The Keto Diet: Simple, Lasting Change
Let’s not kid ourselves, we all love carbohydrates. Crispy fresh baked bread, sweet treats, chips, french fries (hungry yet?) are things almost all of us have indulged in, but sadly these things can take a serious toll on our health and well-being. So what are we supposed to do? Eat bun-less bacon cheese burgers all day? Please don’t, we beg you!
On this week’s episode we talk about all things keto. What is it? How does it work? Can it really do what people claim? Ed has been following this lifestyle for years and has learned some tips and tricks along the way. Listen as we clarify some of the common questions, concerns, and misconceptions surrounding this diet.
Some Topics We Discussed:
What is the keto diet and how does it work? (1:19)
What fats are healthy fats? (9:02)
What’s the difference between carbs and net carbs? (11:06)
What about the different types of keto diets? (12:55)
What are the benefits of the keto diet? (16:21)
How would someone start the keto diet? (25:45)
What are some of the best food options while on the keto diet? (33:44)
What are some of the best supplements for the keto diet? (43:46)
Key Takeaways From This Episode:
The keto diet is where we try to train the body to burn fat for fuel, rather than glucose. (3:07)
To be in ketosis you will want to eat a range of 20-50 carbohydrates per day. (8:09)
There is not a standard one size fits all keto diet. (14:19)
It will take several weeks for your body to start burning fat for fuel. (32:23)
Avoid almost all fruits. Berries are pretty much the only exception. (42:14)
Products & Resources:
Thank you to this episode’s sponsor: Silver Biotics
CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL SHOW TRANSCRIPT
Brian Strickland 00:43 Hello, friends and welcome back to another episode of the Holistic Navigator podcast where we believe in the body's ability to heal itself. I'm the producer of the show, Brian Strickland in here with me, as always is the holistic navigator himself. Mr. Ed Jones, how's your week been so far?
Ed Jones 01:01 Thank you, my friend. So far today was wonderful. I went out and flew a small plane Piper 319 or nine or five and got some good practice and it clears the cobwebs out of my head to go fly a plane because if you don't do it right, you die.
Brian Strickland 01:16 Well, there's something to that I suppose. Today's episode is all about keto. The keto diet is really just blown up over the last couple of years. And you can hardly go anywhere now without something being marketed as the newest and greatest thing that you need to succeed on your diet. And yes, the keto diet is a great way to lose weight quickly. But there are numerous other benefits to following a keto lifestyle. We want to help you succeed and give you some tricks and tips on how to make this a lasting change in your life. And I know you are really following these nutrition guidelines long before they were popular. So can you give us a brief introduction to the keto diet? What is it exactly? And how does it work?
Ed Jones 01:58 Thank you, Brian. Yes, I have observed as probably more diets over my past 40 years that claimed to do all the things we all want, which is losing body fat, feeling better aging slower, thinking more clearly, most have certainly failed up to live up to those expectations. However, I will make a prediction, the keto diet will be here for as long as we are here. Because it's not a gimmick. It actually has been around since 1920, when it was invented to treat seizures in children. Yes, without even knowing the correct word for it. I started doing a diet long ago, somewhere. My daughter is 29 actually today. And when she was young, I remember taking butter into restaurants and olive oil and eating the avocados and making sure that I had a high fat diet. So yes, I have done it without knowing what I was doing. I just instinctively realized that was the proper diet for myself, but really took to make it really simple for people who have no real understanding. The keto diet is where we try to train the body to burn fat for fuel, rather than glucose. And it is multiple reasons why we want to do that. But what I want to talk about first is of course, burning fat for fuel is a very clean, efficient and healthy way to reach our goals of losing body fat and feeling more energetic and not having cravings for what the American people have constantly which is carbohydrates. So you know, there's a tremendous amount of confusion though surrounding the keto diet because any of us who are I don't know, I would guess 30 years old or above may remember the Atkins diet. And the Atkins diet was Dr. Atkins was a cardiologist who, in his own practice had seen and observed that people who lived on high carbohydrates morning noon and night, were suffering from many of the maladies that we all fear: obesity, heart disease, cholesterol, lack of energy, cravings, all of the things that we seem to see with everybody these days also. So he put people on a diet where again, without the fancy words, because he didn't have them was to train the body to burn fat for fuel rather than sugar, sugar been in glucose. The problem was Atkins did not realize because the science was not in place at that time, the devastating effects of the wrong kind of fats because on this diet, you are going to be consuming about 75% of your daily diet will consist of fat and then about 20% will be protein and somewhere between five and 10% will be carbohydrate. Now I'm going to break this down for you in much simpler terms where you can listen today, if you're listening