Answering some questions & queries

Episode 28: Answering some questions and queries

This week I am going to go over the questions I get about all eating plans. I also address myths about Keto. The answers to these questions are valuable pieces to the Roadmap puzzle, and will help you make informed decisions.
 
1:13.         Personal Story
3:05.         Do I have to fast?
4:34.         Do I have to eat organic?
7:12.         Will eating natural whole foods be expensive?
9:12.         What will happen if I am not hungry for three meals?
10:27.       What if I don't even know that I'm hungry?
12:01.       Do I have to count calories?
13:50.       Do I have to weigh and measure?

These next four questions you can interchangeably use the words Keto-Paleo-Mediterranean-Whole 30-Primal-and even plant-based. I use the word Keto becauise it is short and sweet:
15:13.       Do I have to get all the cookbooks and print all the recipes?
17:32.       Do I have to make only Keto recipes?
18:50.       What do I serve for dinner?
19:32.       What if I'm traveling?

Specifically Keto Q&A: (But listen even if you are not doing Keto - a lot of the information can apply to other eating plans.)
22:07.       Do I have to count macros and how do I count them?
25:59.       Do I have to eat....?
26:43.       What about "fat bombs?"
27:57.       Do I have to eat all the fat on my meat?
28:51.       Do I have to add butter and oil?
29:31.       How can I pack a lunch?
30:52.       Can I drink alcohol?
32:34.       Will I become constipated?
33:02.       Do I risk kidney damage?
34:28.       Am I getting enough vitamins? Do I need supplements?

35:54.       This week's ACTIONABLE COACHING ADVICE
37:46.        This week's VFO (Valuable Free Offer)
39:12.        Episode 29, coming up


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This week's VFO:  End Keto Confusion
Access Transcript Here

BLOGS:
What is Keto?
Is Keto Hard?
Three Ways to Count Carbohydrates
Keto FAQs

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Transcript

Episode #: 28.    Answering Some Questions and Queries 

 You’re Listening to the Roadmap to Diet Success, Episode #28, Answering Some Questions and Queries.

 Introduction

Did you know that you don't have to spend money on a diet program or weigh, measure and track your food? What if you could learn to have success by following an easy roadmap that takes you on adventures from learning how to change your mindset so that you can believe in yourself, to learning about what foods work best in your body and why? Join me, Miriam Hatoum, health coach, course creator and author of Breaking Free From Diet Prison, as I give you actionable coaching advice that is sure to empower you so that you will finally find peace with food and learn to trust your body’s signals. You’ve got this, girl! 

 Oh, and before we start, I want to let you know that the primary purpose of this podcast is to educate and does not constitute medical advice or services, and I’m keeping up with the science as fast as I can so I can share with you the latest breaking research in this area to help you achieve your dreams!

1:13      Personal Story

There are so many unknowns with any new diet or eating style. Must you eat organic food? What if I can’t tell if I’m hungry? What if I don’t want to eat three meals a day? What about counting, weighing and measuring my food?

This episode will clear some of the confusion you may have about following any diet. I cover those, and many more questions in this episode, and hopefully also dispel myths and fears about Keto, in particular. Listen all the way through even with the few Q&As that are specific to Keto, such as “Do I have to Eat Fat Bombs?” 

When I started Keto I was so lost, even with all the information available and social media groups that were very active. Questions I had, did not necessarily have to do with what foods were allowed – that was pretty simple. The questions were about the other things such as did I have to eat this or that. And also, with other eating styles such as Paleo and Mediterranean, I wanted to know so much more than what might have been on a social media site or in a cookbook. 

I hope this episode is eye opening and helpful in sweeping away some of the confusion as you start with the first few miles on your roadmap to diet success.

The entire easy-to-read transcript is available so you can refer back to any information you might want to review. The link to the transcript is in the show notes. 

Let’s start with a popular question because it’s talked about in books, magazines, and on TV and social media.

3:05    Do I have to fast?     

