Mark Sisson's Blog, page 81
February 22, 2020
Easy Roasted Winter Vegetables
It’s a question we might ask (or be asked) every day: What’s for dinner? To keep it simple, Primal, and Primal-keto, that answer can easily be meat and vegetables every night. Day after day. There’s nothing wrong with that, folks. It gets the job done well, and the formula can be easily changed to accommodate preferences and banish boredom. Roast chicken instead of searing steak; broil salmon instead of baking pork chops; steam broccoli instead of boiling asparagus; stir-fry mixed veggies instead of serving a raw salad. You get the idea.
Roasting vegetables is an indispensable cooking technique and meal prep time-saver. Roasting veggies adds caramelized flavor that will make it a pleasure to eat any oven-kissed leftover vegetables again the next day. Make sure to pair vegetables with similar cook times together and cut the pieces in as uniform pieces as you can to ensure even cooking.
Experiment with your favorite vegetables. We like a mix of starchy and cruciferous vegetables which make a hearty side dish. Serve with your favorite type of meat, or add leftovers to your morning eggs, or Big-ass Salad for lunch.
Easy Roasted Winter Vegetables
Time: 50 minutes
Servings: 4
Ingredients
1 lb. Brussels sprouts, halved
3 parsnips (about 1 ½ cups chopped)
3 medium carrots (about 1 cup chopped)
½ red cabbage (about 2 cups chopped)
2 leeks, cut into coins
2 small heads of bok choy, sliced in half or quartered
4 cloves garlic, grated
Salt and pepper to taste
2 Tbsp. Avocado Oil
¼ cup Primal Kitchen Oil and Vinegar Vinaigrette & Marinade
Instructions
Preheat your oven to 375ºF. Cut all of the vegetables. Leeks tend to be very dirty—wash and drain the leek slices well after cutting them.
Toss all of the vegetables except the bok choy with the grated garlic, avocado oil, and a pinch of salt and pepper.
Lay the vegetables on a parchment-covered sheet pan in a single layer. Place the sheet pan in the oven for 15–20 minutes.
Remove the pan from the oven. Add the sliced bok choy to the pan and pour on the Primal Kitchen dressing. Toss all of the vegetables in the dressing and lay the vegetables in a single layer again.
Continue roasting for another 15–20 minutes or until the vegetables are soft and golden. Season with salt and pepper to taste and top with any fresh herbs you’d like.
Nutrition Information (¼ of vegetable tray):
Calories: 258
Total Carbs: 27 grams
Net Carbs: 18 grams
Fat: 15 grams
Protein: 7 grams
For more roasted vegetable recipes and more, check these out:
Primal & Keto Cooking Made Easy: Lemony Asparagus
Primal & Keto Cooking Made Easy: Sesame Ginger Broccoli
Primal & Keto Cooking Made Easy: Tex-Mex Fajita Veggies
Top 10 Vegetables for Winter
Top 10 Summer Vegetables
Top 10 Spring Vegetables
Top 10 Fall Vegetables
The post Easy Roasted Winter Vegetables appeared first on Mark's Daily Apple.
February 21, 2020
Weekly Link Love – Edition 69
Research of the Week
Walking isn’t enough to prevent weight gain.
Whey protein isolate beats even the most “optimized” blend of plant proteins.
The standard Western diet damages memory.
An estimation of “post-treatment Lyme disease” numbers in America (bigger than you think!).
Creatine, amino acids, and whey work better than whey alone.
Good for tacos, bad for sleep.
New Primal Blueprint Podcasts
Episode 404: David Morin: Host Elle Russ chats with David Morin, a strength and conditioning coach with clients like Allen Iverson and U.S. special forces.
Primal Health Coach Radio, Episode 48: Laura and Erin chat with our very own Elle Russ.
Media, Schmedia
Ancient practices solve modern problems (again).
Interesting Blog Posts
Notes from the 2020 Longevity Therapeutics Conference in San Francisco.
Social Notes
Correlation does not always mean causation.
Everything Else
Imagine thinking this was a good thing.
I’ve always maintained that orangutans are the most underrated apes.
Listening to Indian classical music helps schizophrenics’ cognitive function.
Letting the sun shine on metabolic syndrome.
Things I’m Up to and Interested In
Twitter thread I found horrifying: On the techies’ vision of the future of food.
Sport I didn’t know existed: Buffalo racing.
This resonates: The Scots who fish like Vikings.
I hope this helps folks who need it: The FDA expands MDMA testing.
I’d say on balance these were mostly good changes: How Google engineered what its employees eat.
Question I’m Asking
Would you try this? And do you think that guy was thankful (and does it matter for your decision)?
Recipe Corner
What is atakilt wat? Ethiopian cabbage stew.
Nightshade parmesan.
Time Capsule
One year ago (Feb 15 – Feb 21)
10 Primal Date Ideas for Every Couple – Not recipes, outings.
Arm Workout Without Weights– How to make them work.
Comment of the Week
“Coronavirus—I’m a long-time MDA follower and Primal enthusiast, and I’m writing now from Wuhan, China, where I’ve lived with my family since 2011. We’re on quarantine, stuck at home, and we’re healthy.
It’s easy to get sucked into the media’s depiction of this virus and what China and Wuhan are like. I’m not going to comment much because I don’t want to get sucked into the media hype again. Just writing because I’m glad you brought it up. Glad you addressed something about this virus. And I appreciate the respect with which you wrote.
I’m an American citizen, and Wuhan is my home.
Keep up the great writing and open and respectful platform, Mark!
Rebecca”
– Glad to hear from you, Rebecca.
The post Weekly Link Love – Edition 69 appeared first on Mark's Daily Apple.
February 20, 2020
No-Dairy Dirty Chai Latte
A little sweet, a lot spiced, and topped with cloud-like frothed (or warmed) milk, a chai latte is black tea steeped with milk as well as cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, and often black pepper, fennel, and ginger. Traditionally sweetened with a bit of honey, the chai lattes available widely in the Western world tend to be cloying with syrups and artificial flavors that don’t honor the Indian art of steeping the tea with whole spices. To find a Primal and Primal-keto version, forego the coffee house line and make your own at home.
What Is a Dirty Chai Latte?
A dirty chai latte is the beautiful marriage of a chai latte spiked with a shot (or two) of espresso. If you have an espresso machine at home, simply add a shot or two of espresso to the recipe below. We used instant espresso powder and recently boiled water to make our dirty chai latte as simple as possible—no espresso machine or stovetop espresso maker necessary. We did use a milk frother to add volume to the almond milk, but you can also simply heat up the milk you’d like to use, or you can use a handheld mixer to whip air into your milk. The point is to use what you have on hand at home. Note: We used almond milk, but this recipe would also be delicious with coconut milk. If you’re not dairy-free, feel free to use whole milk.
No-Dairy Dirty Chai Latte
Ingredients
1 tsp. instant espresso powder
1/2 cup hot water
2 scoops Primal Kitchen Chai Tea Collagen Keto Latte
3/4 cup almond milk (or milk of choice)
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
Instructions
Place espresso powder in the bottom of a large mug. Pour hot water over espresso, and stir until the espresso powder dissolves completely in the water.
Add chai tea keto latte mix, and stir until the mix dissolves completely. Using a fork and whisking the espresso with the mix can help it incorporate faster.
