0:00
You're listening to episode number two of the Fat Fuelled Female Podcast.
0:08
Welcome to the Fat Fuelled female podcast. I'm your host Marja Chow, a holistic nutritionist, personal trainer and proud dog mama of two. I am obsessed with helping women achieve their goals, feel confident in their skin and become empowered health advocates.
0:26
This podcast is designed to help ambitious women thrive on a low carb, high fat lifestyle. So tune in each week as we talk all aspects of nutrition, improving your fitness enhancing your mindset so that you can take inspired action, and live your best life all started from the inside out! I'm so happy to have you here. Now let's get started.
0:52
Hello, and welcome back to the Fat Fueled Female Podcast. In this episode, we are going to discuss three of the top keto misconceptions people have around the ketogenic diet and the mistakes that many make.
1:07
I am so excited about this topic and conversation because some of these misconceptions could be the reason why maybe you haven't started your ketogenic journey as of yet.
1:20
So first off, I really don't like using the word diet, I will usually say keto lifestyle or fat fuelled journey.
1:29
Because diet proclaims or makes it seem as if there are set rules, you have to follow. And if you break those rules, you're not doing it right and the Keto police are gonna come knocking on your door.
1:41
And with this thought process, it can often create an unhealthy relationship with yourself, your body and food.
1:49
And that's really what we DON"T' want right when we are beginning this amazing lifestyle change. Now, with that being said, when you go into keto or your fat fuelled journey, you have to follow some guidelines when starting out.
2:04
And I want to make it crystal clear. Following these guidelines are important when starting out at the beginning stages, but not something you have to do for forever. So let me just give a brief description of keto and ketosis and what it means if you are unfamiliar with it.
2:24
So essentially being in ketosis is a metabolic state. You can test to see if you are in nutritional ketosis by testing the amount of ketones specifically, the ketone, BHB, beta hydroxy butyrate in your blood.
2:40
So you could buy a Keto meter at a local drugstore, you buy them online, and then you just prick your finger, you take that dab of blood, put it on the stick, put it in the meter, and if you are in nutritional ketosis, the meter will read anywhere from 0.5 to 3.0 millimoles per deciliter.
3:03
Then you can see if you actually are in this metabolic state. So instead of your body burning carbs, as most people do as your primary fuel source, you train your body to burn fat, aka ketones instead.
3:18
So how do we get into nutritional ketosis? Well, you've probably have guessed it. If you're familiar with keto, you have to reduce the amount of carbs you ingest daily.
3:31
So if you're having carbs breakfast, lunch, dinner snack, you never allow the secondary system the fat burning system to be activated, right?
3:42
Your body by default, if there is glucose, aka carbs, aka sugar present, that is the first and primary fuel source your body will run off. It's just how our bodies are designed.
3:57
Okay, so let's get into Misconception Number One. People think they have to eat 25 grams of carbs a day for the rest of their life. So traditional keto diets or lifestyles recommend approximately anywhere from like 20 to 25 grams of carbs a day with the fat content ranging from, you know, 75 to 90% of the diet. Now, if someone has been diagnosed with having a neurological condition or have epilepsy seizures, the traditional ketogenic diet has been shown to really help support those conditions. And in that instance, keto is used as like medical intervention to help support these pathologies.
4:46
But for someone who has heard about keto and you know, maybe you've been curious about starting it, but you haven't dabbled into it yet. What I want to ask you is, is following 25 grams Have carbs a day realistic for you?
5:03
Is that realistic for you to do forever for the rest of your life? And for most women, I would say no. However, everyone is different. And there are people that thrive eating super low carb and really high fat.
5:22
But what I have noticed with my personal clients and my own experience with eating 25 grams of carbs a day, I did 25 grams of carbs a day for six months. It's not realistic for most as a long term health strategy.
5:38
When I started keto in 2016, I did 25 grams for six months, I felt great for the first two months, until it actually was more destructive on my body than beneficial.
5:49
So we need some flexibility in our nutritional choices, especially if we are making this a real and amazing lifestyle change, right?
6:01
So it takes about four to six weeks for your body to be fully fat fat adapted, you're gonna hear me say four to six weeks a lot in this episode. So what that means is your body is trained and conditioned to burn fat for fuel opposed to carbs, your liver is producing ketones.
