Hello keto my old friend

An ode to cabbage
As I’ve already touched upon, I’ve now been ‘dry’ since 2021.  I believe that part of this has been thanks to drinking fermented drinks. On top of giving up alcohol, since coming out of the first lockdown in 2020, I’ve been trying to follow a keto diet. However, it has very much been on and off.  Before giving up alcohol, whilst following the diet previously I’d give up beer, I’d still drink quite a few gin and slimline tonics.  I think this regular intake of alcohol kept drawing me back to bad foods!

So you’re telling me you can’t eat bananas, but you can eat bacon?!
For those that don’t know, the ‘ketogenic diet’ (to give it its full name) is a high fat, low carb diet.  It involves significantly reducing your carbs and replacing it with fat.  Yes, it is allowed to eat spoonfuls of butter if you wish (not that I recommend it). In so doing, your body switches from burning carbs for energy and becomes extremely efficient at burning fat instead.

Cut out the carbs

Following keto at its strictest means that you should cut out all obvious carbs such as bread, pasta and rice.  In addition, you should cut out ‘carb heavy’ fruit and vegetables such as carrots, bananas and tomatoes. Ultimately at my most strict I was eating about 20g of carbs.

What I found was that whilst still drinking alcohol (albeit a low carb version), I’d find it very hard to stick to the diet. Yes I could for a few days or weeks at best, but ultimately, once I fell off the wagon, I’d find it next to impossible to start up again.

I think this was because I’d be tempted to snack on chocolate, crisps etc.  After a few drinks, but was more inclined to also order more takeaways. It was also quite difficult to come up with suitable lunches and dinners that wasn’t just eggs, or Greek Yogurt.

This is important because there’s only so many times you can eat eggs.  But also because you need fibre, to help with movements elsewhere! 

So you’re telling me you can’t eat bananas, but you have to eat cabbage?!

 …Yup!!!

You can’t eat the sweet and tasty fruit and veg that I used to dream of.  However, you can fill your socks with cabbage, kale and all kinds of green leafy veg.

However, (if you’re like me), there’s only so many times and ways that you can eat cavolo nero, and personally, you can’t eat it raw!  More recently I have further increased the numbers and types of plants I eat through foraging.

Up step Mr Fermented Veg!
And here we are; again! Where fermentation has been transformational for me! There may only be so many ways to eat cabbage in either its raw, or cooked form.  But in its fermented form, the options are endless. Kimchi, sauerkraut with juniper or caraway (not to be confused with the 90s hit machine Haddaway).  Throw in dilly beans, fermented onions, champagne tomatoes, fermented asparagus! 

Side dishes, condiments, entire meals and recipe additions…..it is so easy to add a fermented accompaniment to any meal.

Just tweaking the recipe or ratios of ingredients means that there are no two ways to eat any of these.  I will at a later date share some of my most favourite recipes.

Furthermore, any combination or swapping out of any of these dishes with another, completely revamps a meal.

Smoked mackerel with kimchi is a completely different dish to smoked mackerel with fermented asparagus. But also, a lot of these veg can be used to swap out heavily sweetened sauces. Fermented onions go perfectly with a sausage.  And now, I never eat ketchup or Nando’s Sauce. 

Fermented veg

So what? In combination with giving up alcohol, I’ve embraced the huge variety of vegetables available to me on a keto diet, in their fermented, acidic, tasty form. I’ve been following this regimen since December 2021.  

Since early January 2022, I have not had one sugar craving.  I am no longer tempted by chocolate or crisps.  Meanwhile, my veg intake has had a huge increase in terms of type and volume.

Plus, I’m getting all kinds of varieties of probiotic goodness! What’s more, I’ve now lost 24kg.  This is the equivalent of a suitcase you’d put in an airplane hold when going on holiday.  This is a lot of weight on joints and internal systems.  And I’ve now moved my BMI to 24.4 – just within the healthy range!