Froth your milk of choice, or heat it in a small saucepan on the stove until it’s warm.
Pour the milk on top of the dirty chai. Dust the top lightly with ground cinnamon. Enjoy!
Nutrition Info (per serving: 1 latte):
Calories: 214
Carbs: 10 grams
Net Carbs: 8 grams
Fat: 10 grams
Protein: 21 grams
The post No-Dairy Dirty Chai Latte appeared first on Mark's Daily Apple.
February 19, 2020
7 Tips and Considerations for Eating One Meal a Day
As the practice of eating one meal a day has grown in popularity, the questions have poured in. Foremost among them is some variation of the most basic: Is eating one meal a day a good idea? Is it safe? Is it smart? Should you do it? And on, and on.
I’m not here to tell you whether you should or shouldn’t eat one meal a day. That’s a decision for you to make. What I can do is, if it’s something you’re leaning toward, give you some things to consider before trying and some tips for optimizing it.
After all, one meal a day is relatively novel. Six to eight small meals a day is highly novel in the human experience, don’t get me wrong, and I would never advise something like that. But, breakfast, lunch, and dinner are relatively well-preserved across the spectrum of human traditions. Most populations eat at least twice a day. Although individual exceptions exist, few if any populations eat one meal a day in perpetuity.
So, what are some things to consider?
Don’t expect it be optimal for mass gain.
When you’re trying to gain muscle mass, you need to eat. You need to eat more food than you’re used to eating. Calories in need to exceed calories out. Funnily enough, it’s during a phase of desired mass gain that calorie counting really begins to matter. Focusing on the quality of the food you eat is great for inadvertent calorie reduction and weight loss; emphasizing the quantity while maintaining the quality is usually required for desired weight gain.
It’s really hard to eat enough food in one meal to gain weight. Lose fat while maintaining muscle, perhaps even making neuromuscular or efficiency-based strength gains? Sure. But very few get huge eating OMAD.
If that’s your goal, OMAD every day might not be the best option.
Focus on protein.
Protein is the most essential nutrient, biologically-speaking. We can’t make it ourselves. We can only eat it or pull it from existing tissues. For the sake of your health, your physical function, and your aesthetics, you should do the former and avoid the latter.
Protein is also incredibly filling. Your protein intake might not make the cut eating one meal a day. You might eat too little.
Plus, recent evidence suggests that to maximize muscle gain, spreading your protein intake across four meals a day with around 0.4 g protein per kg of bodyweight per meal is the best or “optimal” method. That’s mostly based on studies in “normal” people, not “weirdos” eating grass-fed meat or going keto or (gasp) eating a single meal a day. I suspect there’s some level of adaptation in us “weirdos” that improves our ability to utilize all the protein.
On paper, there’s a lot riding against you getting enough protein.
In reality, you will absorb all the protein you eat, even if it’s a ton in a single sitting. The real trick is making sure you eat enough—that can be hard.
Don’t do it every day.
This is my general advice to everyone who wants to eat one meal a day. Doing it every single day is hard. It makes it tough to hit your required protein. It makes it hard to get enough calories. It can wear on your social relationships. It can be stressful on your body.
But if you do OMAD two or three days a week, suddenly the stress becomes hormetic. Instead of being something that wears on you, it’s something that forces an adaptation. Suddenly you’re cycling calories—high one day, low the next—and life tends to work better when it cycles back and forth.
Do it on rest days.
Workout days? Maybe eat more frequently. Maybe do a shorter eating window with two or three meals shoved in there. You’re demanding a lot from your body, and one meal simply may not cut it.
But rest days? OMAD to your heart’s content. The break from digestion and nutrient infusions will actually help your body recover from the training. In fact, OMAD on rest days, and two to three MAD on training days might be the best possible way of doing it.
Take some electrolytes in the morning.
Why? Just like fasting and going keto or very low-carb for the first time, OMAD places a greater demand on your electrolytes. It lowers insulin, which depletes sodium and then potassium and magnesium. A big glass of sparkling mineral water with plenty of fresh lime or lemon juice and a spoonful of salt and maybe a scoop of magnesium powder should do the trick. Gerolsteiner is the most mineral-rich of the readily-available waters (and it’s delicious). That’s my go-to for days when I’ll be fasting or getting back into keto after a time off, and OMAD operates along similar lines.
It doesn’t contain enough calories to nullify the OMAD, and it will keep you energized and your stores topped up. You’ve also got Robb Wolf’s electrolyte mix if you don’t want to mix your own. He always does his homework.
Be careful if you’re a woman.
It’s just a reality that women—in general—are more vulnerable to caloric insufficiency. For the reasoning and mechanisms, read this post on women and fasting (OMAD is basically a daily fast). Some people might take offense at that, but it’s the truth and I care about all my readers. I want you all to succeed. I don’t want you to try something that not only doesn’t work, but also actually harms you.
I’ve seen OMAD work for ladies, but I’ve seen it fail more than not. What seemed to work was not doing it daily (see previous section), not going too low-carb, and making sure to eat enough food.
Just be careful and don’t ignore warning signs.
Chill out on the coffee.
Coffee can be a lifesaver on OMAD. You get up and, instead of wolfing down breakfast, drink a cup of coffee. This upregulates your fat-burning and keeps you going ’til your single meal. Thousands of people probably couldn’t manage intermittent fasting without coffee, and the same goes for OMAD. Well, maybe they could, but it certainly makes it easier. That’s hard to argue with—and I won’t try. I’m a big fan of coffee when I fast.
However, coffee also has the potential to spike cortisol and exacerbate stress. It can make the OMAD work better in the short term but worse in the long term.
Don’t do the “drink-coffee-when-you’re-bored-and-thinking-of-food” thing. Don’t drink it throughout the day. If, by the time dinner rolls around, you’ve had a dozen cups of coffee, you’re doing it wrong. Are those last eight cups really helping your productivity and energy levels? I doubt it.
Wait a couple hours to drink coffee in the morning (if you can). There’s a natural cortisol spike upon waking, and drinking coffee at the same time it’s spiking naturally will elevate cortisol even further and shortchange the boost you get. Better to wait til 9 a.m. or so.
Drink green tea or matcha or take L-theanine with your coffee. The L-theanine (present in green tea and matcha) synergizes with the caffeine, limiting the cortisol response, reducing jitters, and improving the boost to cognition.
OMAD has the potential to really help a lot of people get a handle on their eating. But there’s also the chance for it go really, really wrong. I hope these seven items help nudge you in the right direction.
If you have any further input or questions, let me know down below. How do you do OMAD? What tips do you have for others who want to try? What do you wish you knew when you started?
Thanks for reading, everyone.
References
Owen GN, Parnell H, De bruin EA, Rycroft JA. The combined effects of L-theanine and caffeine on cognitive performance and mood. Nutr Neurosci. 2008;11(4):193-8.
The post 7 Tips and Considerations for Eating One Meal a Day appeared first on Mark's Daily Apple.
