Ketosis

When I was in grade eleven,I went on the Dr.Atkins diet and lost a great deal of weight in a short period of time. I was so proud to squeeze myself into a pair of Howick jeans, and received lots of compliments, even from my teachers. I probably only wore the Howicks once or twice before I became reacquainted with Peanut-Butter Cups. The water weight that I had lost came swiftly back on - by graduation I was 260 lbs.

So why would I want to try it again? Well, I read a book by Lorna Vanderhaeghe. The Body Sense Natural Diet is sort of high protein but certainly different than Dr. Atkins.

The focus of Dr. Atkins was that you can eat all of the meat, eggs, cheese that you want as long as you cut out the carbohydrates. Eggs, bacon, fatty steaks- no problem- as long as you limit yourself to a couple of small salads and nothing else as a form of carb to accompany your massive rib-eye.

Ms Vanderhaeghe is a local (Whiterock) wellness pioneer who specializes in alternative means to hormone replacement pharmaceuticals. She has her own talk show and line of vitamins. Her diet is based on organic whole foods- she believes that eating several proteins based meals keeps your fat -burning engienes running all day long. We’re not talking about big meals- sensible sized portions of lean, organic meats, eggs, fish-lots of opportunity for whey-soy protein shakes.

I was surprised to see a health-food chick advocating the much maligned Ketosis.Her suggestion is that you jump-start your fat burning engines by doing three full days of ketosis and then you can slowly add back in some complex, low-glycemic carbohydrates.

Three days, what the hell- I had to try, after all- I’ve owned this book for a year and not really had the gumption to do it. Until now!!

So, I cooked up a big salmon, hauled a free-range hen out of the freezer and happily bought some extra-old cheddar( first cheese purchase since January). Veggies are allowed- just not fruits or grains.

If you do try this diet- prepare to be constipated!! Within a day the psyillum husks were weeded out of herbal cupboard. Then there was the little unexplained bout of diarrhea. I know, I know- too much information- but this is a blog where I explore different types of diets and I feel that I must give readers all the details of my research. Anyway lets just say that the ole system slows down- a lot . Also- I got hungrier, faster. I timed myself one day after eating a fairly big lunch of some salmon and a big coleslaw- I had a hunger pang 90 minutes later!! You are supposed to eat every three to four hours- but it seems like you’re always hungry and sometimes you just don’t feel like another hunk of flesh.

The cheese was also a focal point- I really like cheese and it was hard to just have a 2 inch piece. It soon became an obsession, which led to the need for more psyillium husks.

I lasted the three days of ketosis- although I’m not sure whether I actually achieved ketosis as I was too cheap to purchase any test-strips.

Surprisingly i lost another 2 lbs but these were off before I started my attempt at Ketosis.

25lbs down

next-week I want to talk more about the Body Sense Diet.