# Keto Diet for a Beginner



## LittleSunflower (Jun 22, 2020)

Having being told I’m prediabetic a few months ago, I am still struggling to change my diet for the better. To begin with, I cut out all of the sweet stuff but have found myself going back to that during the lockdown period.
I have been researching the Keto diet and would really like to try it. Is there any advice/recipes that I could follow to get started? FYI, I do not need to lose weight, in fact would benefit from gaining some so weight loss recipes are not advisable.
Thank you in advance, hope you are all well


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## Drummer (Jun 22, 2020)

It is more an exclusion diet than something requiring recipes.
Getting rid of rice bread pasta etc, and potatoes, replacing them with low carb veges, and not having fruit more than a couple of times a week - I have frozen berries for whenever I want them.
You can eat meat, fish, eggs, cheese, nuts, Greek yoghurt as they are all low carb, and I have lots of salads and stirfries, or roasted veges. I put cream in my coffee and on the fruit.


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## rebrascora (Jun 22, 2020)

I agree with Drummer. Looking for recipes isn't really necessary, I just adapt the ones I used to follow and substitute other things for the carbs and increase my fat intake..... Like Drummer, I start my day with coffee made with double cream.... sometimes 2 cups. I buy large 1 litre buckets of Creamy Greek natural yoghurt (not low fat)and have that with a few berries and mixed seeds and chopped/ground nuts. Or I have a 2 egg omelette with a variety of fillings usually involving a combination of onion, mushroom, courgette, aubergine, bacon and cheese... sometimes all of them with a side salad and a good dollop of creamy coleslaw or cheese coleslaw. Cottage pie gets topped with mashed cauliflower and lots of cheese and made with the cheaper higher fat content minced beef. Cabbage, kale and leeks all get cooked in butter, spinach with cream cheese. I make ratatouille with a very generous glug of olive oil rather than just a tablespoon. It is about finding ways of incorporating more natural fats into your diet and removing the carbs. Use full fat mayonnaise on your salads etc.  
Some people use celeriac to make chips. Courgettes spiralised and fried in oil or butter instead of pasta with your bolognaise sauce etc.


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## ColinUK (Jun 26, 2020)

Do you track macros? @Drummer @rebrascora


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## rebrascora (Jun 26, 2020)

Not sure what "macros" are but I don't really track anything. I just record which foods I eat and keep the carbs low and being Type1 I have to guestimate how much insulin I need each meal, but because I eat very few carbs, I also have to factor in some of the protein, so it is very much trial and error and I learn roughly how much I need for each particular meal and when I need to inject and then it becomes a part of the routine. The only thing I have weighed so far was low carb granola or oats for porridge, because that is the only high carb foods I have had, although not recently. Or with sweet potato, I know roughly how many/size pieces I need  for a set number of insulin units and whilst I could break that down to carbs, I just see the foods as so many units of insulin rather than actually counting the carbs. I am working in units and half units of insulin and I use my ratio as 10g carbs to a unit and I eat so few carbs that the odd bits from onions and a couple of cherry tomatoes or a few berries or a dollop of yoghurt just round it up or down to the nearest half unit, or my basal might take care of any other fluctuations or my BG will go up a bit high and I will need to inject a correction later. 

Not really sure I can see the point of tracking anything, but then I record how much insulin I use so that gives me an idea of how many carbs I have had and I like to keep my insulin intake low.... Of course I also need to eat carbs when I go hypo which has been quite often recently, so whilst I am following a low carb way of eating, I then have to eat a small portion of high carb items like a couple of jelly babies once or twice a day (at the moment) and I tend not to think of those as carbs that I have eaten, because they were necessary not voluntary if that makes sense....I kind of see those as medication! 

I think being Type 1 might mean I have a slightly different mentality towards it. I just find it easy to avoid carb rich foods in my diet and not worry too much about anything else....


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## Drummer (Jun 26, 2020)

No, I only pay attention to the amount of carbs I am eating.
As I only eat twice a day it is easy enough to keep to around 10 gm of carbs in a morning and 25 in the evening as I have meals which are based on protein and fats rather than the carbs.


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## Gruers (Jun 27, 2020)

rebrascora said:


> I agree with Drummer. Looking for recipes isn't really necessary, I just adapt the ones I used to follow and substitute other things for the carbs and increase my fat intake..... Like Drummer, I start my day with coffee made with double cream.... sometimes 2 cups. I buy large 1 litre buckets of Creamy Greek natural yoghurt (not low fat)and have that with a few berries and mixed seeds and chopped/ground nuts. Or I have a 2 egg omelette with a variety of fillings usually involving a combination of onion, mushroom, courgette, aubergine, bacon and cheese... sometimes all of them with a side salad and a good dollop of creamy coleslaw or cheese coleslaw. Cottage pie gets topped with mashed cauliflower and lots of cheese and made with the cheaper higher fat content minced beef. Cabbage, kale and leeks all get cooked in butter, spinach with cream cheese. I make ratatouille with a very generous glug of olive oil rather than just a tablespoon. It is about finding ways of incorporating more natural fats into your diet and removing the carbs. Use full fat mayonnaise on your salads etc.
> Some people use celeriac to make chips. Courgettes spiralised and fried in oil or butter instead of pasta with your bolognaise sauce etc.


