This was one of the first things a co-worker said to me when I came to work with my lunch container filled with pulled pork, smoked turkey, an avocado, and a tomato and cucumber salad smothered in oil and vinegar. I laughed a bit and explained all that I can eat versus all that I would no longer eat, and the reaction was that of dismissal and worry for me. The person responded jokingly by explaining how they would never be able to not eat bread or rice and refused to see their way of life continue without enjoying fruits and potatoes. I get it, because that's exactly how I felt as well.
January 2018 approximately 325 pounds.
How did I eat?
Every single diet that I have ever tried has failed. This wasn't because my will power was weak or because I was lazy or because I ate fast food every day and sat around all day and watched television. It was because life comes at us and most times the progress stalls and there are many factors that keep us in the dark about how to be more effective when doing a diet.
When you look at our society and how it centers itself around nutrition based on big companies and it's advertising, do you see us being provided with the proper and truthful information about food and health, or are we being bombarded by brands who want us to buy their products regardless of the side effects that they produce? You answer that.
July of 2017
For as long as I can remember, eating healthy whole foods was always a part of my upbringing. As a Jamaican born, my family rarely if ever, used processed foods. Almost everything was homegrown, straight from the farm and right out and off the livestock. Now that I think about it, brown sugar, white flour, and oats were probably as far as we went in terms of processed. We ate meat that was directly from the butcher and I know this because I would see the slaughter and watch my family pick out the parts of the animal they wanted. Milk was raw and we had a truck that came by every morning with fresh milk and cream. Fruits and vegetables were plenty right there on our property. Fish was purchased right off the boats from fishermen who had just come back from the sea. This was my blueprint for eating.
In Jamaica about 9 years old.
Being a adolescent in a different country changed that a lot more. Even though my mother did not use a lot of processed foods, our diet had changed and was not as clean. We had more sugar even though at the time, no one thought about sugar being really bad for us as we weren't as aware even now unfortunately. Almost everything we buy is loaded with sugar. I give you something as simple as fruit juices, it's natural with no added sugar right? Guess again. I loved apple juice and boy could I down a gallon in a day. What kid doesn't want cereal? I enjoyed my fill of Frosted Flakes, Honey Nut Cheerios, Froot Loops, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Raisin Bran, Smacks and I could go on and on. This is what I started eating. So now I'm gaining weight. This is a huge difference from how I was eating when I was younger. I could drag this out with every tiny detail, but the point here is our diet sucks! It's alright to be offended here as this is my opinion as well as my experience with affects of how I've eaten for the past adolescent to today's years. 15 years old.
"Why Keto though....?"
"You should try Weight Watchers and eat whatever you want and just count points."
Like I have said before, I have tried many different ways of dieting. My best results were from eating whatever I wanted and biking almost everywhere because at the time I did not have a car and I lived in Florida which made that easy. When that changed, the weight came back on and my body was a mess. I had developed some knee and back issues from biking and even my wrists would hurt from time to time. Sadly, it seemed that every time I tried something new, it worked for a while, then nothing; and then my body would present itself with some other issue as an after effect. One meal a day worked, fasting worked but long term, none of these were realistic for me.
My health began to become more of an issue and my reproductive system decided it wanted to kill me because I wouldn't give it a chance to produce babies? Or maybe it just didn't want to do that so it decided to just murder me? I don't know, but it was not in the mood to be nice to me. It took many years for me to finally find out what was happening inside my body, and boy did it explain everything.
Uterine Fibroids?
What is that?
Uterine fibroids are noncancerous growths of the uterus that often appear during childbearing years. Also called leiomyomas (lie-o-my-O-muhs) or myomas, uterine fibroids aren't associated with an increased risk of uterine cancer and almost never develop into cancer. The cause of fibroids isn't well understood. Risk factors include a family history of fibroids, obesity, or early onset of puberty. Symptoms include heavy menstrual bleeding, prolonged periods, and pelvic pain. In some cases, there are no symptoms. Treatments include medications and removal of the fibroid.
In my case, my entire uterus had to go bye-bye.
With many doctor visits and tests, my issues showed that I had more than thirteen fibroids. Based on their sizes, which ranged from tangerines, grapes, peanuts and sunflower seeds; it was more than likely that I had them since I had began puberty. This would explain why my periods were always cases of death and destruction. My only odd symptom was that I did not bleed a lot. I could go an entire day with one pad and all that would be on it would be a thin line of blood. That continued all the way into adulthood. Once in a while the flood gates would open, but it was far and few.
Sadness and Fear
Information overload was not a great reliever of stress and anxiety. Pain and feeling uncomfortable almost every single moment was not a helper in any way. Every day there was a new symptom with a new panic. It was not easy by any means having to explain the whats and whys to everyone every time another issue arose. I was angry, ashamed and afraid. I had so many doctors who supported me and helped me to understand what was going on, but it did not help the situation that my body was stressed out and doing its own thing.
