Keto Chat Episode 14 is with Randy Webb, Licensed Professional Counselor in Arizona and Licensed Mental Health Counselor in Washington. Randy was my counseling internship supervisor when I was completing my graduate degree in 2012, and at that time, he was a vegetarian. When I went to visit Phoenix in March 2016, I was excited to talk to Randy about a couple of the therapies he’s passionate about. But then I discovered that he had a big surprise for me regarding his diet!
What we talk about:
Randy’s surprise development of metabolic syndrome, fatigue, sleep trouble, and kidney issues when he was eating, what he thought was, a health diet.
His journey from a low-fat, high carb, vegetarian diet to a lower carb, omnivorous diet
Who inspired Randy to look at his diet and give up oatmeal and consider eating sardines for breakfast
What health improvements he’s seen since changing his diet
Which dietary change had the biggest impact on his health markers
How Randy became interested in hypnotherapy
How trauma can lead to mindless eating, emotional eating, or stress eating and what can be done about it
How EMDR therapy empowers a person to build their own internal resources for health and well-being as opposed to other talk therapy that focuses on identifying and changing what is “wrong” with a person
Too tired, busy, hot, hungry or lazy to cook a meal? Want something that is fast and easy, but also low-carb and high-fat for your keto diet? Here are 20 super easy, keto-friendly, delicious meal ideas that don’t require you to turn on the stove or oven. Or even the grill. Make extra for dinner or lunch tomorrow and your life gets even easier.
Chef’s Salad (bag of mixed greens + sliced ham + sliced turkey + cubed cheddar cheese + pre-cooked hard boiled egg + dressing of your choice)
Cobb Salad (bag of mixed greens + rotisserie chicken + chopped avocado + crumbled bacon + blue cheese + cherry tomatoes + blue cheese dressing)
Slow Cooker Shredded Beef and Salad (put a beef roast in your slow cooking in the morning with a cup of broth and lots of salt. Cook over low heat all day. Before dinner, shred. + bagged salad + dressing)
Pulled Pork and Coleslaw (shredded pork from the slow cooker) for coleslaw a bag shredded cabbage + dressing (1 cup mayo + 1 tablespoon vinegar + dash sea salt)
Shredded Pork Tacos (shredded pork from slow cooker + lettuce for tortillas + sour cream + cheese + hot sauce)
Chicken soft tacos (same as above, but use a rotisserie chicken)
Shrimp and Zoodles (frozen shrimp (defrost by running under cool running water for 5-10 minutes) spiralized zucchini + olive oil + sea salt)
Shrimp Tacos (defrosted frozen shrimp + pico de gallo + sour cream mixed with lime juice + romaine lettuce for shells)
Shrimp Salad (defrosted frozen shrimp + bag butter lettuce + pre-cooked hard boiled eggs + sliced avocado + tomato wedges + dressing of choice)
Caprese Salad (sliced tomato + sliced mozzarella + fresh basil + drizzled with lots of olive oil + sea salt)
Roast Beef, Blue Cheese, and Arugula Roll-ups (sliced roast beef spread with cream cheese, topped with blue cheese, then with arugula, rolled up and secured with toothpick)
Are you struggling with your keto diet? Or maybe you’re ready to try it out for the first time? Check out my 90-Day Keto Diet Challenge Program. I give you easy formulas to meet your macros, weekly live webinars with me, menus and shopping lists, plus group support.
While I was in Phoenix, Arizona a few weeks ago, I sat down with Jim Kellner in his office to chat about how hypnosis can help change habits to support weight loss. Jim is a hypnotherapist and comedian, and as it turned out, Jim had used hypnosis himself to lose weight on a low carb, nearly ketogenic diet.
Watch and listen as we have fun chatting about how stage hypnosis differs from hypnotherapy for optimal performance.
And stick around until the end where Jim hypnotizes me! Do I quack like a duck or bark like a dog? Or do I make Jim a pie?
Have you been eyeing all those fancy, schmancy, gourmet mayo jars at the store or online and wondering, are they really worth the price?
