Easy Steps to a Successful Ketogenic Diet

There are two certainties in life, being born and death. In between we measure time passed through experiences and decay. My body that took me to mount Kinabalu in December 2014, was diagnosed with cancer in November 2015.

When Butterkicap first approached me to share my journey to wellness, I knew that I wanted to write a story about hope. About a woman’s will to live being stronger than her prognosis. So, Insya Allah via Butterkicap I will be sharing stories from my heart on practices to heal the body through mindful living and positive thinking.

 

Do Your Homework Before Embarking on any Diet

Any journey to wellness is not only about physical recovery but from personal experience it should be a more holistic approach of Mind, Body, Soul and Spirit. Being a wife, mother and a career women, I carried the burden of guilt of not being ‘perfect’ or not doing enough for so many years. So upon my diagnosis, I went through a mind healing process of ‘forgiveness’ to self and others. Counting my blessings in life and gratitude for the opportunity to have a disease that is treatable so that I can keep on living and healing.

“Anyone who wants to embark on any diet or lifestyle needs to do research and decide what suits their body and life best.”

I believe anyone who wants to embark on any diet or lifestyle needs to do research and decide what suits their body and life best. We are all unique individuals and our requirement and how our body responds differs from one person to another. So I  encourage you to make a well informed decision and not just simply follow the crowd.

One life changing decision that has tremendously impacted my body healing journey is the ketogenic diet. It has helped me in not only shedding 14.5kg in 5 months without taking any diet pills, slimming supplements or vigorous exercises, but most importantly it gave me better mental alertness, energy and lowered my blood pressure simply by eating healthy wholesome ketogenic food and practicing low impact exercises. I want to share a few easy steps that you can do before starting this diet.

Steps to Ease You into the Ketogenic Diet

So are you ready to begin a ketogenic diet? Below are few easy steps to get started.

1. Research about ketogenic diet, the who, what and why’s. Everyone is different, so consult your doctor and you will be surprise by how some medical practitioners are supportive of a low carb and ketogenic diet. Here are a few suggestions for research:
   • Keto Connect has a list of podcast library that one can listen to about keto diet where they interview experts on topics related to ketogenic diet such as:
     • Using a Keto Diet for Type 1 Diabetes with Dr Jake Kushner.
     • Efficient Fat Loss on Keto with KetoSavage
     • Keto and Cholesterol with Dave Feldman. And many more…
   • Few Keto websites/youtube channels/FB pages you can look into about Ketogenic diet include:
     • https://www.dietdoctor.com/
     • https://www.drberg.com/
     • https://www.facebook.com/kendberry.md/
     • http://mariamindbodyhealth.com/
2. Download applications to help monitor your food intake. The most popular ones are Carbs Manager and Fitness Pal. I used Carbs Manager to track food macros (calorie, total carb, net carbs, fibre, protein, fat) and to understand portion size.
3. Limit your net carbs to 20g net carbs per day. However, this depends on your lifestyle. Individuals who do high intensity resistance training might need more protein than someone who leads a sedentary lifestyle.
4. For motivation, I use Urine Ketone Strip. Some say it’s unreliable as it measures the ketone being excreted through urine and not body ketone. Personally, I like it as its not invasive and cheap. It’s a confirmation that my body is in ketosis, as the strip won’t change colour otherwise, or not – on days I eat lots of carbs (get kick out of ketosis). On average it takes 3-7 days to get into ketosis. More reliable methods to check ketone levels would be using the following:
   • Blood Ketone Meter
   • Breathing Testing
   • Testing Blood Glucose Level.
5. Supplements for Health. Take your vitamins and minerals as per doctor’s prescription. In addition, I also add himalayan salt in cooking and in dishes such as bone broth to replenish electrolytes.
6. Try Incorporate regular low intensity exercises like walking, trekking, stretching and breathing exercises such as yoga with low impact movement. For variety, I also do cardio once a week whenever time permits.
7. Consider incorporating Intermittent Fasting (IF) together with a ketogenic diet. Intermittent Fasting involves limiting the time you eat to a specific period in a day. I normally have my first meal at 11am and last meal before 7pm. Please do read up about the latest research on Intermittent Fasting.
8. Most importantly, take it easy and don’t stress if you eat more calories on some days; just go back to the keto way of eating for the following meal.

Hope these 8 simple steps is helpful in your journey to start ketogenic diet and lifestyle.