Absolutely not. Because of some of the health benefits that have been found with fasting (a correction in blood glucose, improving fasting insulin, autophagy, to name a few) and because of the in-depth work done by Jason Fung, who has made access to all this information available at the layperson’s fingertips, the information on fasting has become mainstream information. That is why there is so much talk about it, but you do not have to fast to be on a ketogenic or any diet. 

Furthermore, once you have successfully lost some weight, your hunger and fullness hormones (ghrelin and leptin, respectively) begin to be corrected and brought into normal range because of the decrease of insulin which had been kept elevated because of poor eating habits, and most likely, because of high carbohydrate intake. With these hormones no longer wreaking havoc in your body, you are satisfied with less food and with eating less often. It is not unusual to want to eat only one or two meals a day instead of three meals and two snacks (or 6 small meals a day), and you might automatically fall into an intermittent fasting pattern. But no, you do not have to force this on yourself.

4:34    Do I have to eat organic? 

Do I have to eat grass-fed and pasture-raised meats?     No, you do not. Although eating styles such as Keto and Paleo are based on whole healthy foods, you do not have to eat organic and grass-fed, pasture-raised foods. There is no controversy over some of the benefits of these foods, with pesticide use being one of them. Many organic fruits and vegetables are considered more nutrient dense than conventionally grown produce. This is because organic crops are rotated, and soils naturally amended to grow strong and healthy plants, so they are strong against pests. With regard to produce, nutrient density refers to amounts of vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients. Phytonutrients are the thousands of chemicals – some of which are not even known yet – that are produced by strong healthy plants, and which are valuable to one’s health. 

Totally steering clear of political and ethical arguments with regard to grass-fed and pasture-raised meats (as opposed to feedlot-sourced meats), it has been shown that animals from these sources help support healthy blood sugar levels, contain electrolytes, help fight cancer because it contains roughly twice the amount of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) compared to grain-fed beef. CLA is considered to be one of the strongest nutrients that can defend against cancer. High CLA animal products contain more healthy fats. This can be up to six times more omega-3 fatty acids than grain-fed beef, while grain-fed beef contains higher levels of omega-6 fatty acids. These products contain less bacteria, and can decrease your risk of heart disease because of high antioxidants such as vitamin E, high amounts of omega-3 fatty acids, and its high CLA profile. There is a link to more information about this in the show notes and transcript if you are interested.

However, although you do not have to eat organic and grass-fed foods, if your budget permits, you may want to include more of these foods in your diet.  

7:12     An ancillary question: Won’t eating natural whole foods be expensive, even if I don’t eat organic and grass-fed? What do you mean, money left over in my budget?  

When you start any new way of eating, your grocery bills go up because you are probably not eating foods that you, as a rule, keep in your house. That could be anything from packaged foods and shakes for something like Slimfast, to what seems like tons of fresh produce for something like Paleo. My personal experience with Keto when I first started was that I had a few weeks of high grocery bills, but that was only temporary. I found that with Keto my appetite naturally decreased, and I was buying less food. I found this to be the case with any food plan I followed, when it relied on whole, unprocessed foods and did not limit protein. Even with Whole 30, which is considered very restricted, I rarely wanted three meals a day, and was satisfied with smaller portions.

I always like to give this example with my Keto experience: Before Keto, my husband would buy two 1-pound ribeye steaks to go on the grill for our dinner just for the two of us. After a few months on Keto he would buy one 1-pound steak for the two of us. Now he buys the one steak, he eats half, and I eat about 2/3rds of my half and use the rest on top of some salad for lunch the next day. Now we find that we have that “left-over” money in our budget and more and more often buy the organic, grass-fed, pasture-raised, and wild-caught versions of the food we eat.

 9:12     What will happen if I am not hungry for three meals?   

As odd as this question might seem, this is a source of anxiety and worry for a lot of people at the beginning, myself included. The natural progression of Keto, and usually any well balanced way of eating that relies on whole and natural foods, is that you are less hungry because your hunger hormone (ghrelin) and fullness hormone (leptin) begin to throw off their shackles of insulin resistance. I was absolutely a three-meal-a-day plus two-snack-a day eater with plenty of after-dinner eating as well.                  