at 10 o'clock, you're going to be able to go out at 12 at noon, and eat a keto meal. So the Atkins diet, it worked, but it made people unhealthy in other ways, because he was a proponent of any type of fat, which is absolutely not a proper diet. When I say any type, you can live on cheese, eggs and steak and still call yourself an Atkins keto person. And you are in ketosis. And but that's the all the devastation from the wrong unhealthy fats, was helping on one end and hurting on the other. So the whole new research on this, which I will explain very clearly, is a different approach to this keto diet. Now, before I move into the details of this, you know, what is a keto? Well, keto refers to something called ketones. If you eat glucose, it is like putting gasoline in your car. And that's going to fuel your cells. And the cells will run on glucose all day long, all lifelong, but then we have all these negative effects that we are seeing because of that. When you switch the mechanism of your engine, to where is burning fat for fuel, the liver has to make once it once you deplete your carbs, it has to produce something called a ketone. Because your body doesn't actually run on the fat, it runs on what the fat makes, which is ketones from your liver. So that's why it's called a keto diet. That's why in 1920, they discovered that children that had uncontrollable seizures could be on a keto diet, and they would reduce or perhaps sometimes completely eliminate the seizures. Now you can do this through fasting, you don't have to eat anything. If you fast, for a matter of two to three days, your liver has to produce food for your body. Because there because you depleted the carbohydrates. So then you fall back into ketosis. So there's multiple ways to do it. But of course, we all know, you can't stay on a fasting diet, you will die because you are not consuming anything. So when I first started the official keto diet, I will admit to you there was a lot of confusion to this, because there was little research. It was just starting to gain momentum. And I've now got this down to where it's super easy. So the way that I approach every single meal is this, I asked myself the question, what and how can I include the majority of this meal with healthy fat. And you have to go into this being prepared, because I'll tell you to be honest, the addition of healthy fat is not super easy if you don't prepare yourself or go to the right places to eat or do the right shopping at the grocery store. But here's an example of what I'm talking about. We know that you have to lower your carbohydrates significantly, how significant? You have a range now and part of this is going to be experimental, but somewhere between 20 and 50 carbohydrates per day is what the diet will have to have. Why so low, because you have to deplete the amount of carbs that are already stored within your liver, or you will never get into ketosis. And that's the goal is to make your liver make ketones. When you do that, you're going to have less inflammation, you're going to have less cravings, you're going to have burning more body fat, your brain fog will seem to disappear. So the goal is to lower the carbs between 20 and 50. And secondarily is to have the bulk of your meal, let's say three fourths of it calorie wise will be made up of fat. The catch is what fats are on the good list. Well, I carry with me every single meal if I'm eating out or even at home, I use butter that's organic or ghee. Ghee is an Indian type of clarified butter. I will also perhaps carry olive oil, high quality olive oil and be skeptical of many brands because many are diluted with canola. And may also always look for restaurants that have the healthy fat options and there's not many, one of which is avocados. So you can include with every single meal if it doesn't naturally have fat, you can do it with the butter with the avocados or with the olive oil and then fourthly would be coconut oil. So somewhere in every breakfast lunch and dinner, if the food itself is not high fat of healthy origin, you have to consume some of these one of these four products or at least that's what I do. So when you go into eat lunch, you're going to pick foods that number one have a low carbohydrate or low glycaemic level. We all hear the term glycaemic. All it means is this, the ability of a food to elevate your blood sugar, like potatoes would be far more glycaemic than a celery, broccoli and cauliflower, we both, we all can understand that probably that's the case. Because it does shoot in fast into the bloodstream. So you go into a restaurant, and you pick foods that have 20, when I say 20%, we're not gonna get too much carried away with this percent. Now, just think of it as a big pie chart, and you've got three fourths of it is going to be fat, a little less than 1/4 is going to be protein and whatever little bit left, that's your carbohydrates. Now, that can't happen unless you're prepared for the fat or you shop at the right places. So you're going to go in, and you're going to eat your lunch or your supper, or you can buy snacks that are somewhat prepared, that make it fit these numbers.
Brian Strickland 11:06 Alright, so a keto diet essentially means high fat, moderate protein, low carb, but when I'm looking on the back of packages of food, or whatever I'm eating, there's always that fun thing of fiber and carbohydrates, which the difference is going to be net carbs. So can you talk a little about the importance of incorporating both of those and looking at those amounts when you're eat when you're on a keto diet?
