If you struggle with sugar cravings, or are curious in general about the negative effects of sugar,  you have to watch this documentary –The Sugar Film  – available on Amazon (free to Prime members).

I’ve been struggling a little bit lately with sugar cravings and allowing sugar to creep into my diet.  Well, spending an hour and forty minutes watching what sugar can do to a person in 60 days solved that.  So just trust me and watch it.  I stayed up late to finish it so I can’t go in to all the reasons why – just watch it.

I have to thank my friend Lori Pulvermacher for recommending it to me.  On a side note, she and her husband have the best grass fed beef around!

Enjoy the film.

When people learn what type of diet I follow, I often get very similar questions.  I decided this might be a good blog post subject as I’m sure others thinking about a ketogenic diet probably have similar questions!

The most common question, is, of course, do you miss carbs/sugar/pasta (insert favorite food loaded with carbs).  I truly don’t.  There are times in a restaurant when a basket of piping hot french bread or sourdough bread is placed on the table and I definitely have a craving for it.  But if I want to, I’ll have a few bites of it and I’m fine with that.  The same is true for other foods, except homemade chocolate chip cookies.  I can’t take just one bite of those so I just stay away from them!!

Do you see a lot of benefits from a ketogenic diet?  Absolutely.  I have more energy.  I have lost weight.  I don’t feel tired after a meal.  My mental focus is far sharper than it used to be.  I love being able to ride my bike for hours and not have to refuel much at all.  I am no longer a “mood eater.”  I truly view food as a fuel source now.

Aren’t you worried about your cholesterol?  Absolutely not.  I’m worried more about all of the misinformation out there about cholesterol that other people are receiving.  I wrote a blog post about this a few months ago.

How can you eat fat and lose weight? First of all, you have to eat good fat – grass fed beef, free range organic eggs, grass fed butter, etc.  All fat is not equal, just like all calories are not equal.  The last thing you want to do is pollute your body with unhealthy fat like vegetable oil.   Obviously there’s a great deal of science around the ability to eat good fat and lose weight, so unless you want to do the research, you’ll just have to trust me that you can!

Don’t you get bored eating the same foods all the time? Yes, it can be challenging (and boring) at times, especially if I haven’t planned ahead and defrosted meat for dinner.  Going out to eat can be expensive or a waste of time unless it’s a restaurant where you know you’ll get good meat, and pay a premium for it.   Fast food is really not an option so if you fail to plan ahead you either don’t eat (which is totally fine when you’re in ketosis) or you learn to make ketogenic foods quickly, like pizza – something I can make in less than 20 minutes.  When I have time I love to research new recipes to give us some variety.  My latest discovery over Thanksgiving was a low carb pumpkin pie that was actually very good!

How long will you stay on this diet?  For the rest of my life.  To me, it’s not a diet.  It’s a way of life, and one that provides great benefits to me!

I have been on the road on the east coast for 5 days for work.  I rarely sleep well when traveling, especially when I’m not exercising (which I didn’t on this trip) and stressed about work (which I currently am).  An already exhausting trip ended up with me awake at 3:00 am ET today, unable to go back to sleep.

I have not been able to take in a lot of fat during meals due to work meetings that included lunch and dinner, and as a result I have been really hungry – the type of hungry that was waking me up in the middle of the night!  The unfortunate result of that was a pretty big craving for carbs.  I did allow myself some today, as no matter what I ate I felt like I just couldn’t get full.  The fat available to me just wasn’t good fat, either, so the problem was compounded. (Yes, I did have my blender with me and had my coffee, butter and coconut oil each morning).

I’m not going to beat myself up about eating some carbs today.  My plan is to go to bed as soon as I get home, and fast throughout tomorrow morning in the hope that I will get back on track with ketosis tomorrow after about 18 hours of fasting.  Oh, and I will get back into exercising this week!  But my first goal is to get a good nights’ sleep in my own bed and start fresh tomorrow.

