Part 4 - My Ketosis Journey - Week 2

Day 8 - The Vegan Keto Dinner Menu

This turned out to be quite challenging, and I had to practice a few times, but I did my best I think. And, the Vegan guests ended up not being able to make it, which was a shame. So my guests where meat eating, diary eating, carb eaters...eating a diary free, meat free and carb free dinner! Poor loves! Luckily, they were up for trying something new!

My menu was -

Tofu Tikka Masala
Lime and Coconut Cauliflower Rice
Coconut Bread

Coconut Bread

​4 tbsp of Coconut Flour Sieved
4 tbsp of ground flax seeds
2 tsp baking soda
0.25 tsp sea salt
100g of Alpro coconut soy yogurt
1 tbsp Sour Cream
2 tbsp coconut oil
¾ cup coconut milk
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
2 tsps of Erythritol
 

Sieve the flour into a bowl. Mix in all dry ingredients, so add flax seeds, add baking soda, add salt, add Erythritol and add Coconut flour.
 
Then in a separate bowl, mix the wet ingredients. Melt coconut oil in pan, while melting, in a bowl mix sour cream and cup of yoghurt, and then add the coconut oil, cider and coconut milk
 
Then mix wet and dry together.

Put parchment paper in bread tray 23cm. 175 degress for 60 mins. Cover in foil for last 10 mins

I have to confess, I made this twice. The first time, the middle didn't cook. Too moist, so I changed the recipe to the above, and it was better. It makes 12 servings and each are 105 calories per slice.

Tofu Tikka Masala

2 tbsp., Pure Coconut Oil
1 Can Coconut Milk
1.00 pkg (79g), Extra-Firm Tofu
200g Riced cauliflower head 
0.50 tsp(s), Spices, onion powder
0.50 tsp(s), Spices, garlic powder
1 tsp, Ginger - China Powdered #1
0.25 tsp(s), Salt
4 tbsp (6.3g), Curry Powder - Medium
2 tablespoon, Double Concentrate Tomato Puree.

Heat oil in in a pan, once melted add onion, garlic, ginger, Tikka curry powder, tomato puree and coconut milk. Mix in together.
Add the cubed tofu, cover the pan and simmer for 10-15 mins. Add the cauliflower rice and cook till rice is soft. And bingo. Chop up some coriander if required, to finish. 
This makes 5 servings, 253 calories per serving.

Lime and Coconut Cauliflower Rice

1 tablespoon, Pure Coconut Oil
4 tbsp(s), Lime juice - Raw
0.25 tsp, Sea Salt
2.00 g, Spices - Fresh Coriander
500 g, Cauliflower
400 ml, Dairy Free Original
100 g, Desiccated Coconut

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Place cauliflower in food processor; pulse until cauliflower is chopped into pieces about the size of rice. Set aside.
Heat oil in large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.
Add cauliflower; cook, stirring frequently, for 4 to 6 minutes.
Add coconut milk, coconut, and 3 Tbsp. lime juice. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low; gently boil, stirring occasionally, for 8 to 12 minutes, or until tender and liquid evaporates.
Add remaining 1 Tbsp. lime juice, lime zest, cilantro, and salt; cook for 2 minutes, or until lime juice evaporates.

Makes 8 servings at 139 calories per serving.

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The Tofu Tikka and Lime and Coconut Cauliflower Rice, was a success. The coconut bread was an acquired taste. I liked it, especially for a replacement meal for a couple of days, with a layer of peanut butter! Nom..nom..nom, but my guest weren't too hot on it! Doh...or no dough! Ha! Going to make it again though, but just a Keto version, not Vegan. So with eggs and butter. Going to have it as one of my meals next week.

The only thing I would mention, is the expense. The ingredients for the 2 lots of Physillum Husk rolls I did which totaled 8 rolls, and 2 attempts at the coconut bread, cost me around £25! For 2 small loafs and 8 rolls. Jeez!

Below is how this dinner party of different food fitted into my macros.