What Greek yogurt do you recommend?


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## zuludog (Jun 27, 2020)

Ketogenic and low carbohydrate diets are very popular at the moment, and there is a lot of information available on -

YouTube
Amazon books; their used books are good value
The help sections on the Home Page for this forum

In fact there are so many videos that things can get rather confusing, but this channel manages to inject a bit of fun and liveliness into the business of keto diets - 'Headbangers Kitchen'

However, most advice about keto diets is for weight loss
All I can suggest is that you Search YT for recipes that have high levels of fat & protein, and use those as a basis
Search YT for gaining weight on a keto diet
I have found this video, though I haven't watched it -

4 ways to gain weight for skinny people on a healthy keto diet by Dr Sten Ekberg

Try asking your GP for a referral to a dietician


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## rebrascora (Jun 27, 2020)

Gruers said:


> What Greek yogurt do you recommend?



The lowest carb (3.2g/100g) yoghurt I have found so far and the tastiest is Lidl's Milbona Creamy Greek Natural Yoghurt. It comes in a litre bucket and although it says that once opened it should be consumed within 3 days, a bucket usually lasts me 10 days without a problem. They do it in a smaller 500ml pot as well if you prefer to stick to the consumer guidance. You do have to be aware that they do a low fat version in almost identical buckets but the graphics are paler blue, so you need to look out for the wording showing that it is the creamy version. The only drawback for me is that it is not made with British milk, other wise it would be perfect!


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## Gruers (Jun 27, 2020)

rebrascora said:


> The lowest carb (3.2g/100g) yoghurt I have found so far and the tastiest is Lidl's Milbona Creamy Greek Natural Yoghurt. It comes in a litre bucket and although it says that once opened it should be consumed within 3 days, a bucket usually lasts me 10 days without a problem. They do it in a smaller 500ml pot as well if you prefer to stick to the consumer guidance. You do have to be aware that they do a low fat version in almost identical buckets but the graphics are paler blue, so you need to look out for the wording showing that it is the creamy version. The only drawback for me is that it is not made with British milk, other wise it would be perfect!


Thank you


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## Drummer (Jun 27, 2020)

I second the Lidl one - it does last quite well, though I always keep it in the coldest part of the colder fridge (I have two) and they are useful buckets too.


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## Gruers (Jun 28, 2020)

I’m off to Lidl today to get some
thanks guys


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## rebrascora (Jun 28, 2020)

Gruers said:


> I’m off to Lidl today to get some
> thanks guys


Good luck! 
I hope you are more successful than me.... my shopping trip produced a lot of disappointment with empty shelves everywhere including my favourite buckets of yoghurt although I did manage to find the last pack of 4 individual pots of the same stuff.... didn't realise they sold it like that as well. 
It was worse that at the start of lockdown with hardly any fresh veg and meat. Thankfully I got plenty of cream and peanut butter though and some toilet rolls .... the first I have bought since before lockdown......and my favourite JD Gross dark chocolate was on half price offer so I stocked up on that as it will keep..... 6 bars stashed away with my 3 jars of peanut butter!


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## ColinUK (Jun 28, 2020)

@rebrascora  tell me more about the chocolate! What’s the percentage?


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## Gruers (Jun 28, 2020)

rebrascora said:


> Good luck!
> I hope you are more successful than me.... my shopping trip produced a lot of disappointment with empty shelves everywhere including my favourite buckets of yoghurt although I did manage to find the last pack of 4 individual pots of the same stuff.... didn't realise they sold it like that as well.
> It was worse that at the start of lockdown with hardly any fresh veg and meat. Thankfully I got plenty of cream and peanut butter though and some toilet rolls .... the first I have bought since before lockdown......and my favourite JD Gross dark chocolate was on half price offer so I stocked up on that as it will keep..... 6 bars stashed away with my 3 jars of peanut butter!


I found the yogurt and bought a large tub, couldn’t find chocolate with more than 70% cocoa
but got other bits that I needed
thanks


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## rebrascora (Jun 28, 2020)

@Gruers @ColinUK
I buy the JD Gross 70% raspberry or salted caramel and break each large square roughly into 4 pieces and have each piece with a spoon of crunchy peanut butter and usually limit myself to a half a square a day. They do an 85% plain chocolate bar in the same range but you have to rummage through the assortment to find them. Personally I don't enjoy it so much and prefer to have less of the 70% bars which I do enjoy.
The Meribel Whole Nut peanut butter at Lidl is the lowest carb I have found at 9.1g/100g. The carb value can vary quite significantly between brands.  Lidl nuts in general are very good value but they all come in large bags so you have to be disciplined about portion size. The bags of mixed unsalted nuts and whole brazils are both really nice and excellent value.