Asianketo Recipes Perfect for Ramadhan (or Any Other Days, Really!)

It’s already the end of fasting month and there are many ways to get liquid in during and after the fasting month be it through herbal teas – my personal favourites are flavoured teabags like strawberry or peppermint – Bulletproof or Ice coffee, bone broth, smoothies and good old plain water.

I am sharing two recipes today, Jamu Bullet Proof Coffee and Asianketo Bone Broth.

I’m sure those who have researched about the Ketogenic diet will at some point have read about the Bullet Proof Coffee (BPC). It is credited to Dave Asprey, the founder of the Bulletproof Diet, which he used to lose one hundred and fifty pounds before making it popular to others.

Bulletproof coffee combines coffee, unsalted grass-fed butter, as well as Brain Octane Oil or XCT or MCT Oil. These oils are full of caprylic acid, which is anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, antiviral and carries many health benefits. All three ingredients are combined in blender until smooth, with a consistency similar to a latte.

Asian Take on the Popular Bulletproof Coffee

Being Asian, I’m familiar with ‘jamu’ or free ranged egg mixed with pure honey elixir that my late father used to drink every morning. I look at BPC the same way; an energiser drink that is nutritious and delicious. However, in this modern urban society we need to modernise our version of jamu. Thus, asianketo jamu BPC was born. I love the silky foamy taste of egg yolk in my recipe for BPC which is slightly thicker in consistency than using butter or heavy cream.

 

“Asianketo Jamu Bullet Proof Coffee is a game changer”

 

Jamu BPC (BulletProof Coffee)

(Macros for total serving of 2 cups : 1g net carbs, 13g total carbs, 0g fiber, 18g fat, 2g protein, 172 kcal)

Ingredients:

• Choose your preferred coffee – about 2 shots brewed coffee or 2 tablespoon of instant powder.
• 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla essence
• 1 tablespoon of MCT oil
• 1 tablespoon of Lakanto sweetener
• 2 cups of hot water
• 1 pasteurised egg yolk

Method:

1. Pour all the ingredients into the blender adding the egg yolk last before we blend everything into creamy foamy deliciousness. Do give it a try and let me know what you think. There are just so many benefits of bulletproof coffee.

A Broth for Health and Beauty

Another recipe that would be helpful in your ketogenic lifestyle is bone broth. You can use any mix of beef or chicken bones to make this bone broth. I like to use oxtail for its flavour and sometimes kampung chicken.

Bone broth is rich in electrolytes (magnesium, sodium and potassium) as well as other minerals (calcium and phosphorus) and for us ladies it has gelatine and collagen to plump up our faces after that weight loss. It also helps with the keto flu and keeps our joints, ligaments, tendons and bones healthy too. You can read about the benefits of bone broth on draxe.com.

So, the Asianketo recipe I’m sharing here uses oxtail but feel free to change it to ribs or other meat cuts or even organic kampung chicken.

 

Asianketo Bone Broth

(macros for total serving of whole pot : 10g net carbs, 13g total carbs, 3g fiber, 100g fat, 202g protein, 1814g kcal)

Ingredients:

• 1 kg of oxtail
• 2 tablespoons of Apple Cider Vinegar
• 2 slices galangal
• 2 slices ginger
• 1 sup bunjut (or 1 cinnamon stick, 2 star anise and 4 cardamoms)
• 6 garlic cloves
• 1 celery stick (cut roughly)
• 1 coriander root and stalk
• Salt and black pepper to taste
• 3000ml water

Method:

1. Put all the ingredients into the pot and cover with water. Then start cooking. Preferably cook your broth using a slow cooker or pressure cooker, however, I have in the past made this in normal pot. It’s doable but just will take a longer time (about 2-3 hours).
2. Using the pressure cooker or slow cooker, leave it to simmer for 24 hours and the next day wake up to the smell of wholesome goodness.

Bone Broth Tips:

• It’s my go to dish for when I’m feeling down, feverish, fatigued or just need a pick me up.
• You can consume it as a flavourful drink.
• I like to use it as liquid base for egg drop soup or shirataki noodle soup.

 

 

Do give it a try. It’s an easy dish to do, nutritious and very keto the Asian way.

Selamat Hari Raya to all and let this divine month wash away pain and burden and brings hope and enlightenment. Till next time, keto on!