What the hell is a keto? I know that’s what you’re thinking right now.
Ketogenic: a diet that tends to promote the metabolic formation of ketone bodies (ketosis) by causing the body to use fat rather than carbohydrate as its principal energy source (dictionary.com).
Basically, keto dieters are banned from any form of carbohydrates such as grains, wheat, carb-heavy fruits or vegetables such as oranges, bananas, potatoes, or beans. Keto diets also restrict refined sugar completely. Nuts and berries are meant to be consumed sparingly (maybe once or twice a week) due to their natural carbohydrate and sugar content. The celebrated nutrients in a Keto diet are not what usually come to mind when one hears, “diet”. Fats, red meat, and oils are praised. This means a big thumbs-up to avocados, steak, and full-fat dairy products. The goal is to replace carbs with fat, so the body is burning pure fat content for energy.
Armed with a Keto food pyramid and some Google-searched knowledge, I set out Monday to become Keto for three days.
MONDAY
9AM
Breakfast: I decided to pull food from my dorm—I don’t like having to get out on campus so early. I went for a pear and a handful of mixed nuts. I did a quick check with Google (my search history is now LITTERED with “is ____ keto?”) which directed me to remove all the raisins and sunflower seeds from my assortment. *eye roll*
11 AM ($1.99 Flex)
Without thinking I made my usual detour to the POD at Centennial for an Awake bar. They are each equal to 1 cup of coffee and I’ve been frequenting the location since I began drinking less coffee to save my teeth (there’s no hope for the caffeine addiction though). Halfway to the gym, I’m fully into this chocolate bar… Oh sh**! No sugar allowed! Enact the fail pass…already.
1:30 PM
Post-gym, I needed some protein, so I whisked up an egg from my dorm. I had to borrow my roommate’s whole milk, as my usual soy milk is contraband, according to keto.
1:50 PM ($4.05 Flex)
After tossing the second half of my illegal chocolate, I was still tired. Standing in line at Java City, I googled up a few keto coffee drinks since my usual wouldn’t fly. Some of the tricks are pretty odd; this picture is one suggested order. My sugar free mocha with full-fat whipped cream (only 2g sugar was deemed legal) was every bit delicious as a regular one.
4:00 PM
Pre-work I usually have something fast, but nothing seems to be quick and easy on Keto. Do these people not snack?! I used a meal swipe at Husky on a Southwest Salad, then removed the beans. Husky would be hard to frequent if Keto, as almost everything is a sandwich or has pizza crust which violate the grains rule.
I JUST WANT MY CARBSSSSS.
8:30 PM
I’m starting to hate looking at a search bar on Google.
10PM
Weirdest night time snack? I know I’ve got you beat. Pecans spread with sugar free chocolate frosting.
TUESDAY
8:30AM
Breakfast: Yesterday I adhered to a pretty healthy norm, so today I decided to have fun with the odd rules of keto. Usually we restrict ourselves from fat indulgences; I haven’t had bacon in months. There also are not many other breakfast options besides eating eggs every single day. The full-fat whipped cream from Commons’ waffle bar couldn’t be resisted, especially atop cantaloupe (Keto-approved fruit). I fully enjoyed my decadent breakfast, savoring the bacon WITH sufficiently greasy sausage.
2PM
All these full-fats are already taking a toll on me. I’m a girl who’s usually cutting corners where she can, and I don’t eat meat very often. To give my stomach a rest, I dug out a Progresso tomato basil can. It tasted like ketchup. Warm ketchup.
4PM
Thankfully, Quest bars are apparently made keto-friendly, so I wearily had half for a snack. As much as I love Quest, the afternoon drag cravings were hitting…sugar is the devil. Resist the Awake bars.
6PM
As soon as I saw steak on the menu for Commons I knew I’d have fun at dinner. My plate was piled high with dripping red beef, and boy was I ready. My favorite pizza is anything with veggies, so not to miss out on that I grabbed a slice and scraped the toppings off the non-keto-crust. The important part is the cheese clung on guys!!
10PM
I still have a food baby from the day. I think it’s multiplied to triplets.
WEDNESDAY
9AM
I ate the ketchup soup for breakfast. I can’t bear to waste food and really didn’t want to bore you guys by just having eggs every day, so…. Happy last keto day!
1PM
I usually eat lunch around now, but honestly still felt satiated from last night’s feast. I think that’s the point of keto—the foods are heavier which causes keto followers to eat less, thus feeling more like they’re truly changing their habits and losing weight.
3:30PM
Subway came in clutch with a six-inch veggie sub and a drink, all for one meal swipe. I snaked the system and just removed the bun later to have “salad”. My flex budget was out and Subway salads run about $6 sadly. By the way, have y’all ever tried the sweet peppers there? Someone please explain why they’re miles better than any other sweet peppers on earth…from a fast food chain??
8PM
On Wednesdays, I have a night class (ugh). Since the class runs three hours and is a small group, my professor always brings us a snack (yay). This week she brought out some cookies that must’ve been an inch thick and weighed a pound each. I almost cried as my classmates happily indulged. My personal motto is, “the chewier the better!!”
Okay…I might have actually shed a tear. Or maybe that was drool.
9PM
My final Keto dinner took me to Husky to fulfill the “five meal swipes per challenge” requirement. I ordered a chicken salad wrap and used the wrap as an odd plate. Tomorrow…CARBS!!!
I actually missed my fruit and berries the most. Personally, those are an important staple to a diet, and I really didn’t feel any better cutting them out. Not being able to chew gum seemed pointless as well. I do think that removing breads forced to me choose greener options a few times. It definitely would diversify your diet as a student, to reduce grains if you frequent Husky with all those bagels and sandwiches! I also enjoyed being motivated to cut back on sweets. I would not recommend this lifestyle to anyone as a long-term thing, but if you want to train yourself to slow down on a few things, it could work.