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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To ask your experience of a keto diet?

299 replies

Atticusblame · 23/10/2019 12:53

Just started this today. It's basically a very low carb diet. I have low carbed before, but not quite to the keto extreme.

Has anyone found it works well for them? And how long is it until results show? And what alcohol can I drink on it?

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Orangeblossom78 · 25/10/2019 20:25

I'm not sure we are naturally designed to eat loads of fat and meat though either...

Girlintheframe · 25/10/2019 20:31

OP there is a great app called carb manager. This will let you track your carbs to make sure you 20g or under. That way you know your doing it 'right' so to speak

mooncuplanding · 25/10/2019 20:32

We definitely need fat

And I would argue meat too. B12 is only available in meat.

mooncuplanding · 25/10/2019 20:33

This is pretty fascinating. The biology of different species and the food they are designed to eat.

Orangeblossom78 · 25/10/2019 20:38

B12 is also in dairy and eggs...yes we need some fat, meat but not to excess

Atticusblame · 25/10/2019 20:39

If you're really thirsty but are drinking loads of water, this indicates that you need more salt.

Really? I feel like I eat a lot of salt already. Even before I started this I used to sometimes sprinkle it on my palm and eat it like that. I always thought it was salt that made you thirsty (not that I don't believe you, it just feels counter intuitive).

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mooncuplanding · 25/10/2019 20:44

bjsm.bmj.com/content/51/15/1111

Just to quell the myths about fat being unhealthy. This is a 2 minute read from the British Medical Journal and it couldn't be clearer:

"Despite popular belief among doctors and the public, the conceptual model of dietary saturated fat clogging a pipe is just plain wrong"

MrsTerryPratchett · 25/10/2019 20:48

I'm not sure we are naturally designed to eat loads of fat and meat though either...

In the 'wild' what we would generally eat (with massive regional deviations) is lots of wilds grasses, nuts, seeds, roots, berries and vegetables. Boring gathering was most of the intake. No milk, some eggs. Then over 50% of the calories was meat and fish, fattier the better. Concentrated sugar was hard to get and/or dangerous (wild bees, sugar ants...) so very little would have been eaten.

So basically meat/fish with fat and vegetables. The only difference with low carb people is fruit.

mooncuplanding · 25/10/2019 20:48
  • This does not include the shitty vegetable oils (rapeseed sunflower etc) and most certainly not the trans fat abominations
CalamityJune · 25/10/2019 20:50

This thread is persuading me to try again!

Currently 4months pregnant and determined to keep weight gain controlled and actually lose it once baby is here this time!

Not sure about going very low carb when pregnant but could certainly do with tackling the sweet tooth and bready stuff.

mooncuplanding · 25/10/2019 20:50

We also used to eat all the offal, very nutrient rich

ASundayWellSpent · 25/10/2019 20:51

Its generally not recommended to cut food groups, especially not in that type of extreme. Take a look at the mas2fit app, thats how I shed my extra body fat!

mooncuplanding · 25/10/2019 20:53

When you do keto, you are not 'cutting an entire food group'

You are cutting out refined carbs and sugar. Vegetables contain carbs.

Moomin8 · 25/10/2019 21:04

@CalamityJune you shouldn't allow your body to be in ketosis whilst pregnant - it's not good for the baby.

ragged · 25/10/2019 21:04

Bears get fat. Hedgehogs get fat. Bats & penguins, caterpillars & salmon -- get fat. Lots of animals have a life cycle which requires putting on a lot of spare weight in times of plenty.

I sometimes think I'd like to try a low-meat version of very low carb diet, just to see what effect it had on me. But truly can't be arsed.

CalamityJune · 25/10/2019 21:07

@Moomin8 no, I am not considering Keto during pregnancy but I am thinking about the amount of carbs in my diet and wondering if I could be making better choices wrt bread, pasta, sugar. Perhaps this would then be easier to make further changes once I am no longer pregnant.

