Keto lifestyle and Calories

A lot of times people are told that in the Keto life their is no need to count calories but that's incorrect. When I embraced the lifestyle I didn't bother to factor in my calories because I felt eating low carb and high fat would mean eating lesser calories. Although I wasn't entirely wrong since high fat keeps one fuller for longer, their is satiety from the protein and the fibres found in the veggies ensure maximum fullness but even the fat isn't a calorie free food but is quite the opposite.

What exactly are calories? 

A calorie is a unit that measures energy, originally from the Latin word calor , which means heat when directly translated. A calorie is therefore the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of 1g of water to 1 deg Celsius. To cut long story short calories are energy that fuels our bodies; much like petrol fuels cars. Every food we eat contain calories, which are broken down into energy by our Metabolic System. Our bodies unfortunately are not like cars that when you over fill it with petrol the excess flow over, excess calories in human bodies get stored as fat within the body. Tell all those people that think their extra folds and humongous tummies are "evidence of good living" that they are "evidence of excess feeding"

Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) and calories

 For those that their sole purpose of switching to the Ketogenic lifestyle is to lose weight, calorie counting is very important especially at the initial stage. In other not to suddenly hit a plateau, one is encouraged to weigh their meals with a food scale to get a rough estimate of what they are eating. Make use of the numerous calorie counters online to understand the makeup of your meals. If you can calculate your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) even better cos it will give an idea of the amount of calories your Metabolic system can break down when you are resting.

BMR simply means the amount of energy expressed in calories that a person needs to keep the body functioning at rest. Now even at rest our bodies expend energy through breathing, blood circulation, digestion, contraction of muscles etc. BMR affects our rate of burning calories and how we lose, gain and maintain our weight.

BMR Calculation

Since 1919, there have been several attempts to calculate BMR but the only one a bit close to accurate is the one formulated by  Mifflin St Jeor which is

For Men: 10 x weight (kg) + 6.25 x height (cm) - 5 x age(years) + 5

For Women: 10 x weight (kg) + 6.25 x height (cm) - 5 x age (years) - 161

So let's say a 34 years old lady of height 168cm and weight 65.8kg, her BMR calculation will look like this

(10 x 65.8) + (6.25 x 168) - 5 x 34 - 161 = 1,377 calories.

Now for this lady, her body expends 1,377 calories while she is at rest. Without breaking a sweat her body can easily metabolize this amount of energy.
Please note that this formula isn't 100% accurate because stress, endocrine issues, activity level etc can moderately or slightly modify BMR but knowing this estimate is a step in the right direction in keeping a check one's diet.

Keto & Calories

For some people that embraced the Ketogenic lifestyle, it's a huge challenge to be able to calculate the amount of fat and protein that is within the approved 70% fat & 20% protein. Lots of people end up taking way too many fat or protein and this leads to either slow burn of the excess fat, a complete stall in weight loss or even worse weight gain.
This is were calorie counting comes into play in a Ketogenic diet. Let's keep in mind that

Energy stored = Energy in - Energy out

Using the example above, the lady's BMR is 1,377calories and she eats 1,077calories. Weight loss would occur cos her body would roughly burn 300 calories from her body fat to cover for the missing 300 calories in her diet.

-300 = 1,077 - 1,377
This is simple mathematics.

What if she eats 1,800 calories when her body can expend 1,377

423 = 1,800 - 1,377

there will be an excess calories of 423 which won't just disappear but will be stored in the body. It is important to note that Fat with 9 calories per gram is provides more calories than carbohydrate and protein which are 4 calories per gram. Now if this lady increases her activity level through non-strenuous exercise she would still be able to burn off these excess calories.

Some Keto compliant foods have more calories than others, so taking too much of it can actually lead to a stall or even a weight gain. Take for example a 1 medium size Avocado has a whooping 250 calories and that sweet Egusi soup with chunks of protein is 700 calories!!!! 25g of Groundnut that's your N50 worth contains 125 calories and most of us can finish 1 bottle of it in a blink of an eye.

Remember even in a Ketogenic diet, it is possible to eat too much calories and not lose weight.

Fighting Cancer with the Ketogenic diet

What a lot of people don't realise is that the Ketogenic diet has been in existence for over 90 years. It was actually designed by Dr Russell Wilder at the Mayo Clinic in 1924. It was initially used in the treatment of Epilepsy but due to surge of Anti-seizure medications, it sort of fell out of fashion.
Ketogenic diet because it is high in Fat, moderate in protein and low in carbohydrate, actually changes how energy is used in the body. Fat is converted in the Liver to fatty acids or ketone bodies which the body can comfortably run on.

