Scene: Last night, Chipotle Mexican Grill, where I tend to stop on Fridays for carry out.
Me: Minding my biz, ordering my bowl, “No rice, no beans, extra cheese, sides of sour cream and guac.”
Person in line behind me: “You’re going to DIE eating this! Sour cream AND Guacamole AND extra cheese?”
Me: “I’ve lost 40 pounds eating like this.”
Person (stranger, mind you): “That’s a lot of fat!”
Line server: “She eats her all the time and she’s losing weight!”
Person: (crickets)

I do eat a non-keto meal every so often, but everything else in the above  meme? True for me. Also:

• My Type 2 Diabetes is now in remission.
• a1C: 5.4
• 40 pounds: gone.
• My go-to restaurants for meals I can eat and lose weight: Chipotle (with sour cream AND guacamole AND extra cheese, mean girl), Porkie’s in Apopka, 4Rivers.
• Cholesterol: 195
• Triglycerides “perfect” -in the words of my endocrinologist.

You get the drift.
My brain is clearer, my memory is sharper. There are studies that show that ketones are excellent for brain health and even significantly improve symptoms of dementia. In my case I hope to prevent it by eating this way. I am not a doctor. If this is a concern for you, here’s a podcast that breaks it down:

2 Keto Dudes-the one about Dementia

Actually, this podcast is an excellent source for Keto information. If you are curious I’d recommend you start with episode one and work your way through.

2 Keto Dudes Episode 1

Fat is not your enemy. I do not even worry about how much fat is in the food. Results of that non-worry-refer above.

Nope, I’m not pencil-slim. I’m on several meds, four of which have weight gain as a main side-effect. I’m planning to be healthy enough to rid myself of most of these meds by retirement. My current plan is to allow the way I fuel my body to aid in not just the getting healthy part, and not needing the meds, but with continued weight loss. I did see myself recently on our school’s video camera, and for the first time since I was probably 14, was not upset by how I looked (though that may have to do more with my hard-fought battle for some kind of healthy self-esteem than my actual size, lol).

For me, exercise is also vital. Fortunately I love to move. But for me, it’s not just vital for weight loss, it’s just necessary for brain/body/emotional well-being. That said, during the six weeks that I couldn’t workout much because of a bunch of leg vein procedures, I did gain 15 pounds, so yeah, there’s that. If you are in Orlando, come with me to Jazzercise Mills 50. You will have the best time and meet some remarkable and inspiring souls. Then they will become your friends and your life will be better for it.

Why write all this? Because I’ve had several friends ask about the Keto way of fueling the body. Because I’ve had several others (including complete strangers at Chipotle, wtf?) who have advised that I was doing something unhealthy (may I again send your eyeballs to results at top of post). Because when I was first diagnosed with Type 2, I was given the diet by my GP from the American Diabetes Association that recommended as many as 300 carbs a day, most of which are supposed to come from grains. I followed it diligently for a long time, during which I gained 60 pounds, lived in Brain Fog, moved like a (non-cute) sloth, and watched my blood-work become more horrendous with every check. I cried in the Doc’s office, to which he responded, “Well, Diabetes is a progressive disease; keep up this diet and exercise, and I’ll prescribe a higher Metformin dose.”

No. Just no. Nix on the “progressive disease” part.

Time to hit the research, and hit it hard. Time to get out of the ADA brochures and recommended diets and find alternative information that was not conspiracy/hearsay/friend-of-a-friend based, but had science (in which I believe, fyi) and studies (published in reputable sources, rather than on “What Doctors DON’T Want You to Know!” blogs) to back up the science.

Found it. All roads led to a Ketogenic way of eating. I found the above-mentioned podcast to which I’ve been listening for three years now. I like this one because they publish links to the science/research in their show notes, and they have a huge and terrific forum where people can share their experiences and support each other. And they’re fun.

If you’re still reading, you’re either very polite, care about me, are a Keto person, or have not much else to do at the moment. It does make me sad that those who stopped reading two sentences in are most likely those who think I’m going to die eating Low-carb, High-fat. Confirmation bias is a thing.

Sometimes education and research and yes, facts + evidence, trump confirmation bias.

(also, staying kind with your words and staying in your “I-didn’t-ask-for-your-mean-comment” lane at Chipotle, or in the Staff Room, or your niece’s dinner table, or the grocery checkout? Those are just the right things to do.)

Peace and Low Carb, friends.