Keto Diet - First Attempt
7 invaluable lessons from my first attempt at keto diet
After thinking about diet choices last week I jumped into (what I thought was) a keto diet and stayed in it for a week. I gave up last week and here are the lessons I learned.
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There is a lot of carbohydrates out there: Most, if not all, of what you eat or drink every day is filled with carbohydrates. It is very very difficult to avoid them when you are out for yourself. If you are on a strict no-carbohydrate diet, it also means that you will have to say no to whatever everyone else is eating.
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You eat a lot more than what you need: I used to eat so much food before. If I didn’t skip breakfast, I’d have two cups of milked coffee, and two to three puris. For lunch, I’d frequently order an extra plate of rice after finishing a chicken biriyani. And dinner was always 2 chappatis followed by rice. Once I started keto, I was eating only as much as the curries as I was eating previously. Two double omlettes and a black tea in the morning. Some vegetable, butter, and curd in the night.
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Keto puts you in a stable alertness level: Once I got adjusted to keto diet after about 3 days, I was never too sleepy. I would sleep at 9 or 10 in the night, wake up at 6. Even if I skipped breakfast, I would not feel hypoglycemic. No grogginess after lunch either.
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Food is perishable: I had to buy cheese, vegetables, etc. from the local retail chain to avoid carbohydrates. But since I live in a hostel, I don’t have ready access to a refrigerator. This meant that a lot of things I bought had to be thrown out half used.
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People will think you are crazy: It is very difficult for people to imagine why someone would go through the “torture” of eating no carbohydrates. They also think that carbohydrates are the only way to energy. It takes a couple of days for your friends to understand you are serious.
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Keto does not kill you: I even went a round around Kukralli without losing breath on the day before I quit. Keto surely does not kill you, at least not in a week. You may feel fatigued or super-energetic based on how much power placebo or anti-placebo effect holds over you.
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The craving kills you: There is neither hunger pangs nor lack of energy. Yet, I gave up on keto. Because one day I went to my restaurant and they were serving mutton biriyani for the first time and the thoughts about all the things I can’t have - dosa, fruit juices, puri, baji, kadala curry, porotta - filled my mind and overwhelmed me into ordering one. I might go back to keto diet, but not in another month.