We taste tested 3 popular mayos for you. Yes, three keto, fat-adapted people eating mayo straight out of the jar, with a spoon, in order to give you all the details on the appearance, texture, mouthfeel, and flavors, plus our overall rating. Find out which ones are worth the price.
Mayonnaises Tested:
Whole Foods 365 Everyday Value Mayonnaise
Price: $3.99 (purchased from Whole Foods Market, March 24, 2016)
Ten months means I’m only two months away from being a full year on a ketogenic diet. What will that feel like? And what should I do to celebrate? Since I was late posting my 9 Month update, I was concerned that I wouldn’t have much to report for my ten month update considering it has only been two weeks since my last update. However, much has happened in the last two weeks.
Winters in the Pacific Northwest can be brutal, but not in a snow-and-sleet-and-freezing-temps kind of way. (For reference, it is March right now as I write this.) Northwest winters are long, dark days of grey, dreary, drizzly, cool temperatures that can wreak havoc on a person’s mood. Anyone susceptible to depression can be challenged each year when January or February rolls around in the northwest, having just survived another calendar quarter of grey days. My genetics make me one of those people that are susceptible to winter depression, or Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). Another keto win and unexpected benefit is that this year my mood is the best it has ever been at this time of year. While I still feel that tug of depression, it is simply an awareness of it rather than an all consuming mood of a heavy, inescapable wet blanket. I’ve been very impressed with this relief compared to past years of my life. And while my mood has been remarkably better, I still felt the need to get away to the sun and warmth! I decided to reach out to friends in the Phoenix area and take refuge from the grey drizzle and hopefully find some warmth of the sunshine. I would soon happily find myself in 80 – 90 degree weather. Big smiley face.
Travel to Phoenix
While my trip to Phoenix started out as a simple respite from my northwest winter, it quickly turned into a serendipitous adventure of meeting people that have reduced carbohydrate intake in one way or another to help improve their health. The trip was the perfect balance of deeply rewarding work and relaxation. My relaxation included reunions with high school and college friends (has it really been 24 years?!?), soaking up sun by the pool, and of course an In-N-Out burger (Double Double, Protein Style)! My work included these Keto Chat interviews:
And my third Keto Chat interview was with Randy Webb, EMDR therapist and trainer, hypnotherapist, teacher, and trainer.
All these videos will be coming soon, so be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel.
I was surprised to find some of my favorite colors in Phoenix.
Hair Regrowth
Significant weight loss is a huge stressor on the body. When the body is under significant stress, it prioritizes growth and regeneration away from fast growing cells, like hair and nails. I mentioned this in previous posts, but I’ll reiterate here, that what I found in looking through literature was that any kind of diet that produces significant weight loss has the potential to cause hair loss, which I experienced during my nearly 60 pound weight loss. My literature review also made me confident that the hair loss would be temporary, and that once my weight stabilized, my hair would grow back. My weight has been stable for the last 4 months. About 2 weeks ago, I noticed that I have a surprising amount of about 2 – 3 inches of new hair growth at the crown of my head. It makes for interesting work styling my hair now, but I’m excited to have burgeoning luscious locks of hair.
I received further evidence of my good health when I stopped in at an Aveda salon in Phoenix to grab some dry shampoo that I couldn’t bring on the airplane with me. After hearing my proclamation of my oily hair (always has been that way), the stylist offered me a scalp analysis because she suggested that an oily scalp can actually be a sign of dry skin. I laughed a bit, knowing that my skin was very well moisturized from the inside out from all the fat I eat. But I humored her a bit, mostly because I wanted more proof that my body is healthy. She took a nearly microscopic digital photo of my scalp, which revealed three things: my scalp is very health (not dry), my hair follicles all have 2 hairs each (if there were less than this, it is a sign of balding or thinning), and I also have more baby fine hair growing in between my existing hair. The last part was really exciting because in addition to the 2 – 3 inch growth I can see, I have even more hair starting to grow. It seems I will soon have the thickest hair of my life.
