If you’re like a lot of people, you’ve been trying to follow the keto diet, but haven’t had much success.
You’re not alone – many people struggle with keto, as well as with other diets. In this blog, I will cover why you’re failing at keto, and what you can do to get healthier naturally.
Toxic Diets
Many meal plans are actually quite toxic. If you’re following any of the following, you could be following an unhealthy diet:
- Macros & Micros
- Low Carb
- High Protein
- Low Fat
- Calorie Counting
- Vegetarian
- Carnivore
The problem with these diets is that they’re so unhealthy for us. We are taught that healthy foods are foods that allow you to hit a macro or carb number, and are sugar-free. All this does is leave us skinny and sick.
A lot of these diets come with a lot of guilt and a sense of failure. What can we do to fix this?
Take a Vacation Day
Vacation days are your “cheat days” where you can indulge in eating what you want. I suggest preparing for your vacation day the same way you would for a normal vacation day.
Prepare before you go on the trip. You can do this by skipping breakfast and doing a fast, or working out before you eat your cheat food.
You should try to avoid taking vacation days every day. I recommend taking a vacation day once a week or once a month, depending on whatever works best for you.
One Percent Principle
If you were to get 1% better at an aspect of your health every single day for one year, it would lead to a 47X improvement in your health.
Getting healthy is an intimidating process and can be uncomfortable, but you only need to do 1% better each day to improve.
The 5 C’s
But if we want to improve, what lifestyle changes can we make that go beyond dieting and help us meet our health and weight goals? Here are my 5 C’s:
Cut Sugar
Many diets treat carbohydrates as if they’re sugar. Carbohydrates are actually good for you in moderation. You can still allow yourself carbohydrates by eating vegetables and food that’s easily digestible.
You need carbs to get ATP, which is energy for your body. Cut down on sugar-based foods, but don’t cut down on vegetables that contain the carbohydrates your body needs.
Crank Fat
Your body needs fat to burn fat. Your brain is 60-70% fat, every cell in your body has fat in it, and your fat produces your hormones.
If you remove all of the fat from your diet, you’re asking for hormone, brain, and energy problems. You should be getting good, clean, healthy fats in your system.
Clean Up Protein
Many people focus on how much protein they’re eating but don’t often pay attention to the quality of it. Whatever animals eat, ends up in you when you consume them.
If you’re eating a vegetarian source of protein like soy, that’s a genetically modified plant, and now your DNA is genetically modified too.
Make sure if you’re going to consume protein, that it’s from a clean source.
Care About Nutrients
If you’re cutting carbohydrates or doing a carnivore diet, you’re not going to get the nutrients your body needs. A good way to make sure you’re getting nutrients in your diet is by eating fresh fruits and vegetables.
Curb Consumption
Eating less food is a proven way to get your body to lose weight. I recommend intermittent or rotational fasting as quick way to optimize your body’s ability to be more fit.
Make Food Simple
Do you struggle with not being able to eat the food you love on diets? You still can! You can eat whatever you want to eat, as long as you make it healthy. What does this mean? You can substitute small parts of traditionally unhealthy foods, and keep them in your diet.
With this method, you can have your cake and eat it too…literally! Here are some common comfort foods that you can make healthy:
Pasta: Make with bean noodles, which won’t have toxic grains and gluten that normal pasta would.
Chocolate: Buy baking chocolate and add a natural flavoring like monk fruit or stevia. This is an easy way to make some healthy, but still delicious chocolate bars.
Ice Cream: Make your own, or cut out the dairy source.
Pizza: If you’re interested in healthy pizza, I made a video showing how to make the healthiest pizza in the world.
Burger: Replace the bun with lettuce, and put some delicious toppings on it.
There are ways to enjoy the food you love, as long as you’re willing to make food simple. If you want to indulge in things you can’t make healthy like alcohol, try working out or fasting earlier in the day before you have it.
Diets & programs have end dates. Your lifestyle does not. You don’t have to become a different person, just a better version of yourself. If you need more help with food, here are several dozen videos in a playlist, made just for you.