Ed Jones 11:34 You know, many times we will be eating foods, that could be a protein bar, or that are packaged, where you actually can see the exact nutritional breakdown. Unlike going to a restaurant, I mean, I have to live on a bar at about 230 every afternoon, because I like to eat, you know, four times a day. But many of these have, like, the bar that I really recommend is Zunta because I formulated it, but it's one of the cleanest food protein bars I believe is available, however, you look on the label of the xunta bar says it has 23 grams of carbs, that would be excessive, except for the fact that it also has 13 grams of fiber. What that means is that you can deduct the fiber from the carbohydrate content, because the net carbs is what your body will absorb. And that means it's going to bar 23 minus 13. That sounds like about 10 to me. So there's 10 carbs that would be at utilized by Zunta Bar, the thing about a Zunta bar, and any bar that meets these needs, is is quite filling. And so that's going to be almost a half meal that you could easily incorporate, especially if you live under the guidelines of 40 carbs per day, that still gives you some room to you know, manipulate that.
Brian Strickland 12:55 So what about the different types of keto diets? I've heard of like a cyclical diet where people go on and off again, and I know there's maybe two or three others? Do you have any recommendations for people that are wanting to start this in the different types,
Ed Jones 13:12 When you listen to me speak on this, I am not trying to give you a whole education from A to Z, what I want people to understand is what I have observed what I've personally used, and really get down to the nitty gritty because you could study for 25 hours, the keto diet this week alone, and still not really make your mind up. Yes, there are about eight different types of keto diet. I mean, there's the standard, there's the modified, there's a targeted, there's the restricted, there's the high protein, we don't need to get into all of the names, what it truly boils down to, is really the redistribution of how maybe the carbs would be a little more a little less. Now, you asked earlier about the cycling. That's that's not a type of diet, but the cycling of keto means that you go on and off of it or you change the numbers at a certain point. And again, I will repeat experimenting with this for your genetics and your physical chemistry is the only way you will know. There is not a standard one size fits all keto diet, but I can tell you that if you will get to the percentages of about three fourths of your meal is healthy fat, about 1/4 is protein and about five to 10% is carbs which I know that's more than 100% but somewhere close to that you will deplete the glucose which is the glycogen you will then start burning fat for fuel. Now want to cover and I know you'll ask me about you know the precautions that come up with that which you need to know about. But when you you know when you get into the diet, I am a huge fan of cycling that means that every Sunday, I go off of it. I do it six days a week. And on Sunday, I usually have pizza. Because one is I feel better. The body does not like doing the same exact thing every single day, every week, every month. You get stagnant. Listen, if we, you know, I'm a massive believer in following kind of ancient wisdom, of health and ancient wisdom to me is, let's look at the 10,000 years and more that we've been on this earth living through jungle settings and famines and heat and freezing temperatures and no food and plenty of food. The body has been built to go through ups and downs, and in fact, it strengthens it, it makes it adaptable, and it makes us live longer. If you think about all the people you see on TV that survived the Nazi Holocaust, you know, many of these people basically sometimes didn't eat for days or weeks, they may have had roaches to eat very tiny amounts of food, look at how many of those actually grew into their 90s. And this was them living for years under these conditions, there's something to be said for allowing the body to face extreme measures within health and diet and in conditions. So that's why cycling is important. You got to go off and on this thing.
Brian Strickland 16:21 Okay. So before we move on, let's just review the bare basic guidelines of the keto diet. And that is a high fat diet. But healthy fats, you can't just eat pepperoni and ranch dressing all day long and expect to be healthy. A moderate amount of protein and of course, low carbs. But let's kind of transition into the benefits of a keto diet. I know long term there, you know, if you're looking at it more of a lifestyle change, there are some really distinct benefits that are becoming more and more clinically studied, including fighting disease and other things. So can you speak into that just a little bit?