So brought down the fat a bit, but carbs still low enough, so a dinner party can be part of the diet plan if thought about.

Day 10 - Thinking a lot today

Today I'm not so hungry. Did a massive poo. This has become daily and has definitely improved from how I was before the diet.

I am back to work this week. Feeling good, which to me is normal. No better or worse than before and still sleeping very well.

Body is definitely less wobbly/watery, it's not just in my head. I trust this thought now as I think it everyday. Muffin top on my leggings gone due to wobbly bits tighter, I think from the water loss and being less bloated. 

But could it be the stopping of bad artificial sweeteners I wonder? Or if it is this keto diet? This thought has made me think about the theory of the good old Food combining diet. Here's a little story.

In my 20's I had an issue with my esophagus (basically the pipe that carries food from your mouth to your stomach), I was getting stomach acid randomly coming up into my mouth. The doctor said, I was producing too much acid in my stomach, for whatever reason he didn't give, and it had damaged the bottom of my esophagus allowing stomach acid to enter back into the pipe and back in my mouth. He gave me tablets and said I would be on them for life.

To me this wasn't good enough. Never liked the answer being in a pill. So I read a little about food and how it digests (clearly the beginning of my interest in nutrition), which lead me to find the Food Combining diet. I bought a book on it. And thought this could be the answer to fixing my problem. I felt that reducing the acid would help the pipe fix itself. Right?
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The theory of Food Combining was, that we shouldn’t eat foods high in carbohydrates in the same meal as foods high in proteins or fats. One reason is that protein, carbs and fat require different digestive enzymes. Another is that carbs are digested in an alkaline environment while proteins are digested in an acidic environment. Either way, the story goes, if you eat these foods in combination, they will “cancel each other out” or "neutralized the digestion process" and not be digested, or take much longer than the body would want, causing maybe bloating, upset stomach, from potentially rotting food hanging about in your stomach. 

So, the Food Combination diet has you eating your proteins with veg, fats with veg and carbs with veg (in very basic terms), so you produce the correct acid and enzymes when you eat your proteins, and the correct alkaline and enzymes with your carb meals, so therefore digesting your food quicker and more efficiently. 

To me, this made complete sense, and could reduce my acid problem. So I did the Food Combination diet for 4 months. I found it an easy diet to follow. Nothing was cut out of my diet, just eaten a different way. I felt good, I ate healthier, I discovered new foods. I got right into making veggie burgers, which I loved. I lost weight quite easily, my acid returns stopped and I came off the tablets. 

I then stopped the diet to see if the acid issue returned. And it never did. It fixed my problem as far as I am concerned. 

There is not a lot of negativity online about this Food Combining diet, and I know now that it could well have just been a healthier lifestyle that fixed the issue. But I still like to think it wasn't just that and it worked for me.

Why are you telling us this I hear you ask? Well, could this not be one of the reasons the Keto has a positive effect on you? You are consciously eating healthier and not combining starchy carbs and proteins in your meal? So therefore I am less bloated and digesting my food better and quicker, which in turn can make some people feel better? Interesting and possible me thinks.

My Ketone sticks are still saying Moderate at Day 10. Could be because I'm only under eating by 250 cals a day? Only plan to loose about 0.5 - 1 lb a week. Do I need to under eat even less to reach full Ketosis and deplete the glucose quicker? But then, does it matter how quick I reach Ketosis? As long as I get there eventually, I guess it doesn't matter how long it takes. Patience is a virtue.

Remember I said, I believe that every diet when you are under eating can have the result of glucose depletion in muscles, as that's what the body lives off first and foremost? So do you have to remove carbs to force Ketosis? Or just under eat enough for a period of time to use up all your glucose stores, which in turn will result in your body to start living off your ketones from fat reserves anyway? Mmmmmmm...

Or are the sticks not working? It has been suggested to me that they don't. But I think they are there to guide, rather than gospel. So many question to figure out! Ketosis better kick in quick...and fat need to start moving, as I'm clearly doubting the theories right now!

