Keto Diet vs. Kitchen Renovation

If your kitchen suddenly went away for a few weeks – no refrigerator, range, dishwasher or sink – can you still eat keto? I’ll find out in T-minus six days. That’s when the demolition of our 35-year-old kitchen starts.

With no refrigerator, range or sink for potentially a few weeks, it’s time to get creative when it comes to eating healthy. It isn’t uncommon for us to eat one meal a day a few days out of the week. So naturally it makes sense for us to extend that during the entire demolition. Could be it’s time to pull the trigger on moving to a 42-hour fasting schedule, hmm?

That leaves me with managing two meals a day for four days out of the week.

No Cooking Available for First Week
Most families undergoing a kitchen renovation rely on the microwave to prepare meals. That won’t work for us for two reasons. First, microwave cooked food tastes horrible. Second, we don’t have a microwave…yet. Six years ago we tossed our microwave. We found that the convenience of warming up leftovers meant we were eating more than we needed to.

We’re not buying a microwave just to cook food for the next three weeks. However, we did buy a low-profile microwave to install over the range. It’s sitting in a box in the basement. Since it’s part of the install, it is not available to us.

I thought about using my slow cooker. But given our bathroom sinks are too small, I have no way to clean it. Plus, keto dishes are high in fat and I’ll have no way to dispose of the excess grease.

The only option for cooking is also our favorite – grilling! But a quick check of our extended forecast shows nothing but rain next week. Ugh!

Coffee Station to the Rescue!
I’m setting up a coffee station upstairs away from all the dust. The station will include our bullet blender for protein shakes (lunches!) and a large cooler packed with ice, cream, almond milk, berries, hard boiled eggs and cold cuts.

Finding Balance
With lunches taken care of, I’m still working on a high protein solution for dinners. I’m trying to keep eating-out to a minimum. That means I’ll have to tap into our grocery store’s prepared foods. Since I don’t know how they cook their meat, I’ll stick to sushi and rotisserie grilled chicken for our protein needs. Veggies will come from the prepared salads.

We may get our refrigerator back by the end of the first week and possibly our grill if the weather improves.

If not, it’s going to be a long three weeks. (First World problems, I know, lol)


Sidelined by Knee Pain, Turning Focus to Keto Diet

I did everything right. I eased into my new workout routine slowly to avoid injury. Yet, my knee decided that it does not like 15-minute daily walks. Technically, it isn’t my knee causing the pain. It’s the iliotibial band (IT band), a flexible fascia that runs from the hip to the knee. I’ve felt this pain before. The band is rubbing inside my knee and is starting to swell.

Shifting My Focus to Keto
As I nurse my leg back to health, I’m turning my full attention to getting into ketosis. I screwed up by not doing a menu plan this week. As a result, we ate out way too much. I let my busy schedule became an excuse to go out rather than stay home and cook.

If you want to get healthy, you must put in the work. This week, I didn’t.

My mistake was not planning. I knew how busy I was this week. All I needed to do was make a casserole and use the slow cooker a couple of times.  Leftovers are a busy gal’s friend when you are trying to eat healthy.

Lesson learned.  Last night, after another long day, I browned some ground beef while dicing an onion, garlic cloves, tomatoes and peppers. My keto chili will last a few days. Tonight, I’m whipping up a bacon cheeseburger casserole.

Time to Start Food Journaling Again
I have my target macros and am recommitting to a realistic menu plan for my schedule. What is missing is my food journal. I have no idea if I’m hitting my daily macros, eating too many carbs, or in ketosis.

I know a lot of people think keeping a food log is unnecessary. “Just eat real food until you are full!” I’ve heard this many times. Sound advice for someone whose hormones are in balance and metabolically sound.  But as someone who hasn’t been consistently keto for a few years, I need more discipline. By tracking what I eat, I’ll become more mindful of my choices. In addition to tracking my carb count, I’ll figure out how to course correct if my daily energy level starts flagging, or I’m stuck in a plateau.

For a tracking tool, I’m going old school: pen and paper. At least until I have a chance to research any new apps out there. As you may know, I haven’t been a fan of certain food log apps, like My Fitness Pal. Much of the data is incorrect, and I usually end up doing more work than the app had promised. Which is fine.

Tracking My Blood Ketone Levels
Finally, I’m going to start tracking my ketone levels. My new Keto Mojo arrived.

Although I’m starting today to track what I eat, I’m not going to start tracking my ketone levels until February 1st. I want a solid week of cooking at home, menu planning, and food tracking under my belt before I start pricking my finger with a needle.

I’m rebuilding my good habit routine. I won’t be perfect (I wasn’t this week!). But if I worry about perfection, I’ll never reach my goals.


Getting Back Into Low Carb Menu Planning

Menu planning always kept me on track with my health and fitness goals. Given my weight gain over the last few years, it’s clear that I made a huge mistake not sticking with this habit. Well, that changes this week!

I just posted my first menu for 2021. Going forward, I plan to post  my weekly menus here every Saturday morning. Thankfully it wasn’t that difficult to jump back into planning my meals. Thank God for muscle memory. However, I wasn’t quite on the ball when it came to food prep for these delicious meals. That’s my chore this afternoon.

The meals I’m making this week are all focused on hitting my new macro-nutrient (protein, fat and carbohydrate) targets, which you’ll find below. However, those are just targets and my menu is only as good as my hunger.

For example, today (Sunday), the menu shows I’m breaking my fast at lunch time with a New York strip steak, sauteed mushrooms and cabbage and onion noodles. That sounds delicious. Just one problem. It’s nearly 3:00 p.m. and I’m still not hungry.  This is a very good thing!

You see I got into a habit of eating when my husband wanted to eat. And his eating time was driving more by time of day rather than actual hunger.  So, I’m eating when I’m hungry, and ONLY when hungry.

I’m sure the hunger will kick in during my food prep time. If so, then I’ll eat a larger dinner than expected. That should help carry me into my 24-hour fast tomorrow.

Dot’s New Macros
I used Keto Gains’ Macro Calculator for my macros. I added the fiber information as I’m incorporating elements of Dr. Ted Naiman’s P:E Diet into my keto lifestyle. Fiber is one of these elements. For now, I’m tracking net carbs. That means I’ll eat vegetables high in fiber to keep me at the 20g net carb mark.

Calories (kCal): 1,661
Protein: 168g
Fat: 101g
Net Carbs: 20g
Fiber: 30g

I’m planning a post on the P:E Diet this week.

Updated Dot2Trot’s Menu Page
I removed my old menus from the site. Having gone through them, I noticed a few of the carb counts are out of date. Yes, the nutrition content of food changes thanks to adjustments in farming and the food manufacturing process.

Foods are routinely tested to determine if the nutritional information is accurate.  Those changes are reported using the US Department of Agriculture FoodData Central database, and updates to food labels.

So remember: Periodically check the labels of your favorite foods!