A lot of times anxiety can build up just from breaking your habits around food. If this is the situation, stop and breathe, and then ask yourself, “Am I hungry? What do I really need here?” 
 
 Once you get used to not reacting to mealtimes, social situations, habits and anxiety, and the clock, it won’t even phase you that you are not eating the usual quantities and number of times. 

 10:27   What if I don’t even know that I’m hungry?   

You may have no clue what hunger is if you have been relying on a clock or social situation to tell you it is time to eat. I do a lot of hunger-scale training with my clients, but in a nutshell here, let me say that if you absolutely have no clue what feeling hungry is, I suggest a short intermittent fast. 

 What this could look like is, if you must, have your coffee in the morning but go until dinner with nothing but water. Still not sure you are hungry? Wait until the morning to eat. Short intermittent fasts clear up a lot of the “How do I know if I’m hungry?” questions. Another way to learn is to pay attention to how you feel after you eat. Please don’t eat until the “I can’t eat another bite” stage – take one serving of whatever you are eating and put the fork down. Sit quietly and really home in on how you are feeling. Do you feel sort of neutral (5) – that you could probably eat a bit more without being stuffed? Okay – hold on to the feeling. Next time you wonder if you are hungry, recall this feeling you have right now. If this is how you feel you are not hungry enough to take a meal. 

 12:01    Do I have to count calories?    

 On one level the answer is NO.

 In the short run, the type of calorie matters more than the number of calories. Many researchers dismiss the “CICO” theory of “Calories In – Calories Out” because we are not computers and calculators functioning only with energy in – energy out scenarios. Every food you eat conveys a signal to your cells as to whether it is nourishing and to be used for energy or whether it is a food that cannot be used for nourishment. By this I mean that 100 calories of broccoli or butter do not deliver the same nutrition to your body as 100 calories of potato chips or chocolate cake. With the broccoli and butter, you will have little to no insulin response. With the potato chips and chocolate cake, you will have a rise in insulin, your fat storage hormone. 

 In the long run, however, yes calories ultimately matter. When you eat 1,000 calories more than your body needs or can burn, you will not burn your body fat and you will gain weight. Chances are, however, if you are eating that many extra calories (even the “good” ones), you are not listening to your hunger and satiety cues. Get good at that, and you will never have to be concerned. 

 As long as you decrease your intake of processed foods, and eat only when hungry and stop when satisfied, you will most likely have successful weight loss and maintenance. 

 13:50   Do I have to weigh and measure? 

At the start of any new food program, you may want to weigh and measure your food to make sure that you are not taking too large of a portion of the food. However, if you take the time to learn your hunger and satiety cues, this will naturally take care of measurements. 

 You can follow any prescribed food plan that will give you the food choices with measurements. Ultimately, if you are eating from a yes/no food list, and honor your hunger and satiety cues, you should be okay without weighing, measuring or tracking your food. 

 With regard to tracking, it has been shown that people who journal their food, without regard to measurements of that food, will be more successful with weight loss. It brings a heightened awareness to what you are eating so that you don’t fall into a mindless eating trap. 

 Now the next FOUR questions you can interchangeably use the words Keto – Paleo – Mediterranean – Whole 30 – Primal – and even Plant-based. I use the word Keto because it’s short and sweet.

 15:13    Do I have to get all the cookbooks and print all the recipes?   

Not unless you are me. Seriously though, part of KISS – covered in Episode 16, is to do, or learn to do, your chosen eating style with very simple ways of eating. For instance, with Keto, 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. Once you understand the bones of any program you are following, then start branching out to new recipes.

 You don’t want to cook at all? Truth be told, you can do almost any eating plan successfully with 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 extra pickle. No need to ever cook a thing if you don’t want to. Check out salad bars at the grocery store, rotisserie chicken, and other pre-prepared – but not prepacked – foods your store offers.

 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 string cheese and olives or celery sticks to eat in the car. 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. 

