All posts by Val Peterson

I am a lawyer, CEO, Certified Bulletproof Coach and passionate road cyclist. I have followed a ketogenic diet since February, 2015, and have thrived both on and off the bike as a result. I started this blog to share information and hopefully learn from others as I continue my journey as a keto-adapted cyclist.
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Pizza is back in my life – and just in time

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No, we haven’t gone off of our ketogenic diet.  I found a fantastic low carb pizza crust recipe online and decided to give it a try.  The crust is where the majority of the carbs in regular pizza are – the sauce, cheese and meat you put on it aren’t high in carbs (just don’t overdo the pizza sauce).

Because I wanted to start small, I used 2 cups of cheese (mozzarella and a little parmesan) and 2 eggs, along with garlic powder, oregano and basil.  It did stick to the pan, but was still really, really good.  I took it off of the first pan, got out a new pan and added the sauce and toppings before broiling it.

I guess I was in the mood to cook, because I also made broccoli and cheese soup (always good to have on hand in case you need something quick), pork chops with mushrooms and green beans, and a cheesecake is currently in the oven!

Tomorrow we face the 22-mile climb that nearly killed me a few weeks ago (yes, I’m exaggerating, but I felt terrible during it).  But we won’t be stopping there.  The plan is to continue up to Mt. Baldy, and to say it’s a steep climb isn’t doing it justice.   Stage 7 of the Amgen Tour of California will finish on Mt. Baldy and will most likely be the deciding stage.  Good thing I had pizza tonight.

 

FAQs

Frequently Asked Question: What do I eat?

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First of all, I am hungry all the time so I eat often. I have read a lot of blogs where people in nutritional ketosis talk about rarely being hungry and how little they eat. All I can tell you is that is not me!

A typical day for me might look like this:

Breakfast (6:45 am)

Coffee blended with 2 TB of grass-fed better and 1 TB of MCT oil

1-2 eggs (scrambled with a tablespoon of cream) with 2 slices of bacon

Around 11:00 am I am getting hungry and will often have a second cup of coffee blended with butter and MCT oil. I’ll usually grab a handful of almonds, too.

Lunch

If I am short on time, I’ll have a cup of coffee with butter and anything else I can get my hands on – cheese, leftover piece of chicken, avocado slices, etc.

If I have time, I will make a salad with lots of avocado, and have a piece of meat, like chicken, or a hamburger patty.

A handful of blackberries or strawberries with heavy cream or a spoonful of peanut butter with some whipped cream (great for a quick salty and sweet treat).

Afternoon snack

Nuts (almonds, macadamia nuts)

Cheese

Cup of tea with coconut oil and heavy cream

Dinner

Fish, chicken or beef

Broccoli with butter

If I didn’t have berries earlier in the day, then berries and cream for dessert.  Or cheesecake (I have a great cheesecake recipe that is low carb).

Before bed

Almost every night I have a cup of chamomile tea with coconut oil and cream.  This helps me go to sleep and not wake up in the middle of the night hungry.

Even on heavy training rides, my meals stay pretty much the same.  This is one of the many things I love about a nutritional ketosis lifestyle!

Training Rides

Why would I pay money for “Breathless Agony”?

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“Because it will a good training ride,” says my husband.

“Because I’m an idiot,” says the voice in my head – and my mom.   Yes, she has said this after some of my rides.

At any rate, it’s done: Breathless agony

The Breathless Agony ride is 114 miles with 12,000 feet of climbing.  If you complete all 4 passes, you are eligible to purchase a Breathless Agony jersey.  You can also do the 75 mile option with 3 passes and 7,500 feet of climbing (I’m lobbying for that option).  Oh, and the Grim Reaper makes an appearance.  Seems fitting.

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Relief!

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I tested my blood this morning with a nervous stomach. After my dismal test on Sunday morning I had no idea what to expect today. I had my regular breakfast of coffee blended with butter and MCT oil, one egg and 2 slices of bacon. I tested at about 10:30 am, and was pleased to register my highest reading yet – 2.2! Mental crisis averted.

On a lighter note, I discovered a new way to compete with my husband! Garmin Connect ranks how well you did on certain segments of rides so I spent a little time today tormenting him over a few segments where I had a higher ranking. I then made the mistake of telling him that I’m blogging about it and he pointed out that he checked 20 segments and I was ahead of him in 1 by “about 3 seconds.” And he calls me competitive.

