It has been just over a week since I embarked on my Keto journey, with the primary aim of loosing weight. I have experienced some of the stranger Keto side effects, I discovered that you can have too much of a good thing and I returned positive Ketone level urine strips.
Keto side effects
I read about the Keto Flu with feelings of lethargy and other flu-like symptoms and this was not ideal during the current COVID-19 pandemic, however I didnt get any flu like symptoms. I did however have the stinkiest urine I have ever smelled and, pee’d so much I had to take a seat…
I’m sure there is some crazy super-scientific reason why, but my breath this week has honked. In addition, my pee smelled so bad I was embarrassed to use a public bathroom… think asparagus level pee, to the 10th degree, extremely unpleasant. And the quantity of pee has been astounding. I have been averaging around 2500ml a day of water (in addition to my usual coffee consumption) as the only things you can really drink on a Keto diet is water and coffee, but the frequency at which I have to visit the bathroom and the sheer quantity of urine my body is producing is alarming. I have been told by a health professional this is perfectly normal, however.
During my extended toilet breaks, I have been able to make good use of my Ketone Ketosis Urine test strips (available from Amazon) and I have returned a mild pink coloured strip which shows my body is now starting it’s Ketosis transition. Woohoo!
Bacon? No thanks!
A main ingredient of the Keto diet appears to be Bacon, however after just a few days I was tired of the salty pork product, and lets be clear… I love bacon, but not for every meal, every day. I started to discover two types of Keto diets; Dirty Keto and Clean Keto, bacon forms the part of the former while the latter diet involves leafy greens, health fats from nuts and avocados and fish.
At some point I will be looking more in depth at the clean and ‘dirty’ versions of the Keto diet, however this week has taught me that the dirty diet may sound delicious, but you can quickly over-do it.
My keto meals this week
Most of these recipes have come courtesy from the free version of the Diet Doctor app which has been truly amazing for my Keto journey so far. I have linked the recipe’s wherever I can and all credit is due to the wonderful Diet Doctor team.
Keto BBQ chicken meatza with bacon
https://www.dietdoctor.com/recipes/easy-keto-bbq-chicken-pizza
Ultra low-carb means pizza is on the no-no list, and pizza is my favourite dinner. So I was amazed to find I could enjoy a pizza, made from meat. It was great, but didn’t satisfy that craving for deep-pan carb-loaded stuffed-crust.
Curried lamb shank with Bombay mushrooms
Personal recipe.
A delicious lamb shank slow cooked in spices served with Bombay mushrooms. It was deliciously melt-in-the-mouth meat and great spices.
Sirloin steak with Cauliflower gratin
Personal recipe, with red wine butter inspired by Diet Doctor.
Along with pizza, bacon and a host of other foods, I really appreciate a well cooked (not well done!) steak, served with all the trimmings. This was a wonderful aged sirloin steak from Waitrose served with delicious gratinated broccoli and cauliflower. The red wine butter from Diet Doctor was just amazing and really luxurious.
Weight loss
I was not expecting immediate results… but in one week I have lost 4kg (8lbs). Time for a celebratory glass of water (Prosecco is a big no-no).
I’ll be back next week for another update – follow me on Instagram for more Keto posts.