Many people have tried conventional medical and physical fitness approaches to improving their health, well-being and body shape. Jogging, gym memberships, stints on the treadmill, different sports, potions and pills, prescriptions and creams.

Did they get the expected results?

Not always!!

Did they get any results?

Sometimes.

And the time goes by. Conditions stay the same …. or even get worse.

One of the hottest health trends is the keto way of eating.

What is it?

Does it work? Is it for me?

The keto way of eating is very simple. It is low on carbs, moderate on protein and high on fat.

Many of use are used to eating a good portion of carbohydrates and sugar daily: we get it from bread, pastries, cakes, wraps, rice, potatoes, wine and beer, soft drinks and sodas, the sugar in our tea and coffee; the sweets, crisps, bars and chocolates we snack on, give as gifts and give our children to take to school.

Despite how used to carbs that we have become, carbohydrate is not essential in the same way that certain proteins and fats are for the good health of our bodies. We need the proteins and fats to build cells, nerves, muscles, to make our nails strong and our skin soft and our hair

When we skip the carbohydrate, the body uses up the supplies of sugar it has stored and then it switches to an alternate fuel made from fat. When that change takes place, our bodies start burning our fat reserves.This state is called ketosis and the fate fuel are refered to as ketones.

When a body starts producing ketones and using up its fat reserves, we lose weight. Depending on where that fat is stored, it can have some very amazing health benefits. For example when it is stored in the liver or the pancreas. Excess fat stored in these organs can produce many bad side effects and appears to contribute to diabetes.

How low to go on the carbs is an individual choice. Some people restrict carbs to simply skipping the bread, potatoes, rice, cereals, waffles, pancakes, biscuits, cakes, sweets and sugar. The white stuff!! They also skip the low-fat versions of things like yoghourt, “lite” cheeses, and lean cuts of meat. Instead, they enjoy full fat milk, thick double cream, crispy skin on their chicken, the fat on their bacon and good oil dressings on their salads, real mayonnaise

They feel better for it, have more energy, maintain their weight or lose both weight and inches as well as other unwanted conditions.

Some people limit their carbs much more strictly from 50-100 grams per day, or lower from 20-50 grams per day or even lower to less than 20 grams per day. It depends how healthy you are and how much weight you might want to lose.

The simple rule of thumb if you want to have a maximum of 20 grams per day of carbs is to eat your proteins and fats which are usually very low on carbs, and restrict your vegetables to those that grow above the ground. As fruit has sugar in it, it’s only an occasional treat of low carb berries. There are a lot of options left to make delicious meals from a wide variety of plants and vegetables, including kale, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, tomatoes, avocado, celery, turnip, celeriac, fennel, cavolo nero, courgettes, cucumber, peppers, radishes, lettuce, various leafy greens and salad stuffs like spinach, rocket, water cress, beet leaves, savoury, lambs lettuce. Most herbs and spices also have very few carbs and can transform a dish. Herbs like dill, parsley, coriander, and spices like chilli, black pepper, ginger, cinnamon can make the same dish different each day.
As most fish, meat and cheese have no or very few carbs, there is a lot of choice and these can be eaten freely within moderate amounts!

People have followed these principles and found they reversed conditions like diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, blood sugar issues, dry skin, eczema, skin tags to mention some of them.

So, is it for me?

You can research for yourself and find out more about the amazing transformations following a ketogenic diet has made in thousands of peoples lives. It becomes a way of life, more than a diet.

There are a lot ideas about ketogenic diets: what it is and what it isn’t, whether it is good for you or whether it should be avoided.

The best explanation of what it is and how to follow the ketogenic diet is found here in this article by Dr Eric Berg. https://www.drberg.com/blog-article/ketogenic-diet-plan

Dr Berg has been helping people lose weight and has become expert in working with his patients using ketosis as the most effective way to go about this. He himself practices what he tells others so he knows what it feels like and what are the pitfalls you can run into on your journey.

It is a radical approach to health and well-being.

People he has coached in their journey back to health have shed kilos of weight, lost belly fat, resolved major health issues such as diabetes, adrenal burnout, high blood pressure, heart conditions, fatty liver and other hormone related health conditions. Many look younger and feel better. They have loads more energy and many lost chronic pain in joints such as knee pain, neck and shoulder pain, even migraines.

Imagine doing all of that without hunger! without pills or medicines, enjoying tasty meals and nourishing food and maybe even saving money in the process….

There is a wealth of knowledge in his free mini-courses. You can learn how insulin resistance develops and then ruins your face and your figure. https://www.drberg.com/

Diabetes. It is a scourge of modern life — a lifestyle disease.

It’s not a broken bone which hopefully can be fixed and you carry on with your life after a few weeks or months.

It’s not like having a baby which is a normal part of life for women.

It’s a condition that is relentless, progressive — and expensive.

It costs billions in direct health care costs in the UK alone.

Factor in the cost of a lifetime of multiple drugs after diagnosis, of annual screenings and monitoring patients in doctor’s surgeries and hospitals up and down the country.

Factor in the rising rates of people developing Type 2 diabetes as they grow older into middle age onwards.

Factor in the earlier and earlier ages at which Type 2 diabetes is now being found and being diagnosed. It’s now much more common in young adults and appearing even children.

It leads to complications. It brings about other medical issues which in turn are costly and life changing — leg ulcers, leading to gangrene and leg amputations, progressive blindness, kidney failure, impotence to list a few of the common and more severe ones.

It can increase the risk and occurrence of heart problems and strokes, of blood pressure problems and cholesterol issues. And those in turn add to the list of medications a person can be prescribed by their doctor. Not to mention the side effects that medications have.

It has been said Diabetes is incurable.

And for the pharmaceutical industry, the life time dependence on the drugs and other medical supplies such as testing kits, syringes to inject insulin or draw blood samples for lab work, dressings for leg ulcers, creams and ointments for open wounds, the training of nurse practitioners, the production costs of supplies, equipment such as blood testing meters for patients on insulin, the scientists and technicians employed to produce all the drugs and paraphernalia needed — it spirals into a mind-boggling demand on health care budgets and it has to be said, health profits for the pharmaceutical industry.

Considering that for the most part, doctors do not study about nutrition and its relationship to health as part of their medical degrees, very few look beyond the conventional approach they are taught in university, to use a drug or medicine to get a result when presented with ill patient.

However, a medical researcher in Nottingham University, Professor Ron Taylor asked some different questions and took a different approach. He evolved a therapy based on a diet approach to help the body to resolve the issues which were contributing to patient’s diabetes. He achieved success with his program.

Another doctor, Michael Mosely, well-known from his work with the BBC as a presenter, was shocked to be given a personal diagnosis of diabetes. He didn’t want to start taking drugs or medication to handle his condition. He found the program of Professor Taylor, followed it and resolved his diabetes condition within a very short time without the need of drugs or medication.

Dr Michael Mosely has written a book about his experience popularising the pioneering work done by Professor Taylor, in the book “The Blood Sugar Diet”. It’s tough. There are many reviews online of people who are successful practitioners of the methods outlined in the book, who got off their diabetes medications, and got the all clear from their doctor.

If you want to do more, you can buy the book from Amazon or find out about the program here:
thebloodsugardiet.com/

All the best and I wish you every success if this applies to you or someone you know.

Aileen