The posts haven’t been as frequent lately because I’ve been waylaid by a couple of events in succession that have really thrown me off my game and involved a lot of carb eating and self inflicted stress.
- Trip to Asia – Went on vacation and visited Taiwan and Vietnam. It is pretty much impossible to eat paleo OR low carb in asian countries since staple foods include rice, noodles, dumplings, and various other items wrapped in flour-ed goods. Since I wanted to partake in the culture I decided to embrace the whole ‘when in Rome…’ idea. The food was delicious and we had a blast. The only drawback were the mosquitos and a bout of Montezuma’s Revenge. I managed to put on about 10 lbs by the time I came back. I was able to lose this in a week after adhering to a more stricter diet once in the comfort of my own
home. - My bachelor party – My diet would always start off well in the morning, but once the alcohol flowed and inhibitions loosened, nachos and chips and all sorts of other junk was consumed. We had a great time doing all sorts of physical activities such as paint balling, hiking, swimming, and playing basketball, but I still managed to leave feeling bloated… and again managed to get back after a week of clean living.
- Friend’s wedding in Cancun – A very good friend of mine had his wedding at an all inclusive resort… and again I fell off the wagon when faced with near unlimited alcohol and buffet style foods. The soft tacos were also amazing. Again, ‘when in Rome.’
After falling off the wagon really really really hard during these events, I was glad to have been able to come back to normal, eventually. At my worst I noticed that my body was extremely bloated with my abdomen expanding to the point where it was hard to see my feet!!!
I’ve still been staying pretty active with a lot of BJJ and some weight lifting here and there, but have one more event coming in which I foresee more hardcore-wagon-falling-off-of… my own wedding. On the bright side, we ordered a gluten free cake!
As you can see, while I’ve been meaning to get a follow up test on my cholesterol and thyroid levels, I decided to wait at least until after my wedding to get it done. With all these events in such close succession I know I’ve subjected my body to a lot of stress and inflammation. So I’ll wait a few weeks after my wedding, after things have settled down a bit before getting my next blood test.
Hi BJJ, Only came across your website yesterday. Love the clarity in which you describe the science behind KD and your journey being on it. I did see you hadn’t been active in a while, though…Now we know why! Hey, you only live once (well, that most of us remember, even if you are a re-incarnationist)and it looks like you have been enjoying yourself. I only started doing KD just over 4 weeks ago following Volek & Phinney’s advice in their books, but it has taken Jimmy Moore’s write up of his experiment last year when he had such difficulty getting into nutritional ketosis that, I am hoping, will help me get there http://livinlavidalowcarb.com/blog/jimmy-moores-n1-experiments-nutritional-ketosis-day-1-30/14409 It was such a bummer when I bought the blood monitor and I was only 0.2 no matter how much I cut the carbs, and even the protein, and I really thought I was eating enough fat, yet I felt so bad most of the time – absolutely no energy and moving like an old woman and hungry quite often, where once I ate too many nuts, I know – and that didn’t help! The blood monitor confirmed what was happening – I was not in ketosis. For me, at present, it seems that I need to do what Jimmy did and really up the fat (not sure about lowering protein as I am at the low end of what I need really), which I did yesterday, and I actually felt a difference – not tested yet with the blood monitor – will leave a few days (the testing strips are so expensive) to see if this change does work. I am doing this for health reasons and I am willing to do anything to get well. Ironically I was a vegetarian, mostly complex carb eater, and although undoubtably many thrive on this diet I seem to be so intolerant to carbs, I realise now; and have a need of more good fats, it seems. I do, however, know how difficult this way of eating must be long term – Drs Volek, Phinney, and Attia (who has admitted he finds eating a waste of time so loves being in nutritional ketosis) really see the benefits and seem to enjoy it…but, as you have found out it cuts out the ability to sit down, and yes, literally break bread or share a meal in so many cultures which is something so delightful about eating. The best meals I have ever had have been communal. Ho, hum, I am sure I will find a way to eat that is KD and not too unanimal friendly (no meat at present, only fish) and work out ways of cooking dishes that are sharable and if not break bread with friends maybe an omlette! Very good luck to you upon your marriage; and ehjoy your gluten free wedding cake!
Thank you for the kind words!
Hope things are going well for you and that you’ve managed to get into ketosis.
A cheaper way to check your ketones is to use the urine dip sticks. And once those things show that you have ketones in your urine…. THEN use the blood strips to check.
I’ll probably do a quickie post on this soon.