Diet: Low Carb and Ultra Cycling

[CruzLike]

I fell off the wagon, i.e: I ate......

I think everyone in the tribe could finish the sentence I snipped out. Welcome to being human. I think most of us value eating less sugar. It's also hard to have laser focus all the time. My approach to this or any diet is 90%. If I'm out of town, I prefer keto but don't beat myself up over not eating it.

 

[The Brook]

If I'm out of town, I prefer keto but don't beat myself up over not eating it.

Same here, but I've found that I need to stay away from sugar, as once I start having some, I can't seem to control myself.
So I'm best suited not to have any.

Denis

 

[Emeljay]

I fell off the wagon

As @CruzLike said we all do that, it is called cheating, or more specifically a cheat day has not hurt me as long as I go back to making keytones for my keto adapted body to use for energy. I plan my 'cheat day'; such as eat high carb one day up to 6pm. Then I skip breakfast, only have black coffee (no sugar or carbs allowed). I'll have a Keto lunch at noon(an 18 hour fast), or sometimes wait until 2 to 4 pm until eating keto. This fasting uses much of the sugar and carbs that we're in your bloodstream, as well as stored in the liver and muscles thus enabling me to stay in keto. I accidentally started fasting (I had read about it though) when I did not have time at work to eat breakfast or lunch but still felt ok. So I read more about fasting and gradually worked up to fasting 18 hours once weekly (after visiting my parents and sacrificing myself by eating their fantastic food ). But one needs to be sure you are in keto and understand keto problems and solutions before fasting on purpose, and I would also be sure you have no medical conditions that may contraindicate keto or fasting. Know and educate yourself regarding keto and fasting before doing this.

 

[The Brook]

I agree about cheating if this is only about carbs, I've done what you say about cheating with carbs one day then fasting the next morning, but sugar is my will power killer: after I've had some I start having huge cravings for it, that's why I call it an addiction. That is why I MUST avoid it. I'm pretty sure that most people on the Keto way of life don't have this problem to the same degree I have it.

Even now, 2 + weeks after I went back to Keto seriously, sugar still calls to me, I seem to remember it took me about a month for the cravings to subside, so I'm toughing it out. It will then be a lot easier. In the 2 + weeks I've gone back to it, I've lost 3.5 of the 8 lbs I'd put back on, so I figure that I should get back down to my best weight by the end of the month (the last few pounds took a while before), and my blood pressure is back down to 122/78 this morning. Much Better!

Still, I'm going to wait until I get to my best weight before I cheat again, probably at Christmas (our Thanksgivings here in Canada was in October, so I don't have that to tempt me). But I will not have anything that has sugar!

Be well,
Denis

 

[Maria Parker]

I'm with you Denis. I find sugar is a trigger food for me and it is nearly impossible to eat just a little.

 

[The Brook]

Especially in Choooocolate !!

 

[rx7mark]

Especially in Choooocolate !!

Haven't you discovered sugar free chocolate yet? Keto Bark is great from ChocZero, there syrups are good too, available on Amazon.
I have a great Keto pancake recipe for the weekends to go with the syrup!

I also like Keto Coco from Giant sports, and of course See's Candies makes sugar free almond clusters, walnut clusters, and peanut brittle for a special treat. Just don't eat too much of the See's as it has a lot of sugar alcohol. I am sure there are lots of other options.

And I keep pure cacao powder and Keto choc chips in stock to make other yummy Keto deserts! Lava cake, brownies, choc chip cookies, etc.

My wife and I have been on Keto for over a year, have lost 30 & 35 lbs respectively, and have totally changed our blood cholesterol numbers from totally in the red, to everything in the green. Especially Triglyceride's and HDL. My TRI/HDL ratio went for almost 9 to 1.4.

The key to not cheating for us is to have Keto alternatives available for our trigger foods.

It took us a while to find alternatives that were satisfying, the pancake recipe alone took about 10 tries.

But we bought about 6 Keto cookbooks, and search on-line blogs for interesting recipes. Its amazing what's out there.

Its a fun journey, and I am lucky my wife is doing it with me, even my two young adult daughters have joined us, though they are not as strict.

Mark

 

[DavidCH]

There is a chocolate alternative called Algarroba. I have used it and can say it's very good. Oddly enough the farmers here in Murcia feed it to their cows. Lucky cows I say

 

[telephd]

There is a chocolate alternative called Algarroba. I have used it and can say it's very good. Oddly enough the farmers here in Murcia feed it to their cows. Lucky cows I say

Known as carob on this side of the pond

FYI carob powder has about 3X the carbs of cocoa powder

 

[DavidCH]

Known as carob on this side of the pond

FYI carob powder has about 3X the carbs of cocoa powder

That's interesting to know. Good job I don't use much of it

 

[ed72]

LCHF enthusiasts will get a kick out this.

