Trying a Keto-Adapted Diet

 ....basically this means cut out all processed foods and sugars, eat a medium amount of protein and a high amount of fat. You train your body to burn fat to convert into ketones for energy rather than purely relying on sugar as the "developed" nations often do.


Now why would I want to do that? Because it appears to have a bunch of health benefits including reducing the symptoms of eczema. Additionally those looking to lose weight will enjoy this diet. I'm not but am interested at cutting out stuff to see the effects.

SUGAR
Interestingly a lot of medical sites warn about the developed nations consuming a high amount of sugar that leads to obesity, diabetes and a whole lot of other health issues. Sugars can be in different forms:
- Sugar as we know it
- Fructose from fruit
- Glucose
- Lactose
 ....and more

Reading about it from various sites, you get the feeling that it may also feed cancer cells. It appears that glucose is used as a trace to determine the location of cancer cells in your body, 'cos cancer cells will snap up the glucose before any other cells!

Our insulin levels have to rise in order to deal with our sugar hits and convert it into energy. Unfortunately our body can only store small amounts of sugar (compared to fat) and continued high doses can cause all types of complications as we cannot produce enough insulin to deal with the sugar spikes.

So on this diet no sugar also means no fruit!

CARBOHYDRATES (carbs)
We eat a lot of carbs in our diet. Carbs are converted to glucose so again an insulin spike is required to deal with that high carb meal that you've just eaten at breakfast, lunch or dinner. Hence after a meal filled with carbs we might experience a short energy high and then tiredness often follows after.

In this diet you get your carbohydrates from vegetables. Here is a list of high carb and low carb vegetables: http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/whattoeat/a/whatveg.htm

Now I love my rice and noodles and it is pretty hard watching someone else enjoy a bowl of rice and you've just got meat and veg!

It should be noted where there is too much glycogen in our bodies, the body will convert it to fat.

PROTEIN
I am mostly a vegetarian at heart. I get my protein from eating tofu, quorn and textured vegetarian protein (this is quite high in carbs) and the occasional fish...although I seem to have gone off fish. However I eat pretty much what ever I am served.

FAT
So I have learned that not all saturated fats are the same nor are vegetable oils. Medium chained triglycerides (in meat and coconut oil) are apparently good for you and do not stay in the body like long chained triglycerides that is in vegetable oils. It appears that Coconut Oil has lots of medicinal benefits. My holistic masseur friend raves on about how fantastic coconut oil is for the body.

I am thus eating lots of coconut oil.

So far what have I found...

I am pretty useless at staying on a "strict diet" especially as winter heads in. I love my rice and noodles and watching my partner eat it everyday makes me want it more. I think I should just kick him out of the house!!!  However I have managed to stay on this diet for about 6 consecutive days at a time and the patches of eczema have been less itchy. Also as winter comes in I have increased my vit D, omega 3, vit C, calcium and magnesium supplements.

I have found I eat less due to the higher fat content in my diet. I have not gained or lost weight.

Although I have flirted with eating slightly more carbs than usual, I have lost the appetite for sweet things. After about a month of eating no sugary substances, I gave into a friend who kept on about sharing her dark chocolate truffles. I caved in to her "come on you need to live a little" etc. I was surprised about how soon after my neck became itchy. I will be avoiding chocolate from now on.

My partner brought in a whole bag of biscuits because he is addicted to sugar. However with the increased stress of a greater workload, I did a dive in for some.....during a day....okay 1/2 a pack. Again the eczema patches reacted.

I guess might have to give up biscuits for good as well.

Interestingly I have found eating sausages before a marathon far more "energising" than carbo loading. With carbo loading I have found I am hungrier sooner and I eat more.

Anyway as long as you do not have medical problems, perhaps you might like to try a high fat diet with medium protein and low carbs. and see how your eczema responds.