Ed Jones 17:05 Absolutely. And you know, my daughter, she is pregnant now. And I've never been a grandpa. But the more I'm starting to kind of focus that direction. I did not actually realize this until she told me all babies are on a keto diet brought mother's milk is the perfect keto food. And so if people think that it's unhealthy, what's going on with nature and babies? So um, I had to put my two cents worth on that one because there are some very harsh critics of keto. And yes, as far as benefits, I have seen tremendous benefits. With the proper application of keto, I have seen some devastation when people do it incorrectly. But the number one benefit is losing body fat. I'm 62 years old, almost my body fat is 9.9% last week, I've never been that in my entire life, even though I've worked out five and six days a week since I was 14. Why? The keto diet? Secondly, you know, type two diabetes is totally epidemic in this country. Look at the people who have non alcoholic fatty livers have the inability to lose weight and all the things that come with type two. And the mainstream medicine you know, offers some options, but those are not fixing the body they're medicating and keto diet, as a general rule, to me is the most effective to balance this excessive blood sugar elevations that are happening throughout our country. Thirdly, heart disease. You know, there's people who again, who are fighting the keto, that Oh, all this fat is going to kill us. That kind of mentality came because of the decades of propaganda about we need to be on a low fat diet. And that is still instilled in a lot of institutions, a lot of textbooks and many opinions. And to me is the absolute opposite. We killed ourselves with the low fat diet because the only way you can eat low fat is to increase the carbohydrates and they do burn dirty remember that. So fighting heart disease, in most cases, it lowers LDL, that's the one that suppose it bad guy. Absolutely will, will cut triglycerides in half, especially with the addition of omega three in a supplemental form. And it raises HDL in many cases, protection against cancer. If you look into the word Otto Warburg, he was a researcher back in the 30s and 40s, who we still respect that had the most accurate view of what produces cancer cells. And it has to do with fermentation and sugar. That's the underlying mechanism that feeds it. Well guess what? Cancer cells can not survive as a fuel using fat, it just died simply don't have the genetic structure to burn it, it can only burn glucose. So it makes sense that if you're starving that particular bad cell, that's a good thing. Yes. And many researches has pointed to the fact that if a person's going to go through chemo, go through radiation, if you can be on either a fasting often on diet or a, an intermittent fasting or a keto diet during the treatments, those cells are so much weaker and vulnerable to the treatments that you will get much better results in the long run. Now, there are people who do it without any treatments, of course, next neurological diseases. I mean, those fit into everything from als to Parkinson's to there's a whole page full. That seems to be cropping up in people who used to be 80 years old would get it. Now we're down to the 50s. It's scary stuff, Brian. Yes, and Alzheimer's and keto diets again, the reason it works is this, I'm repeating for the fourth time, carbs burn dirty. What does that mean? Well, in every cell, there's something called mitochondria. That is the energy that's the kind of factory within a cell that makes it make energy. When you deplete that through damage, basically, like throwing, if I throw enough darts into you, Brian, at first is going to be modest damage, but the more I throw into you, you eventually would probably die because even though the darts not a big needle, and you're only going to bleed a little if you have hundreds of these over a period of short term or long period of time, you will suffer and end up not being able to function. That's what happens when you're on a fuel that burns dirty because the mitochondria is what burns the dirty fuel. Well, that's burn clean. Lastly, improved longevity. We know in animal studies, animals seem to live longer and quality lives through the use of keto. But in a personal standpoint, the reason I love keto is number one, I don't have any more cravings for bad foods, I can walk past a plate of cookies and cakes and puddings, and really not even bat an eye. And the reason is because my body's so efficient, called fat adapted is efficient at burning fat. And that keeps my blood sugar balance. So I don't have this addictiveness of I'm going to eat some big bowl of cereal for breakfast, Oh, my gosh, at 10 o'clock, I want some some snack. And even if I don't get it, then by 12, I'm having lunch with another cookie after or maybe I'll get a Starbucks with one of those fancy names that have, you know, 40 grams of sugar in the drink. Those that's an endless addictive cycle. And it won't stop with discipline alone, you have to fix chemistry, I keep talking about is not about all discipline is balancing chemistry within the body.
Brian Strickland 23:04 Yeah, absolutely. So with so many benefits, it would seem like why wouldn't you do a keto diet? But with that being said, are there any individuals who should avoid doing a keto diet?
Ed Jones 23:20 Yes, you know, if you're compromised medically, with a lot of, you know, a serious disease, you're on many medications, you have to be cautious. And we're going to talk about the keto flu. When you put your body in ketosis, it you know, it's a radical shift. And I'm not saying it's easy, because your cells have to really learn something after 40 5060 years of living, and it can create some stress. Well, if you're already compromised, you know, that would be like me asking you to go to the gym with me every morning for one hour. And you've been kind of sitting on your couch because you're you're you're treating a disease that just It doesn't make sense. So check with your health professional, if you have, you know, any significant health issues first. But I will make the statement that check with the correct health professional one who has a good toolbox, one who has open mindedness and has studied these things. Because if they don't, they're going to blow you off immediately because it's not mainstream ideas yet. I mean, if you saw the news a few weeks ago, Weight Watchers stock has plummeted. For the first time I think that I've ever seen in my entire adult life. Why is that? keto? keto keto, they don't embrace it. People want it because it works. So find the people who know that can help you help yourself.