All this hair growth is an exceptionally good sign that my body is in very good health.
Dairy Free Update
About a month ago, I decided to do a dairy-free month for two reasons. One, in support of my son, who decided to see how much more his acne would improve, and two, because I was becoming concerned about the amount of heavy whipping cream I was consuming. It was standard operating procedure in our house to have a large batch of whipped heavy whipping cream on hand to go on coffee. It was quite delicious, but that was part of the problem. It was so delicious that over time, I began wanting more, and more, and more, which is a sign of the addictive part of my brain being triggered. It was time to give it a rest and see how I felt.
We quickly realized that dairy, especially cheese, was a convenience food in our house. Without that quick and easy, grab-and-go food, I began exploring alternatives. I found some dairy-free cream cheese alternatives, but they were too expensive to grab much of our attention. We soon settled on nuts as our new quick and easy snack, but being mindful of portion size when we do. One trick I use to minimize mindless nut snacking is to keep them in the freezer. We will grab only a small handful and then put them back. Keeping them in the freezer keeps them out of sight, plus is a reminder that they need to be eaten only in limited quantities. We’ve also been using more coconut oil and coconut milk.
Now I’ll admit, I haven’t been 100% dairy free (although my son has). When out to eat, I would have cheese on my burger or salad, and occasionally I would get an Americano from Starbucks with heavy cream. But at home, we were 100% dairy free, and that is where I consume most of my meals.
What did I notice after a month of dairy-free? At first, I really, really missed the whipped cream in my coffee! Coffee just wasn’t as exciting any more. It really was something I looked forward to each morning when I woke up, so I had to go through a bit of a mourning period. I tried making coconut whipped cream, but it just wasn’t the same, but I did end up making coconut milk and coconut oil “creamer” for our coffee and it’s a nice compromise (but still not as good as whipped cream!). I also noticed that I had slightly less body inflammation, as evidenced by my massage therapist being able to work deeper, but that has only come after several weeks.
Weight
For the most part, I haven’t tracked my food intake for at least the last 3 months. I use the simple meal formula that I teach my clients in my 90 Day Challenge Program, and while in the beginning it was important to weigh and track all food, the meal formula quickly teaches you how to do this long-term, so you don’t have to track food forever. My weight has been stable, within about 5 pounds, for the last 4 months. You can see from the graph below that I had a whoosh the end of November/beginning of December, losing 7 pounds in only 1 week. After that, my weight was stable, perhaps even trending upward a bit, for the next month, followed by another small whoosh of 4 pounds over 4 days in early February. This was when I started my 5 X 5 weight lifting program, however I found that it startlingly stimulated my appetite, so I paused the program until I could research the best way to do this. I now understand that this is normal, and that I was not eating enough calories to compensate, which is why my appetite felt out of whack compared to what I was used to. I plan to reinstate my 5 X 5 workouts in the next couple of weeks, when I can more carefully monitor what I’m eating to ensure adequate calories while staying in ketosis.
That last three dots that make a straight line? That was before and after my trip to Phoenix. I was pretty impressed with myself, my body, and keto, that even while on vacation I could eat freely, simply following my appetite and maintain my weight, while eating foods such as an entire bag of macadamia nuts, a fast food double cheeseburger (minus the bun), 1 cup of heavy cream in my coffee, eggs and cheese, quadruple creamy dressing on my salads, 4 strips of bacon plus a 3 egg omelet, several pats of butter on top of my side dish, twice eating 10 chicken wings dipped in lots of blue cheese dressing, and more.
Upcoming One Year Keto Anniversary
What suggestions do you have about how I should celebrate my one year keto diet anniversary? I’m thinking I should do some kind of giveaway…
Take the 90 Day Keto Challenge
Are you ready to take the keto plunge? You should join my next 90 Day Keto Diet Challenge Program. Everything you need to succeed on a ketogenic diet: weekly live webinars with me, weekly menus and shopping lists, workbook, and private Facebook support group.
Price: $5.99 (purchased from Whole Foods Market, March 24, 2016)