I’m sure many of you reading this already knew about Garmin Connect, but I didn’t. I was never a numbers junkie until recently. Becoming keto-adapted has given me more energy and I’m now uploading my ride data, analyzing it carefully, and probably becoming a little obsessive about it. Accordingly, below are my stats from the same 93-mile ride, one week apart: 

4-4 Stats

Ave. HR: 148

Screenshot 4-4

4-11 Stats

Ave. HR: 146

4-11 stats

 

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Saturday training ride and puzzling ketone numbers

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Our Saturday training ride produced good news and not so good news.  We did the same 93 mile route that we did last Saturday, and we did it almost 10 minutes faster with fewer breaks.  We took 1 “refueling break” after 3 hours, 40 minutes, and after most of our climbing was finished.   We refueled with SuperStarch, did a lot of stretching, and gobbled down a SlimJim.  We took a shorter break with about 15 miles to go so I could stretch and try to get my leg pain under control – which worked for a short time.

The last 12 miles were excruciating for me – I had some of the worst leg cramps I’ve ever had.  Having a few days to reflect on it, I suspect it was a combination of a few things.  I flew from SoCal to Atlanta Thursday, then turned around and flew the same flight back on Friday.  Flying dehydrates you and I probably did not drink enough fluids to rehydrate.  I also had a glass of wine with dinner Thursday and Friday night, something I haven’t done much of the last 6 weeks.  We also forgot to take our Magnesium Saturday before riding.  All of those factors combined with riding faster with fewer breaks are most likely the cause of the intense leg cramping.

Fortunately, I recovered pretty fast from the leg pain – within 20 minutes – with a lot of stretching and fluids.  Sunday morning I did not feel great so I drank some chicken broth to try and rehydrate.  We went for a short recovery ride on Sunday and other than a persistent headache (which I think was again due to dehydration) my body felt pretty good.

The not so good news was my ketone levels on Sunday morning.  I checked them around 10:00 am, which is earlier than normal, but I wanted to do it before riding.  My levels were .08, which to me was disturbingly low.  I should be at 1.0 or higher every day, and after a hard day of exercise I expected a much higher number.  Morning ketone levels are always lower, but I was still surprised by the low reading.

I will check again today (Monday morning) and hopefully have better results, otherwise I’ll have to do a much more in depth analysis of what I ate and drank leading up to Sunday.

Travel and food

Staying in ketosis while traveling for work

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Staying in ketosis is hard enough when you’re at home and can fix all of your own meals.  This week I had a short trip for a speaking engagement in Louisville, KY.  I was only gone one night, but I still worried about my meals, especially given the long flights to Louisville from Orange County, CA.  It was a good “training trip” for future trips I have coming up that are much longer.

I woke up at 4:15 am Thursday morning so I would have time to make my regular breakfast, and coffee blended with butter and MCT oil.  It’s a good thing I did because besides some nuts, that was all I was able to eat until dinner.  I was asked to dinner by a group, but thankfully we went to a farm-to-table restaurant where all of the food was from a 100 mile radius from farmers who owned the restaurant.   I had “bone marrow butter” for the first time, which accompanied my steak.  The name freaked me out a little, but it wasn’t bad and I was grateful for the extra fat.  I passed on the au gratin potatoes and had extra arugula salad instead.

Unfortunately I was hungry a few hours later when I got to my hotel room!  I had packed coconut oil and tea bags with me, and that definitely saved me both that night and today as I’m traveling home.  Last night I had a cup of tea with half and half and a spoonful of coconut oil and that satisfied my hunger enough for me to get to sleep.  And coconut oil was no problem to get through security.

Breakfast this morning consisted of some of the worst scrambled eggs I’ve ever had, and a piece of sausage that was not much better! Needless to say I was hungry about an hour later.  I was able to grab a hamburger and steamed broccoli for lunch, though (Chili’s did not bat an eye at my order).  On my flight home tonight, I had some cheese, almonds with some dried apricot, and a cup of coffee with coconut oil and cream, and that took the edge off.   I will make sure to travel with coconut oil and tea bags in the future!  It’s much easier than trying to travel with butter…

I am almost home and looking forward to a nice ketogenic meal with my husband and a long bike ride tomorrow!

Training Rides

Back in the saddle

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After developing a bleeding saddle sore on Sunday, I decided to try my luck today on the bike to see how I felt.  (Today I had very little energy so I was hoping the ride would help.) The weather wasn’t good and daylight was quickly disappearing, so I decided to ride my TDF stationary bike.

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Thankfully, the sore seems to have healed.  Did a short but intense ride with some climbing, then finished my Lotoja Registration.  Now there’s nothing to do but train and wait for May 13th when I’ll be notified whether I “won” the lottery and will be riding 200+ miles in September!

Lotoja registration

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Is this a lottery I want to win?