Brian Strickland 24:54 Wanted to pause just for a quick moment until you bought our sponsor this week. This episode Brought to you by silver biotics, creators of silver soul technology. Silver biotics takes colloidal silver to a new level by providing superior products proven safe and effective through hundreds of reports and studies. It's the only silver technology proven safe through human ingestion studies, giving you peace of mind. Whether you're looking for wound care, immune support, or skincare, silver biotics wide range of clinically studied products can help you stay healthy. Silver biotics strong support, strong body silver strong. Alright, so let's talk a little bit about how somebody can incorporate this into their own life. If I'm coming from little to no background of how to eat healthy, quote unquote, and I'm wanting to make some significant changes in my own life. What recommendations would you have? Because I know, when you're starting a keto diet from scratch, it can be a little traumatic to the body. So are there ways to overcome that? Or what would you tell people?
Ed Jones 26:16 You know, if you use a tracker, and you really want to look up numbers, and I think you need to do that initially, just so if you don't have an idea of like, how much carbs does a quarter cup of rice have if you don't have some of these ideas you need to and because you got to stay it, you know no more than 50 carbs, if you are at 40 to 50 carbs, it will be gentle. If you are at 20 carbs, it might be more of a challenge for you to do this, the upside to being at 20 is you're going to deplete your carbs quicker, you're going to lose more fat, and you're going to you're going to become what we call fat adapted, far quicker than if you do it slower. It's almost like pulling the band aid off all at once. Now I'm not a huge fan of the 20 carbs a day diet because I want to feel decent. I don't want to have you know this keto flu, which is feels like the flu, you're you have bad breath, you get constipated, you sometimes don't have an appetite, you feel lethargic, you might have muscle pains. The reason half the reason that happens is and you won't read this very often is because you lacked salt. Now when I say salt, I don't mean Morton's junky grocery store salt, I mean, something like Himalayan, Celtic, or Real Salt, something of that nature. Now I take salt capsules, because I don't want to acquire a taste for the sodium. I like foods that are where I can just taste the food themselves. And I know if I keep salting it, I'll gonna miss that if I don't have it. So I do have several salt capsules per day to ensure that I don't get a keto flu, if I slip into that 20 to 30 carb range.
Brian Strickland 28:02 What's the benefit from supplementing with salt at that point?
Ed Jones 28:05 Well, the problem is when you get close to the ketosis, you are manipulating a system of the body that has to do with insulin. And the fact that when you start lowering all of these insulin numbers, at the same time, the body tends to excrete the sodium because of the process of ketosis. And so it's just a natural progression, that when you lack the sodium, the the sodium potassium pump, which is in every cell becomes dysfunctional. And it's so easy. Now, medically if you're if you think you're sensitive to sodium because of blood pressure, which is really a myth and about 75% of people, only 25% had sensitivities, even though it's the dogma of the old days, still, till is around, but figure that out. And again, do use the quality salt and you don't have to keep doing it. Once you get through this first month. You should be fine. Most likely without it, constipation is an issue. We help that with making again making a guarantee in your life that you're going to drink about 64 ounces of water and you do it in small doses throughout the day not trying to drink a half of it in the morning and half in the evening. And then you might have to use a slight laxative. I love I hate laxatives and we did do a podcast on constipation Brian. So anyone who's chronically constipated, please listen to what I said about miralax and not using it. But Cascara Sagrada, Triphala there's many options that are non addictive for people who have slow elimination,
Brian Strickland 29:39 would sipping bone broth or chicken stock or you know something to that effect be helpful as well.
Ed Jones 29:45 It will be helpful to your health and your gut lining is not going to make or break a keto diet but is part of what you could do. Now the piece of paper that I love to give to clients when they say I still don't have an idea Do what foods to eat? Is there not a simple list and you know what I found a list that I love. Not everyone does. I was in Anaheim, California last year and I was blessed to spend some time with Dave Asprey of the Bulletproof company. He's a dynamic individual. Of course, he has a podcast that has been around a long, long time. And he is all about body hacking. But he produced a form paper that lists all of the foods that I live off of, and I live off this list. And it's called if you Google it, the Bulletproof Diet roadmap. And he's gonna list on here, three different categories of food, a green called bulletproof, a yellow, which is mid range, and yellow, which is in the red, which is toxic. If you live off the grain, which is categorized under beverages veggies, all nuts, dairy, protein, starch, fruit, spices, sweeteners, and cooking, you will absolutely be able to live on a keto diet in with very simple effort, all you got to do is look at your list.
