Ketogenic Diet Day 34: FAT is key.....

Calories Down and So Is Appetite...

Today's Breakfast:  2x eggs over easy (hidden under the salad)- 160, shrimp sauteed in whole butter- 220, salmon-187, Avocado-111, and Ceasar Dressing-90 calories.  Just under 800 calories total.

...and STILL pink!

I shifted from All-You-Can-Eat to a Calorie-Conscious Ketogenic diet 4 days ago; the numbers on the weight scale are changing and I'm not feeling any different.  In all the studies I've read (search Ketogenic diet on the side bar for relevant posts), the ratio of fat calories to protein and carbohydrates is what's responsible for increased levels of satiety.  The amount of fat I consume in the morning keeps me satisfied for the next 6-10 hours and I can do physical work without craving anything but fluids.  My morning calories are between 700 and 1000 calories when they originally varied between 1300-1500 calories.  Dinner, my second meal, has the same macronutrient ratios and calories as breakfast (70% fat-20% protein-10% carbs) to address my macronutrient needs; I don't want neglect my daily protein requirements or shift my body into a state of starvation.

Daily caloric expenditure is a steady 3000 calories on my non-workout days and 3600 on the days I train therefore I am at a consistent deficit.

I continue to remain in a state of ketosis despite having some Mexican Albondigas and an 11 oz. Stella Artois; the Albondigas had white rice mixed into it and for a moment I thought the carbs might take me out of ketosis.  This morning's urine test showed pink and I am happy.

A 2008 study showed how a diet rich in long chain Omega-3 fatty acids controlled appetites among obese subjects.  I take my fish-oil and flaxseed (fat pills) supplements every morning and am sure they may contribute to my satiety.

The bottom line: Go Keto, Eat Fat, and Get Skinny

Hapy Eating,

DAVE

Ketogenic Diet Day 30: Decreased consumption

I took AD LIBITUM to another level:

Teriyaki Hawaiian Chicken-180 cal., Avocado-364 cal., Butter (on veggies) 140 cal., and Cheese-150 cal.  Total is approximately 934 calories counting the cup of coconut milk I drank.  

...and now I'm gonna fix it!

AD LIBITUM (adjective) - in accordance with one's desires.  In the world of nutrition, it means as much as one feels like eating.

 If you've been keeping up with my food posts, you've probably seen the high-volume and high-calorie breakfasts (between 1300-1500 calories) I've consumed over the past month.  I'm at exactly 30 days of being on this diet and have steadily lost weight but not enough, at least in my mind.

A 2008 study involving obese men on a high protein Ketogenic diet had subjects losing approximately 14 pounds (6.34 kg) over the course of 4 weeks, all while eating as much as they wanted.  Granted, I'm not obese, but I expected to lose more than the 3.5 pounds I've lost this past month.

The one point I wanted to get across in my posts was that I've been eating to my heart's content; I haven't made any effort to limit my calories this whole month and have been losing instead of gaining weight.  I think I might have done too much to make that point.  You see, I would practically force myself to finish the food I prepared in each post (but c'mon, you gotta admit it was some tasty food!)  It pains me to admit that there were even times when my stomach would actually hurt from eating so much!

Another study published in 2003 compared the effects of a low carbohydrate diet vs. a low fat diet on overweight adolescents and it showed subjects that consumed a low-carb diet (ad libitum) losing an average of 21.78 pounds over 12 weeks, that's 7.26 pounds per month and over double what I've lost!

My clothes fit me better, I've maintained my strength, and my fitness levels have improved so I'm happy but I could afford to lose more fat.

My plan now is to decrease (NOT LIMIT) my breakfast calories.  Today's total was approximately 600 calories less than what I've been eating (934 instead of 1500) and I still felt full after eating it.  I'll continue to focus on eating 1-2 meals a day with occasional snacks.  Race day is exactly 2 months from yesterday so I've gotta get leaner faster.  #RippedbySeptember

I'll keep you posted.

DAVE

15-minute Blog: Keta Salmon as an inexpensive source of lean protein and Omega-3s

KETA SALMON

The salmon is there in the top R hand corner of the plate.  I couldn't help but devour the skin before taking the picture.