February 18, 2020
15-Minute Meal Prep: Keto Ground Beef Recipes
If you want fast, easy, nutritious, and varied ways of cooking with ground beef, our three keto ground beef recipes will show you how. This keto-Primal meal plan and prep featuring ground beef will teach you how to cook lunches, dinners, and leftovers in 15 minutes. Disclaimer: If you’re not a fast vegetable chopper and dicing onions makes you feel like a teary slowpoke, you might not pull the entire meal prep off in 15 minutes, but that’s OK! Take your time to get everything washed, prepared, and chopped before you start cooking so that once the ground beef starts sizzling in the skillet, you’re 15 minutes away from an Asian Ground Beef Bowl, Cheeseburger Salad, and Spicy Ground Beef Tacos.
Shopping List for Keto Ground Beef Meal Plan
Download and print the Keto Ground Beef Recipes Shopping List.
3 pounds grass-fed ground beef
1 head Bibb, Romaine, or green leaf lettuce
1 head green cabbage, kale, or chard
1 head cauliflower, riced, OR 1 bag fresh or frozen riced cauliflower
1 large white or red onion
1 head garlic
1 bunch green onions
2 large avocados, or 1 package keto-friendly guacamole
1 pint cherry tomatoes
1 package organic shredded cheddar cheese
1 container organic sour cream (if desired)
1 bottle avocado or olive oil
1 small bottle sesame oil (toasted is fine)
1 bottle Primal Kitchen No-Soy Teriyaki Sauce
1 container beef bone broth
1 can chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
1 jar toasted sesame seeds
1 jar ground ginger
1 jar ground cumin
1 jar red pepper flakes
1 box of salt (any type you like)
1 jar sliced pickles (no sugar added)
1 package prepared pico de gallo (no sugar added)
Keto Asian Ground Beef Bowl Ingredients
1 tablespoon Primal Kitchen Avocado Oil or olive oil
1 pound grass-fed ground beef
1/4 cup onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup beef bone broth
2 tablespoons Primal Kitchen No-Soy Teriyaki Sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 package cauliflower rice, cooked
Salt to taste
1/2 teaspoon sesame seeds, toasted
1 tablespoon green onions, chopped
Makes 4 servings
Keto Spicy Ground Beef Tacos Ingredients
For the ground beef:
1 tablespoon Primal Kitchen Avocado Oil or olive oil
1 pound grass-fed ground beef
1-2 chipotle peppers
1/4 teaspoon adobo sauce
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
Pinch of red pepper flakes
Pinch of salt
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 garlic clove, minced
To assemble each taco:
1/4 cup spicy browned ground beef per taco
Green cabbage leaves, separated (can use kale, chard, or Romaine leaves as well)
2 avocado slices or 2 tablespoons prepared guacamole per taco
Sprinkle of green onions, chopped
1 tablespoon pico de gallo per taco
One serving = 2 tacos
Keto Cheeseburger Salad Ingredients
To assemble each salad:
3 cups lettuce
1/2 cup browned grass-fed ground beef
1/4 cup cherry tomatoes, sliced
1/4 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
1 tablespoon onions, diced or sliced
Pickle slices
Pinch of salt
2 tablespoons Primal Kitchen Thousand Island Dressing
Optional additional toppings:
Crumbled bacon
Fried egg
Avocado slices or guacamole
Makes 1 salad
How to: Keto Ground Beef Meal Prep
?
Step 1: Add 1-2 tablespoons avocado or olive oil to a large cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat. Brown all three pounds of ground beef at once. Separate the ground beef into three equal portions—keep one pound of browned ground beef in the skillet, and separate the other two pounds into two separate bowls.
Step 2: Make the Keto Asian Ground Beef Bowl
To the ground beef remaining in the skillet, add 1/4 cup chopped onion, and 4 cloves minced garlic. Cook for about 2 minutes, or until the garlic is fragrant.
Add 1/4 cup beef bone broth. Add 2 tablespoons Primal Kitchen No-Soy Teriyaki Sauce, 1 teaspoon sesame oil, 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger, and 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes. Stir well, and allow to simmer for 3-5 minutes or until the liquid evaporates.
Meanwhile, in a separate skillet over medium-high heat, add 1 tablespoon avocado or olive oil, and 1 package or 1 head of fresh or frozen riced cauliflower. Cook, stirring frequently, until cauliflower is softened, about 5-6 minutes. Season with salt as desired.
Serve the Keto Asian Ground Beef on top of cooked cauliflower rice. Garnish with toasted sesame seeds and chopped green onions.
Step 3: Start the Keto Spicy Ground Beef Tacos
Add 1 pound of browned ground beef to a skillet over medium-high heat.
Add 1-2 chipotle peppers with about 1/4 teaspoon of the adobo sauce.
Add 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin, a dash of red pepper flakes (if desired), and a pinch of salt.
Stir together and make a little well in the middle of the skillet. To the well, add 1/4 cup chopped onion and 1 clove of minced garlic.
Cook for about 5-7 minutes.
Step 4: While the keto spicy ground beef for the tacos is cooking, prep the cheeseburger salad.
In a large bowl, add 3 cups of any lettuce mix you’d like (Bibb, romaine, butter, or green leaf work well in this salad).
Add browned ground beef on top of the lettuce.
Add 1/4 cup sliced cherry tomatoes, 1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese, 1 tablespoon diced or sliced white or red onion, as many pickle slices as you’d like, a sprinkle of salt, and dress with Primal Kitchen Thousand Island Dressing.
Additional optional Cheeseburger Salad toppings: sliced avocado or 2 tablespoons guacamole, a fried egg, crumbled bacon, etc.
Step 5: Finish the Keto Spicy Beef Tacos
When the beef is finished cooking, get your “taco shells” ready. We used green cabbage leaves, but you could use any sturdy green like kale, chard, or romaine lettuce.
Pile about 1/2 cup of the browned ground beef in each cup.
Top with guacamole or avocado slices, a sprinkle of green onion, and 1 tablespoon pico de gallo.
If you’re not dairy-free, you could also add a bit of shredded cheese or sour cream to each cup.
Keto Ground Beef Recipes Nutrition Info (per serving):
Keto Asian Ground Beef Bowl
(1/4 of entire recipe)
Calories: 306
Carbs: 7 grams
Net Carbs: 5 grams
Fat: 19 grams
Protein: 25 grams
Keto Spicy Ground Beef Tacos
(2 tacos without cheese or sour cream)
Calories: 190
Carbs: 11 grams
Net Carbs: 9 grams
Fat: 11 grams
Protein: 12 grams
Keto Cheeseburger Salad
(1 salad)
Calories: 498
Carbs: 11 grams
Net Carbs: 8 grams
Fat: 37 grams
Protein: 31 grams
For more keto recipes, check out:
Mark’s Daily Apple Keto Recipes
90-Minute Keto Meal Prep
19 Keto Ground Beef Recipes
Keto Meatloaf
Keto-Friendly Dinners
30 Keto Recipes Ready in Under 30 Minutes
Keto Cowboy Burgers
Keto Bison Burger
The post 15-Minute Meal Prep: Keto Ground Beef Recipes appeared first on Mark's Daily Apple.
February 17, 2020
Success Story: Always Striving
If you have your own success story and would like to share it with me and the Mark’s Daily Apple community please contact me here. I’ll continue to publish these as long as they keep coming in. Thank you for reading!
Folks, I have been grateful for every story that has come my way over the years. It’s an incredible privilege being on the receiving end of your reflections and evolutions, and they are why I’ve kept at it all these years—knowing the message and information have made a difference in people’s lives. I appreciate every single one. Amy’s story is so real; it’s not a story that celebrates attaining a body composition goal, but should be celebrated for how far Amy has come on her Primal journey. Thank you to reader Amy for sharing her story with us.
