Existing keto “brands”
If you’re brand new here, you will find that there are many different “brands” of keto today. You’re also going to find a lot of different people selling these brands of keto. I want you to be very careful and find a source of information that is matching your goals. If you want to lose weight or reverse diabetes or other metabolic problems, listen to a doctor like me who has been using it in a clinic for a long period of time. If you want to optimize your gym performance, then follow someone who’s in the gym and doing that version of keto. If you want to change the environment and eat super “clean” foods, then you want to do a Paleo version of the keto diet. The version that I teach is now called “lazy, dirty keto,” because I’m not worried about where the food comes from. You will still get the standard amino acids, fatty acids, and vitamins and minerals even if you eat at a fast food place all the time.
I’m much more practical. I want to get this information out and have the low-carb lifestyle be applied in many different ways to many different types of people. You don’t need fancy and expensive specialty food stores nearby. You can do a low-carb keto diet with just fast food, for example. (It’s true – just avoid the carbs!)
What you CAN eat
What you want to do is make sure that you get sufficient protein, which is the amino acids our bodies cannot make. We use protein to build the cells, the muscles, and the bones, so we absolutely need it. Protein comes first, even on a keto diet. If you’re eating animal-based products, then you’re going to get all the fat that you need from the proteins that are animal-based. With the program that I teach, you get a list of food and it’s all on one sheet of paper that you need to stick to.
I start by teaching you that you can have pretty much any type of meat that you want as long as there is no carb-containing breading or batter on it. That means you could have steak or hamburgers – with no bun, of course. You could have pork, lamb, veal, sausages, Spam, canned meats, or potted meat – the variety is really limitless. If you lived in Hawaii, Minnesota, or South Korea, you’d probably be eating Spam right now. The grocery store is full of Spam in Hawaii. I didn’t believe it, but a friend of mine at a conference had his wife snap a photo, because he was from Hawaii. I’m trying to teach you the basics of a low-carb keto diet that will get your body to start burning its own fat. All of those different types of meats are fine, because they have no carbs – unless you add carbs to them or coat them.
After the meat, you have poultry. Some people say that poultry isn’t meat, or they have trouble with red meat. That’s why I have a list of foods that just shows you what you can eat. You might say you don’t eat meat, but you do eat fish. Well, I think of fish as “meat” (an animal protein), so that’s on there. Meat, poultry, fish, shellfish, and eggs are zero-carb foods. That means that you really don’t have to worry about how much of those you have. The hunger goes down after a day or two – you automatically eat less. This happens to just about everyone on a low-carb keto diet. The mainstay of the nutrition that I want you to get is from meat, poultry, fish and shellfish, and eggs.
We do recommend that you have a non-starchy vegetable every day, but the amount is limited to about a cup full and then two cups of leafy greens. This is for vitamins and minerals and for some fiber to keep you regular. We do allow for a limited amount of cheese, cream, mayonnaise, olives and lemon or lime juice to put in water or to season with, but there is a limit to the high-calorie things like cheese and oils.
The restrictive “no-no” list
There is a “no-no” list. This is where I go over what I don’t want you to have. The trigger foods for most people are fruits and nuts. There are no fruit or nuts allowed at first.
But what about my Bratwurst?
I grew up in the Midwest having bratwurst, sauerkraut and mustard. That’s comfort food for me. Here in the south, in Durham, North Carolina, pork rinds or chicharrones are comfort food. They have no carbs and can be used as snacks. The idea is to keep the carbs really low. You don’t have to monitor the amount of food you eat, as long as the carbs are zero. That’s why we don’t say that you have to limit the amount – you just have to stop when you’re comfortably full. That might be difficult for some people who are used to very large portions, but for just about everyone, your hunger will go down and you’ll eat less very comfortably.
Sugar substitutes
I really like beef brisket, the way it’s made here in North Carolina. Pork barbeque is also great. You just want to make sure that it’s not very sugary; some of the sauces are very high in sugar. The vinegary sauce will be better, although I’ve seen some really nice sugar-free barbeque sauces to go with your barbecue. You can add in these other things for variety, different sauces and cheeses. You can bake with cream, cheese, and bacon. We have substitutions for things like sweets – sugar-free things are fine. Most people stock up on sugar-free jello at first and use just a little bit of whipped cream to put on the jello at first. Sugar-free things are okay; I need that to get some people off of sugar. They’re so addicted to sugar, so sugar-free jello offers some sweetness when they have a cravings.
A “chaffle” is a cheese and egg waffle that you make in a waffle iron, and that substitutes for bread or a biscuit or even pizza crust. I’ve also learned to make cauliflower rice with fresh cauliflower. You put it in the microwave for 90 seconds, twice. It comes out perfect every time. Of course, you’ve added a little butter and some broth. There’s also a variety of pasta substitutions, like spaghetti squash, zucchini noodles, and interesting shirataki noodle brands that are using a root that has very low carbs. These can be turned into pasta and even rice. There are substitutions you can use for things that you think you need, but I’ve done well without bread and pasta for years. You don’t crave things that you’re not eating anymore.
Check out the full video here.