I scored some Keta salmon fillets at the local Ralph's grocery store this morning; they were just $4.99 per pound so purchased a pound.  I seasoned them with a combo of  with Lawry's Seasoned Salt and Tony Cacciatore's salt-free seasoning, and sauteed them in some bacon grease for 5 minutes. They came out excellent!  I ate a quarter of it and saved the rest for later.

WHY SO CHEAP?

I did some research on an Alaskan Outdoors Forum and found that according to many, Keta salmon don't taste as good as the popular Sockeye salmon.  Keta salmon are also called Chum salmon and Dog salmon as the Alaskan natives used to feed the salmon to their sled dogs.
An interesting thing I read was that the Keta salmon flesh tastes fine as long as the fish don't reach fresh water.  One author stated that they wouldn't touch the meat with a 10-foot pole once the fish had reached fresh water.
One thing thread authors agreed with was that the Keta meat tastes fine if prepared fresh while the meat is still relatively orange.  They said that the older the meat, the less orange and 'mushier' it is.

COMPARISON

An article on Livestrong.com compared Keta to Sockeye in terms of nutrition.  They stated that though Keta has less calories (Keta 101 kcal, Sockeye 121 kcal), Sockeye salmon has more Omega-3s and protein per serving.
Keta has 17g of protein per serving while Sockeye has 18g, and Keta has .9g omega-3s while Sockeye has 1.1g.

MY CONCLUSION

I will take the $4.99/lb Keta salmon any day over the $8.99/lb Sockeye salmon as long as it's sold fresh, and the meat's orange and firm.  I'm already taking Omega-3 supplements and eat other sources of protein so that will more than compensate for what the Keta salmon has less of.


Happy Eating,

DAVE

Quality of Urine Ketone Test Strips: Name Brand vs. Store Brand

I've been using urine ketone test strips for the past month to make sure I'm maintaining a state of nutritional ketosis.  I started off with the Walgreen's store brand test strips, 100 strips for $17. 

 

I ran out of my Walgreen's test strips and figured I could replenish my supply at the UCLA Medical Center Pharmacy today.  They only carried the popular Bayer Brand Ketostix and the cost was double what I paid for at Walgreen's; it was $18 for 50 test strips.

This got me wondering if there is a difference in quality between the two brands, so I did a little research.  I performed a scholarly article search on UCLA's public library WiFi and searched the following terms and phrases:

• Brand comparison for urine ketone test strips
• Accuracy of urine ketone test strips
• Quality of urine ketone test strips
• Inconsistent results for urine ketone test strips
• Ketostix vs. Generic

...and I found nothing.

My next step was to perform a regular online Google search using the same search phrases.  I found a low-carb forum thread that put out the question if all strips were equal BUT there weren't any substantial replies.

Then I did what any other smart researcher would do and compared store and Amazon.com reviews to see what consumers thought about them.  

I looked at the Bayer Ketostix reviews on Amazon.com and the lowest review was a 3/5 star rating where the consumer was satisfied with the product but complained that her local drug stores didn't carry the Bayer brand.  Such a review makes me think that the Ketostix are pretty legit.

I looked at the reviews for the Walgreen's brand strips on their own store site.  The lowest rating was  1/5 stars and it was because the consumer compared the results of both strips on the same sample of urine (Ketostix vs. Walgreen's store brand). The store brand strip was significantly less sensitive to the presence of ketones; the shade of pink was much lighter on the store brand strip while the Bayer Ketostix was dark pink.  

MY OWN COMPARISION

I used the Ketostix strips the day I purchased them and saw that my shade of pink was darker than what I had witnessed with the Walgreen's brand.  (I would have posted the pic but I was in a public restroom with a bunch of other dudes...no camera allowed)  I didn't have any left to compare on the same urine sample but there was something to be said about the very dark pink result.  This got me to think that the Ketostix are a bit more sensitive to the presence of ketones because my diet and activity have been consistent for the month.

The instructions on the containers of both brands instruct you to immediately close the container after removing the test strip because the remaining test strips can be affected by moisture.  That being the case, I noticed that the Ketostix had a desiccant inside the container while the Walgreen's brand didn't.  I also saw that the Ketostix container had a screw-on top while the Walgreen's brand had a snap-on top.  I know that the combination of a screw-on top and a desiccant pack makes for a better job at keeping moisture out of the container and maintaining the quality of the strips.