I have been following Mark’s Daily Apple since you started the blog. Your message really resonated with me from the beginning and I loved reading all of the success stories. I looked forward to writing a success story of my own one day, but it didn’t seem like it was ever going to happen—so I’m beyond thrilled to finally be writing one now!
I was always in great shape as a kid and teen. When I went on birth control pills in college, I started putting on weight. I’d go off of them and lose the weight, then go back on and gain it again. Then came the day that I went off of them and the excess body fat stayed. I went through different diets punctuated by bouts of Standard American eating from then on, and it kept getting worse. I tried seemingly every diet there was and nothing kept my weight from going up.
Somewhere in there, when I started following your blog, I went Primal and felt the best I’ve ever felt. But I didn’t lose weight, so I stopped and tried something else out of desperation. I really got into bodybuilding there for a bit and got really buff, but as I moved into perimenopause about six years ago, I kept putting on body fat even though I was eating usually about 900 calories per day and doing hour-long strength training workouts every day.
I went to three different doctors, all specializing in women’s issues, over a five-year period. I told them all that I thought I was in perimenopause and hypothyroid. Not one of them did the appropriate tests to determine if I had any hormonal problems that were keeping me from becoming fit again.
Finally, I found a nurse practitioner, Wendy, who is amazing. She told me I was subclinical hypothyroid (in the normal range on all tests but having lots of symptoms), and we later found out that I had a T3 problem. Now I take T3 and have no symptoms. I was not registering any progesterone in my body, so she said I had estrogen dominance—we are still working on that, as I haven’t quite made it to menopause yet and my sex hormones aren’t settled, but it’s better. She also told me I had metabolic syndrome, which resulted in my liver and pancreas not playing together nicely. All in all, it took about four months to clean up that entire hormonal mess… only four months! I thought it would take years.
Wendy and I credit this quick recovery to the diet and lifestyle I had established about nine months earlier. An endocrinologist I happened to talk to told me I should eat a ketogenic diet. To me that meant Atkins, which I tried many years earlier, back when it was the new great thing. I spent two months with keto flu, feeling like death. But I did some research and got back to your blog only to find you singing the virtues of keto! So I adopted a Primal-keto diet and lifestyle, and immediately felt better than I had in years. I instantly lost 10 pounds, then plateaued for six months until I found Wendy.
I believe that when I went Primal years ago and felt great but didn’t lose any weight it was because I was eating too many carbs. I didn’t realize I had metabolic syndrome and was extremely carb-sensitive. I think I would have had more success then if I had just drastically decreased the carbs, but hindsight is 20-20, right?
I still may have needed the hormone intervention to get my body back on course, too. I’m hoping that anyone reading the success stories here and following the program without the success they’re wanting will take hope and inspiration from my story. I tried to naturally get my hormones in line without success and it took medical intervention to make it happen.
I’m down almost 50 pounds in the last year following Primal-keto and doing hormone therapy as needed. I have a bit more body fat to take off, but I’m close to where I want to be. I actually see myself in the mirror again, which is glorious! I know my body so well now and feel better than ever. I’m so sold on the ancestral eating and lifestyle approach to health not only from my experience but also from being a brain researcher steeped in evolutionary theory.
Now I am a clinical hypnotherapist, which is all about reducing psychological stress, and will no longer help people feel good about following ultimately hormonally unhealthy diets and lifestyles. I got my Primal Health Coach certificate and have been helping my clients reduce both psychological and physical stress from nutritional and lifestyle factors—a one-stop shop! I’ve seen many sometimes miraculous results in my clients in almost no time, reversing their labs, losing body fat that they thought they could never lose, and increasing their energy and happiness. Clinical hypnotherapy and Primal health coaching are, to my mind, the perfect combination for overall health and wellness. I love my job and am so proud to be part of this community.
Thank you for all that you have done to enable so many people like myself to take our health back and spread the good word to help others!
The post Success Story: Always Striving appeared first on Mark's Daily Apple.
February 15, 2020
Keto Biscotti with Keto Chai Latte
Biscotti (Italian for “twice baked”) served alongside a caffeinated frothed milk beverage is a pairing meant to be savored. Envision a sun-dappled restaurant patio that overlooks the cerulean Mediterranean. After a leisurely lunch of grilled whole fish and vegetables, you’re served a block of biscotti to dip into a creamy-capped cappuccino.
The best food can transport us, even in the barren frost of winter, to a sunnier place. While typically not a Primal or keto choice, biscotti is a twice-baked cookie that can be easily revamped to be lower carb. Make the plain almond-rich keto biscotti with your sweetener of choice, or accessorize it with freeze-dried raspberries and a drizzle of melted dark chocolate. Dunk a chunk in either our dead-simple keto chai latte, or the spiced collagen chai latte, and prepare to escape.
Raspberry Chocolate Keto Biscotti
Time: 40 minutes
Servings: 8
Ingredients
¼ cup salted butter, softened
1 tsp. vanilla extract
¼ tsp. almond extract
1 cup almond flour or almond meal
¼ cup blanched fine almond flour
2 Tbsp. ground flaxseed
2 Tbsp. coconut flour
¼ cup Swerve, coconut sugar, or granulated monk fruit sweetener
½ tsp. baking soda
1 egg
3 Tbsp. raspberries, freeze-dried
2 Tbsp. sliced almonds
60g 90% chocolate
Instructions
Preheat your oven to 350ºF.
In a bowl, cream together the salted butter, vanilla and almond extracts. Add the ground almonds, flaxseed, coconut flour, sweetener, and baking soda, and mix to combine. Whisk the egg into the mixture. Fold in the freeze-dried raspberries.
Form the dough into a ball and place it on a parchment-covered sheet pan. Shape the dough into a rounded rectangle. Make sure not to flatten the dough too much—you want a small amount of height in the center of the dough. Sprinkle the sliced almonds on top and gently press the almonds into the top of the dough.
Bake the block of biscotti for 15–17 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and allow it to cool for 1–2 minutes.
Carefully slice the block into eight pieces and gently flip the slices so they are cut side down.
Bake for 3 minutes, then flip the cookies over so the other cut side is facing down. Bake for an additional 3–5 minutes, or until the cookies are golden.
Remove them from the oven and allow them to cool (they will firm up more as they cool).
Melt the chocolate over a double boiler. Use a spoon to brush the melted chocolate on the underside of the biscotti, then place the biscotti on a piece of parchment so they chocolate can set. Drizzle the tops of the biscotti cookies with remaining chocolate and sprinkle freeze-dried raspberries on top.
Keto Biscotti Recipe Tips
Use whatever granulated sweetener you’d like. If you want to check on the sweetness of the cookie, taste the dough prior to adding the egg, and adjust sweetener as needed.
The freeze-dried raspberries add color, tang, and sweetness to the cookie without causing the biscotti to get mushy.
Almond meal is typically slightly coarse and includes the skins of the almonds. Almond flour is typically blanched without skins and is very fine. We like to use a combination of almond flour and almond meal to provide variety in texture and color. If you are unable to use both, using all almond flour should work just fine.
