5 Ways The Keto Diet Has Changed Not Only My Weight But My Overall Health
The keto diet is an effective weight loss tool, but it may also provide other important health benefits.
Here, author Jennifer Still details how she not only lost 125 pounds on the keto diet but conjointly became "much happier and healthier" in life as a result of it.
I've followed the ketogenic diet on and off for over four years but decided about a year past to recommit fully as I attempted to shed a major amount of weight and get down to a healthy size.
Now, roughly 9 months later, I weigh 125 pounds less than when I started, and I'm much happier and healthier than I was ever before.
This change is basically due to adhering strictly to keto, but it's helped more than just the number on the scale.
Here are 5 ways the keto diet has changed not only my weight but my overall health.
Ways The Keto Diet Has Changed My Life
1. It Curbed My Addiction To sugar.
It's safe to mention I was addicted to sugar. In fact, I Don't think you ever get over an addiction, you just learn behaviors to help you conquer the harmful behaviors it encourages.
Before I started losing weight and fully committed to keto, I'd notice myself bingeing on candy and various different sugary sweets — pastries and cakes, cookies, etc. — many times every week, which always made me feel worse, put my health further at risk and packed on the pounds.
Since keto is a very low carbohydrate diet, in which you are supposed to eat no more than twenty grams of net carbs per day, which means sugar is out the window.
Cutting myself off cold turkey was incredibly tough at first, but the longer I went without all the unhealthy junk I was eating before, the less I found myself wanting it. I did find some nice keto-friendly dessert recipes once I felt more in control of my cravings, and those have more than made up for the lack of actual sugar in my diet.
It feels great not to be controlled by sugar any longer.
Ways The Keto Diet Has Changed My Life
2. It Helped Me Build and Develop a Healthy Relationship With Food.
While many would consider keto a fad diet or feel it's not sustainable long-term, I can actually say that low carb eating will be a long-run thing for me. Not only has it worked wonders for helping me shed the pounds, but it is also diversified my food intake and thus my palette by encouraging me to get in the kitchen and try out new recipes using ingredients i might never tried before.
Sure, I continually liked vegetables and was no stranger to chicken thighs and steaks, but eating a high fat, moderate protein, low carb diet meant I had to plan my meals a little more strategically and creatively, especially if I didn't wish to get bored.
This gave me a true love of cooking, and in spending such a lot time preparing my daily food intake, I learned to deem and appreciate what i was putting in my body everyday and the ways it was nourishing me. These days, it's less about shoveling it in mindlessly and more about making meals that will keep me strong, full, and healthy.
Ways The Keto Diet Has Changed My Life
3. It Helped Me Get Fit.
There are plenty of people who successfully follow a keto diet without working out, however, I knew that if I wanted to truly increase my health (and boost my weight loss), I needed to get my body moving. Since I work from home as a writer, I spend a lot of my time sitting at a desk. Yes, I walk the dog at least once a day, but the word "exercise" hadn't been part of my vocabulary for a while.
As I started eating better, I conjointly started using the gym membership I'd been paying for and not using for months and soon fell in love with it.
While initially i could not do over ten minutes on the indoor bicycle and felt like my legs were turning to jelly after 5 minutes on the elliptical, the more weight I lost eating keto and the more I used my diet to fuel my body, the more energy I had and also the stronger I got. These days, I frequently run on the treadmill for an hour and even do weekly spin classes. It feels so good.
Ways The Keto Diet Has Changed My Life
4. It Extremely Reduced My Risk for Obesity-Related Sickness.
The old-school concept that fat makes you fat has been debunked numerous times by now, however many people still believe it. i am not one of them; i do know that sugar is toxic and is behind several of the health problems faced by millions of people round the world, from high blood pressure and diabetes to obesity and heart disease.
By cutting sugar pretty much out of my diet fully and losing enough weight to take me out of the obese BMI (Body Mass Index), I've slashed my chances of developing many of these health problems considerably.
Ways The Keto Diet Has Changed My Life
5. It Boosted My Confidence.
This is perhaps the foremost noticeable change of all. While losing weight following the keto diet has made me feel less self-conscious about wearing certain styles of clothing, the real confidence boost has come from sticking to my goal and working hard towards achieving it.
With every milestone I hit, I feel more and more confident in my ability to make huge things happen, and while i know there are a million and one ways to achieve what I have so far (and what I wish to in future), I am truly glad I've had keto to help me on my journey.
Ways The Keto Diet Has Changed My Life
#StayHealthy
Source: INSIDER
Ways The Keto Diet Has Changed My Life