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## rebrascora (Jun 28, 2020)

I also buy the bags of mixed seeds from Lidl as they are good value too.
Eating low carb is all about finding the right foods to buy and working out what goes best with what. Once you get a regular shopping list of low carb items and the cupboards and fridge stocked with them, it all becomes so much easier.


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## Gruers (Jun 28, 2020)

Thanks for this I now have a list of things to pick up at Lidl, it’s a little out of our way so we don’t usually go there but I will go there again shortly
thank you


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## rebrascora (Jun 28, 2020)

I am now at the stage of shopping only once every 2-3 weeks for most things and then just picking up essentials like milk at the local shop after that.


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## SB2015 (Jun 28, 2020)

Hi @LittleSunflower 

As others have said it is the carbohydrates that we all need to focus on.  This is not just the sweet things.  Carbs are in everything.  A good stat could be to familiarise yourself with the sources and start counting how many you are eating in each meal.  This will include counting fruit and veg as well as the more obvious sources from pasta, bread, potatoes.  By knowing how much you are currently eating you can start to reduce this by changing portion size or doing swaps to lower carb options.  This may be easier to manage than switching to a completely different diet and you can gradually work out how many carbs your body can manage with the insulin that you have available.  

If you are looking for sources of lower carb option you can see above that someone will have an idea of where to source these.


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## Drummer (Jun 28, 2020)

Lidl do a lot of things useful for low carb - the notable exception being sugar free jelly - though these days I find them too sweet and have taken to using one sachet of the jelly and some 'real' gelatine bought in bulk.
I have been able to get 95 percent cocoa chocolate at my branch from time to time.
We get milk delivered so I have been able to limit shopping trips, but it is noticeable that  things are not always available in these strange times.


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## rebrascora (Jun 28, 2020)

@Drummer My local Lidl have started doing the sugar free jelly, so keep your eyes open next time you are in. I also find it a bit sweet but when combined with black currants. redcurrants, raspberries and blackberries (ie their frozen fruit mix) it works great as they are quite tart. I use them to make a low carb trifle and my partner also really enjoys it. I need to look into getting milk delivered as there is a local guy doing it, but the people in the local shop are lovely so I like to give them business too for the everyday essentials that you quickly run out of.


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## Drummer (Jun 28, 2020)

Maybe the jelly is one of the things managers decide upon, or the size of the store dictates. At my local store the aisles have been made wider by removing one line of cabinets and there is a one way system imposed by the way the remaining ones have been shuffled up and down the shop.


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## grumpycat (Jan 25, 2022)

Drummer said:


> Lidl do a lot of things useful for low carb - the notable exception being sugar free jelly - though these days I find them too sweet and have taken to using one sachet of the jelly and some 'real' gelatine bought in bulk.
> I have been able to get 95 percent cocoa chocolate at my branch from time to time.
> We get milk delivered so I have been able to limit shopping trips, but it is noticeable that  things are not always available in these strange times.


Have you ever tried any keto chocolate brands? Ketobabe Chocolate seems pretty legit...they even have keto white chocolate. I got the gold chocolate, creme brulee chocolate and white chocolate from them. All tasted too good to be true It's a bit pricey tho...

https://www.ketobabechocolate.com/


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## Drummer (Jan 25, 2022)

grumpycat said:


> Have you ever tried any keto chocolate brands? Ketobabe Chocolate seems pretty legit...they even have keto white chocolate. I got the gold chocolate, creme brulee chocolate and white chocolate from them. All tasted too good to be true It's a bit pricey tho...
> 
> https://www.ketobabechocolate.com/


I buy Lidl's 95percent cocoa chocolate and eat small amounts once in a while.
I have chopped nuts and drizzled just enough melted chocolate over them to hold them together in a silicon mould for tiny cupcakes.


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## Mrs Mimoo (Jan 26, 2022)

Drummer said:


> I second the Lidl one - it does last quite well, though I always keep it in the coldest part of the colder fridge (I have two) and they are useful buckets too.


that's my fave too - mild flavour.


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## Leadinglights (Feb 7, 2022)

sohan1 said:


> I am following the ketogenic diet for the last few days. But I think it's not possible to follow this for the long term. Can anyone suggest the ideal number of months should I follow this?


It might well depend on your particular reason for going down that route rather than low carb. If you feel it is not sustainable then it may not be the best regime for you.


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