Nutrition Information:
Per cookie with Swerve or monk fruit sweetener. Recipe makes about 8 biscotti pieces.
Calories: 193
Total Carbs: 6 grams
Net Carbs: 3 grams
Fat: 17 grams
Protein: 6 grams
Keto Spiced Chai Latte with Collagen
Time: 18 minutes
Servings: 2
For a simple and tasty latte, you can simply mix the Primal Kitchen Chai Tea Collagen Keto Latte powder with water and a little cream or coconut milk. For a kicked-up drink, try the version below.
Ingredients
2 scoops Primal Kitchen Chai Tea Collagen Keto Latte
1 ½ cups boiling water
2 bags black tea
2 cinnamon sticks
¼ tsp. ground ginger
2 cloves
2 or 3 whole allspice berries
½ cup coconut milk
Optional: Sweetener, to taste
Instructions
Boil water in a kettle.
Place the cinnamon sticks, ginger, cloves, and allspice berries at the bottom of a large mug and hang the tea bags over the side. Pour the boiling water into the mug and steep for 3–5 minutes.
For a stronger tea, you can boil the cinnamon sticks, cloves, and allspice berries in water for 3–5 minutes, then steep the black tea afterwards.
Remove the cinnamon sticks, cloves, and allspice. Add the coconut milk and chai tea collagen latte mix. Use an immersion blender to blend the latte or place the liquid into a blender and blend until frothy. Add sweetener to taste, if desired. Divide into two mugs.
Nutrition Information (½ of the latte recipe):
Calories: 130
Total Carbs: 2.5 grams
Net Carbs: 1 gram
Fat: 6.5 grams
Protein: 5 grams
Recipe development and photography by Priscilla Chamessian.
The post Keto Biscotti with Keto Chai Latte appeared first on Mark's Daily Apple.
February 14, 2020
Weekly Link Love – Edition 68
Research of the Week
Among the working urban poor of Chennai, naps are more effective than more sleep at night.
In the Netherlands, those drinking between 5 and 15 grams of ethanol—or one standard beer, glass of wine, or drink—each day had the highest chance of reaching 90 years of age.
Tone deaf? Blame your parents.
Brown fat linked to better metabolic health and lower blood pressure.
New Primal Blueprint Podcasts
Episode 403: Dr. Mark Hyman: Host Elle Russ chats with the man himself, Dr. Mark Hyman.
Primal Health Coach Radio, Episode 47: Laura and Erin chat with Sam Miller, who likes to keep it super simple.
Media, Schmedia
A medical imaging office goes vegan for a month and loses weight, mostly muscle.
Interesting Blog Posts
Did the rest of the world luck out because the coronavirus hit China first?
How to reduce deaths on the road.
Social Notes
How to eat in a Chinese city on medical lockdown.
Everything Else
The latest Alzheimer’s drug trial fails. “We don’t have anything now.” Maybe try the root cause?
Researcher explores the origin of the common Inuit genetic variant that inhibits ketosis.
I get that IPAs are getting out of hand, but this is ridiculous.
Things I’m Up to and Interested In
Podcast I enjoyed doing: Max Lugavere’s Genius Life, where we chatted metabolic flexibility.
Sad news: Dr. Richard Veech passes. RIP.
I simply can’t get my mind around this: A third of British dog owners hope to feed their dogs vegan meals.
Some good, albeit preliminary news: Coronavirus does not appear to affect pregnancy.
Interesting article: Does the nuclear family need revamping?
Question I’m Asking
Do you think the nuclear family model is outdated? How would you update it, if at all?
Recipe Corner
Everyone should know how to make a good rack of lamb.
Tasso, the Cajun cured pork.
Time Capsule
One year ago (Feb 8 – Feb 14)
Is Keto Bad for Cholesterol?– Well, is it?
How to Accelerate Weight Loss with Fasting– How to speed things up.
Comment of the Week
“Plus workers have to get up so damn early to milk all the almonds!”
– It really is a terrible industry, Lisa.
The post Weekly Link Love – Edition 68 appeared first on Mark's Daily Apple.
February 13, 2020
4 Scenarios When Detailed Testing Makes Sense
We have unparalleled abilities to peer inside our bodies and take detailed snapshots of physiological processes and the state of our health. We can measure the hormones in our blood, the cholesterol in our veins, the nutrient deficiencies we may have. We can go deep. But it doesn’t always make sense to take that deeper, more detailed look at the numbers. It gets expensive, for one. It gets intrusive. Our doctors may be resistant. And it can provide a bit too much of a close look when a broader view might suffice.
When do more detailed tests make sense, though? What kind of scenarios call for a second, deeper look at our numbers?
“You’re fit as a fiddle, you’ve clearly lost a ton of weight, but your cholesterol’s a little high. We better get that handled.”
This is the classic scenario seen time and time again in the Primal and keto community.
Killing it in the gym.
Leaner than you’ve been since your teens.
Off all meds.
Pre-diabetes trend reversed.
More energy than ever.
Just feeling great overall.
But your LDL’s a little high. Or a lot. And the doc’s recommending that, while all these improvements are great, we do something about the cholesterol. Before you “take action,” let’s confirm you actually have elevated LDL.
If your triglycerides are under 100, and your LDL is calculated using the Friedewald equation, it will significantly overestimate your LDL numbers.
Say they directly measure your LDL-C and it’s still high. What then?
Then you should measure your LDL particle number. Elevated LDL particle number is what many “progressive” lipid experts say is the true cause of atherosclerosis—by increasing the number of particles in circulation, you increase the number that will penetrate the arterial wall and trigger an atherosclerotic lesion. ApoB is another measurement to take; it’s roughly analogous to LDL particle number, as each LDL particle contains an ApoB protein.
If your LDL-P or ApoB is still high and in the “danger zone,” what do you do? Do you go back on everything that worked for all the other health barometers?
I honestly don’t know. The question of elevated LDL particle number as an independently sufficient cause of heart disease is far from settled (and I suspect there’s more to it than that). But at least with more detailed testing you’re better equipped to have that conversation.
“Your TSH is normal. I don’t know why you’re feeling rundown all the time, but it’s not the thyroid.”
For most people, TSH is the best barometer of thyroid function. After all, if thyroid-stimulating hormone is normal, then your body feels like it’s getting plenty of thyroid hormone. There’s no “emergency.” If TSH is elevated, then your body doesn’t feel like it’s getting enough thyroid hormone. That’s how it usually works. In theory.
But what if your TSH is normal, not elevated, but you’re still feeling all the symptoms of low thyroid activity? What if you can’t get up in the morning, you’ve been gaining weight, you’re freezing all the time, and you generally feel very low energy?
What you don’t want to do is take the “expert” opinion at face value. No, that person who isn’t you doesn’t have unique and superior insight into how you’re feeling. No, the number doesn’t negate your subjective experience of symptoms. If you’re feeling bad, you need to do further testing.
Okay, so what should you test?
You’ll want to start with T4. T4 is “inactive” thyroid hormone that gets converted to “active” thyroid hormone (called T3) throughout the body. The thyroid gland makes mostly T4 and some T3 directly. In most people, a normal T4 means normal thyroid function.
Can you have normal TSH, normal T4, and still have underactive thyroid function? Yes.
If your peripheral tissues that normally convert T4 to active T3 aren’t doing it, you will effectively have poor thyroid function. The thyroid hormone is there, the tests look good; it’s just not doing its job.