Brian Strickland 31:09 Okay, so yeah, there, your body can go through some pretty significant changes when you're starting the keto diet. But I think one of the biggest questions that people have is how can I actually know that I'm in ketosis? And I know there are multiple different ways of testing, but some of them are fairly inaccurate. So do you have any recommendations on on what is cost effective and accurate?
Ed Jones 31:35 Absolutely, Brian, first off, to make it very clear, in my opinion, the urine test strips are relatively worthless. Secondarily, the breath machines, it seems that the only ones that are relatively accurate are the higher price versions, but the gold standard is still pricking your finger. And so if you're going to invest, to find out if you're in official ketosis, do the blood testing kits, and nothing else. You know, once you get experience with being in ketosis, you're going to know pretty well that you are. And in fact, after a while, you're not even going to know you are because it's so normal, that you will only know when you're out of ketosis. So it's kind of a strange thing as time goes on. But it's not that difficult to manage, because you're going to have these intuitive feelings after I'd say a month of truly experimenting, if you get to a point of again, being fat adapted. What does that mean? It means that your body's very efficient at running on fat for fuel, that will not happen the first week, it's going to take several weeks. And again, if you do very low carb, 20 grams, you're going to get there faster, but then you have more risk of flu, the keto flu. Now, one thing I do, which is I live on a diet most of the time, which probably focuses on 50 grams of carbs, again, I work out very hard six days a week. Also, though intermittent fast, of course, what is that that's picking a timeframe of the 24 hour period? Somewhere between 12 and 15? hours could be 16, where you don't consume calories, you consume liquid water, maybe unsweet tea? Some people think coffees, okay, some don't, I do think it's okay for me. So I will only drink water, and or a cup of coffee during those 12 to 14 hours, that will tend to help you to be a little bit more in ketosis a little quicker if you do that.
Brian Strickland 33:44 Anytime that we begin to restrict what people can eat, it becomes more difficult, right? That's, that's the biggest part of any diet is people think they can't do it because they they don't have the time to prepare or the willpower to say no, but I can honestly say the keto diet is probably one of the simplest diets and really lifestyle changes that I've found to follow. So let's talk about what are some of the best food options while you're on the keto diet because I know healthy fats are obviously a huge part of this. And, you know, it's really easy to get stuck in a rut, even with food because you're limited to eating you know, so few things. So can we talk about what are some of your favorite foods? What are your recommendations and really on a day to day basis? What do your meals look like?
Ed Jones 34:37 You know, it is easier to actually observe someone else doing it than to learn from from square one yourself. And again, I have kind of fine tuned it over a life not just a few weeks, however, and on Instagram, I've been posting photos of the meals that I eat. Some people may say like one or two of them might not be perfectly keto present, but it's very close to a keto diet. The thing is, again, if you go the bulletproof diet roadmap, you're going to have your list. But this is what I do. And the number one most important point that I want to make if you want this to be the simplest that you possibly can do, because you're busy person, as you say, you know, the food choices can be devastatingly difficult. If you're just you get to a point you throw your hands up, because you're kind of in a confused state, you need to drink your breakfast, so my drink is significantly full of fat. What kind of fat would you put in a drink or protein drink, you only have a couple choices, I use MCT oil. What is MCT oil is medium chain triglycerides, it is the most efficient way to turn your body into a keto state, and won't do it if you're not doing everything else, right. So don't think you can do MCT and all of a sudden still eat on your normal diet. But it's very helpful to help you move into the right place. Warning MCT you can only use one tablespoon or you will get a loose stool which happened to me last month for the actually the very first time in my life. But one tablespoon is magic. Now there are drinks coming out, which is what I've been been using, which makes it very simple. In fact, Garden of Life has a product that is nothing but powdered butter. And so the powder butter is how I supplement the rest of the fat of my drink. So I basically choose a good protein. I'll go back before between a whey protein. Again, you'd look at the brands, please get clean products athletic market is inundated with trash and poor quality. And you got to watch what you're doing but get grass fed products Grass Fed Whey protein, or if you don't, you can get the pea proteins, the vegetarian base the key is again, looking at the carbohydrate level, it needs to be under three or four, there's no need to give yourself carbs and a drink because it's it's using up your budget. And you want that for food not for your drink. So pick a good protein, do about 20 grams a day. Usually that's one scoop at a tablespoon of MCT maybe some butter or coconut oil, I use a small amount of organic blueberries because they're very low on the glycemic index. Blueberries are the only food proven that can extend the mental function of animals in studies and is full of good antioxidants. And yes, it's a carb, but I'm probably getting about 10 carbs out of all my blueberries, because we need a array of colored foods and that's one of the colored foods. I use unsweetened almond milk and blend it every single morning.
