I’m in my 50’s and only recently discovered that the way I’ve been living for over 2 decades is the latest trend in healthy eating. I’m talking about intermittent fasting and a keto-friendly diet.
In my late 20’s or early 30’s (I’m old now so I don’t remember exactly) I felt a shift in my metabolism and I knew I was slowing down and starting to gain weight. I was never one to work out much (Because I hate it) and was never one to watch what I ate but now it seemed I had to do something as I was approaching the 200 lb. mark.
I started by ditching the nutritionally advised 3 meals per day and I would eat only when hungry. I figured that my body knows when I need food and if got in tune with it I would learn when I need to eat. So the first thing to go was breakfast. I replaced that with a cup of coffee and reading the newspaper (Yes I used to read an actual physical newspaper. I still read a traditional newspaper but just in digital form).
Lunch was the next to go and it happened because I became busy. Why waste time eating lunch when I can continue to work and get things done. It wasn’t all that difficult and it is amazing when you realize what you can do with an extra hour during the day. A positive side effect from skipping lunch is that I stopped having that mid-day lull and felt I had more energy (Which is counter-intuitive since we’ve always been taught that food is energy).
Dinner became my go-to meal of the day. This worked because dinner is traditionally a larger meal and it’s a natural time to convene with my wife and kids. And we did take our time. We ate and chatted about our days and I didn’t pay attention to how much I ate. I ate until I was full.
I didn’t observe any specific type of diet back then. I consumed soft drinks (Pop if you’re a native Chicagoan), pizza, popcorn, ice cream, and literally anything I wanted. Now, you have to understand that I don’t have much of a sweet tooth. I never have. So my consumption of sweets, including pop and ice cream didn’t occur often. My preference was always savory food and salt over sweet. I even ate bedtime snacks of dinner leftovers (And bedtime snacks has always been a no no from a weight loss point of view). The net result was that, over time, my weight dropped down to a consistent 185 lbs. and I stayed that way for nearly 2 decades.
Fast forward about 10 years and I ran across the book, “Why We Get Fat and What to Do About It” by Gary Taubes. In this book, I learned a great deal about how much crap information we’ve been fed by the big corporate food, agriculture industries, and the federal government regarding what we should and shouldn’t eat and how calories in vs. calories out as a way of maintaining weight was pure bunk. Now maybe I was just reading a book that confirmed my biases because I had a theory that the so-called obesity epidemic was largely caused by the federal government’s intervention into the nation’s school lunch program. But that’s a rant for another day.
A few years later, I came across the book, “The Big Fat Surprise” by Nina Teicholz. This book blew up the science behind the USDA dietary guidelines and totally upended the food pyramid. It showed how we, as a nation, have been sold a bill of goods when it comes to the consumption of meat, butter, and other things that are supposed to be bad for us. It shot down the idea that diets low in saturated fat and high in carbohydrates are good.
Then just a few years ago I read some blurb somewhere about intermittent fasting. This idea hit me right where I live since this is the way I’ve been instinctively living. So I did some research into this new term and came across this video presentation by Dr. Jason Fung.
Suddenly all the pieces fell into place and I was finally able to explain why I was able to live my lifestyle. Then I heard about Dr. Fung’s book, “The Obesity Code”. This book gave me my first exposure to keto-friendly eating and what going into ketosis could do.
This is where I decided I would like to drop another 20 lbs. I always felt more comfortable in the 165 lb. to 170 lb. range and all this new information showed me a simple way to get there. And it would cost me nothing. Even better I would save money. So I did my first real fast.
I had never gone a day without eating before. Sure, at times I waited until 9 or 10 pm to eat my daily meal but I had never actually skipped an entire day. I started my first fast on a weekend. I ate my last meal on a Friday and didn’t eat another thing until Monday morning. It was easier than I thought it would be and I was intrigued. The only issue I had is that doing this on a weekend while I was home was harder than it should have been because I didn’t realize how much of the day revolved around thinking about what to eat and preparing the meal. I simply got bored.
Motivated by that first real fasting experience I decided to try to fast for 5 days. But, this time I would do it during the workweek. I would have my last meal on Sunday and not eat again until the following Saturday morning. Having my mind occupied by work sure did the trick. The 2nd full day of the fast was probably the toughest but after that, I was pleasantly surprised how easy it was to complete. The end result of that fast is that I dropped 10 lbs. I had never done that before and I hadn’t been 175 lbs. since high school.
Fast forward to today and I’m now at the weight I’ve wanted to be. I float between 165 and 170 lbs. I eat mostly a keto-friendly diet. I am not hardcore keto as I still consume bread once in a while and have a bottle of pop and some popcorn while watching a movie maybe once a week or so. I eat normally during the holidays, especially Thanksgiving, because I don’t want to deprive myself of being a human being. Mashed potatoes, bread stuffing, cakes, pastries, and bread are all great things. They are just not things to be consumed daily. Following those occasions, I reset myself by going through a 3 to 5 day fast. It’s amazing how quickly and easily I can reset things and get back to where I want to be.
This site will be dedicated to the food I eat daily and new things I find or develop. I’m always looking for new recipes that fit into my lifestyle. One of my absolute favorite things is to improvise meals. I’ll take different things we keep in our pantry and fridge and try to create new dishes on the fly.
Thanks for dropping by!