I recently read a book that is appropriately named “Keto Clarity” (available for purchase on Amazon) as it truly provided clarity to me on what I was doing wrong with the food I was eating, and how to fix it.  I have read hundreds of blog articles and several books on the topic of low carb eating and ketosis, but it took this book, written by a layperson and low carb expert, Jimmy Moore, (with the help of a doctor) to really hit home some key points with me.

As a result of reading the book, I’ve made some  changes to  what and when I eat, and as a result my ketone levels have been higher and more consistent:

-I’ve become more comfortable with the belief that I don’t need to eat three meals a day, especially if I’m in ketosis.  I rarely eat breakfast now but instead do a “fat fast” from the night before (after drinking tea with heavy cream and coconut oil) until lunch or later the next day.  I have coffee with butter in the morning but no food.

-I learned in the book to try to eat a ratio of 4:1 or 3:1 (fat to carbs and protein) with each meal.  This made much more sense to me than trying to calculate how many grams of protein and carbs I should be eating daily.

-When in doubt, eat more fat.  Both my husband and I have struggled with hunger, and it now makes sense that the cause  was most likely too much protein and not enough fat.  So, we’ve bid goodbye to chicken for the most part, and are focusing on more meats, fish and nuts where we can get “good fat.”

For those of you wondering why protein needs to be lower, here’s a quick explanation:  Consuming high amounts of protein and low amounts of carbohydrates can cause a process called gluconeogenesis to begin.  Gluconeogenesis happens in the liver as a means to normalize and maintain blood glucose levels in the body – the liver actually creates glucose through gluconeogenesis.  We don’t want this to happen when trying to stay in nutritional ketosis because gluconeogenesis discourages the production of ketones.  When someone is following a low carb diet but struggling to stay in ketosis, excess protein is often the culprit, which I suspect was the case with me.

My ketone levels have stayed around 2.0 mmol right around lunchtime since paying closer attention to my fat to protein and carbohydrate ratio.   Fasting helps me maintain consistent ketone level, and it also helps me remember that when in ketosis I don’t have to eat.  Much of my “need” to eat is definitely mental.