Keto lasted two and a half weeks for me. I got into ketosis, I was feeling okay, but it just wasn’t sitting right with me. I found myself looking at a bell pepper and wanting to eat it while thinking that I should be looking for some bacon or something fatty instead. If you know me at all, you know that’s a little bit crazy.
It’s not that I don’t like bacon – I do! But I love my veggies even more. If I don’t have enough of them, I begin to get antsy. The official “rules” of a ketogenic diet say that you can eat as much as you want/need of non-starchy vegetables, but I couldn’t get my head around that. With the amount of veggies that I feel good eating, I was popping out of ketosis quickly because I go over 20g of carbs really fast.
It wasn’t all bad, though. Often I felt really indulgent because fat is delicious and I would load up veggies with grassfed butter or pastured animal fats, and I would add extra avocado or a slice of bacon to things, which was fun. And, actually, this is something that I can totally do following a Paleo eating style too. It just felt more deliberate rather than natural.
Probably my favorite thing about trying this style of eating was that my cravings for junk food were completely replaced by cravings for vegetables. I wasn’t dreaming of bagels or bags of chips, I was completely fixated on giant salads with as many different veggies as I could put in or grabbing a handful (or two) of cherry tomatoes.
In the end, it became kind of an obsession and it didn’t feel healthy for me. And honestly I didn’t feel any more energetic or clear than I do when I’m sticking to Paleo. I’m not saying that keto is bad – I’m just saying it’s not for me. And finding what works for you is key.
Want to know the first thing I ate when I decided that returning to Paleo was a better fit for me? A giant salad with chicken and celery and dried fruit with a creamy curry dressing. I settled right in to it and I felt more in line with my own principles.
Food inspires me. One of my great pleasures is sitting down with a new cookbook – or any number of the ones I have and love already – and flipping through to find fun things to cook and eat. When I was meal planning, I actually got discouraged because there were so many recipes that looked delicious but that I was skipping because they had too many carbs or some fruit or butternut squash or sweet potatoes or carrots or celery. Feeling sad when I’m meal planning is definitely not me!
I believe our bodies need more veggies, not less. I also believe my muscles need ample protein and I never quite knew if I was going over (which impacts ketosis) or not. Making the switch back to Paleo didn’t feel like I was slipping back into old, bad habits either because I am not chowing down on things I know that my body doesn’t like. It did feel like my body gave a big sigh of relief, though, when I had a handful of blueberries after lunch.
So that’s where I am right now. I’m deeply focused on giving my body, mind and soul what it needs to feel nourished and cared for. I’m about feeling a sense of clarity in my goals and delight in my choices. I’m about slowing down a little bit and loving the journey towards greater health for what it is. A journey. One that may be filled with missteps, experimentation, big wins and back tracking, excitement, and most importantly love for life and joy in the process. That also means healthy choices. It’s not a free-for-all at the buffet but truly tuning in to what makes me feel my best.
Every day is a new adventure and an opportunity for growth so don’t be discouraged if you try something and it doesn’t work for you! Just take a deep breath and decide what it is you want to change. Ask yourself, what worked for me today? What do I want to do differently? And never, ever leave out YOU.
Balancing Paleo 
Hello!! I really resopnd well with Whole30 and Ketosis (with dairy) as well, though I’m pretty sure I do a lot better without dairy (cause I eat a ton of it) or at least a very small amount in moderation. Anyways, I read the last few of your posts because I was thinking about doing another whole30 but also maybe doing keto again instead, and then thought why not combine them? So I googled for recipes/others’ experiences and found your blog lol I’ve done keto before and when they say 20g or less a day, they mean 20g after you subtract fiber. So lets say you eat a big salad and some broccoli and cauliflower and some bell peppers and it adds up to like 50-60 g it’s no big deal, because once you factor in the fiber all of that has and subtract it, it brings you down to 20-30g. Like you could have 4 medium bell peppers whole, which have 6g carbs each, which would add up to 24g, BUT they each have 2g fiber, so 2gx4=8, so 24g-8g fiber = 16 net carbs, so you’re still aloud to have 4g more carbs that aren’t fiber, which would probably equate to a salad or some steamed broccoli. You’ll see a lot of NET carb grams talk on keto sites. Alos, I believe they only want you to do 20g or less for lets say the first 10-15 days to set your body into ketosis, then after that you could probably up it to 30-50g a day. It all depends on how your body reacts to the carbs from veggies, so just watch how your body reacts and if it can handle a bit more carbs and still stay/hover around ketosis, then you’re fine, you just have to experiment and find the sweet spot. Hope that helps! 🙂
Thank you for sharing your insights! I do calculate net carbs, but I eat a lot of veggies. Really a lot. 🙂 I love how you mentioned that once in ketosis I could increase the carbs (from good sources). That’s helpful! Let me know what you end up doing!
Ok yeah! I wasn’t sure if you did because usually people doing keto mention (really talk a LOT) about net carbs lol but yeah I understand eating what your body feels good on, because I like sweet potatoes so much!! And eat a lot of them while on Whole30, but basically none on keto. But I also have a lot of recently developed allergies to fruits, veggies, and nuts, and basically can’t eat any of them raw, they all have to be cooked to break down the pollen protein I’m allergic to, so I basically don’t eat any fruit, So I guess keto is easier for me to stick to since I can’t just munch on a bunch of raw carrots or peppers or fruit. Kind of annoying, but I deal with it. But I’m going to start my whole30 keto-style Monday, so I’ll for sure let you know what I do and how it turns out! Also thanks for all your recipes, I’m gonna to be using/tweaking them 😉