Going Keto: Update for 9/10/17

Although it’s only day three since I officially recommitted to a low-carb, high-fat, moderate protein eating plan, there’s so much to report! I’ll try not to write a book here, but I do have a lot of things to share.

First, I know folks will wonder about my weight since weight loss is often a goal with nutritional ketosis.  My starting weight was 287.6 pounds on Friday, September 8, 2017.  This morning, I was down to 284.6 pounds.  Using up muscle glycogen causes you to shed water, so this initial loss is neither exciting nor impressive, but it is worth mentioning for the purposes of my update.

Second, I wanted to start testing my blood sugar again, but I knew I’d run out of strips, so Fred and I went into town on Friday night so I could buy some more.  Much to my disappointment, Wal-Mart didn’t appear to carry my strips anymore, so I had to pick a new meter.  I HATE picking new meters because the questions I have as a blind person are hard to answer with nothing more than online research.  I didn’t want to pick another store brand cheapy meter because I don’t like having to get a new meter every two to three years.  I didn’t want a meter with ridiculously expensive strips though, so we started to evaluate our choices balancing meter features with strip cost.

After looking at a number of meters with a wide range of feature sets, I settled on the Contour Next One by Bayer.  It caught Fred’s eye because it has a display that he thought I’d be able to see, but the small sample size and bluetooth connectivity were deciding factors for me.  I couldn’t wait to get the meter home and try it!

Although I haven’t been testing like Dr. Richard Bernstein recommends, I have noticed a trend.  My blood sugars are staying under 100 mg/dL, and when I felt like I might be experiencing symptoms of hypoglycemia, my blood sugar was 83 mg/dL.  Suffice it to say, I’m very happy with my readings and the meter.  (I plan to do a product review on the meter and the CONTOUR DIABETES App in a future blog post in case anyone’s interested.)

Along with decent blood sugars and a little bit of weight loss, I am also feeling more satiated as I focus on consuming less protein and more fat.  I need to work on my water and mineral intake though as I experienced some dizziness upon standing yesterday and the start of some leg cramps early this morning.

Lastly, I wanted to share something that might make some people laugh, and I’m fine with that.  This morning, I successfully cooked Wright bacon on the stove top.  Why is this impressive, you might ask? Well, throughout most of my adult life, I’ve cooked bacon in the oven.  It’s less messy that way, but more importantly, I don’t have to flip it.  (I can do so many things as a blind cook, but flipping bacon has always been something I couldn’t seem to master.)

The problem with Wright bacon is that it’s too thick to cook in the oven, so I almost never got slices of bacon with my meals.  I wanted some yesterday though, so I thought I’d try making three pieces in my 14″ frying pan.  That way, I had plenty of room to work.  I got out some silicone tongs because I thought that might help me flip the bacon, but things didn’t go as I’d hoped.  I started the bacon cooking, but my daughter had to flip it for me because I wasn’t able to feel through the tongs the way I thought I’d be able to.

I decided to try again this morning, but this time I decided to use a turner.  Surprisingly, it worked perfectly, so I got three HUGE slices of bacon along with eggs fried in bacon grease for breakfast.  It was so satisfying, not only because I was being nourished by real food but because I’d finally succeeded at cooking bacon on the stove top.  Yay, me, and yay, bacon! (A celebratory listen to Rub Some Bacon on It is definitely in order!)

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