6:22
So when you are fat adapted when you miss a meal, or you don't have food in front of you, you are able to use your own stored body fat for energy since you are fully fat adapted. So let me just give you a little bit of information when someone is a sugar burner. Okay, breakfast, lunch, dinner snack or carb heavy. You have the storage form of carbohydrate known as glycogen.
6:46
Some of it is stored in your muscles, most of it is stored in your liver, you have about 1500 to 2000 calories of stored carbohydrate. Now, when you are fat adapted, depending on your body composition and your size, you can have anywhere from 50,000 to 100,000 stored calories of fat, boundless amounts of energy at your disposal.
7:13
But once you get there, you don't have to be dogmatic about everything. You can cycle carbs into your keto lifestyle. Yes, you heard that right. You've created metabolic flexibility, where your body is conditioned to go from burning carbs when they are present when you eat them back to burning fat.
7:34
And this is how our metabolisms are actually supposed to function. If you look at our ancestors. In today's society, we are overfed and undernourished. People are constantly snacking and eating, there's fast food joints in every corner, that we never allow metabolic flexibility and our bodies to go into ketosis.
7:55
So you don't have to continue eating 25 grams of carbs forever. What you need to ask yourself is, Is this realistic for me to do? I find when you have a timeline going into ketosis, it's like, Hey, I'm going to reduce the carbs for four to six weeks, it becomes a lot more achievable for people because you have an end goal.
8:20
It's something you're working towards, psychologically, you're like, oh, I can handle four to six weeks. But if you're like, I have to eat 25 grams of carbs forever, it's kind of like you're setting yourself up to fail.
8:32
So how I coach clients in my signature program, the fat fuelled female method is we gradually go into ketosis over five weeks. So say you're eating 200, 300, 400 plus grams of carbs a day.
8:48
To put that into perspective, an apple is around 25 to 30 grams of carbs, a banana is the same, like 25 to 30 grams of carbs. So those two pieces of fruit are around 60 grams of carbs.
9:03
And that's just fruit that's not including, like if you eat oatmeal, and rice and whole grains, and chips, and crackers, and cookies, and muffins and vegetables. Those all contain carbohydrates.
9:15
And you if you're like, Okay, I'm going to start keto, and I'm going to go right to 25 grams on day one, that's a massive shock on your body. And more importantly, on your mind, you have created, habits and routines around food for X amount of years.
9:34
And in one day, you're like, I'm just going to change everything, that's probably not going to be very enjoyable, and that's gonna probably most likely cause a lot of stress.
9:45
So by gradually going into ketosis, it's a natural progression that isn't too aggressive. And each week, we build on top of one another, making theses small changes that don't feel hard.
10:00
So when you throw too many things at someone all at once, your brain can go into overwhelm and be like, I have to do x, y, z and all this checklist, where if you're like, I just have to do a and b, it's like, okay, I can manage that.
10:16
And when you give yourself a timeline, I can do this in four to six weeks, psychologically, it's so much easier for your brain to comprehend, and get it done. So, you know, gradually going into ketosis. And after that, four to six weeks cycle those carbs in.
10:36
The only constant thing in life is change, right? Like, we're always evolving and growing, and we're not staying stagnant or dormant. You should, you shouldn't be right, and I hope you are continuously growing and evolving.
10:51
So change is the only constant thing in life. So I find it unrealistic for people to set up their nutrition in a way that isn't going to be sustainable for you to follow in the long run.
11:03
I always tell clients, if you can't see yourself, eating the way you are right now, three months from now you are on a diet and you are not adapting into a beautiful lifestyle change.
11:15
So if you're coming into the Keto space, really try to look at this as an experiment with yourself. Getting curious with yourself, putting your scientists cap on, and you know, having the awareness to really see how you feel your best with different ratios of fat and protein and carbs, and be intentional with your nutrition.
11:40
If you are coming from a place of chronic dieting, or yo yo dieting, like I had for so many years, we really stopped listening to our bodies and our hunger cues, it's like, I can only eat this amount of calories. And you know, you know, most diets I did, were totally starvation diets around you know, 1000 or 1200 calories. And that throws your entire hormonal system way out of whack.
12:08
So when you go into high fat, you're bringing your body into alignment with its natural biology. So you start listening and reconnecting with yourself, you balance your blood sugar, you regulate your hunger hormones, you reduce inflammation, you lift the brain fog, you reduce your body fat, while still feeling amazing on this effective journey, you know, so weight loss doesn't feel like an uphill battle, because you're not starving, and your blood sugar isn't up and down like a roller coaster ride.
