Look and Feel Sharp: Keto and LCHF.
Updates to “My Keto Journey to 10% Body Fat.”
I’ve been Keto or LCHF (choose your favorite) for more than 6 years now. I started as a complete newbie — what I was doing at the time didn’t work as well and I wanted to experiment with something new. Knowing my body and my eating habits, I thought it could work for me.
I love having tons of energy from dawn to dusk.
I love looking sharp. Six pack abs are the best kind of outfit, if you ask me.
I love feeling like I’m on fire and nothing can stop me, pursuing whatever it is I choose to chase after and work on. And I definitely don’t want to be slowed down by some digestive issues, bloating or anxieties.
I don’t care whether I meet someone’s beauty standards or win someone’s admiration. I only care how I feel in my skin. When nobody else’s around.
And that’s why I’m in constant pursuit of lifestyle “hacks”, that allow me to get the edge. (You know what I mean?)
Keto diet, LCHF lifestyle seems to do it for me. It’s not for everybody. A safe guess is, it’s great for about 30% of people. The rest would do better on something more balanced, in terms of macros, 30–30–30, carbs-proteins-fats, some will do better on more carb/fiber-rich diet. I tried all. Something will work better or worse for you.
Back to LCHF and Keto.
Here’s what I’ve learned.
If you are on the market for a six pack too — read further.
If you’ve been doing Keto, LCHF consistently and are frustrated about not looking and feeling as good as they promise — you are probably doing one or all of these.
GOT MILK?
Cheeses, heavy cream in your coffee, lots of grass-fed butter on every piece of vegetable, that slides into your mouth?
That might very well be the reason, why your six pack is still covered with a solid layer of fat.
Not just because about 65% of adults are not capable of properly digesting dairy (NIH statistics), not just because of the poor quality of most dairy products on the market, not just because dairy is pasteurized and homogenised, not just because dairy increases inflammation and causes all sorts of gut and metabolic imbalances, not just because dairy animals are injected with antibiotics and hormones, that make them (and you) fatter and bigger. It’s also simply a lot of calories. Refined and ready to be absorbed for energy and fat deposits.
Step 1. Quit dairy. Zero. None.
(Quitting dairy. User manual.
Lean and Sharp Keto. Practice.)
*This is a 14-day experiment. Do all 5 steps. Your favorite cheese will still be there in 14 days. And you will gain some very valuable knowledge about how your body works.
WHAT DID YOUR STEAK EAT?
You might be watching your diet like a hawk, but if you don’t investigate what your food eats (Or what your plants were “fed” and sprayed) — you might end up getting fatter and bigger like those cows and mice, when they have antibiotics in their system, when they are injected with hormones, when they eat unnatural diets rich in Omega-6s.
“In a study published 22 August in Nature, researchers mimicked what farmers have been doing for decades to fatten up their livestock: they fed young mice a steady low dose of antibiotics. The antibiotics altered the composition of bacteria in the guts of the mice and also changed how the bacteria broke down nutrients. Presumably, these shifts in molecular pathway enable fat build-up. Just as farm animals get fat, the antibiotic-fed mice put on weight.”
That’s why I stick to fish, when I’m not sure what my meat eats. Most of the fish is still wild and seafood in general is much less messed with by people. It tends to work much better for our health. And our six pack.
Step 2. Eat organic. Eat pastured, grass-fed/grass-finished, wild.
THE BAD OMEGAS
Back to Omega-6s.
The more you eat them — the less health and energy you have on a cellular and whole body level, the fatter you are.
“People walk around in seemingly good health with vastly differing amounts of omega-6 fats in their tissues,” as Lands points out. “But the long-term disease consequences are enormous. They can have 78 percent of their HUFAs [highly unsaturated fatty acids] as omega-6s, as they do in the United States; 58 percent, as they do in Mediterranean countries like Italy and Greece; or 47 percent, as they do in Japan. Meanwhile mortality from heart disease goes up linearly with the increase in omega-6s, from 50 deaths per hundred thousand people in Japan, to 90 in Mediterranean countries, and 200 in the United States.”
Where do they usually hide in your food?
Besides all the vegetables oils, that are in most processed foods, in roasted nuts, canned foods, even in your kale chips often…
Eating out? Ordering? — You got them!
Buying ready-to-eat veggies and meats, fish at Whole Foods or your neighborhood supermarket? — You got them.
(Whole Foods puts olive oil on the front label and canola oil in fine print, that gets oxidized and highly pro-inflammatory)
Non-dairy plant-based substitutions? — You got them!
Many nuts and seeds? — You got them!
Grain-fed meats and non-pastured animals? — You got them!
Step 3. Eat less Omega-6s.
THE GOOD OMEGAS
While doing your best to avoid excess Omega-6s, that are still essential for human health, just not in the amounts available in our food system — you want to load up on Omega-3s at the same time.
And no, I’m not talking about drinking fish oil.
I’m talking about eating whole foods rich in Omega-3s, that are also rich in minerals and vitamins essential for your health. Not to mention, just like you won’t work quite the same if we cut your arms and legs off and put it all back together — when we isolate any nutrient from original whole food, it’s not gonna work the same. Or, as one of the nutritionist I talked to recently said, “Drinking a shot of fish oil is not the same as eating sardines”
Why more Omega-3s?
Better cell communication — that one alone will improve every process in your body. Your thinking speed including.
But besides that. They are anti-inflammatory. They increase your metabolism with time, the more you have them in your cell membranes. They increase insulin sensitivity. All that helps you to look and feel sharper.
But that only happens, when you do Step 3 first. The omega effect takes time and consistency to fully manifest itself.
Step 4. Eat sardines, cod liver and other fatty fish.
CARB THE F*CK UP!
Ok. Now, what do carbs have to do with your awesomeness on LCHF or Keto?
I can’t tell you exactly why at this point — nobody can. But it’s doubtful, that staying in a state mimicking fasting and famine (ketosis) 365 days a year, losing your metabolic flexibility, limiting all the time one of the key macronutrients along with a whole range of foods — it’s highly doubtful it’s a great idea. Many women (myself including) lose their periods’ regularity or/and have other hormonal issues. Testosterone levels might be an issue for guys. Cortisol levels go up for many, increasing the amount of perceived stress in your body — that might cause water retention, muscle catabolism, higher blood sugar — you can see, how that can affect the way you look and feel daily (You sleep can suffer too).
My solution?
Whole foods carb-ups every 7–10 days.
I load up on tons of fiber-rich veggies, some fruit and nuts. I end up eating somewhere around 150 g of carbs, along with 70–80 g of fiber. Someone who’s super active, or bigger might want/need more than that, and/or more often.
*It’s an especially great tool for fat loss plateaus. In no way I recommend to binge on processed foods. And I personally never eat foods, that don’t work for me: processed carbs and dairy.
Step 5. Carb the f*ck up!
That’s my practice and latest updates to getting sharp with LCHF/Keto, that you won’t find on the net often. Looking and feeling sharp never felt that easy!
My 5-step 14-day SHARP LCHF/Keto Experiment:
Step 1. Quit dairy. Zero. None.
Step 2. Eat organic. Eat pastured, grass-fed/grass-finished, wild.
Step 3. Eat less Omega-6s.
Step 4. Eat sardines, cod liver and other fatty fish.
Step 5. Carb the f*ck up!
Try it and tell me about the results you get! I’d love to hear about your successes!
What’s next:
- Ask questions, when you have them
- Please share to help others learn and feel/look sharper!
- Sign-up for my 10-day Email Health Course or Keto/LCHF Personalized Workshop