 Don’t feel you ever have to complicate eating but also, 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.   

17:32   Do I have to make only Keto recipes?   

Not really. Yes, you would want to make recipes that are compliant to whatever food plan you are following, but you can take almost any recipe you have and convert it to a recipe you need. For instance, when I did Keto, we made 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 made loaded hamburgers but didn’t (and still don’t) use breadcrumbs. We made a fantastic oven-baked fried chicken using, of all things, crushed BBQ pork rinds as the coating. We made 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 a new eating style in a very simple manner just by getting creative with your own favorites.

 18:50   What do I serve for dinner if I am the only one in the family doing Keto – or any other style eating plan?   

This is a big question. When you first start any eating plan, 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. You can get very creative with family-friendly favorites and no one is the wiser. 

 19:32   What if I’m traveling?   

First of all, I want to direct you to Episode 9, On The Road.

 If you are traveling in a car this is very easy. It’s your car (or a friend’s car). Bring a cooler. A lot of grab-and-go foods travel well. These would be sliced veggies, hardboiled eggs, small fruits like grapes and cherries, and hard cheese, for instance. Some 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 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 is easier than non-Keto 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. I found this to be true as well when I transitioned to Paleo. It is because whole natural foods just hold you better. And an added bonus while you are traveling on these types of eating plan is that you do not have weigh or measure your food.

 Now on to things that are more specifically Keto.

 22:07  Do I have to count macros and how do I count them?  

The gold standard of Keto is counting macros. Macros stands for the macronutrients of carbohydrates, protein and fat. I think that you can’t move forward with Keto if you don’t know what macros you are eating. However, ultimately, the answer is NO. Many people have been wildly successful doing what is called “Lazy Keto” by just following a Yes/No list, while still being aware, especially, of carbohydrate counts. 

 You might think you know whether a food is predominantly fat, protein or carbohydrate, but that is not always so. People generally know that starchy vegetables like potatoes and peas are high in carbohydrates. But if you are piling your plate high with other vegetables other than leafy greens for two or three meals a day, chances are that you are consuming a lot of carbohydrates. Cream, which is mostly fat, contains carbohydrates, as do eggs, believe it or not. Not a lot, but it is important to be informed about what macros you are eating. 

 The other side of the coin is not having enough of a macro, like fat. If you are eating lean protein or using non-stick pans instead of using butter or oil, chances are you will be very hungry on Keto, and more likely to be reaching for extra carbohydrates. 

 Protein is usually not a problem, and chances are we are not getting enough rather than too much. But unless you know what macros are in food and what the counts are, you probably are not eating a balanced diet, Keto or otherwise. Once you educate yourself about macros and become aware of where carbohydrates are hidden, you might do okay with a Yes/No list. BUT – and this is the big caveat – only if you are aware, and honor, your hunger and satiety signals. 

 The ways to count macros are total and net. Total means just what it says, the total carbohydrate in the food. Net means that you subtract the fiber and sugar alcohols. For instance, Erythritol, a popular sweetener used in keto baking is quite high in carbohydrates, but because your body does not process sugar alcohol, you can subtract it from the total. The term “sugar alcohol” is misleading because it is neither sugar nor alcohol. They are a type of carbohydrate with a chemical structure similar to sugar. They are not absorbed or digested fully, which is why most people do not count them in their carbohydrate macro total. However, some people who are very sensitive to any carbohydrate might either count them or count half of them.

 I have a third way to count carbohydrates, and I call it the Granny Keto Hybrid Method. I count net carbohydrates for fresh vegetables, and total for anything else. 

 All three of these carbohydrate-counting methods is discussed in my blog, Counting Carbohydrates, including my YouTube video on my hybrid method. The link is in the show notes and transcripts.

25:59  Do I have to eat anything made with coconut, bacon, heavy cream, coffee, tea, or anything else that is popular in social media posts?    

There are no required foods on Keto. PERIOD. This includes coffee, tea, and all renditions of that coffee and tea. The reason that this question pops up so often is that there are certain foods that are popular on Keto, but they are not requirements.