Ketogenic Diet & Cancer
Over100 years ago, a scientist Otto Warburg discovered that cancer cells obtained energy (ATP) from glucose by fermentation to lactic acid without oxygen. This means that cancer cells thrive on glucose.

Every cancer patient is usually made to understand that any food that the end product is glucose should be avoided as much as possible. Thankfully in a ketogenic diet, the body runs on fatty acid for energy which research has shown that cancer cells are unable to metabolize. It is therefore logical that the swtiching to a ketogenic lifestyle deprives the cancer cells of glucose thereby killing them off.

Dr Thomas Seyfired in his wonderful book which I recommend to all my readers  Cancer as a Metabolic Disease: On the Origin, Management and Prevention of Cancer, through thorough research have shown that by using the ketogenic diet great results have been achieved on cancer patients. So the first step in Cancer cure is to starve the cancer.

Rainer J Klement and Ulrite Krammer in their article Is there a role for carbohydrate restriction in the treatment and prevention of cancer?, have been able research and come to the following conclusions that first, malignant cells depend on steady glucose availability in the blood for their energy and biomass but arenot able to metabolize significant amount of fatty acids due to mitochondrial dysfunction.
Second, high insulin and insulin-like growth factor as a result of chronic eating of carbohydrate-rich foods encourage the multiplication of tumour cells.
Third,fatty accids or ketone bodies that are elevated when insulin and blood glucose levels are low, have beeb shown to negatively affect the prolification of different malignant cells.

In conclusion,the ketogenic lifestyle is a great way of not just curing cancer but also in preventing it. The best thing to do is to share this post with all our loved ones. Yes, cancer is preventable while on a ketogenic lifestyle.

REFERENCES

1.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warburg_effect
2. Seyfried TN. Cancer as a Metabolic Disease
3. Klement RJ, Kammerer U. Is there a role for carbohydrate restriction in the treatment and prevention of cancer?

Cauliflower "Rice" & native red oil stew

Have been craving for native rice so i decided to get it going with my ever faithful Cauliflower. The meal was so filling and tasty that it took so much willpower not to go for a 3rd helping...yep...I  went back twice for more...hopefully you guys would do better than me.

Cauliflower & native red oil stew

Ingredients

200g Goat Meat ( Diced)
2 tbsp Dry Ground Crayfish
30g Fresh Cayenne Pepper (Shombo)
Adobo Spice
4 tbsp Red Oil
2 tbsp Veg Oil
Salt
100g Cauliflower (Grated)
Slice of onion

Directions

• Wash your meat and cook with salt, Adobo spice and little water
• Blend your pepper and onion together 
• Add your red oil to a sauce pan and cook on low heat for just 2mins
• Add the blended pepper to the red oil and fry for 5mins
• Add your crayfish and cooked meat to the pepper and fry for another 5mins
•  In another sauce pan, add Vegetable Oil and heat for like 30sec before pouring your Cauliflower with a small sprinkle of salt.
• Stir fry till Cauliflower is crisp on the outside but moist inside.
• Serve with your pepper stew

Now we should note that Cayenne Pepper packs quite a punch when it comes to carbohydrate and sugar so should be eaten with caution. It also has quite a bit of healthy fat which is good news for those of us on this ketogenic lifestyle.

According to Wikipedia, a 100g of Cayenne pepper contains total fat of 17g, carbohydrate  57g, sugar 10g and protein 12g. For those on "Strict" low carb lifestyle which means less than 20g of carb daily, this meal should not be an every day stuff, once a week should do.

Enjoy!

TGIF Dinner Chicken Nkwobi

Thank God it's Friday, yaaay! Our meal today is simply divine. The slight bitterness of the Utazi leaf makes this meal exceptional. Without much ado, I present to you guys, my special keto adapted Chicken Nkwobi, without potash and "Maggi".

Chicken Nkwobi

Ingredients

100g Chicken Gizzard (Diced)
100g Chicken Thigh (Diced)
2 tbsp Dry Crayfish
2 tbsp ground dry pepper
5 leaves of Utazi. (Washed & Sliced)
3tbsp of Red Oil
1 tbsp Adobo by Goya


Directions

• Wash the Chicken thigh and gizzards
• Place in the pot and sprinkle Adobo, salt and pepper and massage into the meat.
• Cook on medium heat till stock almost dries out but do not allow it to burn.
• Add your red palm oil and crayfish and simmer for about 5mins
• Sprinkle the sliced Utazi leaves and stir spoon
• Allow to cook for just 2mins and your meal is ready.