Since returning from LOTOJA, our rides have been much shorter, and we’ve gone back to climbing when we can.  Each ride has resulted in a personal record (PR) for one or both of us on a portion of the ride.

I had been anxious to climb Mt. Baldy since returning from France, but training for LOTOJA had to come first.  We finally made it back to Mt. Baldy last weekend, and while it is still a very tough climb – 6.9% average grade with sustained 15% at the very top – it was much more fun to climb this time.  Both Jonathan and I set PRs from Mt. Baldy Village to the top, and Jonathan set some on the bottom part as well.

This past weekend (2 days ago) we were not planning to ride hard as I was not having a good day on the bike.  As an aside, it’s been months since I’ve had to say that…I guess I was due for a “bad day.”  But what I thought was a bad day actually wasn’t when I looked at my results.  I was riding harder than I realized and just didn’t feel great.

We climbed one of our favorite local hills – not too steep but enough to wake up your legs – and were returning home when we connected with a group that had a very strong rider in the front.  There were 2 times I looked down at my computer to see we were going 32 mph. And we were going this speed in the flats – not downhill!  It was the first time I’d been able to sustain anything close to that speed on a flat road so I was pretty excited.  Once the super strong rider pulled off, our speed hovered around 26 before another guy accelerated and we were back to 31 mph.  Thankfully our turn for home came up right before it was my turn to pull!

Food has been a challenge for me the past few weeks.  Despite fasting throughout the morning, my ketosis levels have been very low – .5 or less.  When I do eat, my stomach hurts or I feel bloated.  Normally this happens when I eat too many sugar alcohols so I’m trying to be very careful about that, but the past few days it hasn’t seemed to matter.  I feel like the person in the commercial whose food is hitting her in the face.

I am going to continue fasting in the morning, and trying to only take in fat in liquid form for most of the day, and then be very particular about the food I do eat in the late afternoon and evening.  I’m hoping to narrow down the problem foods so I can stop the stomach aches and bloating.  My energy levels have been pretty good (no highs followed by lows) but I do need to figure out why my stomach is upset or bloated so much of the time.

Last note – I’ve been reading some terrific books on cholesterol and how fat ISN’T connected to heart disease.  I plan to post on both topics as soon as I’ve finished the second book, “The Big Fat Surprise.”

On our way to Logan, UT for the LOTOJA ride we did last weekend, our Subaru started acting up.  While climbing the last pass before Logan, it began cutting out and losing power.  This was a real problem, as we had a 206 mile bike ride in 2 days and our support crew (my mom and sister) needed to drive the Subaru through several mountain passes to support us.

Jonathan and I are lawyers, not mechanics, but that did not stop us and my mom and sister (also, not mechanics) from hypothesizing what the problem was.  With all of that mechanical brilliance working together we concluded it was probably the result of bad gas, but that we should get it looked at ASAP the next morning (Friday, the day before the big ride).

The owner of the house we were renting suggested a local business in north Logan.  Jonathan tried calling them but it was after 6:00 pm on Thursday and they were closed.  He sent a message through the website and the 2 of us decided we would show up there the next day at 8:00 am.

When we arrived, it was a few minutes before 8:00 am but there was already an employee there who walked out to greet us, stating he was just about to call us after receiving our message.  He got our Subaru in right away, and Jonathan and I left on foot to explore a while.  When we came back 45 min later they were just finishing up.  They ran a diagnostic, and no codes showed up.  They cleaned the air filter just in case, but the only thing they could come up with was that it had been bad gas.  They suggested we put fuel injector cleaner into the tank, and directed us to a nearby AutoZone where we could buy it cheaper than they could sell it to us.  And, they didn’t charge us for the diagnostic (usually $75). They even offered to put the cleaner in for us if we didn’t want to buy a funnel.  This was our first experience with the kindness of strangers.

We followed their instructions, and thankfully the Subaru performed well that day and the next 2 days through the mountains of Utah, Idaho and Wyoming.