Okay, so then you test T3 in addition to T4 and TSH. All good, right?
It’s better because it gives you an idea of active thyroid hormone in circulation, but it might not be enough. Even if your T4 and T3 levels are good, if they remain bound to the protein carrier that delivers them around the body, they can’t perform the jobs we all expect our thyroid hormones to perform.
You may need to test Free T3 and Free T4. Those are “unbound” thyroid hormones. They are the truly active ones.
Another test to consider is the thyroid antibody test. This helps determine whether your thyroid dysfunction is caused by an autoimmune response, and it can help you map your response.
“You’re pregnant.”
You hear these words and time stops. It’s really happening. You’re actually building an entire human being from start to finish—inside your body.
At least, I imagine that’s probably what it feels like. I wouldn’t know from personal experience. Being a father (and now grandfather) is powerful enough.
But it’s a big deal. And it’s a lot of responsibility, especially as a health-conscious individual who reads nutrition blogs and forks out cash for grass-fed meat and avocado oil mayo will understand. You know how important each day of your pregnancy is. You know how the food you eat and the nutrients you are and are not deficient in can affect the trajectory of your baby’s development.
Vitamin D is one of the more important things to test as a pregnant lady. Ideally you’d do this well ahead of time, so you go into it with good vitamin D levels, but testing early in the pregnancy is also a good move. Emerging evidence suggests that vitamin D deficiencies during pregnancy can increase the risk of ADHD in the child.
It isn’t standard. You’ll have to request it. But it might be worth the trouble if you think you’re deficient, especially since it’s an easy fix.
“Your testosterone is normal. I don’t know why you think you might need HRT.”
You can have normal testosterone and still have symptoms of low-T.
Lack of energy. Reduced libido or absent morning wood. Middling results in the gym. Decreased motivation and drive. These aren’t “serious medical conditions,” and many doctors will disregard them if your numbers turn out normal. That doesn’t help you, though, does it? These symptoms are no small matter. They seriously impact your quality of life, productivity, relationships (with yourself and with others), and they presage warning signs for your health down the road (muscle, insulin sensitivity, etc).
If your testosterone looks normal but you still have symptoms, what you need is a full panel that at the very least checks:
Free testosterone: active testosterone. Just like thyroid hormone, you can have normal testosterone levels but if it’s all bound up and inaccessible, you may have symptoms of low testosterone. Free T gives you a good picture.
Sex hormone binding globulin: high levels can bind to your testosterone, rendering less of it “free” and bioavailable.
Once you have good information, you can figure out a plan of attack to address your testosterone situation.
That’s it for today, everyone. Can you think of any other situations that call for detailed testing? Let me know down below!
References
Ahmadi SA, Boroumand MA, Gohari-moghaddam K, Tajik P, Dibaj SM. The impact of low serum triglyceride on LDL-cholesterol estimation. Arch Iran Med. 2008;11(3):318-21.
The post 4 Scenarios When Detailed Testing Makes Sense appeared first on Mark's Daily Apple.
February 12, 2020
Keto FAQs: Top 30 Most Common Keto Questions Answered
There’s a lot to learn when you first go keto, so I figured hey, why not put all the info in one place?
Without further ado, here are my responses to the questions I get asked most often.
What is keto in the fewest words possible?
“Keto” is any diet where carbohydrate intake is low enough that the liver starts producing ketones (hence the name).
Wait a sec, I thought keto is a high-fat diet? Isn’t eating high fat the point of keto?
Nope. It doesn’t matter how much fat you eat; carb intake is the only criterion that makes a diet ketogenic.
That said, on keto most of your calories do come from fat. You need energy, and when carb intake is very low, the body relies on fat and ketones as its primary energy sources. Still, eating more fat doesn’t make you “more keto.”
What’s the difference between Primal and keto?
Some diets are Primal. Some diets are keto. Some diets are both.
Primal is first and foremost about the types of foods you do and do not eat. The Primal Blueprint doesn’t specifically restrict carbs to a certain level, but it’s naturally low-carb by today’s standards. If you aren’t eating grains, added sugars, or (many) legumes, your carb intake will be considerably lower than the average standard American dieter’s.
Keto diets are agnostic when it comes to food quality. The only thing that technically matters is carb intake. Although many versions of keto do recommend grass-fed meat and organic veggies while avoiding seed oils (very Primal sounding, eh?), it’s also possible to be keto, eating cheap hot dogs and “cheez” out of a can.
Of course, I think the healthiest version of keto is one in which you start out with the Primal Blueprint Food Pyramid and reduce carb intake until you are at ketogenic levels (more on this below).
Read more: How Does the Primal Blueprint Fit Into the Keto Reset Diet (and Vice Versa)
What are macros?
The three macronutrients are carbohydrates, fat, and protein. They can all be metabolized into usable energy in the body. Sometimes ketones are called the “fourth macronutrient.”
When folks in the keto diet world talk about their macros, they mean how much carb, fat, and protein they eat daily.
How do I figure out my macros?
Different keto programs offer somewhat different recommendations. In The Keto Reset Diet and Keto for Life, I suggest starting with:
50 grams of carbs (gross, or total, not net)
0.7 grams of protein per pound of lean body mass
As much fat as you need to get enough calories and feel satisfied
This is just a starting point. You’ll probably have to tweak your macros to find exactly what works for you. If you do keto for four to six weeks and don’t see any results, try something different. Likewise, if you lose a lot of weight or your goals change, your macros will probably change too.
Notes:
You might need to start at 30 grams of carbs if you are insulin resistant or have type 2 diabetes.
If you’re very active or building muscle is your primary goal, increase protein up to 1.0 grams per pound of lean body mass.
Don’t rely on food tracking apps to set your macros. Calculate them yourself using absolute amounts (grams), not percentages (e.g., 5% carb, 20% protein, 75% fat).
Do I have to calculate my macros and track my food?
There are people who are perfectly happy doing “lazy keto,” where they eyeball everything and hope for the best. I don’t think it’s the best strategy, especially not if you’re new to all this. Most people don’t have a clue how many carbs are in their breakfast or how much protein they eat in a day.
You have to get your carb intake down to get into ketosis. For your body to stay healthy and fit, you also have to eat enough protein and total calories. Yes, weighing and measuring your food takes time and it sucks some of the joy out of eating. Do it anyway—at least do it for the first week. If you have no problem staying below 50 grams of carbs, and you’re getting enough protein and calories, then you’re good. Stop tracking if you want. If at some point you stop making progress, track your food for a few days again.
What app should I use?
I recommend using the Cron-o-meter website or app.
What are net carbs?
Total carbs minus fiber.
Some people subtract the fiber from their carb count because fiber doesn’t significantly affect blood glucose or ketosis. I don’t bother with net carbs because there isn’t a consensus about whether to subtract fiber in all foods or just vegetables. Anyway, people who recommend using net carbs usually limit net carb intake to 20 or 30 grams per day. In practice, that isn’t so different from 50 grams gross (total) if you’re eating mostly whole foods. It’s just another layer of fussiness as far as I’m concerned.
Does fat need to be higher than protein?
In grams, no. However, calories from fat will end up being greater than calories from protein.