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Tomorrow Jonathan and I will register for  Lotoja 2015, the longest one-day USAC sanctioned bike race in the country.  It’s over 200 miles, covers 4 states, and 3 mountain passes.  In one day.  And you have to finish before sunset or you’ll receive a DNF.  They literally shut the lights off at the finish line and you are on your own to finish after the cutoff time.

Not everyone who registers gets in, however.  They choose via a lottery system. I have wanted to do this ride since 2010 when Jonathan rode it and I provided SAG.  Starting in Logan, UT and finishing in Jackson, WY, it was one of the most beautiful rides I’ve ever seen, and that was from a car. From a bike I understand it is simply incredible.

So we will get up early, register as a team (so if one gets in the other one will, too), and I will then hesitantly cross my fingers and wait to hear if we are in.  We have the pleasure of waiting until May 13th to hear.

We will continue training as if we are in, because we have several mountain passes in France this August to conquer first!

 

Training Rides

Saturday ride – a few firsts for me

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Yesterday involved a few firsts for me.  It was my first time riding over 4 hours while in ketosis,  the first time using SuperStarch both before and during a ride, and the last “first” you’ll see at the end of this post.

Jonathan and I decided to do a long training ride – 95 miles with about 3500 feet of climbing.  I was excited to test how well SuperStarch would work on a ride this long.  I’m happy to say it worked phenomenally well.

We stuck to the instructions, and had 1 energy drink 30 minutes before we left.  (This was after our normal breakfast of coffee with butter and MCT oil, followed by bacon and eggs.)

There is one thing I may not have told you about SuperStarch:   It does not taste good.  At all.  Yes, it looks like milk.  But, as I told my husband, “Just trust me and drink it.  All of it.”

What SS looks likeDrinking SS

 

About 3 hours and 45 minutes in, we’d done most of our climbing but had a 30 mile ride home with mostly headwinds.  We took our second dose of SuperStarch at that time, along with a handful of cashews, peanuts and almonds.  Prior to this, we had one stop where we filled bottles and ate a SlimJim.  That is all the food we ate during our 6 hour ride, and neither of us came even close to bonking.  Tired legs, yes.

Our total riding time was just over 6 hours.  My energy level throughout the ride was the best it has ever been.  My husband didn’t feel as good as I did, but I think that was because he had been sick earlier in the week.

I’ll post separately about the psychology of trusting this new way of eating, but yesterday was a huge boost mentally for me.

Now for the bad part:  bleeding saddle sores.  Another first for me, but probably not the last.  If any of you have advice for treating them, I’m all ears.  For now it’s just Neosporin…

 

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SuperStarch just might be super

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I recently learned about SuperStarch, an energy supplement, through Peter Attia’s excellent site, www.eatingacademy.com.  Because I will be training on long rides, 3+ hours, I needed to know if my body would need anything “extra” to get me through the long rides where my heart rate is often elevated.

Peter has been experimenting with nutritional ketosis for a few years now, and he is also a cyclist, so I was very interested in what he had to say about long periods of physical exertion while in a state of ketosis.  For those of you who are impatient (like me) the basic conclusion is that your body, after a certain period of time burning fat, will look to glycogen for energy.  Glycogen  must be produced by the liver if there are no carbohydrates available that can be converted to glycogen.  If you deplete your liver of glycogen (and there is a danger of doing so while in ketosis and after a long period of exertion), then you will bonk and the results of that are not good, as many of you reading this know.

My dilemma, however, was what to eat to make sure my liver had adequate glycogen storage if and when my body needed it.  I did not want to take a gel or other high-carb supplement because with carbs in my system my body would stop burning fat and switch to burning glucose.  The solution?  Finding foods that release insulin slowly or inhibit insulin release, allowing my body to continue burning fat but not depleting my liver of glycogen completely.  Cashews, almonds and peanuts can serve this function.  Through Peter’s site I was introduced to an energy source called SuperStarch (available through www.generationucan.com) that, even with a high carb content, is specially formulated to inhibit insulin release so it has minimal effect on my blood sugar levels and allows me to continue burning fat.

Before you place an expensive order, please take the time to view the excellent video from Peter on this product, but more importantly, how your body burns fat and glucose.  It’s about an hour long, but worth every minute.

I used SuperStarch for the first time last weekend and felt great.  I drank one of the energy drinks 30 minutes before a 65 mile ride (just over 4 hours) with just under 2500 feet of climbing.  This took place the day after a 43 mile ride (just under 4 hours) with 4700 feet of climbing so I was pretty tired the day I used SuperStarch!  I had energy throughout the ride – a noticeable difference from the prior day when I did not use SuperStarch.

I’ve only used it once, but will be trying it again this weekend when we do long training rides again.  Stay tuned!