Busting Myths -Part 3
Busting Myths - Part 3
In the past two blogs on Busting Myths I tackled some of the top 10 myths regarding Keto and Low Carb. I talked about counting calories and macros, whether certain foods are required and whether you need to eat grass fed and organic. I also talked about how you should not worry about your metabolism slowing down because you might find yourself eating so much less once your hunger hormones get into balance.
There are many obstacles in a new journey like this, and myths shouldn't be one of them. If you haven't read Busting Myths - Part 1 and Busting Myths - Part 2, I suggest you go back to read these, because this knowledge makes great stepping stones in your progress.
Again, these myths are in no particular order. But I do want to say, that I grouped the first three together because they have to do with cooking, preparing meals and making your family happy.
Take heed that with either Keto or Low Carb, you can eat that way and no one need be the wiser if you don’t want to announce that you are trying something new.
Have salads and green vegetables, stay away from bread, pasta and rice. If you are following Low Carb of course you can have these, and if you are new to the process, you can even measure them out before bringing the food to the table so no one is the wiser.
The first few months keep things simple – roasted chicken, one-pan dinners like fajitas or sausage with onions and peppers, and other easy foods like grilled hamburgers.
Take the wraps, rolls and sides as your eating plan allows. Honestly, friends, no one is looking at your plate unless YOU make the fuss.
Myth #11. I will have to get all the Keto cookbooks and print all the recipes to learn a new way to cook.
Myth #12. I will have to cook two separate meals to keep my family happy.
Myth #13. Even if I do that it will still be hard to keep my family happy if I am the only one doing Keto or Low Carb.
Myth #14. I will never figure out how to pack lunches for work or eat on the go.
Myth #15. I enjoy a drink once in a while or wine with dinner. I will have to give that up.
Myth #16. I travel a lot. Eating like this will never work.
Myth #11
I will have to get all the Keto cookbooks and print all the recipes to learn a new way to cook.
Not unless you are me. Seriously though, part of KISS – Keep It Simple Sweetheart - is to do, or learn to do, Keto and Low Carb with very simple ways of eating.
Have some salami and cheese and olives at breakfast (or bacon and eggs if that’s your jam).
Have a salad with some protein, nuts and seeds, and a nice dressing at lunch.
Have a steak or roasted chicken with a cooked green vegetable on the side for dinner.
Are you hungry during the day? Have some buttered bouillon or bone broth.
Are you sorry you didn’t have something for your commute home? Keep some cheese wisps or string cheese and olives or celery sticks to eat in the car (and if you have a strict rule about not eating in the car, have something to eat before leaving work if you are really hungry and have a long commute home).
Truth be told, you can do successful Keto and Low Carb on fast food if you had to.
I wouldn’t vouch for the quality of food, but in a pinch, I have had a McDonald’s double cheeseburger, hold the bun and ketchup, add some mayo and extra pickle.
No need to ever cook a thing if you don’t want to.
Once you have the bones of the program, then start branching out to new recipes. These "bones" are in other blogs but you can also listen to my podcast, Nourish and Nurture Podcast, Episode 35 – What is Keto? And Episode 36 – What is Low Carb?
There are two caveats though: (1) Don’t feel you ever have to have more complicated eating and (2) Feel free to start tackling those interesting and complicated recipes from the start.
You know what kind of personality you have and also your time and money constraints.
You do not have to do anything one way or the other.
Do what works for you, not anyone else on all the social media sites you visit.
Myth #12
I will have to cook two separate meals to keep my family happy.
No, you do not.
Yes, you have to make recipes that are Keto and Low Carb friendly, but you can take almost any recipe you have and convert it to a Keto or Low Carb recipe.
We make stuffed cabbage without rice in the stuffing (adding well rung-out riced cauliflower or some chopped walnuts add a nice texture for a recipe like this).
We make loaded hamburgers, but don’t use breadcrumbs and of course serve them without the bun (you can make Keto or Low Carb buns though!).
We make a fantastic oven-baked fried chicken using, of all things, crushed BBQ pork rinds as the coating.
We make mac ‘n cheese but use tiny cauliflower florets instead of the pasta. Take whatever your favorite recipe is and be creative!
Your recipes do not have to come out of a Keto cookbook.
If you want to make those purchases or do recipe downloads, that is up to you, but I am saying you can approach this in a very simple manner just by getting creative with your own favorites.
Myth #13
Even if I do that it will still be hard to keep my family happy if I am the only one doing Keto or Low Carb.
This is a big concern.
When you first start, keep your meals simple, such as roast chicken, broiled fish, grilled burgers and steaks.
Add for yourself and everyone else, a cooked green vegetable and a salad.
