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My story with the Ketogenic diet began in September 2016. I discovered it by accident while I was looking for low-carb recepies. At a glance, the meals looked very ‘normal’ but as I read about them, the idea of eating lots of fat seemd a bit crazy to me. After all, we’ve always been told that fat is terrible for our health ¿right?
My curiosity led me to research about the diet for a few months. I looked for academic articles, interviews with doctors, and books that could answer all of my questions regarding secondary effects. Finally, the amount of benefits attributed to this diet inspired me to try it. Like this, I started my process as a Ketogenic in 2016. Now, I cannot deny that I was afraid to put my metabolism throught such a drastic change, especially because I was not consulting any nutritionist. However, I found many tools that helped me monitor the transition and in that way, make sure of consuming all the nutrients necessary to stay healthy.
After three years of being a Ketogenic, I feel great. Not only did I loose the extra kilos that I had gained since I arrived in Europe, but I also feel full of energy and vitality. My mentality changed and with it my relationship to food. I have trained my taste buds so they do not ask for sugar and I am more aware of the importance of knowing the macronutrients that we consume for energy, even if it is not intended for a Ketogenic diet.
I must say however, that there is still a lot of scepticism regarding this diet. It is exhausting to hear comments like: “wow ¿are you still following that diet?, “you look good like this Gina, you don’t need to be on a diet anymore”. Losing weight is only a secondary effect. The reason that motivates me to continue being a Ketogenic is my health. This way of eating prevents diseases such as Diabetes, high Cholesterol, neurological and degenerative problems, among others. Then, the question is: ¿Why would I ever go back to eating like before, if there is already so much evidence of how following a high-carbohydrate diet -what is understood as ‘normal’- makes people so sick? (see more info. here).
There is still a lot to know about the Ketogenic diet. For instance, following this diet does not necessarily mean that I will always lose weight. It depends on the quantity of Calories (see more info. here) that I consume -as in any other type of diet-, the grams of Carbohydrates per day, the type of workout, etc. That being said, there are different types of Ketogenic diets which mainly depend on the quantity of Carbohydrates consumed. In this way, following a Ketogenic diet is not a synonym for becoming skynny. There are athletes and bodybuilders who follow a Ketogenic nutrition and still keep a athletic figure (see more info. here).