What I know for sure...is I had a great shoulder workout, as I normally do, I love training my boulder shoulders. And feeling jolly and skittish...like I can often do!

I did notice thought, that I am loosing vascularity, not pumping up when I work out, and I ache it seems for no apparent reason? I'd expect it a day or two after training but its just all the time. Queer. But I know the pump and veins will be back..with the carbs back in my diet!...doh! :-)

Day 11 - Today I have nuts on the mind...

I am learning all the time. Today I was reading up on nuts to find out why Pecans and Macadamias are considered the best nuts for a Keto diet, but we are to stay away from the cashews! Why? Are they really that different? Apparently so. Check this out from the www.almonds.com

Pecans and Macadamias are low in protein, highest in fats and low in carbs...so clearly perfect for Keto. Where as those cashews are one of the highest ones in protein, lowest in fat and highest in carbs. Got it. I understand why now. Thank you Almonds.com !

Day 13 - What to do with Tofu?

Still had a load of Tofu left from the dinner party, needed to use it up. What on earth can I do with it, I thought? Not had much experience with it? Looked in the fridge, pulled out a few things that had been hanging around and made this -

Tofu Pesto Fritters

560G Tofu (Mr Tofoo 2 boxes extra firm)
140g Tesco Green Pesto
2 tsp Tumeric
1 tsp Garlic Powder
1 red onion
3/4 cup coconut milk

Blend the Tofu with coconut milk. In another bowl mix together all other ingredients, then add in the blended Tofu. Mix together. Split into 12 portions on a tray lined with baking paper, and bake on 180 degrees for 30-40 mins. 

Oh my days! They are lush! So much so, they are added to my prep for the week below. 

Day 14 - 2 weeks in and counting..

Today is weigh in and Keto stick check day! So whats been happening in side the old body? This...
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It took 14 days, but I have reached the state of Ketosis! Yay! I've arrived! And what about my weight?

DAY 1 - 
Weight – 75.3 kg / 11st 12lbs
Height – 5 ‘6 / 168 cm
Body Fat – 22%
Muscle Mass – 53.5kg / 8st 6lb
Water % - 61%
Visceral Fat - 4

DAY 7 - 
Weight – 72.2 kg /  11st 5 lbs
Height – 5 ‘6 / 168 cm
Body Fat – 24.5%
Muscle Mass – 51.8 kg / 8st 2lb
Water % - 56.4%
Visceral Fat - 4

DAY 14 - 
Weight – 71.2 kg /  11st 3 lbs
Height – 5 ‘6 / 168 cm
Body Fat – 23.3%
Muscle Mass – 51.8 kg / 8st 2lb
Water % - 57.7%
Visceral Fat - 4

Not only have I reached Ketosis, I have lost 1kg / 2.2 lb. AND lost only fat. As my muscle mass has stayed the same, and my body fat has gone down by 1.2% from the Day 7. Very interesting indeed.

I have to say, the evidence in 2 weeks is the stats say it is working, just loosing the body fat. Also the good points-

• I never really felt bad through the 2 weeks to reach this. So you don't have to suffer, just do it slower by not under eating too much.
• My skin is still looking better
• I am not achy anymore. I do think this was the effect of the Keto and the glucose depleting. But it has stopped.
• I honestly don't feel very hungry and am getting used to the way I am eating. I like my herb teas, and coffee and breakfast tea with coconut milk and Erythritol.
• I noticed today I can't remember when I last had a sugar craving? I'm not having them at all.
• Still not pumping much in the gym, and less visual veins.

I am starting to feel a little more positive about this. I'm keen to continue now and see if it continues or plateaus. I don't feel as though I'm thinking clearer or happier and all that, but remember, I wasnt searching to fix that, my diet was good anyway and energy and brain function wasn't an issue.

So, after 2 weeks. Things are looking good for my review of the diet. But will this feeling continue? We'll have to wait to find out. 

​My fridge is looking good too....!

See you next week!

​Terri x