I would like to share with you my journey with intermittent fasting and a low carb lifestyle. First, I would like to share a little bit about my history and how I got here. Please understand that I have NO MEDICAL DEGREE; this is my story, my experience and I am not in any way advocating that you, my reader, embark on this journey without careful consideration.
My History
As far back as my twenties, I can remember experiencing lightheadedness, brain fog and “hanger” when I went too long without eating. Honestly, I can’t remember now who advised me to eat every three hours to keep my blood sugar steady, but someone did, and so I did. I still ate sugar and simple carbohydrates, but I ate some kind of protein every three hours. If I did not, I suffered the above consequences.
Then, in 2013, I was diagnosed with a sliding hiatal hernia that at times would cause “heart attack-like symptoms”. My stomach would slide up into that hernia and get stuck. I would then experience excruciating spasms that ended me with the squad being called when I was in Whole Foods with my kids. Talk about scary!
I couldn’t deal with that. I was going to Urgent Care frequently enough that they actually gave me an anti-spasmodic cocktail to keep with me. My doctor, Dr. Keith Lewis of Healthy Life Doctors https://healthylifedoctors.com/ helped me to understand that my digestive system was so inflamed that I had to give it a rest. He put me on an anti-inflammatory and alkaline diet.
After more than a year, my incidents were becoming less frequent, and I could tell that the inflammation was lessening! In the process of eating more whole foods, no sugar and no white flour or flour products, I dropped more than thirty pounds!
Now, keep in mind, this was in 2013. There weren’t a lot of sugar-free, low/no carb options in the stores. I had to order most of my ingredients online.
More Recent History
Maintaining that weight loss for several years, I was healthy and happy! I gained a few pounds here and there but lost them when I put my mind to what I was eating. I continued eating every three hours “to keep my blood sugar steady”. And then…
Covid-19
Last fall, I contracted Covid-19. I felt miserable. I didn’t lose my taste and smell right away but did eventually. Nothing sounded and tasted good. When something did sound good, I ate it! Mashed potatoes, gravy with beef from Culvers was the first thing that sounded AND tasted good! I felt like I was starving. I ate the same thing for 3 days in a row!
Needless to say, feeling sorry for myself, I started relaxing some of what I knew to be healthy for me. Now, I didn’t completely go crazy. I still stayed MOSTLY away from sugar and carbohydrates but allowed some leeway in my diet. Can you guess it? I started putting on the pounds.
Atrial Fibrillation
Meanwhile, after recovering from Covid, my heart started acting crazy. One morning, right before going out to milk and do chores, I knew my heart was POUNDING! As a result of Covid, I had purchased an oximeter to keep track of my oxygen levels. I was in the habit of checking my levels every morning. This particular morning, I could not register a rhythm of my heart rate. I asked my husband to check, and he couldn’t find a rhythm either.
So, I did a quick search online and found that exercise was one remedy for “A-fib”. Out I went to do chores as normal and amazingly, when I returned to the house, my heart was back in rhythm. “No big deal”, I thought!
The problem is though that this began happening more and more frequently. So, I scheduled an appointment with a local doctor I had never met. My appointment was for the end of January. When I arrived at that appointment, and blood pressure and EKGs were run, I was immediately sent to ER. “Which hospital do you want to go to?” was the question I was asked. I was in disbelief.
I was diagnosed with atrial fibrillation. My heart rate and blood pressure were so high upon arriving in the emergency department that they almost made me stay overnight! But that was just the beginning.
As I began to monitor my symptoms, I realized that my heart had a reaction to eating carbs…even healthy carbs like sprouted wheat bread! I tested the reaction a few times and realized I wasn’t just imagining it. So, I decided I would eat a ketogenic diet (which I was a bit familiar with because my son and his wife were eating that way). No sugar and no carbs for a week, was what I decided. Guess what? NO reaction! My heart definitely was steadier.
Excess Weight!
In March, I began to realize how much weight I had put on. I was afraid to get on the scale, so I began to do some research. I was already eating a ketogenic diet, but I was still eating every three hours “to keep my blood sugar steady”. Again, I began to do some research as well as talk to my Dr. Lewis!
He suggested intermittent fasting. I feel kind of bad at how quickly my response to him was “I can’t do that. I need to eat every 3 hours!” He also, after looking at some test results, said that my blood glucose was too high. He labeled it as “insulin resistance”. OUCH! Now I had something else to research!
You won’t believe what I found out! I did this to myself!! By eating every three hours for YEARS, I was dumping glucose and triggering an insulin response so frequently that I had overloaded my cells! And what is the ONLY remedy and means of reversal for insulin resistance (and even diabetes type 2)? Intermittent Fasting! At this point, I was motivated to try it. I read that it probably would take up to 8 or 9 months to reverse the insulin resistance, but that seemed doable to me since it had taken me years to get to this point!
During that visit with Dr. Lewis, he suggested I watch some of Dr. Fung’s YouTube videos on the subject. So, I did! Here is a link to the first one I watched. https://youtu.be/r0d5lJzMXnM. I also had followed Dr. Berg on YouTube and he was in agreement with Dr. Fung. Here is that link: https://youtu.be/pxl8hhyN6AQ. I watched every video the two of them had on the subject! I was on a mission!
Intermittent Fasting
Since both of these experts as well as my own expert, Dr. Lewis, agreed, I was convinced that this is what I had to do. I began my intermittent fasting journey in March with fasting twelve hours: from 6:00 p.m. until 6:00 a.m. Gradually I increased it on both ends to 14 hours fasting and a 10-hour eating window, then to 16:8 and then to 18:6. This has worked well for me. I have even completed a couple of twenty hour fasts with a four-hour eating window.
The Ketogenic Diet
There are many who lose weight with intermittent fasting without giving up sugar and other foods they want to eat. But since my main goal is to reverse my insulin resistance, I can’t eat sugar and simple carbohydrates, as these are the foods that cause an insulin response.
Results!
It is now the first of August. The change has been slow, but I am not worried. I can tell it’s working! I told you that in the beginning, I was afraid to weigh. After I could tell by my clothes and see in the mirror that I had lost some weight, I got on the scale. That was my “starting point”. I have now lost 6 pounds from that point and more than five inches off my waist. I know I have lost more since the beginning of this journey but have no way to measure it since I was afraid to know how much weight I had gained.
DISCLAIMER:
Again, I want to emphasize that I am not a doctor. I have no formal training! However, I DID follow the advice of Dr. Lewis! This is a simple documentation of my own journey with atrial fibrillation, insulin resistance and weight loss. Please do your own research!
Recipes and Websites
My “PART TWO” of this post will include websites of “ketogenic cooks” and their recipes that I have found to be reliable. There are definitely some unreliable sites out there that have resulted in wasted ingredients and nothing edible for dinner, so I hope to be able to prevent you wasting your time if you choose to try a ketogenic diet and intermittent fasting to regain your health and bring your blood sugar levels into control!
Thank you for reading!
Please contact me if this has been a help or encouragement to you, or if you have questions that perhaps I can answer!