12:50
So in my eyes, you know, keto is a blanket term for so many different variations of eating a fat fuelled lifestyle. There is cyclic, keto, and that can range from eating high fat for three or four days. And then maybe on the fifth day you cycle carbs in, or maybe it's every two days, you're cycling carbs in or every four days, or it doesn't matter. It's just finding what works for you.
13:15
And then there's targeted keto where you have higher amounts of carbs before training before going to the gym. Or then there's just low carb, where you have lower amounts of carbs throughout the entire day. And that's like 75 grams to say, approximately 125 grams of carbs. So you know, there is no one way or right way to do keto. It's just about experimenting with yourself through trial and error and seeing what works for you.
13:45
So let's move on to misconception or mistake number two. People don't give keto enough time. First off, people are so quick to judge and form opinions, even before they actually try something out themselves.
14:04
Maybe they read a few things online or they had a friend who quote unquote, tried keto, and it didn't work for them. So they form an opinion and create judgment.
14:15
And I think it's important to point out if you're passing judgment on something you haven't never tried or experienced before. What does that do for you? Does it open you up to try new things? Or does it close you off?
14:32
So for example, say someone tries keto for one or two weeks and they throw in the towel, they're like, man, I was so tired. I didn't feel good, keto is not for me, I just know I'm going back to eating carbs every meal.
14:45
You know, one to two weeks. that's just not enough time to create metabolic flexibility for your body to be conditioned to efficiently burn to and run off of 2 fuel sources.
15:01
It's like, say you're like, I'm going to start going to the gym and build muscle. And I'm going to give myself two weeks to have my dream body. Like we all know, that is just not enough time to build lean muscle and change your body composition.
15:15
Or say, you met this great guy or girl and you're like, I'm going to give myself two weeks to go on these dates with this person, decide if I want to marry them. It's like, we all know that is not enough time, you have to give yourself more time than one to two weeks to adapt into this effective and amazing lifestyle change.
15:37
If you've been eating a carb heavy diet, and even if it's healthier carbs, right, it will take time to create new habits. And it's going to require effort. And you're going to need to be committed to your health journey.
15:52
But it'll be worth it. Anything worth working towards in life takes effort and patience, and you fully being committed to.
16:02
So what I want to offer you is get the idea of what you think keto actually is out of your head. Even if you've read some things on keto, or you've had a friend who went through keto, you've learned a bunch of stuff about keto, but you've never done it before.
16:20
You've never put it into action yourself. How can you form an opinion. So for example, I used to teach a lot of yoga about six or seven years ago, and I did my teacher training, it was a 200 hour certification. So I showed up to all my weekend courses. And I read the textbook, front to back back to front
16:43
Does that mean I know how to teach yoga? NO. I do not know how to teach yoga, I understand the concepts of teaching.
16:53
But until I am actually in the studio, in front of 10-20-30 students, where I have you my playlist on bringing them through a flow, telling them where to place their hands, telling them how to breathe, giving them a namaste at the end, I do not know how to teach yoga, because I haven't put it into action.
17:15
I'm just taking a concept. So until you go into ketosis yourself, not for one or two weeks, but give yourself that four to six weeks, where you create metabolic flexibility, then you have data, then you can fine tune your protocol, then you can see what works for you.
17:36
So until you're doing it yourself, please don't try to form an opinion, because you haven't actually put it into action yet.
17:45
So sorry, I think I kind of went a little bit off topic there. But I think it's really important to mention, your journey is going to be so beautifully unique to you.
17:57
And if you're comparing yourself to someone else, or where you think you should be, or you're not getting started because of this quote unquote what you think keto is in your head?
18:10
Does this provide any sort of benefit. And you know, if you're judging yourself or judging others in a negative light, you know, that only brings more negativity in your life.
18:23
It's the law of attraction, like attracts like, negativity attracts negativity. So positivity attracts positivity.
18:34
So be open with this experience, and really try to have you know, neutral energy going into this. Being like, this is what I'm doing for my mind, for my body for my soul for my health. You know, and look at this as a lifestyle change.
18:50
It's not about dropping 10 pounds in 10 days. That's fad dieting. And that's not what I'm about. I'm about real change with sustainable results.
19:01
Okay, so let's move on to the third mistake or misconception. People have when they start their ketogenic lifestyle, people think they need to start fasting right away.
