Consider Day 2 in the books!

I was up at 5:30 this morning and actually had some decent energy. My breakfast consisted of another Solgar brand probiotic, a pint of water and teaspoon of coconut oil. Coconut oil is rich in Medium Chain Triglycerides, or MCTs, which are easily digested and absorbed, requiring no metabolic energy. MCTs are an amazing way to energize the body and brain, especially when utilizing a ketogenic diet for health benefits.

Yesterday I only took in about 25-30 grams of carbohydrates. I really did not intend on going this low carb with this diet, but I feel great and haven't had the desire for more carb food or food in general so far. I intend on getting back to the 100 gram carb range tomorrow as I don't want to suppress my carb intake as much as I want to make sure I'm getting the right kind of carbs for both my blood sugar and insulin response as well as for my digestion (See note below)

I ended up intermittent fasting again today with the exception of the coconut oil in the morning. I don't suggest doing this two days in a row for most as it can be stressful. Especially for someone who isn't accustomed to fasting in the first place.

I broke my fast at 7:00 pm with some croc pot chicken breast on the bone, a cucumber and celery juice and some steamed broccoli and carrots. Nom nom nom... it tasted great and I feel pretty great right now too.

Note: If you have digestion issues of any kind and/or skin issues consider reading Breaking The Vicious Cycle by Elaine Gottschall. This is the book that outlines the Specific Carbohydrate Diet  which holds much of the logic that has helped me with my digestion issues and subsequently my health issues in general. 

However, the diet I'm adhering to right now is similar, but much more targeted and not entirely in line with SCD. It's possible that I may violate an SCD rule here and there. One of the things I'm avoiding that's allowed on SCD is fruit and fruit juices. I want to keep my blood sugar from spiking too much during this experiment. However, the reason I'm sticking to only cooked or freshly juiced veggies is to avoid fiber intake as much as I can. As SCD will teach you, fiber can be very counterproductive to someone with digestive issues. It's very bulky and can cause physical strain (think inflammation) on an already damaged gut. It will also feed gut flora, which is not a bad thing if you have a healthy balance of flora in your intestines, but this generally not the case in anyone with digestion issues. If some of the 'bad' guys is already overtaking your flora balance then fiber will just feed it more. The idea behind SCD is to starve out the flora and replenish it with the safest and strains of probiotics that have the most proven benefits.


Effects I've noticed today:

1. Itchy nose persists!

I wrote about how my nose was a little itchy on the inside yesterday. Well it was the same today. However, it was only in the early morning. The itchiness comes and goes, but I fully expect it to subside completely or at least become very much a rarity. Again, I attribute this effect to die off more than anything else.

2. Minimal congestion

I woke up mildly congested. This is another effect I'm familiar with when on a low carb diet. I attribute this effect to die off as well. It passed completely by 7:00 am.

3. More increased focus and energy

I felt even more focused and energetic than I did yesterday. Once the congestion passed I felt great all day and was able to get tons of work done and stay focused on the tasks at hand. I can't wait to see how my brain is functioning on day 21!

4. Very mild and short lived nausea

I noticed the smallest bit of nausea this around 8:30 am. It passed very quickly and I don't know if I would attribute it to the meat and veggie diet or if it was more of a result of what I ate Monday night making its way out of me. I'll report if I run into any more of this. It was very, very minimal.

5. Jaw popping on TMJ side

I noticed that the left side of my jaw became a little irritated, so to speak, and I was able to crack it easily. I've had TMJ my whole adult life and sometimes it gets aggravated. I'm not sure what that means. Hopefully it's something indicating improvements of the TMJ, but I have no idea. Could be completely unrelated for all I know, but I can say that my TMJ is usually affected by the way I had been eating around that time. But who knows...?

6. I smell

Yup. I stink. That's something that comes with going into ketosis. This is where your body starts burning ketones as the primary energy source instead of glucose. Some in the Paleo and Primal nutrition world call this "switching to fat burning instead of carb burning". There are a lot of benefits to a ketogenic diet as I have mentioned before. It can be great for insulin resistance and diabetes for instance. However, when you first kick on the ketone burning... you're gonna smell a little bit. Once I get my carb intake back to normal I should be back to smelling like roses like I usually do.

7. Minor diarrhea 

It was quick and minimal. I think most would avoid this if they weren't fasting and eating such low carbs when breaking the fast. No more of that for me.


So far most of the effects other than increased focus and energy have come in the early morning and subsided by mid morning at the latest. I should mention that I really believe a lot of these effects have been brought on by intermittent fasting and hitting ketosis and not really from the meat and veggies only thing. I'm really excited to see what tomorrow brings and can't wait to report back to you!

Thanks for reading! Comment below if you have any questions or input!

-Rob