26:43  Do I have to eat fat bombs?   

Fat bombs are another popular topic and recipe in the Keto community. When you first start Keto, especially if you are coming out of a fat-free culture, it may be hard for you to eat fat in any shape, way or form. Fat bombs are designed to give you little blasts of fat in easy – sometimes fun – ways. You can make savory fat bombs with meats or fish, or you can make them sweet like candy. When I started Keto I immediately bought two fat bomb cookbooks. I almost also immediately gave them away. I did this for two reasons: With the savory fat bombs, I found I would much rather just eat a plate of food for the same fat hit I was getting in something the size of a marble. With the sweet fat bombs, I quickly learned that I was no better off with Keto candy than conventional candy. So, for me, no, I do not eat or even recommend fat bombs – but have at ‘em if you like them (but be careful!).

 27:57  Do I have to eat all the fat on my meat?  

Well the easiest away around this if you can’t make yourself eat straight fat (not me, my friends: when people cut the fat off their steaks I ask for it on my plate!), you can eat fattier cuts of meat that are marbled, and if you are using ground beef, forget that love affair with “diet lean” which is usually 90% – 95% lean. Enjoy salami, pepperoni, corned beef, pastrami. Enjoy bacon, duck, chicken (thighs and legs with skin on, please), and sausage. Buy the cheap cuts (usually fattier) and learn to slowly braise or use a slow cooker. 

 28:51   Do I have to add butter to my vegetables and oils to my salads?   

Again, don’t fear the fat. The answer to both is no, but do you really not like butter and oils? A lot of this is coming from the fat-free mindset that is so hard to shake. When you need to add some fat but don’t want to go straight to butter or oil, try adding sour cream, make cream dressings with blue cheese, or add full fat cheese to your salads, such as feta and brie. 

 29:31   How can I pack a lunch?  

Okay, folks, there is more than one way to pack a lunch. Not everything revolves around sandwiches with bread. This is 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. “Can I have low-carb wraps?”  NO, you cannot, if you are doing Keto.  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 BREAD.

 30:52  Can I drink alcohol?    

Yes, 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. And know that 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. 

 Here are a few more questions that are more along the line of health concerns:

 32:34  Will I become constipated?  

One of the most common question is the worry about becoming constipated. You may find you will likely have regular, but less frequent and smaller bowel movements. This is because the meat is more easily broken down and absorbed in the intestines and so there is less output vs. a diet high in insoluble fiber. Your body just produces less waste because it is taking in less waste.

 33:02  Do I risk kidney damage?  

There is strong research that disproves that eating protein above the recommended daily allowance damages kidney function. It was thought that excess protein causes kidney disease, but about 20 years ago that was disproven. If you have healthy kidneys to begin with, they will be able to handle the nitrogenous waste of protein. It is at stages 3 – 5 of kidney disease that you have to be concerned about too much protein, but the protein itself will not cause kidney disease. Jason Fung uses a wonderful analogy using a sieve and blueberries, with the sieve being your kidneys and the blueberries being protein. If your sieve has no holes it will hold the blueberries, and the water will wash right through them and out of the sieve. If you have holes in the netting, then the blueberries will fall through. It is not the blueberries that damage the sieve. It is the already-damaged sieve that is the problem. I encourage you to listen to the short-lived “Obesity Podcast” with Jason Fung and Megan Ramos, hosted by Carl Franklin. In Episode 10 he specifically talks about the connection between protein and the kidneys.

 34:28  Am I getting enough vitamins? Do I need supplements? 

Some people may find a benefit from taking some electrolyte support like a magnesium or potassium supplement. A common worry is about getting enough vitamin C. This is not the case. The vitamin C present in meat, along with the vitamin C-sparing effect of low-carb diets is enough to prevent scurvy, even without going out of your way to eat liver or other organ meat. The bottom line is that even on a diet of just muscle meat, you should expect to get enough vitamin C, along with all your other nutrients. With regard specifically to vitamin C, as this seems to be of particular concern with the carnivore method of Keto, but there is no evidence to support that there is a Vitamin-C deficiency with this or any other method of Keto. You must remember that the government RDA (recommended daily allowance) of Vitamin C and every other vitamin and mineral, were arrived at in the context of the high-glucose Standard American Diet. Your needs for many of these vitamins and minerals are lower when you are on a well-formulated Keto diet.

