Keto vs Jeff

Over the years I have tried almost all of the fad diets. I would say most probably work as advertised. I just have never found one that is sustainable long term. Eventually I break, cant take eating the same thing over and over, or worse avoiding certain food groups for long periods of time. I have lived in the gym since I was 17, ya I know 30 years in the gym is a long time! When I was in my early 20's I was a fast food junkie, burgers and sodas, dont forget the fries. I could eat whatever I wanted whenever I wanted, it was difficult for me to put on weight. graduated high school weighing barely 135lbs.

I put on muscle pretty quickly, added 40lbs over the next few years. Had that puffy look, through my twenties and early thirties. Somewhere in my late 20's I noticed the tire starting to form, damn fries and shakes were working their magic. My solution was push harder in the gym, more weight, more cardio , more time. It totally worked, amino acids the size of horse pills were part of the regular diet, throw in some hydroxy cut for the summer and I was ready to rock!

My thirties came and the metabolism changed again! I had developed high blood pressure and high cholesterol. High enough that a stroke was a legitimate fear. Lipitor and lisinopril became my new friends. I still ate whatever I wanted, I mean those meds were taking care of everything! Just keep pushing at the gym and maintain bodyweight. I didnt realize until very recently the importance of nutrition vs exercise. The gym cant fix the diet, it just cant.

As I reached my mid 40's my wife was on me to get off the meds. She had done so much reading and the side effects of long term meds is unknown. So figured why not try, nothing to lose. We went to a naturopath and was that an eye opening experience. At the time we were juicing and eating fairly healthy, so we thought. My morning would start off with a nice tall glass of orange juice, maybe a 1/2 bagel and then off to the gym. After we broke down what my daily sugar intake was we saw some serious problems. My sugar intake was, shall we say on the high side. My BP on meds would hover around 145/80. Over the next few days I cleared out as much sugar as possible. My BP was and still sits close to 125/75 off of meds. Its clear what sugar does to you, stop ingesting so much of it. It will literally kill you!

I know bla bla bla, what about Keto! Well when the keto craze came we jumped on board. It was a little weird to adjust too, so little carbs and so high in fat. I would attempt to do a 70/20/10 on calories. 70 percent fat, 20 percent protein and only 10 percent carbs. The base idea behind keto is your body will use fat as energy rather then the carbs we currently overfeed ourselves. Once your body switches its energy source, your in ketosis. We had the pee strips and all, we were fully committed. I saw my abs pop for the first time ever! I was stoked! I leaned out like ive never been. Didnt change my gym routine, just the food intake. I stayed in keto for about three months and then went and got my blood work done. Eating all that fat I got a little nervous, good call, my cholesterol shot up to 365! Blood pressure was great, but damn 365, thats like a walking stroke. I've read on the ratios, the particles and all the risks/non risks associated with high cholesterol. Had to do better. My approach to keto was as many fats as possible, animal fats, bacon was my go to. I ate nuts, avacados, heavy whipping cream, olives, butter, bacon, bacon and more bacon. lean proteins and small amounts of veggies for my carbs. Did it work? absolutely! Is it long term sustainable? I dont think so, its difficult to get 70 percent of your calories from fat and still eat healthy.

So over the years ive learned a lot. I'm not Keto, Paleo, Whole 30, Beach body, or any other fad diet. I have learned to eat very low carb, most coming from veggies. No breads, no pastas, no rice. Lean meats, greens and some fats. The Only fruit I eat are berries. Do I "cheat" absolutely, but all in moderation. My go to drink has become gin and club soda with a shot of lime. If you would have asked me that a few years back? crown/7! Life changes, our bodies do their best to battle it out on our behalf, figured I might as well help it out.

Shoot me any questions you may have, its hard to cover 30 years in a few short paragraphs.