A few decades ago, I toured NZ on bike over a 4 week period in January and needing to lose some weight, I cut back the carbs and tried to just eat my normal food servings while riding 100 miles on average per day.

I lost 22 pounds of fat.

 

[Emeljay]

I toured NZ on bike over a 4 week period in January and needing to lose some weight, I cut back the carbs and tried to just eat my normal food servings while riding 100 miles on average per day.

Did you cut back carbs below 30-50 grams per day and become keto adapted, and if so, did you have some of the possible keto adaption side effects to contend with on your ride. I've heard of individuals who fasted and became keto adapted within a week, but they were under medical supervision to help avoid bad outcomes. Then they ate a "transitional" diet to ease into a keto diet.

 

[ed72]

Did you cut back carbs below 30-50 grams per day and become keto adapted, and if so, did you have some of the possible keto adaption side effects to contend with on your ride. I've heard of individuals who fasted and became keto adapted within a week, but they were under medical supervision to help avoid bad outcomes. Then they ate a "transitional" diet to ease into a keto diet.

It was more than 25 years ago. I doubt 30-50 grams. I also know ketosis can be maintained on a much higher consumption than 30-50 grams per day. Hauling a 90 pound bike up and down hills all day long in cold rain will do that. Hand held IVDs to measure didn't exist back then. I know that for me anyway that modest consumption of some types of carbs is beneficial during a hard ride and that it doesn't knock me out but it took some trial and error to find that out. I am not sure what keto adaptation side effects are. I never felt better.

 

[ccf]

Another potential benefit of a low-carb diet:

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2019-11-ketogenic-diet-flu-virus.html

 

[Maria Parker]

Good news.

 

[Bill Wightman]

I fell off the wagon, i.e: I ate a few sugary deserts in a short period, which caused me to crave chocolate, at first, only a few squares, then more and more.

This I call this the M&M diet (MMD). There is very little written about it but if you combine MMD with an appropriate level of periodic fasting you will find you can maintain your weight just fine, if you don't mind concurrently losing all the sexy ketogenic qualities of mental clarity, quick healing, stamina like an old-time persistence hunter, and cat-like balance.

The Bessies Creek races are coming up in Texas on April 1st - 3rd, 2021. I better switch back over to a metabolically sexy ketogenic bias. The race is flat. I really love flat, although shallow rolling hills are a close second. Will be my first time for this one. Looking at the six hour.
https://www.bessiescreek24.com/

 

[DavidCH]

I love toast... I used to love a toasted bacon sandwich with an egg in it. Just delicious...

For years I haven't eaten meat. I do sometimes eat salmon as I the omega3 is needed in the diet. So I had a chat with a diabetic fried who makes her own keto bread. So I bought all the ingredients. Sixteen euros just for a loaf of bread! Well that's what my ego was saying. So the flour alternative I used was almond flour and coconut flour. I used 2 cups almond and 1 cup coconut. I used 6 egg whites. I had to use some strange powder like pysllium husk powder which interacts with the flour to make dough. Basically put all the powder in a big bowl. There would be salt , baking powder, flours and pysllium husk powder.... mix thoroughly.

Get the egg whites and beat them up into a meringue and mix in the apple vinegar.

Now the tricky part is mixing it all up in the big bowl. In the end I elected to do it with my hands.

Dough gets very solid very quickly.

You have to use a quantity of hot water too so don't burn yourself. Once you have made the dough you can either make one big loaf or put half of it in the freeze for a later day. 175 degrees preheated oven for 90 minutes and presto...


So the issue I had with the bread first time around was that I put a little to much pysllium husk powder and made it a little chewy... it didn't help either not making the egg whites into a meringue as it's this that makes the bread solid or fluffy. I would also use a bit of the raw egg white next time around to put over the open surface area of the bread to give it a crust just before putting into the oven.

So the good bit... if I put a slice of bread (40 calories) into the toaster and add some butter with a slice of smoked salmon and a fried egg... it tastes so much like eating that wonderful bacon sandwich that it's just jaw dropping.

 

[castlerobber]

Dough gets very solid very quickly.

Yep, coconut flour will do that. It absorbs fluid like crazy.

I used to make a keto bread called Soul Bread (not like "soul food", LOL). It uses unflavored zero-carb protein powder, whole eggs, cream cheese, and leavening. Pretty decent taste, keeps well in the fridge, slices and toasts well.

Lately I'll make a single-serving 90-second bread with a few tablespoons of almond flour, an egg, butter, baking powder, and a pinch of salt, cooked in a small pan on the stovetop. Comes out looking like a pancake, but rises a little higher, and is less dense.

175 degrees preheated oven

That's Celsius, yes? About 350°F?

 

[DavidCH]

That's Celsius, yes? About 350°F?

Yes.