Quick, easy and very tasty!

Note that Utazi leaf is bitter so do not add  much or else your food will be too bitter. I'ld love to hear from you. Holla at kaichu.oo@gmail.com. Have a splendid weekend!

Get energized on Bulletproof Coffee or Tea

Bulletproof Coffee is a very tasty coffee made popular by Dave Asprey. A lot people on ketogenic diet drink it as a form of meal replacement in the morning. It can keep you full and very alert for a long time.
To make 1 cup of Bulletproof Coffee, you need

• 1 tbsp Butter (Preferably grass fed)
• 1 tbsp Coconut oil ( Cold pressed)
• 1 cup of Coffee or Tea
• Mix all in a blender and whip till frothy.

Now for those of us in countries with frequent power cuts, one may just decide not bother with making the Bulletproof Tea or Coffee, not to worry there is always a way around these things *winks.

I made this in the morning with nothing more than a clean empty plastic bottle!! Just mix everything together and pour into the plastic bottle. Give a few shakes and voila! Your yummy, filling bulletproof coffee or tea is ready ( I do green tea).

Now keep in mind that one should not over do drinking this stuff. It isn't wise to replace a nutritious meal filled with something low in essential vitamins like Bulletproof Coffee or Tea.

Hope I've been of help to someone out there. Have a very lovely week.

Sunday Lunch Cauliflower "Fried Rice"

So i decided to make my own special Cauliflower fried rice with a hint of Coconut. This one meal that got me wanting more and i could not just wait to share the recipe with you all.
It is as tasty fried rice but much more healthier. It's also very quick to make.

CAULIFLOWER "FRIED RICE"

Serving: 2

Ingredients

                                                                                           FAT         CARB         PROTEIN
1 Cup Cauliflower (washed & shredded)                              .                 5g                     .
1 Small Green Pepper (diced)                                              .                3g                     .
1 Fresh Baby carrot (diced)                                                                  3.5g                  .
1/2 Cup Chicken Breast (diced)                                          6.48g          .                   24.82g
2 tbsp Coconut Oil                                                              28g              .                      .
Adobo All purpose                                                                .                 .                      .
1 Hot Yellow Pepper                                                            .                1.8g                  .
Pinch of salt                                                                          .                 .                       .

Total                                                                                  34.48g        13.3g           24.82g

     
 Directions

• Put your Chicken breast into a saute pan or wok and sprinkle some salt and adobo spice on top.
• Allow it to marinate for like 5mins before adding 1 tsbp of Coconut oil to it.
• Cook on low heat for 5 mins.
• While the meat is cooking, pour your shredded Cauliflower into a paper towel or towel and absorb any excess water.
• Add Cauliflower to chicken, allow to cook till cauliflower is a little crisp on the outside but moist inside then add 1 tbsp Coconut oil, diced carrot, hot yellow pepper and green pepper.
• Saute for 3mins sprinkle more Adobo and salt and your meal is ready.

 Hope you Enjoy it, I know i did.

Bon appetit!!

9 Ways to Fight Carbohydrate Cravings on a Keto Lifestyle

Carb addiction is real, people! It can be a very tough experience for a lot of people because the urges can be pretty powerful. Once addicted,carbs locks you in a vicious cycle of highs and low until your health deteriorates ( Diabetes, Obesity etc).

These are 9 tips that i have been using to beat carb cravings and i believe they can also help you get started on your new ketogenic lifestyle. Enjoy!