Monday morning we load up the Subaru to start the 15 hour drive back to SoCal with a stop in Salt Lake City to drop my mom and sister off at the airport.  We would continue on to St. George, UT that night, then finish the rest of the drive Tuesday.

The Subaru continued to run well until one crucial moment.  We were on a 2-lane highway in the middle of nowhere, along the Wyoming/Utah border.  I only knew where we were because we had to get out a paper map when we no longer had cell service.

We were attempting to pass a semi on this middle-of-nowhere highway when my husband says those dreaded words, “uh oh.”  I looked over to see the dashboard lit up like Christmas as he’s telling me he’s lost power.  He manages to get back behind the semi, just as the Subaru dies completely.  We pull off the road and try not to panic.

We try starting it a few more times.  It turns over, but is clearly not getting any gas to start the engine.  I take my phone out to call AAA and find I have no cell service (thank you, Verizon).  Thankfully my mom’s phone has services – thank you, U.S. Cellular.  I call AAA, and after trying to explain where we are to a nice woman in a call center located who knows where, she says they can tow us 90 miles and a tow truck will be there in an hour and a half.  Awesome.  Did I mention we’re in the middle of nowhere?  And it’s hot.

We’re standing outside the Subaru killing time and trying not to get too grouchy when a gigantic pickup truck pulls up.  An older gentleman asks if we are ok.   After learning that we “are not from around there” he offers to call a mechanic in the town 5 miles away.  We gratefully take him up on his offer.  Kindness from a stranger #2, whose name we later learned is Monty.

The local mechanic shows up about 15 minutes later, and goes to work trying to diagnose the problem.  The smell of fuel quickly permeates the Subaru as he checks the fuel line, which is fine.  He can’t get any error codes to show up when he runs the diagnostic computer, either.

We are losing hope, and are resigned to meet the towtruck and pile in for a long 90-mile drive where we will then have to rent a car to get to the airport in Salt Lake, then drive back and spend the night and hope to get into a Subaru dealership the next day.  Moments later, we hear the Subaru start.  The young mechanic (whom I later learned is named Clay) has wiggled the throttle wire and got it to start!  He tells us that this wire appears to be the problem and that it’s been “tampered with” but he can’t tell any more than that.

He then offers to let us follow him into town to his shop to make sure it will run ok.  We do just that, and have no problems on the way into town.  He did not want to take any money, but we paid him a handful of cash anyway!  We met his lovely wife and baby daughter, and he let all of us use the restroom before getting on our way.  Kindness of strangers #3.  If you’re ever in Randolph, UT, stop by J-Bar Auto and tell Clay what a great guy we think he is!  I completed a Yelp review for the business, too.

The Subaru ran great, and when we arrived at the dealership in St. George at 8:00 am the next day (after driving until after midnight), we were once again met by very kind strangers who took the car in right away (act of kindness #4) and confirmed the wire was the problem.  Apparently some rodent had chewed through it, most likely when we lived in Oregon.  The dealership fixed it and had us on our way in less than an hour.

The kindness of strangers saved what would have otherwise been a disastrous trip that would have delayed us by no less than a day, and would have likely cost us a lot of money.  As I reflect back on the kindness shown to me by strangers during the ride itself, and on the people we met who helped us with the Subaru, I realize how blessed we are.  I hope we can repay the kindness to others in the near future.

Jonathan and I have been following a ketogenic diet since February of this year.   I am the more neurotic one – first using urine strips to check my ketosis levels, then switching to blood testing when I heard it was more accurate, then buying a breath tester from Sweden to test a different way.  I am also the one who had the tougher time getting my body to adapt to ketosis.  About  6 weeks in I went through a day of the “keto flu” where my stomach waged war against me and would not keep anything down.

As I reflect back on the last 6 months, there is a lot I’ve learned about ketosis and my body.  While every person reacts differently to a ketogenic diet, I decided to share what I’ve learned so far.  Perhaps others who read this have had a similar experience, or it will help others who are trying to adapt to this type of lifetstyle.  This is part 1 of what I suspect will be a multi-part series!

