Admittedly this is a lengthy review. For you folks who want to skip all of the reading, I loved this book and would recommend it to anyone that is considering “going keto” and is truly interested in understanding what a high fat, moderate protein, low carb diet actually does to your body and your health.
Now on to my review…..
For years I have been “fiddling” around with various weight loss strategies. I’ve tried Keto, Paleo, counting calories and only eating non-processed foods. With each method I found some success, but eventually stalled in my weight loss and never understand the “why” behind what worked (or didn’t) for me.
As I neared 50 years old, I went to the doctor for my yearly physical and got test results indicating that my blood pressure was a bit high and so was my cholesterol. I’d never had these problems before, and, suddenly, my age had caught up to me. At that moment I had my version of a mid-life crisis where I looked in the mirror and told myself that either I needed to find a lasting way to improve my weight (and overall health) or give up and become a fat, old man. While this is a bit (okay a lot) dramatic, it was exactly how I was feeling. I really was at a crossroads in my life where I could no longer assume my body would take care of itself regardless of how I treated it. As much as I still believe I was 20-year-old guy, my body was telling me otherwise!
Anyway, I decided to join a Crossfit gym (“box” in Crossfit terminology) and have fallen in love with the exercise. My blood pressure and cholesterol had dropped, my muscle definition improved, but my weight hadn’t budged. After a year of working out my weight was still the same. I then realized that exercise was only part of my solution, I had to figure out my diet too.
I had had great success with a Keto diet in the past, but found that my progress plateaued after a couple of months and I never understood why. With that confusion, over time, I gave up on Keto. Now I decided to check it out again, but, this time do more research. After a bit of internet searching, I came across Dr. Jason Fung and his book “The Complete Guide to Fasting”. I bought the book and, for the first time, started to understand the science behind weight loss. I loved that Dr. Fung explained how the body processes carbohydrates, glucose and uses fat to store the excess and immediately jumped into Intermittent fasting. The results were stunning, I was losing weight, and almost all of it was fat. Suddenly my goal of weight loss was coming into focus…. much faster than anticipated and I had to start thinking about how I would eat once I reached my goal weight.
Again, after a bunch of searching, I found Dr. Boz and this book. It promised to be a guide to how a keto diet can improve your health. I purchased the book (actually got access to it through the Kindle Unlimited program) and read the entire thing in 2 days. Similar to Dr. Fung’s book on Fasting, this book on the Keto way of eating really helped me to understand the science behind how a keto diet works and, more importantly, how to make it work for me.
What I found most helpful in this book (other than it’s excellent storytelling examples) is that I left the book with some specific guidelines for building my own personalized keto eating plan that I can adapt based on my current needs.
At 50+ years old, I am now on track to be stronger, leaner and healthier than I have EVER been in my life, including my teenage years. More importantly I have the knowledge to maintain that level of health for the rest of my life.
3 specific takeaways I appreciate most:
1. A 7-step guide to building my own, customized keto plan
2. Specific guidance on what I should be measuring, how often and what to do with the results so I can ensure that I am always on track toward my goals. If I need to lose fat, I know how to “tweak” the formula for that. If I want to experiment with different foods, different quantities of food or different frequencies of eating, the formula will help me figure out what is helping me and what isn’t.
3. The book addresses every single question, hesitation or objection I had with keto eating. More importantly I can now confidently explain why I am eating high fat, low carbs and moderate protein anytime people question my food choices. Just being able to address peer pressure head on is reason enough to get this book!
I am thrilled with the knowledge I have taken away from this book and would encourage anyone who wants to really understand the “why” behind the keto way of eating should check out this book!