1.  Eat Frequently Going too long between meals especially on this lifestyle can lead to a drop in your sugar level,which leads to hunger and cravings. In other words, keep eating so that you don't go into starvation mode and demand a sugar hit.
2. Make a plan It's important you plan out your meals  and snacks daily. This would make you less likely to succumb to carb temptation
3. Choose Whole foods over Processed foods A lot of processed foods contain hidden sugars and grains so when you unknowingly consume them you trigger your craving. Be on the look out  if you must buy processed food and always read labels to avoid those sneaky carbs.
4. Drink Lots of Fluids Sometimes hunger and cravings may be confused with thirst. Be sure to drink up to 3 liters of water daily. Half liters can come from decaffeinated coffee and tea, herbal tea, Soda water etc.
5. Load Up on Fat When you reduce the amount of carb in your diet body fat provides energy instead. Eating food high in fat can provide immediate relief from cravings. I've sometimes drank a tablespoon of Coconut when i'm very hungry and it works almost instantly. Do not be afraid of fat, embrace it.
6. Avoid Caffeine Caffeine spikes sugar levels and can cause sugar cravings. If you are a coffee lover and you have noticed yourself struggling with craving, eliminate or reduce caffeine in your diet. 
7. Stay Away from temptations If you see yourself craving sugar constantly or cheating too often on your diet, simply try to stay away from situation that expose you to such temptation. Stop bringing sugary foods into house, carry your home-made lunch to the office, have some boiled eggs in your bag as a back up all the time, etc
8. Avoid Emotional Eating Sometimes cravings a driven by emotional triggers like stress, anger, anxiety, shame, depression etc. Learn to identify these triggers. Some may be as a result of an underlying issues that must be resolved by a professional.
9. Distract yourself Boredom can be masked as craving or hunger. The truth is that craving lasts for just 20mins. So when craving strikes take a walk, phone a friend, walk your dog, dance with your kids or read a book. 

Do you have more tip on how you fight off cravings? Please do share on the comment box. Have a lovely Sunday.

The Miracle of Coconut Oil in Weight loss

The key to successful weight loss is to make sure we stabilize our sugar level. Extreme highs an lows in sugar level leads to craving which leads us to often go to the wrong food aisle during grocery shopping. The best way to to maintain a steady blood sugar for a long period and in-between meal is by eating healthy and filling fats. Read ( Healthy Fats we need) .

Coconut Oil is a tropical oil that is made from dried nut of the Coconut palm tree. It contains a healthy type of saturated oil which our body quickly burns for energy. It is different from most other fat because it is almost entirely made up of Medium-Chain Fatty Acids (MCT). Studies have shown that MCT can help in the process of excess calorie burning, thus weight loss(1) (2). Apart from Palm Kernel Oil no other oil has beneficial properties like Coconut oil.

 Coconut Oil in Weight Loss

Abdominal fat, also called visceral fat or belly fat, is the fat that tends to lodge around our organs and cause inflammation, diabetes and heart disease .Any reduction in abdominal fat is likely to have very positive effects on our metabolic health, longevity and drastically reduce our risk of chronic disease.
In 2009, a study was conducted on women with abdominal obesity and the effects of coconut oil supplementation. Forty women, from age 20 to 40 years who had a waist circumference greater than 34.6 inches, received a daily dietary supplement of either 30 ml of coconut oil or 30 ml of soybean oil. The study lasted 12 weeks. Upon completion of the 12 weeks only the coconut oil group had a reduction in waist circumference.
The coconut oil group experienced no changes in cholesterol levels, but the soybean oil group experienced a decrease in HDL levels and an increase in both LDL levels and LDL:HDL ratios. The scientists concluded that coconut oil does not cause high cholesterol and triglycerides. This study demonstrated that the women taking coconut oil had a reduction in abdominal obesity while taking coconut oil.(3) Coconut Oil combined with proven weight loss strategies like reduction in carbs works well.

Unsaturated Oils block protein digestion in our stomachs making us malnourished even while eating healthy food. Hormonal changes caused by these unsaturated fat can also damage the thyroid making it sluggish and a sluggish thyroid is sluggish means weight gain. Coconut oil being a saturated oil does not have negative effect on the thyroid function. This makes it a good news for those suffering from low thyroid function, since Coconut oil are known to promote increase in metabolism thereby preventing weight gain.

Best Way to use Coconut Oil for Weight Loss

Taking Coconut oil at least 20mins before eating reduces appetite significantly and helps one to be sated with small portions of food. Anything that reduces our appetite makes us eat lesser calories and Coconut oil has proven to be very good in that.In one study of 6 healthy men, eating a high amount of MCTs caused them to automatically eat 256 fewer calories per day (4).
Other ways of maximizing our Coconut oil is to add it to Coffee, herbal and Green teas and then proceed to whip them in your blender. An addition of butter to the mix creates the world famous Bulletproof Coffee. Which is also very delicious and extremely filling.

So people, what are you waiting for add Coconut oil to your lifestyle and do away with those  jiggly tummies.

See you all soon.