I am 6 weeks into my 90 trail of using the keto diet guidelines by Dr. Berg.
OVERVIEW
I have been following the 6-page guidelines about what foods to eat and what to avoid from the home page of his website https://www.drberg.com/
I have briefly mentioned this to my senior citizen neighbors as what I am doing. Then about a dozen of them asked for a printed copy. I brought his large and short books on the keto diet and it has rarely been in my residence because so many neighbors want to borrow it. I never promoted these I guess it is a hot topic in their world.
Here are those books:
I have used the guidelines of Dr. Berg for intermediate fasting. So I eat from 1 to 9 PM. Then I do not feel hungry the other hours. That amazes me somehow.
I do not crave sweets. I easily ignore the options for cookies, cake, and sodas. They continue to be available in my little world. I easily walk by like they were boring furniture instead of tempting magnets.
IMPROVEMENTS
I feel much less discomfort in my right hand, wrist, and forearm as I use the same computer mouse. It is not yet zero but less than half as much.
I experience zero heartburn as contrasted to about 3 times a week before starting the keto diet.
I have lost much weight so my pants fit more loosely yet thankfully I have an elastic belt.
I have much more energy and mental clarity than before. I have not used caffeine capsules (like Nodoz) to give me a boost like I did about 3 times a week before the keto diet.
I rarely feel pain in my right shoulder and neck. I rarely feel that I need to massage from my earlobe to my collar bone to help the lymph drain. Dr. Berg says that pains in the right shoulder and neck are signs of a fatty liver. And he says that the keto diet will gradually detox and heal the liver. I believe that has been what has been happening in my body for the last 6 weeks.
A friend that is an eye doctor recommended an over the counter eye drop named Zaditor. Using that quickly decreased the gunk that would get into my eyelashes all day and night. There is much improved but not totally gone.
SYMPTOMS
While there have been many measurable improvements yet there have been symptoms of both the keto rash and the keto flu.
Last night itchy pink patches suddenly appeared on both my arms. It had been a long time since that had happened. It happened often in weeks 2 and 3. I drank some of the bentonite clay that Dr. Berg recommended. Then it quickly decreased like it had many times before.
I woke in the middle of the night with a cramp in my left calf. The same happened the night before. I stretched it and massaged it. Currently, I am very low on nutritional supplements. Normally I take a multi-mineral supplement daily.
I woke again later as my head was feeling stuffy with too much mucus. I also felt more groggy than normal. I took a vitamin C capsule. I drank some lemon water and used my saline mist. I sat in my easy chair to wait for my sinuses to drain. This has been happening about every 2 or 3 nights all along this journey.
This morning my right shoulder and neck were painful. It had been a long time since I felt that. There has not been any change in my activities, stress levels, or eating. So I can only guess that my body hit a speed bump in detoxing and healing my liver.
When I lived in the homeless shelter near downtown Dallas for 3 years I was often taking Ibuprofen to numb the emotional pains from the uncertainties and stresses. I was eating the cheap food that the sheltered offered. I was walking 3 to 5 miles a day on the downtown sidewalks right next to contact traffic. So I think that the Ibuprofen a few times a day weaken my liver. The cheap food put 25 pounds on me. And the exhaust fumes along with whatever toxins I was breathing in the huge warehouse dorm with more than 100 other men is detoxing due to the keto diet. That keeps these odd symptoms coming and going. All other variables in my life have been constant.
STEPS
When I started the keto diet on June 25, 2019, I jumped in with both feet. I radically altered my what I ate and when. I removed groceries from my pantry and fridge that are not on the list by Dr. Berg. I bought some of the nutritional supplements that he recommended.
I did not pay attention to my finances during that initial phase. Then right before my retirement money arrived for August my fridge and pantry were nearly totally empty. There have been supplements waiting in cart at Vitacost https://www.vitacost.com/ that Dr. Berg recommends for the keto flu and for liver detox. There are items in an Amazon WIsh List that will help me during this season. https://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/wishlist/3H7G9454ZEHE2/
Plus there are needs and wants that I have skipped focussing on the keto diet. These include office supplies, clothes, prints for my mostly blank walls and a book.
So I made a Go Fund Me account with a goal of 333 dollars https://www.gofundme.com/support-me-in-my-transition-to-the-keto-diet After I set it up I did nothing to promote it and sent out the announcement then I did nothing to promote it to friends or strangers.
Then my current pinch has motivated me to get humble and brave so that I can promote it soon.
Please pray for God to guide and provide.
Shalom
John
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