1.  I still eat more than I need to.    I am still not fully confident in the whole idea that I don’t “need” to eat in order to have energy.  I feel hungry a lot.  What I’ve read suggests that it may be thirst rather than hunger, but I also drink a lot of fluids during the day.  It may also be that I burn a lot of calories riding my bike, especially over the weekend when we do 6+ hour rides.
2. The less I eat, the better my ketone levels.  If I don’t eat breakfast, and wait until 1:00 pm or later to have lunch, my ketone levels are usually pretty good – 1.0 mmol or higher.  When I eat, my levels drop, even though I try to greatly minimize my carb intake.  This leads me to believe 2 things:  I am very sensitive to carbs, and I’m taking in more carbs than I realize.
3. Once I became keto-adapted, it is fairly easy to get back into ketosis if I drop out of it.  I’ve only done it on purpose once (which I will never do again – see #4 below) but thankfully my body re-adapted pretty quickly – within 2 days.
4. I won’t intentionally go out of ketosis again. I had 1 instance where I intentionally ate what I wanted for a weekend.  In my defense, it was in France and I wanted to enjoy the breads and pastries…and ice cream!  I paid for it for 5 straight days.  Not doing that again.  Ever.
5. I don’t need to worry if my ketone levels are low when I start a ride.  My body still prefers to burn ketones and will once I start exerting myself.

In 5 days I’ll be doing a 207 mile ride in one day and I’m sure I’ll have many more lessons learned to add after that experience!

Our last two “major” training rides were last Saturday, and yesterday.  Last Saturday we rode 107 miles, and at mile 85 we added  a climb that we do frequently, but never with 85 miles in our legs.  The results were astonishing:  We both set PRs going up the climb! I’m not sure how we were able to do that, but we were certainly pleased with the results.

Our total ride time was 6:44 (6 hours, 44 minutes), and we averaged 16 mph.  We had our regular breakfast of bacon and eggs plus coco butter coffee, and on the ride we had 2 Quest protein bars, and some peanuts.  I also had a SuperStarch drink about halfway in, but Jonathan opted for a third protein bar instead.

Sunday’s ride was 121 miles with just  under 4,000 feet of climbing.  Our total ride time was 7:20, and our average speed was 16.5 mph. We were very happy with that as it was faster with more miles than the previous ride, and we faced a cross/headwind most of the way out, and half the way back.  Same breakfast as the previous weekend, and on the bike we had 2 protein bars, some nuts, and we both had SuperStarch about 80 miles in.  The SuperStarch really helped us through the last part of the ride.  We did not feel as hungry as we had the prior week.  We’ll definitely plan to take it at least once, if not more, during Lotoja.

We’ve also started sharing a small RedBull during the ride to get a shot of caffeine and other vitamins.  The ketone supplement was upsetting Jonathan’s stomach so we haven’t been using it, and honestly, I haven’t really missed it.

We will now taper off our riding pretty significantly before Lotoja so we go into it with fresh legs.  We will do a recovery ride in the next day or so, and over the weekend we’ll do some shorter rides.  We both feel very good about our training and look forward to the challenging ride on September 12th!

Today we climbed 18 switchbacks (called “lacets” in French) in just under 3 km for total altitude gain of just under 1500 feet.  Lacets de Mont Vernier was featured for the first time this year in the Tour de France, so when we realized how close it was to where we were staying, we had to climb it.

It was very warm, but the views were spectacular.  Unfortunately it was tough to take pictures going up (too steep) or coming down (too steep!) so I had to settle for pictures from the bottom looking up at this incredible road cut into the hillside.   For more great aerial views and more information about this road, click here.

Thursday we rode 2 “off category” climbs that the Tour de France riders race on – Col de Telegraphe and Col de Galibier.  On the day we had over 70 miles and approximately 8600 feet of climbing.  Below is a picture of Jonathan and me at the top of Galibier.  Our for another ride, will post more later!