Brian Strickland 37:51 And a greens powder as well?
Ed Jones 37:52 I will use a greens powder. Thank you for reminding me because the greens and we've talked about it before on all of our podcast, it does something that is imperative your health which is open up the channels of detoxification. It doesn't matter how well you eat if you're backing up in regard to liver, kidney and other cell functions. So when I add all that up, I've got a bout maybe 15 carbs on a big day I can get them down to about 12 if I really watch it and so that still gives me a good 35 carbs to eat the rest of the day and these are very low glycemic so that takes care of the one meal then you're going to eat two other meals and then you're going to probably have one snack. So the snack is easy. You know five years ago I wasn't there wasn't any bars I liked the Bhu Fit bar. There are plenty of bars that are actually like the one I have in my hand here called just the cheese and you know they have no carbs and they're very filling tastes great and are easily found in many of the better nutrition stores around and of course as soon to bar which I like the chocolate version, the best very filling and very easy to digest. So if we get the breakfast drink out of the way you can do this in literally five minutes be in and out the door. Your full I drink mine at 5:25 every morning. I am hungry by 11:30 but I should be I went to the gym. I've done this. I've done that. I've worked well. That's pretty dang good. And then I'll eat the keto meal. You know what Brian I go to Jason's Deli probably three times a week. They have organic spinach on the salad bar. So this is what I do. I get a ton of organic Spanish. I move down the aisle I get some broccoli, I get some zucchini and then I go a little further down and I will then pick up on the cheese. I'll add a little bit of cheese on top and they have a very high quality olive oil so that's the one of the few places I don't have to take my oils then I will inundate that salad with that olive oil it will be dripping out Then get a little bit of cottage cheese because I'm not used to getting a protein. And I do order a side order of avocados. And then I will put some walnuts on top. That is a perfect keto meal, you've got actually about 15% protein instead of 20. And then you've got the rest is fat and totally low glycemic carbs. So that takes care of my lunch, then I'll have as into bar 2:30, I'll have a supper, which will be more heavily laced with protein. And this is a concern in warning. Back in the Atkins day, we thought there was no limit to the amount of protein we thought the more the merrier. Not true, there's a certain substance in the body called m tour. And it is a significant correlation to cancer rates. And the higher level of that, the more risk there is of cancer, it will not get increased unless you are going excessive. All bodybuilders go excessive, they're consuming one gram, two grams per pound of body weight, when in fact, you should be at least half of that I weigh 175 pounds, the amount of protein I should be getting is about 100 grams per day. So that's not far off from a half a gram per pound of body weight. However, when you do work out, you can go up a little bit higher.
Brian Strickland 41:15 And that can actually inhibit weight loss as well. Right?
Ed Jones 41:18 Absolutely, it can actually go in a backwards kind of feedback loop. And you know, we think oh, the more protein the more muscle but we need to be on about one half gram per pound of body weight. So if you weigh 200 pounds, you know 100 grams of protein per day. An egg probably has about eight to 910 grams of protein per Well, you can see you know, it wouldn't be it's not that difficult to get to 100 grams of protein, the hardest part of this diet. And you know, this is lowering the carbs is really not adding the fat and is certainly not adding a protein. Because everybody's tons of protein. carbs is the protein and fat. That's the challenge. But we want to moderate that we don't want to flip back in the Atkins days. One last point is I think, and I don't think I know this because I'm spent my life talking to people about health. There is the biggest myth, I think that is pervasive across every conversation. Fruits are healthy. No, they're not. No, they're not. Fruits are nothing but a well packaged pretty piece of junk food. In most cases, we need to get over this myth that there are a healthy food. They're just a way that we can fool ourselves into a desert. Now saying that there are certain fruits that have a really, really big pluses because they are full of nutrients. That isn't your orange juice in the morning. That isn't most of the fruit you're going to pick up but they do. The ones that fall into this class of superfoods are only fruits like berries, blackberries, cranberries, lemons are in raspberries and blueberries. And those are the ones that had the super health giving benefits. Now avocado is listed as a fruit and coconut is also and grapefruit. But anything below that starts lessening the positive effects and when you get down to the fruits of things like raisins, jams, jellies, cantaloupe, watermelon, I'm sorry, watermelon. I know we all love it. And, and you know what? It's a special treat. That's what you do. But stay with the berries stay with the berries. They're the ones who are magically powerful to prevent disease. They're not gonna have your keto diet. This isn't all about losing weight. It's about living a long time.