The rest of the family can add potatoes, rice, pasta, bread, or whatever they want.
Or, you can get very creative with family-friendly favorites and no one is the wiser.
And don’t forget, with Low Carb this is even easier.
Take small portions of whatever carbohydrate is being served.
Serving baked potatoes? Take a small one or half of a large one.
Serving pasta? Take about ½ cup and mix it with cut up veggies that you can easily make with a steamer bag.
Serving tacos and fahitas? Maybe take one but put some filling on the side without the wraps.
Serving rice? Just measure it out and take only ½ cup. You can also bulk up the rice with a fine dice of sauteed vegetables, but make a double portion – I bet your family will love it too.
The list is endless. Just watch your portion sizes and if you are having this at dinner, consider skipping the carbohydrates at lunch and maybe also at breakfast.
Myth #14
I will never figure out how to pack lunches for work or eat on the go.
Okay, folks, there is more than one way to pack a lunch.
Not everything revolves around sandwiches with bread.
This is among the one thing that most stumps people who are going Keto or Low Carb.
Take a filling with you (deli meat, tuna salad, etc.) and bring lettuce (not iceberg: it is too stiff) and make yourself rollups. (Side note: I have found from experience that any lettuce rollup made with a mayo filling gets soggy in transit; bring the lettuce and filling separately and make your rollups when you are going to eat them.)
“Can I have low-carb wraps?” NO, you cannot, if you are doing Keto, but you can with Low Carb – just read the ingredient list to make sure it isn’t as long as your arm.
Be creative – use lettuce rollups or a cheese wrap or be even more creative and get out of the sandwich habit.
“HUH? No sandwich for lunch?” Well, first of all, anything travels without bread – use baggies and small containers and bring a fork!
There are tons of grab-and-go foods too: Beef jerky, hard boiled eggs, salami and cheese (slices or rollups), cut veggies and ranch dip.
Come on – you didn’t get overweight by not understanding the concept of how to get food into your stomach.
YOU DO NOT NEED SANDWICHES.
Myth #15
I enjoy a drink once in a while or wine with dinner. I will have to give that up.
To a point.
Mixed cocktail drinks are off the list for the pure sugar content in mixers (and don’t get involved with “Skinny-type” mixers – there may be too many chemicals and magic needed to make them taste like regular mixers).
You can have one or two glasses of white wine or dry red wine (the sweeter the wine, the higher the carbohydrate content).
Straight spirits have no carbohydrates so yes, you can enjoy a whisky or tequila or scotch or whatever.
Just realize that your liver’s primary job is to rid the body of toxins.
While it is processing getting the alcohol out of your system you will not be burning fat.
You may still be in ketosis because you are not consuming carbohydrates with the dry wine or spirits, but neither will you be burning fat at an optimal level.
Some people have reported that they are much more sensitive to alcohol once they are on Keto, so if you normally have a drink or two, stop at one and evaluate how you are feeling.
Myth #16
I travel a lot. Eating like this will never work.
If you are traveling in a car this is very easy.
It’s your car (or a friend’s car).
Bring a cooler. All the grab-and-go foods I listed above travel well. Some don’t even need the cooler! These foods are also very easy to restock from any store (even most liquor stores now carry small vacuum packs of cheese and salami, sometimes even with olives!).
If you are traveling by plane, you can take food on the plane. Any bottled water or hot beverages like tea and coffee you can get once you are through the security gate. As a matter of fact, once you are through the security gate you can take any purchased beverages right on the plane with you.
When I started Keto, I would always ask for a fridge in my hotel room and then I would stock it (either with what I had brought with me or find a little store near the hotel) with Keto-friendly foods.
However, the longer I was Keto, the more I realized I no longer needed to do this. I would have my coffee in the morning, and even a hotel breakfast of bacon and eggs and cheese, and then if I was hungry at lunch I had no trouble finding Keto-friendly and Low Carb-friendly foods and ditto at dinner, which is when I usually enjoyed a meat-centric dinner like a nice ribeye and maybe some salad on the side.
You will find that traveling on Keto and Low Carb can actually be easy because you just aren’t hungry all the time and needing snacks when you get back to the hotel room.
I have even thrown out doggie bags that I thought I would enjoy as an evening snack, but no longer wanted by the time I was ready to move on to the next adventure.
If you would like to listen to more about this topic, please listen to my podcast, Nourish and Nurture, Episode 9 – On the Road and Episode 52 - Parties, Vacations and Travel.
Thank you for taking the time to read this blog, Busting Myths - Part 3, and I hope will help you navigate your journey. Don't forget to subscribe to the mailing list (below) so that you don't miss the next one! If you are interested in my course, Keto Fundamentals, please take a look at it here.