Bluntness100 · 25/10/2019 21:14

well bears lay down fat stores for hibernation,

I've never seen a wild...fat hedgehog, salmon or penguin. And we have bats.,never seem a chubby bat either...🤣

Moomin8 · 25/10/2019 21:16

Yes definitely. Even during pregnancy it's better to eat unrefined carbs and limit sugar (I'm having to do this anyway because I've got gestational diabetes.)

Lately, it has become more well known that sugar causes ageing so it is bad for you even if you don't need to lose weight.

Atticusblame · 25/10/2019 21:24

This does not include the shitty vegetable oils (rapeseed sunflower etc) and most certainly not the trans fat abominations Ah, see, I went out and bought proper mayo instead of the extra light stuff that I was using because the real stuff has a lot less carbs. I read the ingredients as I examined the carbs, just out of interest, and it's largely rapeseed. I didn't know that rapeseed oil wasn't a good oil?

I know what people mean about not being able to overeat. I'm currently eating one strip of belly pork, a chicken thigh (I know that's an odd combo but the thigh is tiny & wouldn't have been enough, but would have went off if I'd left it), broccoli, sprouts and asparagus. I've got half the meat and a bit of veg left & and I'm struggling to finish any more.

OP posts:
helacells · 25/10/2019 21:47

Don't do it

Atticusblame · 25/10/2019 21:59

Why, helacells?

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venusandmars · 25/10/2019 22:02

siameasy but it's not potatoes that you miss, it's the very risky combination of potatoes and fat. Plain boiled potatoes are quite dull, even freshly dug new potatoes. I guess what you're craving is the carb-fat combo of roast potatoes, crisps, potatoes mashed with loads of butter, rosti, dauphinoise... Just don't go there.

MrsTerryPratchett is right, our bodies were designed to eat meat & fish and plants that grew above ground, plus we had a marvellous system which meant that if our 'tribe' found a honeycomb we could gorge ourselves, and our insulin reaction would kick in and regulate our blood sugar (so we didn't die). However this was supposed to happen once or twice a year, at most. Not 2/3/4/5 times a day, which is what happens in a Western diet (and that continual insulin response is what contributes massively to metabolic disease.. diabetes, high blood pressure, etc.)

CalamityJune you and your growing baby need every variety of nutrients available, so please don't be overly restrictive. e.g. on a keto diet I wouldn't eat sweet potato, but it might contain something that you really need... However, as a principle (and this is sometimes how I explain my eating to other people) not eating sugar, or things that turn quickly into sugar, is good. So nothing like cake, biscuit (your growing baby won't miss these). But also take a few high carb things and keep them in your mouth for a while... you'll find that bread, pasta soon start to have a sweet taste - even without being digested, your saliva is breaking down the carbs very quickly into sugar. Avoid those.

Bears and hedgehogs get fat. But they get fat for a season (and a reason). Another season they are very lean. Most humans don't do that. We don't eat everything in sight until November and then stop for 3 months! In fact we do the opposite, we try to lose weight in the natural season of plenty, so we can stuff our faces with artificial crap at Christmas!

GetUpAgain · 25/10/2019 22:04

My husband does keto sometimes.

To start with he is grumpy, has smelly skin and breath and stinks the house out with cooking smells.

The mood skin and breath improve but the cooking smells don't.

He loses a shed load of weight.

Then stops and piles it back on.

I wish he would just go on a 'normal' diet but keto is the only one he seems to stick to long enough for it to work.

mooncuplanding · 25/10/2019 22:45

rape seed oil

When I refer to 'dirty keto' I mean that I will buy Helmans Mayonnaise even though it has rapeseed oil in it, same when I am out at a restaurant - I don't ask them what oil they use (it is rarely olive oil or butter and usually some shitty vegetable oil) but very clean keto'ers would never do that

Atticusblame · 25/10/2019 23:20

When I refer to 'dirty keto' I mean that I will buy Helmans Mayonnaise even though it has rapeseed oil in it, same when I am out at a restaurant - I don't ask them what oil they use (it is rarely olive oil or butter and usually some shitty vegetable oil) but very clean keto'ers would never do that

Thank you! Does that make any difference at all to weight loss?

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