The Lowcarb/Keto Learning Curve

Starting the lowcarb/keto eating plan without enough information can lead to bad results. Someone learns that eating lowcarb will lead to ‘quick weight loss,’ lower blood pressure and lower blood sugar, and so they get started. They’ve heard you can’t eat bread on lowcarb. So they eat pasta, or English muffins, or Froot Loops— all also high-carb foods. 

Some people are so afraid of dietary fat they are afraid to eat any meat except an ounce or two of dry, lowfat turkey. They eat egg white omelets— and wonder why they get so hungry. Other folks pig out on bacon and won’t eat any salads because they think veggies are not allowed.

Don’t be like that. The best way to NOT fail at lowcarb/keto is to learn what lowcarb/keto really is. Don’t rely on short magazine articles on ‘keto,’ or a random web site. You need to begin a reading plan to get up to speed on what foods are really allowed and not allowed, and you need a little of the science behind it— especially if you can’t get a doctor who knows about lowcarb.

I suggest a plan of reading, for a short time each day, some material that will help you get started. Recovering alcoholics often make a practice of reading AA’s Blue Book every day; we may need to do the same thing, both to learn and to keep inspired. I have done this for some years, reading my most recent lowcarb book for inspiration daily. (Do each Stage for about a month.)

• Stage One. To get started, you need to learn the basics. I recommend getting ‘Dr. Atkins’ New Diet Cookbook’ and read chapter two, which tells how the Atkins diet, a lowcarb/keto way-of-eating, works and what foods are allowed. Read this every single day. Yes, it’s boring and repetitive, but after about a month you will know very well what you can eat and not eat. Another good book to have is the original Atkins diet book, ‘Dr. Atkins’ Diet Revolution.’ The chapter on how to do the diet is the twelfth chapter— not numbered in my copy of the book— titled: ‘The Revolutionary Never-Hungry, No-Limit, Steak-and-Salad Plus Diet.’ Read that chapter also for a few days.
• Stage Two. You now know what foods are allowed better than most, so it’s time to expand your reading. Get out your ‘Dr Atkins Diet Revolution’ and read a chapter a day during your reading time. When you are finished, try Jimmy Moore’s ‘Keto Clarity’ and Gary Taubes’ ‘Good Calories, Bad Calories.’  Be willing to re-read these books once in a while. And read your Stage One chapters once a week or at least once a month to refresh your memory.
• Stage Three. Podcasts are a good way to learn without having to read books. Jimmy Moore has had a number of good lowcarb podcasts which often have featured well-known doctors and researchers and other well-known people in the lowcarb community. Moore’s old podcasts were still available online some time ago, so you can find interviews with a lot of folks you may have heard of by now, like Gary Taubes.
• Stage Four. By now you will have a lot of knowledge. You will have heard of other books to add to your reading list, and you will be able to tell when you are reading a book that is less science based than the others you have read. 

Can you ever stop learning? I have let my daily lowcarb/keto reading sessions lapse— but when I do that I am more prone to be tempted into renewing my carb addiction. I would suggest that after you have gone through the stages for some time, you might cut back to reading or podcast listening only 3 days a week and see if that keeps you inspired enough to keep on lowcarbing.

Wishing you happy lowcarb learning,

Nissa Annakindt