Everything hurt. Walking hurt, sitting a certain way hurt, standing hurt, sleeping in certain positions hurt. My emotions were everywhere, I had headaches almost everyday. My legs would cramp and swell, I urinated almost every hour on the hour as my bladder shrunk and for some reason, according to my doctor, my pelvic area had began to arch like that of a pregnant woman. With that being said, my body actually thought that I was 6 months pregnant. I even began to lactate when one of the doctors had prescribed me a hormone pill to "help" me with the pains.
This continued and progressed to where I had DVT/PE blood clots in my leg, groin area and lungs. Well that escalated. This turned everything even more upside down and made me feel beyond hopeless. I thought my support would have been stronger but I began to isolate myself even more from my friends and I could feel their annoyance with me and my constant issues. I kept away and did everything in my power to try to feel better, but the pain, the medications and work made me feel weak and exhausted always. I was terrified.
Maybe There Is A Different Way Out of This?
Sadness, fear, depression, loneliness and silence was all that seemed to surround me. I remember it was a Sunday and I had made my favorite Rum Cake and I wanted something to watch. I flipped through and began watching a movie and for some reason nothing was grabbing and holding my attention. I decided I would just find a documentary to listen to and take a nap, and there it was, The Magic Pill. This is a documentary by the now hated Pete Evans. Even though the documentary is being accused of falsely claiming that "food can cure serious diseases" and was removed from Netflix, I know from my own experience that this can NOT be false. There is too much evidence that proves the healing powers of good wholesome foods.
After watching the documentary, something clicked and I was ready for this possible change. Everything began to make sense to me. Yep, even the thought of having to give up bread, my rum cake that I was still eating, pasta, cornflakes, rice, sugar, pineapple juice, apple juice, mangoes, oranges, peaches, most of my Jamaican food favorites, wait a dang minute here! Seriously!? I was going through the list, but for some shaggy reason I was ready. Yeah, it's probably the medications right? Nope, not at all! I was in research mode and I was ready to begin the following week but first, finish the rum cake sweetie.
Having to take these everyday was all the motivation I needed to try something new.
Sadly, I was prescribed more after this picture was taken.
What Exactly Is The Ketogenic Diet?
Research suggests the keto diet can bring improvements for those with Alzheimer's disease; autism; or brain cancers such as glioblastoma. So the keto diet can be a powerful intervention. People with type 2 diabetes and or/morbid obesity can do phenomenally well on it. (Oct 29, 2018, health.clevelandclinic.org)
It is a pretty restrictive diet and yes there are a lot of foods that I can't eat anymore. To me, it is not forever and ever. I have found a way to try to replicate some of my favorites and it has been 1 year and 8 months since I've been eating this way. So far, I have lost a total of 72 pounds. This is perfect for me. I enjoy the benefits of this lifestyle every day. I see the progress and feel them. I rarely have pain and when I do it's usually when I treat myself to eating CRAP (Carbonated Drinks, Refined Sugars, Artificial Foods and Processed Foods). Considering the length of this "diet," I've taken 5 breaks or 5 cheats. This is awesome, and to me this is success.
This is progress!
This is all I take now, with one to be eliminated soon. The other I might have to take always, but that is still a huge win in my book.
This is why I use the ketogenic diet. This is why I felt the need to begin a blog. This is why I want to take this small step to help someone or anyone who wants to change the way their body feels. I am not much into looking like a stick figure, I want to feel and look healthy. I want people to understand and be empathetic to people who struggle with weight, body image and medical issues that contribute to these issues. We need kindness and understanding. We need hope and helping hands. We need kind words, but most of all, We Need To Be Gentle To Others and Ourselves.
I am here trying to build a platform for people like me or people who just want to see that there are different ways to change their lifestyle and diets. I am here to crawl, stand, take those tiny steps, stumble, fall, practice getting back up, walk and run with you into a brighter future that gives us strength and the understanding of loving who we are and loving the bodies that we are in. Remember, slow and steady! This is not a race, no marathons just a journey. Run if you want, jog, swim, walk, do this at whatever pace works for you. Most importantly remember that while going on any journey, there needs to be rest. Relax and quiet your body, mind and soul. Allow the journey to be that of comfort and peace. Eliminate anything that prevents your wholeness. This is not about how to lose 90 pounds in 14 days. This is how we learn and practice to be consistent. This is where we change our thoughts and not believe everything we think about who we are, what we should be or look like, and hold fast to the possibility that we can be successful. This is not easy and this is why we need to surround ourselves with like-minded people who can help and support us on this journey.
Slow progress is still progress!
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