One characteristic I found to be interesting was that the Bayer Ketostix strip was significantly longer than the Walgreen's brand.  This means less chance of one getting urine on their hands if using the strips while in the act of urinating.

MY FINAL CONCLUSION

If you're just starting out on this Ketogenic diet, I recommend you pay the extra couple of dollars and purchase the Bayer Ketostix.  They seem to be more sensitive and definitely have higher quality packaging.  One needs the sensitivity because decreased sensitivity could result in a negative reading when ketones are truly present.  I don't recommend the cheaper Walgreen's store brand strips until you have mastered the Ketogenic diet and simply need a little reinforcement to make sure things are going your way.

Hope this helps,

DAVE

Keto Diet Update Day 26: 2 meals a day with decreased appetite

This was yesterday's breakfast at 11am

Aidell's Sausage-180 cal., Small Avocado-322 cal., Almond Butter-202 cal., Macadamia Nuts-203 cal., Eggs-160 cal., berries- 70 cal., and Goddess Dressing- 80 cal.  We're looking at about 1300 calories.

This was yesterday's dinner at 9pm

Roasted Chicken Quarter- 220 cal., Avocado-165 cal., Cheese slice- 100 cal., Butter-107 cal., and Goddess Dressing 80 cal.  Total was around 600 calories.

What you see is yesterday's total consumption.  The two remarkable things about yesterday's intake were the total caloric value (for both meals) and the large gap of time between meals.  My total intake was approximately 2100 calories (counting  a serving of coffee w/cream) while my expenditure was 2744 calories according to my Polar activity tracker.  Yesterday was a rest day without any formal exercise and despite that, I was still able to generate a deficit of approximately 600 calories.

It's day 26 and I've been following my Ketogenic diet pretty religiously.  There's been evidence of excess ketones in my urine (a pink test strip) since day 3, and that's even with the occasional consumption of beer and liquor!!

My weight continues to drop at a slow but consistent rate but what I really want to mention are the steady energy levels and decreased hunger.

It's crazy!!  I don't get the spikes or drops in energy and I don't get hungry until later in the evening.  If my wife hadn't ordered Greek food last night, that 220 calorie leg quarter would have been a 180 calorie sausage and my caloric deficit would be even greater!

The absence of starchy carbohydrates keeps my blood sugar from spiking so my energy levels remain consistent; I haven't had the afternoon 'crash' since starting the diet.

My appetite has significantly decreased and I find myself only eating two meals a day.  The amount of food you see is what I eat ad libitum meaning that I stack the plate with as much as food as I want and measure calories after.

SOME REAL SCIENCE

A 2014 systematic review and Meta-analysis (the highest level of research) was performed by Australian researchers to determine if Ketogenic low-carbohydrate diets really do suppress appetites.  The result of the study was a resounding YES and they mentioned the following:

"Although other contributory factors cannot be ruled out, ketosis appears to provide a plausible explanation for the suppression of appetite during adherence to a ketogenic diet."

The research is there ladies and gentlemen.  I eat as much as I want, I don't feel hungry throughout the day, AND I don't carb crash like I used to.  The moral of the story is that nutritional ketosis does well at suppressing one's appetite and if you ask me, it's worth the initial few days of discomfort.

I know that one day I'm going to indulge in some bread, a fresh bagel, a Danish, or even a doughnut but for the moment, I don't have the urge or desire to.

Happy eating,

DAVE

Ketogenic Entry 1: Mistake #1: Eating too much protein.

Day 2: Just getting started

I got my ketone strips to measure the presence of ketosis

Breakfast on day 2: Father's Day barbacoa with salsa and cilantro.

I got my keto strips so I'm ready.  Yesterday was day 1, I kept my carb intake as low as possible.  One thing I may have done incorrectly is to eat a high amount of protein; I definitely consumed more than 3-4 ounces of protein per meal.  Will definitely eat less protein tomorrow.  Once again, the goal is to consume high fat, moderate protein, and very little carbohydrate in order to shift the body into a ketogenic state.  Stay tuned for more.

Dave