Many people embark on a journey to improve their life. Most people find themselves stumbling and veering off of their chosen path after a few weeks or perhaps a few months, especially if they do not see quantifiable results rather quickly. In the summer of 2018, my doctor prescribed me with insulin injections to treat my Type 2 Diabetes. My grandmother and mother died from diabetic complications and I did not want to follow that path. So, August 1, 2018, Shauna and I resolved to utilize the Ketogenic Diet to control our blood glucose.

A Succession of Failures

This wasn’t our first attempt at attempting to use diet and/or exercise to improve our health. From 2013 to 2016, we primarily ate a low fat, vegetarian diet and we engaged in 20-30 miles a week of distance running. Between running injuries and increased inflammation running was wearing down our bodies. We also did not react well to the high fiber diet, but we pushed through as much as possible. Neither running or the low-fat, vegetarian diet reduce our obesity for very long. Disappointed and disillusioned, we found ourselves back on the Standard American Diet even heavier and less healthy than when we started.

Keto Pitfalls

When we first started eating Ketogenically, we read some articles and watched some videos to learn about what to eat. Like many, we started with the typical macro-nutrient approach: 75% Fat, 20% Protein, 5% Carbohydrates. This required a significant amount of time in meal planning and tracking what we would eat. Initially, food tracking is an important step as you need to understand your existing eating patterns and explore your new way of eating, but most people tire of this or even begin to “forget” to log things over time.

After about a month into our Keto Journey, we encountered information from Dr. Eric Westman. Dr. Westman has been involved in the Low Carbohydrate/Keto space for decades and even worked with Dr. Robert Atkins (the founder of the modern low carb movement). Dr. Westman promotes a simplified Ketogenic protocol that results in entering Ketosis while burning your own body fat as opposed to eating excess fat to generate Ketones.

Dr. Westman’s Protocol

Dr. Westman recommends the following methodology:

• Eat less than 20 g of carbohydrates/day (total, not net)
• Eat fatty meats and non-starchy vegetables until full
• Do not eat when not hungry

One page food list

You will note that there is no reference to macro-nutrient percentages or calories, fasting or even tracking. But what about the 20 g of carbs, wouldn’t that mean tracking? Well, not necessarily. If you were to eat only meat and non-starchy vegetables, your carbohydrate total would probably be in the single digits. If you add cream to your coffee or sweetener to your water you may incur a few more carbohydrates. You are welcome to track to see where you land on a daily basis. However, I found that habitually eating this way, I easily stayed under 20 g of carbohydrates/day and tracking became unnecessary.

What about fasting?

The Dr. Westman protocol does not mention how often to eat, but merely to eat until full (satiated). In my case, I found that I needed to eat less often since I was not actively attempting to reduce calories per meal. Most days, I find myself eating a large meal around Noon every day and then another large meal around 6 PM. Between times I may have coffee or water as needed. However, If I wake up hungry (which is rare), I don’t have a problem eating earlier. As a matter of course, I generally eat along an intermittent fasting schedule, but it is not mandated. I have just learned to listen to my bodies requirements for nutrition and energy and it does not need to be fed every 2 hours as it was on a higher carbohydrate diet.

Within a matter of weeks, I found myself on Keto Autopilot. Not having to think about food all the time is a pretty liberating experience.

Incentive to stay on course

Over the course of my journey, I have lost over 100 pounds, but that did not happen over night. The first few weeks, I did lose a few pounds of water weight, but more importantly, my blood glucose normalized and my autoimmune symptoms massively reduced. This means that before significant weight loss occurred, I was reaping benefits of changing my eating habits. Within 3 months, My HBA1C dropped from 8 to 5.2. My HDL increased and my Triglycerides dropped into a normal range. My blood pressure was falling into a normal range with less medicine. In other words, my cardiovascular risks were dropping considerably. Weight loss is important, but improved health markers are just as important. The weight may not have been falling off as quickly as I wanted, but it was not coming back either (which was a problem in my other weight loss attempts). By staying the course, I managed to lose over 100 pounds in 16 months. The last 8 months have remained within 5 pounds (weight stability). 24 Months in, 4 out of 5 of my cardiovascular risks have been completely reversed. The only medicine that I require is a greatly reduced dosage for my blood pressure. However, my blood pressure has been an issues since my twenties.

Keto in my future?

2 years consistently eating less than 20 g of carbs/day might seem extreme to some people, but I do not find it difficult. In fact, I don’t find myself tempted to return to the high carbohydrate, standard American diet. Will, I occasionally indulge in a treat? Probably. Most of the time, we find ways to create low-carb versions of our favorite foods and that seems to be sufficient. But, now I understand what food choices do to my body, I don’t foresee myself returning to that way of eating. What would be the upside of going back to french fries, pastries and soda pop? Frankly, I am am immensely enjoying well-controlled blood sugar and low inflammation. I also enjoy not being hungry every 2 hours and thinking about what my next meal is going to be.

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