Fat has 9 kcal per gram, while protein has only 4 kcal per gram. Even if you were eating 150 grams of protein and 100 grams of fat, that’s only 600 kcal from protein and 900 kcal from fat.
Do I have to limit protein on keto?
The short answer is no. The whole idea that “too much” protein kicks you out of ketosis comes from misunderstanding gluconeogenesis (GNG). GNG is the process whereby your liver makes glucose when your body needs it. (Yes, your body always needs some glucose, even on a keto diet.) GNG is both natural and desirable. Among other things, it ensures the brain always has enough fuel.
The faulty thinking goes like this:
(A) Too much glucose can kick you out of ketosis.
(B) The liver can use certain amino acids from protein to make glucose via GNG.
(C) Therefore too much protein will kick you out of ketosis.
In this case, though, A plus B does not equal C. The liver doesn’t make more glucose than it needs to—it’s a demand-driven process. It’s not going to start dumping huge amounts of glucose into the bloodstream just because you splurged for the tomahawk steak. There are some specific instances in which people doing a therapeutic (medical) ketogenic diet do need to watch their intake. For the average, metabolically healthy person doing keto for general health or weight loss, it’s not a concern.
Read more: Protein Intake During Keto: Why It Matters and How Much You Should Have
What is the keto flu?
It’s when people go keto and feel like they got hit by a truck. The most common complaints are wicked headaches and low energy.
Keto flu can last a few days to up to a week, but it’s largely avoidable. First, if you’re eating a high-carb diet, take a few weeks to taper down your carbs. Give your body time to adjust and build some of its fat-burning machinery rather than dive-bombing into ketosis. Second, make sure you up your electrolyte intake as soon as you drop your carbs to ketogenic levels. Insufficient electrolytes are the number one cause of keto flu. Speaking of which…
What’s up with supplementing electrolytes on keto?
One of the first things that happen when you go keto is that your kidneys start excreting sodium. With sodium goes water (which is why people usually see a big drop in the scale at the beginning) and potassium.
You need to supplement these, along with magnesium, especially during the keto transition. Most people continue to supplement as long as they remain keto. You’d be surprised at how often problems like headaches, fatigue, poor workout performance, and mood swings come down to simply needing more electrolytes, especially salt.
If you’re feeling “off” in any way, the first thing to check is electrolytes. Cron-o-meter (and other food tracking apps) will give you that info. You need 3-5 grams of sodium, 1-3.5 grams of potassium, and 300-500 mg of magnesium.
Read more: Electrolytes and Keto: Why They Matter for the Transition
I heard that __[wheat/rice/mangos/beets]__ aren’t allowed on keto. Is that true?
Foods aren’t “keto” or “not keto.” No food will automatically knock you out of ketosis in a single bite.
Of course, the more carbs a food contains, the harder it is to fit into a keto diet. Bananas are tasty and pack a decent amount of potassium, but a medium banana contains 27 grams of carbohydrate—more than half your daily target. Probably not worth it.
A lot of these so-called rules for keto aren’t really about keto per se. They’re about eating a nutrient-dense, anti-inflammatory diet. It makes me chuckle when I hear people say that you shouldn’t have refined seed and vegetable oils like canola and soybean on keto. You shouldn’t have them on any diet. They aren’t un-ketogenic, they’re just terrible, period.
Read more: Why “Is It Keto?” Is the Wrong Question
How do I know if I’m in ketosis or not?
The only accurate way is by using a blood ketone meter. Don’t waste your time on pee strips. They’re not accurate. Most people who do keto for a while find they don’t pee out many ketones, presumably because their bodies are using them. That’s what you want, obviously.
However, I don’t think it’s important for most people who are doing keto for general health and weight loss to measure their ketones. It’s fine to go by subjective assessments. If you have plenty of energy, can delay or skip a meal without getting hangry, and otherwise feel good, do you need to know your blood ketone level? Probably not.
Read more: Why Am I Getting Low Ketone Readings on a Ketogenic Diet?
How long does it take to become fat- and keto-adapted?
This is a hard question to answer. It’s not a yes/no thing.
Here’s what we know: Once you drop your carbs to ketogenic levels, it takes about two to three days for your liver to start pumping out ketones. Making ketones is different than using ketones, though. Various studies have shown that it takes at least a couple of weeks for the body to upregulate the “machinery” it needs to burn fat and ketones efficiently for energy. The process continues over several months, as different organs and tissues continue to become better adapted.
The short answer is: Expect it to take a few weeks to start feeling “normal” again after going keto. For people who place a lot of energy demands on their bodies, it will likely take longer. I’ve had endurance athletes tell me it took anywhere from three to six months for their performance and energy to return to baseline. Patience is key.
Read more: What Does it Mean to Be Fat-Adapted?
When should I start fasting?
You never have to start fasting. A lot of keto folks end up fasting intermittently because their appetite is reduced. Fasting also supports ketosis—it’s the ultimate carb restriction. However, it’s also possible to do keto successfully without ever fasting.
If you’re new to keto, I think it’s a good idea to wait a few weeks for your body to adapt before adding the additional challenge of intermittent fasting. Doing an overnight fast of 12 to 14 hours should be no problem, but I wouldn’t go keto and start eating in a 6-hour window at the same time. Your body will struggle to fuel itself.
Once you start, increase your fasting window gradually and pay attention to how your body responds. My general rule is eat W.H.E.N.—when hunger ensues naturally.
Read more: Benefits of Pairing Low-Carb Eating with Intermittent Fasting for Health and Weight Loss
I have no energy and my workouts suck all of a sudden. What am I doing wrong?
A few things might be happening here. One, you might not be eating enough food to fuel your activity level. Two, you might need more electrolytes. See the section on supplementing electrolytes above.
Three, you might be working out too hard for how keto-adapted you are. High-intensity workouts are fueled mainly by glycogen (glucose stored in the muscles and, to a lesser degree, liver). When you go keto, glycogen is depleted. Your body is looking to use a fuel that’s not there, at least not in the amounts it needs. That’s why you feel underpowered and draggy.
I recommend scaling back your high-intensity workouts during the transition period. Endurance athletes might also need to shorten their longest training sessions. Even once you’re well adapted, you might continue to struggle depending on how demanding your workouts are. In my experience, keto and hard-core CrossFit don’t mix well, for example. The workouts are just too glycolytic for a lot of people.
You can also try adding back some carbs before or during your hard workouts. It’s called “targeted keto.” I wouldn’t experiment with that for at least the first six weeks, though, to give your body time to adapt.
Read more: Can Keto and Cardio Mix?
I’m not losing weight. What am I doing wrong?
Weight loss isn’t a guaranteed side effect of going keto, despite how keto is sometimes portrayed. Losing weight can be easier with keto because hunger is usually managed and cravings reduced, but it’s not automatic. You can gain, lose, or maintain weight on keto.
There are lots of reasons why you might not be losing. The most obvious place to start is that you’re eating too much. Yes, calories still matter on keto. Hormones matter too—a lot—but at the end of the day, if you’re eating more energy (calories) than you’re expending, you won’t lose weight.
If you feel pretty confident that your food intake is appropriate for your body and activity level, other variables to consider are:
Sleep and stress: Besides food, these are the two biggest determinants of fat storage or burning.
Movement: Exercise isn’t as important as food intake for weight loss, but it still matters. Too little is bad, but too much can also undermine your efforts by increasing your stress levels.