Brian Strickland 43:46 Yeah, absolutely. So lastly, let's briefly discuss some key supplements that may be helpful for people who are either starting keto or are really well into their diet. Are there any keto specific supplements that you would recommend for people to either help alleviate some of the symptoms associated with keto? Or that may provide some key nutrients that are required on the keto diet? And what are some of the things to look for when choosing the supplements?
Ed Jones 44:17 but you know, I have an unusual probably response to that. I don't think you have to purchase one single nutrient to be effective at a keto lifestyle. However, there are just a few that can help you to perhaps move quicker into ketosis. And of course, as we spoke about using the whole, unprocessed salts like Celtic, Himalayan or Real Salt is very helpful. I really, really believe you should be doing two to four of these capsules per day or the equivalent of a serving. Now MCT you would call that a supplement. That is to me the number one most important that you do because it's going to turn on your Fat metabolizing power within your system, and it helps the brain to function. Do you know the brain absolutely loves to burn ketones for fuel. That's why when you're on a ketosis diet, and you finally get stable, you think so much more clear. You remember things you can study and actually have recall, I'm telling you guys and girls, this is the truth, but you got to get through the first initial stages. And then we have products marketed all over the place called ketones. Well, ketones, as I explained earlier, is what the liver will make that the body will burn as fuel, because you're in ketosis, well, so let's drink some, and maybe, you know, mix up some powder, because that makes sense. Maybe that'll put us in ketosis. No, it won't, unless you are near ketosis already, or you are working out. And you want to be further into the fat burning capacity of your body. So if you want to accelerate the fat burning, purchase some ketone powders, and use it around a workout. Or the other way is, and we've tested this on many, many different clients. If you feel like you slipped out of ketosis, because you went to a 70 gram carb day, or an 80 gram carb day, simply because life is life, and you did it, and you didn't have much choice, you can do a ketone drink, and I think I believe pretty solidly, that it can pull you back closer to ketosis, even though you did some excess carbs, you cannot be at a pizza level and expect to do a ketone and broil you back. But you can be at up maybe 80 gram per day level, and it might pull you back in. And then they're, you know, they're not cheap, but they're certainly safe. And they I think they're an option. And you know, as far as we've talked about this before the core, five supplements, despite the fact that we're speaking about keto, really and truly, the underlying message of everything that I preach and speak about is long term health. So simply because we're burning body fat, and we're thinking clearly, that doesn't negate the importance of a full range of other nutrients, the nutrients won't help your keto, it just helps you maybe live longer. I don't know if that's important or not, and maybe reduce diseases, which are omega threes, green drinks, probiotics, a multivitamin, and then vitamin D. Again, vitamin D, to me is the most important nutrient that we can take in our bodies. How much do you need? Heck, I don't know. That's why we have on our under products under the holistic navigator. Direct Labs, you need a blood test and you need it to be above 50 on a blood test if you want optimal health. So you do a dose about 5000 units. You do it for two to four months, you do a blood test. If it's not at 50 you keep going up until you get to 50. Okay, Brian, I hope that I've answered enough questions and given enough information that you and anyone else can start this diet. today. I want to also tell you, instead of googling how to do keto, you know what is keto? I have trusted sources because I study constantly, and I want to do the homework for everyone so you don't have to waste your time. So these are the three people that I would highly recommend if you want to become very much more educated on the details. Ben Bikman. Google him Mark Sisson who I love to death because he's similar to me. He's about my age. He works out like a crazy man. And when you hear his story is similar to mine about the fact that he worked out harder than any person can but yet he could not get to the level of body fat physique strength endurance that he wanted until he embraced keto, though Mark Sisson and then Dominic D'Agostino. He's probably the most credentialed of anyone, and I've listened to him for hours explain about disease processes, and all of the other aspects of why we might want to be on a keto diet. And again, I live in a keto lifestyle. I don't say diet, I say keto lifestyle. And it's so freaking easy. And I highly encourage all of you who want optimal health to learn the basics as I have taught today and try this diet for six weeks. If it doesn't work for you. That doesn't mean that you can't be healthy. There's plenty of ways to eat and other avenues and try to put it together. I just feel like personally the keto lifestyle is the one for longevity. Alright, everyone. That's it for this week's episode. We hope that you have learned some useful wellness tips that you can make a part of your Life. Thank you so much for listening and until next week, I'm Ed Jones. And remember, if a doctor cannot do good, he must be kept from doing harm. Have a great and healthy day, everyone.