 35:54  THIS WEEK’S ACTIONABLE COACHING ADVICE

 This was only a small window of questions that come up when following any eating plan. My advice for you this week is to get questions out of your head and onto paper. The more blanks you fill in, the more successful you will be at your eating plan. 

 These could be technical questions such as those about vitamins or any required foods that might be on the plan. You could have questions about what foods on the plan work best for travel or taking lunches to work. If you are following an eating plan that requires some sort of counting – like calories or macros – you might want to delve into how to make the best use of those foods so you will be satisfied and not running on hungry.

 You could have questions about how to make the plan work for the whole family, so you will want to see how to convert favorite recipes, or maybe find some that work well for your needs.

 It shouldn’t be a case where you find an eating plan that you like and say, “I’ll start tomorrow.” The longer your prep and investigation period, the more successful you will be. I’m not talking about it being December 8th and you saying, “I will start this on January 2nd,” and then doing nothing about it. 

 I am talking about reading up on the plan you are going to follow, looking at cookbooks, maybe visiting Facebook sites that are for beginners in that plan. Use the time to plan some meals, get groceries into your house that you will need, maybe get rid of some that you won’t be using, using the time for a good pantry purge. 

 The more questions you ask yourself, and the more answers you collect, the more successful you will be once you really get started.

 37:46  This week’s VFO

 This week’s VFO is “End Keto Confusion.” Some of you have expressed a further interest in Keto but are afraid it has rigid rules and restrictions. Yes, there are rules and restrictions, but I don’t know that I would use the word “rigid,” especially the way I coach it. This booklet shows you 12 ways that you can follow Keto, from counting macros, which is on the rigid end, to what people call “Lazy Keto,” which is at the other end. I’ve been talking about things being on a spectrum or continuum. Keto is one of those eating styles for which this can be true. 

 My course and book, Breaking Free From Diet Prison, are built on the Granny Keto Transitions Program that walks you through the continuum every step of the way. The direct links to this week’s VFO, course and book are in the show notes and transcript.

 In addition, if you would like to know more about Keto, from measuring ketones to measuring carbohydrates, please re-listen to Episode 10 and visit the blogs What is Keto? Is Keto Hard? Three Ways to Count Carbohydrates, and Keto FAQs.
Direct links to those blogs are in the show notes and transcript for Episode 10. 

 39:12   Next week’s episode

 Next week’s episode is all about mindfulness practices. Sometimes all we need to not dive face first into the buffet or chocolate cake is to stop, breathe and center ourselves. Eating slowly and having gratitude for what is in front of us, will also go a long way to stop that headlong dive. In my course, Breaking Free From Diet Prison, I end each module with a mindfulness practice. In next week’s episode I am pulling them all together so you will have them handy as you navigate the rocky road of the holiday season.

 So go share the show with your friends, let them know that’s coming up in the next episode, and invite them to tune in with you and learn how to become free from diet prison with my Roadmap to Diet Success.

 And, if you like what you hear, please like and subscribe, and remember to leave a review wherever you listen to your podcast. It helps other people find the show. Also, don’t be a stranger. Come on over to my Facebook page, Breaking Free From Diet Prison, and let me know if there is anything you would like to hear on the show. Better yet, join my Facebook group page, Roadmap to Diet Success, especially for podcast listeners.  You can also email me directly … miriam@miriamhatoum.com. I would especially like to hear about episode ideas you are interested in.

 Until then, go live free from diet worry — I’ll see you back here next time. 

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This week's VFO: End Keto Confusion
BLOGS:
What is Keto?
Is Keto Hard?
Three Ways to Count Carbohydrates
Keto FAQs

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