Back from Cuba with renewed resolve

daylitemag

Hi All,

I just got back from a week in Cuba on a guys fishing trip. It was a very challenging week from a LCHF perspective. For the first couple of days I managed to avoid eating carbs but realized I wasn't going to have any choice in the matter. The food in Cuba is terrible and particularly where we were. We were NOT at a five star resort or anything even resembling one. I quickly found myself eating almost nothing and that wasn't going to work; especially as we were drinking and the weather was warm. I managed to avoid drinking any beer and stuck to vodka. Even there I tried to be moderate (not easy with a group of guys). I think my weight stayed more or less even and it will take a day or two for my digestive system to recover and then I will be able to check my weight.

Anyway, I'm right back at it this morning, and VERY happy to be home with my normal foods and routines.

One of the guys on my trip has done a lot of low carb'ing over the years and he said something that I thought I would run past this group. He said you can't stay in Ketosis forever and that it will damage your kidneys. In fact, he went so far as to say it would kill you. I think he was talking trash , but does anyone here think we should limit how long we stay in Keto? I have a lot of weight to lose and so far it's been easy to stay Keto - seems like something I could do for the long haul.

Sunny_Bunny_

That kind of thinking is mostly based on fear and misinformation. Healthy kidneys shouldn't have any problem with lifelong ketosis. And most likely the level of ketosis us lifers will maintain long term will be much lighter in maintenance anyway.

blacktie347

I'm not a doctor, but according to the research I've done on this subject, I found this article: http://eatingacademy.com/nutrition/is-ketosis-dangerous ... it is a very good discussion of the science behind ketosis - I did some research recently for an unrelated matter - I had already read from a book written by doctors that ketosis was fine, but I wanted to know why - the science behind it - and this article pretty much covers the science behind it. I read some more on that website, and there's another very good series of articles if you're so inclined to read more. I'll post the link if you want; otherwise, I don't want to spam with tons of links to stuff no one wants to read

Lillith32

Cuban food is delicious! I live in South Florida, which is practically North Cuba, and I picked up a lot of Cuban and Latin American recipes. Pulled pork, camarones del ojo, ropa vieja, picadillo... so much deliciousness. I won't even start on cafecito, although I drink it with fake sugar instead of the real cane stuff. Your friends must have took you to the wrong places to eat

Deena_Bean

Welcome back, sounds like a fun trip - even with the food trouble. I know it's nice to be back to your 'good' food!

I've actually heard/read the same about staying too low carb for too long...I'm still researching this. I imagine there's some truth to it, but it may be completely exaggerated. If I find anything worthwhile I'll bring it back here

GaleHawkins

blacktie347 wrote: »

I'm not a doctor, but according to the research I've done on this subject, I found this article: http://eatingacademy.com/nutrition/is-ketosis-dangerous ... it is a very good discussion of the science behind ketosis - I did some research recently for an unrelated matter - I had already read from a book written by doctors that ketosis was fine, but I wanted to know why - the science behind it - and this article pretty much covers the science behind it. I read some more on that website, and there's another very good series of articles if you're so inclined to read more. I'll post the link if you want; otherwise, I don't want to spam with tons of links to stuff no one wants to read

More links would be nice @blacktie347.

I think most people struggle with understanding nutritional ketosis is NOT a high protein way of eating.

daylitemag

Lillith32 wrote: »

Cuban food is delicious! I live in South Florida, which is practically North Cuba, and I picked up a lot of Cuban and Latin American recipes. Pulled pork, camarones del ojo, ropa vieja, picadillo... so much deliciousness. I won't even start on cafecito, although I drink it with fake sugar instead of the real cane stuff. Your friends must have took you to the wrong places to eat

I agree, that Cuban food prepared in Florida is tremendous. I've had many great meals in SoBe! But the food in Cuba is not great. The problem is they don't have access to ingredients the way we do in NA. Also, we were primarily in a very poor area where they have almost nothing. Of course there were a few exceptions that were fine but a whole week was hard to take - especially when I wasn't willing to eat the rice and beans. One night I asked our guide to make Chicharones and they were awesome.

blacktie347

GaleHawkins wrote: »

More links would be nice @blacktie347.

I think most people struggle with understanding nutritional ketosis is NOT a high protein way of eating.

You asked for it

A couple of disclaimers - 1) the author is a Stanford-educated M.D. and he gets really technical here, and 2) TL;DR (for both parts of this article) - nutritional ketosis can lead to improved cardio performance and improved strength performance (like running on a treadmill or lifting weights, respectively) and there are case studies that support this being true, but the actual studies about this are still ongoing at the time that this author wrote this article, so it's not "proven" as of now, apparently.

http://eatingacademy.com/nutrition/ketosis-advantaged-or-misunderstood-state-part-i
http://eatingacademy.com/nutrition/ketosis-advantaged-or-misunderstood-state-part-iI

Enjoy!

Edit: added the word "apparently"

daylitemag

Thanks for all the information