Ketosis!

 I have abandoned many of my former beliefs about nutrition and retained many and am now eating a Ketogenic diet. I say it that way because I am not on a ketogenic diet in the sense that it is something I intend to do to lose weight and then come off of.  As long as I continue to see health benefits from it, I hope to remain on this ketogenic diet indefinitely. Since this blog was started my weight has ranged from 235-239 on the high end, almost exactly where I left off after having Penelope- which is a little disappointing because I did manage to get down to about 207 after over a year of training and fairly restrictive dieting (it was gained back in maybe 6 months, most significantly adding on during a 3 month break from roller derby). Since I started eating a ketogenic diet I have lost about 10 lbs (weighing in at 228 this morning, even though I started my period today and USUALLY gain about 10 lbs the week of my period that comes off week following my period). That is pretty exciting!

That said, I am going to wait a little longer to celebrate, because several of the times I have tried something new my body reacted really strongly for the first week, and then realized that it was losing weight and without me making changes to my eating and exercise habits I would quickly gain it back.

I do feel extremely optimistic, because I checked my ketone levels today and I am in KETOSIS! Woot! What that means, is that there is no sugar left in my body to be used as fuel and now my body is burning fat and using ketones for fuel. I was not sure I would make it, as I am still juicing and even green veggies have  carbohydrates.

I would like to add, that in addition to that I am feeling super awesome... at least for the most part. The past several days I have had some moments in the afternoons when I feel hot and sleepy, and another odd feeling that I do not really know how to describe. It usually happens after lunch or after my afternoon snack and passes in 1-2 hours. I have read that these can be normal and are often more severe when the body is transitioning into ketosis. If anyone has ever transitioned from eating primarily processed foods to eating a clean diet it is a similar experience. I am not really sure what causes it, but I always see it as my body cleaning out the junk.

I am pretty excited about all of this, and  How We Get Fat by Gary Taubes. I still have a few chapters left because my reading time is so scarce, but I plan to write more about it when I make it to the end. Then I will need to find a new book to read. I was thinking about reading a book on vegan nutrition for a well balanced knowledge, but I am more interested in Paleo and Ketogenic lifestyles.

Some info about Ketogenic Diets (this woman is awesome... and she is like, 46, which I could not believe):