Recently I introduced my brother to keto, well more accurately, he's been on a stall on his diet and was finally ready to open up to the idea of a Ketogenic diet. Since I've been doing it for over a year now and have seen great results personally, I thought I could give him a few pointers. Anyone attempting a radically new ideology to a diet is going to come with a few roadblocks, a bunch of mental blocks, and ultimately having to unlearn old practices to force your body to do what YOU want it to do.
My brother is an interesting character, he goes for broke in everything he does. So after a month of keto with little visible results, frustrated (and a little impatient), he asked me to name the number 1 thing he can do in his already tight diet to get some faster results.
"welp you can eliminate dairy for one".
A long pause in our conversation told me that maybe I was heading in the right direction. Reluctant in giving up the white stuff, I offered to join him in giving up dairy for at least two weeks (I also suggested he stopped working out for two weeks, but that's another topic). This was almost a week ago and I can report that I'm so glad I did! The results are not exactly visible quite yet, but what I'm feeling INSIDE is a completely different story.
Allergies are practically vanishing (or so it seems)
For years I've had this suspicion that my allergies were just getting worse and worse, with the peak of it being this year. After 80+ pounds lost, my health taking a huge upswing, and generally just feeling awesome. My intake in allergies meds has definitely gone way up. I was popping a pill at least once every other day, which would help, but it was just a band-aid. After day 2 of cutting dairy, I noticed something weird... I wasn't coughing my lungs out, my chest felt relaxed and normal, and I could noticeably breathe so much better. The phlegm in my throat was starting to go away and I feel pretty damn awesome. Speaking of allergens I also noticed...
My asthma has improved greatly
Its kinda connected to my first point, but from someone who suffered from debilitating asthma symptoms my entire life, this is a BIG DEAL. With less phlegm, less inflammation in my lungs, I found that I was leaving my rescue inhaler in the house when id step out, and instead of panicking, I'm just felt that I was ok. I know it doesn't seem like a huge point, but dude this is huge. I am not in any way saying anyone should stop their daily treatment routine to control their asthma, BUT I am saying for me... its something big. id be hard pressed not to find anyone who couldn't find a benefit in breathing better.
Ditch the cheese, and get creative in the kitchen
This is by far the most fun part of this entire process. I know most people would dread having to drastically change their diet and have to rethink what to make, but honestly, its changing my relationship with food (again), really keeping things fresh.
If I'm being completely honest... really not missing it. I know shocker, right. But I've been having a damn blast thinking of creative ways to pack some flavor into every meal, and man are those flavors packed!
I've been thinking of different things to make off the cuff (I love to cook so planning would help greatly), from meals to desserts and even changing how I take my coffee (a tablespoon of 100% cocoa can go a long way in black coffee), but I'm sure anyone who does keto can take more than 5 minutes to search google (or soon here) for something they will absolutely LOVE that is dairy free. I like to eat the same base foods every day but switching up flavors dramatically to keep things fresh. In the coming days, I'm definitely going to post some great ideas for meals like the ones below.
 |
| An amazing spicey high fat breakfast. |
 |
| Chocolate brownie mug cake. |
These are just a few benefits I've noticed in less than a week and just had to write about it.
So whats stopping you?
2 weeks, no dairy, give it a try to see how you feel. I promise you, in the end, you won't regret it.
