label, you should divide that number of carbs by four and that will show you the equivalent in teaspoons of sugar that that food actually represents. The glucose rise your body experiences from one cup of brown rice is surprisingly, the same as drinking a full can of soda. 46 ÷ 4 = Eleven teaspoons!
A “net carb” is the number of carbohydrates in that food less the number of grams of fiber, and/or sugar alcohols (which we want to avoid.)
As an example, an often-promoted “protein bar” may have a total carb count of 12, but the manufacturer “adds 10 grams of fiber” to subtract from that total. That leaves a net carb count of only 2 net carbs per serving. If your goal is 20 to 25 grans of carbs for weight loss and blood glucose control, you could theoretically have this as a treat-most likely in your daily range of carbs. (A warning here, however, to be extremely careful about protein treats, and shakes because of all the sneaky chemicals and artificial sweeteners.) Better to make your own snacks/treats when possible to ensure purity.
There are countless resources online to check the carb count of any food you may love. I have even asked online about specific foods on restaurant menus before ordering. Food prep in restaurants could easily cause your carb total to be thrown off because of sugar in seasonings and sauces, etc. The simpler the food, the less likely you are to get off track.
Many of the great food choices that have brought me to this point are on this site. You may find or create others that I hope you’ll share with us all!
Possible Challenges
If you begin keto without first spending a few days detoxing from sugar and carbs, you could experience keto flu. The withdrawal from sugars and carbs can be the same detox effects one could experience with multiple chemical addictions. Keto flu is avoidable if you spend a few days cutting back and finally eliminating most sugars and carbs from your daily meals. Very few people after a couple of months into the keto lifestyle experience keto rash. It is your body dumping the oxalates that have been stored in your liver and other tissues that your body is cleansing. This is normal – I had keto rash too!
Another issue that often arises with keto lifestyle is a bump in cholesterol. This is primarily your body cleansing your liver and will usually occur after about 30 days of a committed keto lifestyle. Research indicates that LDL cholesterol often rises in the early stages of keto. For most people your cholesterol level will float back to normal after you have fully detoxed. For those few that do not see this regulation of LDL, you should research the test that divides your LDL factors between Large LDL and Small Cell LDL components. Your LDL may be high overall, but the Large LDL, which is usually about 80% of that overall LDL number does not generally negatively affect your health. It’s the Small Cell LDL that can get into your tissues and cause havoc. Experts recommend that you ask your physician to differentiate via your blood test between the Large Cell LDL and the Small to truly determine your body’s response to keto. Dr. Robert Lustig, a renowned medial scientist, says that 1 in 500 people on keto could be susceptible to the danger of high cholesterol in that Small Cell LDL category. Be responsible and speak to your physician.
Dementia
One of the amazing fields of study currently being conducted is the effect of the Keto lifestyle helping with dementia, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, autism, etc. Alzheimer’s is now recognized medically as diabetes type 3! Many people have begun to see reversal/remission and restoration of brain function as a result of converting to ketogenic diet. There is a book on Amazon by Dr. Mary T Newport,M.D. entitled Alzheimer’s Disease – What if there is a cure? The subtitle is “The Story of Ketones”. Ketones (rather than sugars) are the perfect food for your brain. I would encourage you to do the research simply by entering dementia/Keto into the search engines available and see for yourself. The study of ketones and their value to our overall health is beginning to emerge in the medical field like never before. Changing our food choices now, may determine our future ability to live independently and with greater quality of life in the years ahead!
Wiregrass Keto 