19:14
So let's just back it up a bit here. If you're coming from a standard American diet, or you're just eating carbs every meal, and even if they're healthier carbs, reducing your carbs is going to be such a big deal. If you've eaten a certain way for 5, 10, 20, 30 plus years, removing carbs is going to be a shock on your body and a shock on your mind.
19:39
I look at fasting as a muscle you need to build your way up to it. So why are you going to force yourself to start fasting right away? Fasting can be really stressful for some people, especially if their blood sugar is really dysregulated so when you do too many things at once.
20:00
Your body, your mind, and your body can go into overwhelm. So again, that kind of golden number, I recommend looking into adding a fasting protocol around the four to six week mark.
20:12
At this time, you're going to be fat adapted, your blood sugar is going to be way more balanced, your hunger hormones are going to be working for you that it just is this like next natural progression.
20:25
When you adapt into a ketogenic lifestyle, you may find by default, that you probably are doing some form of intermittent fasting. So traditional intermittent fasting is 16 hours of fasting, eight hours of feeding.
20:42
So you may find, even if you're not intentionally trying to fast, fats just keep you feeling full opposed to carbs, they keep you made more satiated, they take longer to digest.
20:55
So you'll find maybe you're not eating as often or snacking as often. So by default, you may be doing maybe you're not doing 16, eight, maybe you're doing like 12, hours of fasting or 14 hours of fasting, right, but don't force yourself to start fasting right off the go.
21:15
Let's just focus on reducing the carbs, eating whole foods, nutrient dense food quality, re building our health from the inside out. And then you can integrate a fasting protocol at the four to six week mark.
21:29
So let's recap on all of this. Point number one, you don't need to eat 25 grams of carbs a day for the rest of your life. Is that realistic for you to follow? For most people, I would say no, unless you are doing a ketogenic lifestyle, therapeutically for a medical condition or diagnosis.
21:49
You don't have to go that low in carbs to get all the health benefits of being in ketosis. So metabolic flexibility coming in and out of ketosis.
21:59
Once you are fat adapted, you can play with cycling your carbs in seeing what works for you. But you know, once you feel this new energy running off of ketones and the cognitive improvement, you most likely won't want to go back to eating the way you did before.
22:15
But I'm about creating a high fat lifestyle that works for you not another diet to check off. So if you like having wine nights, or if tacos are your thing, or pasta, or if sushi, let's integrate those into your nutrition protocol, and make it an effective and enjoyable lifestyle that works for you.
22:35
So point number two, you need to give yourself more than like a week or two to adhere into ketosis and becoming metabolic flexibility.
22:45
Like anything in life. It requires time, effort, commitment, and consistency. And then, you know, just be patient with the process. Look at this, as you know, in the four to six weeks, you're getting data and feedback, and seeing what's working for you, where you're feeling your best and where you're still getting results.
23:06
And then the last point is fasting, you don't need to start fasting right away again, that those two the four to six weeks. That is when you can integrate a fasting protocol. If you're you know, already feeling on week three that you're like, Oh, I'm fasting by default. Go ahead with it, listen to your body, no one understands your body more than you just don't force yourself to start fasting right away.
23:31
So I will leave you with this, you know, a nutritionist, a coach, a health professional, a naturopath, you know, make recommendations that are meant to support you. You know, my goal as a nutritionist and a coach is to provide loads of, you know, resources, tools, education, clarity, for you to take inspired action and become your own health advocate.
23:55
But when it comes down to it, you live in your body, no one else does. And no one else knows what it's like to be you. So doesn't it make the most sense for you to really be open to listening to your body, and really having the awareness of seeing, you know, what seems to be working and what can be improved and just taking you know, full responsibility for your health.
24:25
So thanks so much for tuning in. Have a beautiful morning, a beautiful afternoon, or a beautiful evening whatever time of day you are listening to this podcast on and I will catch you all next week muah!
24:42
Thank you so much for listening to today's episode. If you enjoyed what you heard, make sure to subscribe to the podcast. And if you feel you got some extra value from this episode, it would mean the world to me. If you could head over to Apple podcasts or whatever service you're listening to this podcast on. Drop a five star review Let me know your thoughts on the show. Doing this really helps more people like yourself by the podcast.
25:06
And if you're not already following me on social media right now is the time. You can find me on Instagram at Marja Chow for all your nutrition tips, tricks and inspiration, or visit my website at Fat Fuelled Female.com where you can download my free seven day keto meal plan with recipes. Thanks so much for tuning in and I will catch you next week.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