Medical conditions, hormonal issues. People with hypothyroid issues often find weight loss to be challenging, for example.
Certain medications
Menopause
Read more: 9 Ways You Might Be Inadvertently Sabotaging Your Weight Loss Efforts
Can I do keto if I don’t eat dairy?
Absolutely, lots of keto folks don’t eat dairy. Get your fats from coconut, olive, and avocado products; nuts and nut butters; and canned small, oily fish. Coconut milk can substitute for cream in many recipes.
Can I do keto if I’m a vegetarian/vegan?
It’s very challenging to get adequate protein from non-meat sources and keep carbs below 50 grams per day. If you’re a vegetarian who’s willing to eat eggs, maybe some mollusks, and dairy, you can probably make it work. Vegan keto is possible but extremely difficult. I’m not sure I’d try it.
Read more: How to Do Keto as a Vegetarian
Read more: Can a Vegan Go Keto?
Can I do keto if I’m an athlete?
You can. As I mentioned above, keto is better suited to sports where intensity is kept relatively low—think ultrarunning, for example. The more glycolytic the activity, the more athletes might need to tweak keto to make it work for them.
Of course all athletes benefit from being metabolically flexible. Not to mention, keto athletes frequently report improved body composition and shortened recovery times, likely due to the anti-inflammatory nature of the diet.
My key recommendations for athletes are:
Don’t go keto during periods of heavy training or right before an important competition. Save the Keto Reset for your off season.
Don’t fear carbs. When used strategically and appropriately, there’s no doubt that athletes benefit from some carbs (that doesn’t mean sugary gels). Also, athletes can probably get away with eating more than 50 grams of carbs per day and stay in ketosis. If you want to experiment, invest in a blood ketone meter to find your personal threshold.
Read more: Can Keto Actually Work For Hard-Training Endurance or Power/Strength Athletes?
If I’m happy with how I’m eating now, do I have to go keto?
Not at all. I’m usually of the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” mindset.
That said, over the past several years I have come to appreciate that keto offers something unique over and above a generally low-carb approach like my typical Primal diet. Keto is the pinnacle of metabolic flexibility. It makes fasting easier if that’s your goal. It seems to have numerous potentially exciting health benefits.
You don’t have to commit to keto long-term. Doing a Keto Reset a couple times a year adds another tool to your metabolic toolbox. If you’re already Primal, dropping your carbs for three to six weeks gives you that added flexibility that you can tap into whenever you need it. Consider it next time you’re bored and looking to shake things up.
Read more: Benefits of Keto
Is all this fat I’m eating on keto bad for my heart?
I have been arguing for years, along with many other people in the medical and ancestral health communities, that fat has been unfairly demonized when it comes to heart health. Neither dietary fat nor dietary cholesterol is the villain when it comes to cardiovascular disease risk and mortality. Instead, we should be looking first at chronic inflammation from the Standard American Diet (SAD), chronic stress, and other lifestyle and environmental factors.
There is abundant evidence to support that position, but let me just drop two recent meta-analyses here:
This one concluded that, in fact, low-carb diets have a beneficial effect on cardiovascular risk factors.
And this one that found that the only risk factor for cardiovascular disease was consuming more trans fats. Otherwise, fat intake was unrelated to heart disease.
My cholesterol went up on keto. Is this dangerous?
I’m not your doctor. I don’t know what’s “dangerous” for you. However, I’m also on record as being highly skeptical of the traditional lipid hypothesis of heart disease. I’m not at all convinced that “high” cholesterol is always bad, nor that lowering cholesterol is always desirable.
Anecdotally, many people do find that their LDL and total cholesterol go up in the first few months of keto. It makes sense. Lipoproteins—as in low-density lipoproteins (LDL) and high-density lipoproteins (HDL)—transport fat in the bloodstream. It’s not there to cause trouble, it’s there to do a job.
In studies, keto diets have been shown over and over and over to result in more favorable lipid profiles—lower triglycerides, higher HDL, and more favorable HDL:TG ratios—over time, compared to low-fat diets. Many people also find that LDL decreases, although this varies from person to person.
If your cholesterol really skyrockets and stays high after several months of keto, you might be a hyper-responder. The jury is still out on whether it’s safe to continue with keto if this is the case. Talk to your doctor and consider going back to a more low-to-moderate-carb Primal diet.
Read more: The Definitive Guide to Cholesterol
Is eating all this fat bad for my liver?
People hear “fatty liver” and assume that it is caused by eating too much fat. In fact, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease is related to hyperglycemia (high blood sugar), insulin resistance, and metabolic syndrome—all things related to eating too many carbs. Keto is known to reduce each of those risk factors.
Can I do keto without a gallbladder?
Probably yes. You might need to supplement with ox bile salts.
Can I have alcohol on keto?
You can, although you’re likely to get knocked out of ketosis temporarily. If being in ketosis 24/7 is important to you, I wouldn’t risk it.
If you decide to imbibe, opt for dry wines, champagne, or clear spirits with non-sugary mixers. Most people find that they are much more sensitive to alcohol on keto, so be careful. That third glass of wine might find you dancing on the table.
Read more: Alcohol While Keto?
Should I buy this keto supplement? My neighbor swears it helped her lose 15 pounds.
No.
Listen, I’m not opposed to exogenous ketones in certain circumstances (that’s ketones you take as a supplement, as opposed to ketones your liver produces). However, weight loss never comes in a bottle. Eat well, move, sleep, manage stress.
Read more: Keto Pills: Why I’m Highly Skeptical
When should I start cycling carbs back in?
There’s no “should” here. You can stay keto as long as you want, provided you continue to feel good and like how you’re eating. Try to stick to strict keto for six weeks at least before adding carbs back in if that’s what you decide to do.
Read more: Does Carb Cycling Work? It Depends.
Why is my hair falling out?
First, don’t panic. There are a few possibilities here. One is telogen effluvium, the apparently harmless and temporary hair loss that can follow any major stressor, dietary change, or significant weight loss. It usually manifests around three months after the stressful event/period. There’s nothing that needs to be done about telogen effluvium. Support yourself as always with a generally healthy diet and lifestyle, and your hair will return on its own.
Hair loss can also be caused by dietary factors, especially not getting sufficient protein or B vitamins, or not eating enough calories overall. Try tracking your food for a week and see where you are with those.
Finally, hair loss can be a symptom of thyroid issues. If you are also experiencing any other troubling or mysterious symptoms, see your doctor.
Read more: Explaining Keto and Hair Loss (and Why Any Dietary Change Might Cause It)
Anything else I need to know?
One last thing you should know about going keto: If you are on any prescription meds, make sure your doctor knows about your plan. Certain medications will need to be adjusted as you become more insulin sensitive, lose weight, or otherwise improve your health. In particular, if you use insulin to manage type 2 diabetes, your dose might change within the first few weeks of keto.
Thanks for reading everyone! For even more keto resources, check on the keto hub on Mark’s Daily Apple. For answers to questions I didn’t cover here, head to the Keto Reset Facebook community, or post your questions in the comments below.
The post Keto FAQs: Top 30 Most Common Keto Questions Answered appeared first on Mark's Daily Apple.
Mark Sisson's Blog
- Mark Sisson's profile
- 199 followers
