How dirty, lazy, and cheap are you?

MacLowCarbing

There are people who do clean keto. They not only track and balance their macros, but all their micros. They don't touch seed oils, artificial sweeteners, or those processed low-carb snacks in the grocery stores. They eat real, grass-fed, grass-finished, organic ruminant meat and stick to Kerrygold's butter.

If this is you, I salute you. Congrats. But you're not the one I'm talking to here.

My low-carb diet is closest to what can be called dirty/lazy/cheap keto:

• My beef isn't grass-fed or grass-finished. In fact I grab bargain mark-downs at supermarkets when is see them.
• I eat some fruits in moderation, and not just berries. Today I had cantaloupe.
• I allow myself some artificial sweeteners, even the (gasp!) bad ones-- on occasion.
• I don't usually use seed oils but I do have a bottle of vegetable oil occasionally used for frying because it would take far too much ghee/bacon grease/coconut oil to do the same job.
• Every now and then, a nice chocolate low-carb processed protein bar hits the spot.

How about you?

rileysowner

Other than the eating fruit part (I didn't really eat a lot of fruit before I started keto, so why start now) that is pretty much me. I am guessing I am more restrictive in my carb goal than you seem to be, but I have no interest in the "clean" keto way of eating. Not only does is strike me as expensive and unattainable for a large number of people, but in my opinion, it acts as if we know far more about those things they say are so bad than we do. To be completely forthcoming, I never considered any of the "clean" eating niches to be a preferable way to eat. If they want to do it, they can. I will not unless I absolutely have to.

MacLowCarbing

rileysowner wrote: »

Other than the eating fruit part (I didn't really eat a lot of fruit before I started keto, so why start now) that is pretty much me. I am guessing I am more restrictive in my carb goal than you seem to be, but I have no interest in the "clean" keto way of eating. Not only does is strike me as expensive and unattainable for a large number of people, but in my opinion, it acts as if we know far more about those things they say are so bad than we do. To be completely forthcoming, I never considered any of the "clean" eating niches to be a preferable way to eat. If they want to do it, they can. I will not unless I absolutely have to.

That highlighted part; such a good point. After lowering my carbs/raising fat I discovered "keto" was the closest thing to what I was eating, so I looked into it, and some of the "clean Keto" diet gurus had me scratching my head.

For me, the grass-fed/grass-finished stuff is just out of reach, price-wise, for a normal week/month. But I figure if I can't afford $18 per pound grass-finished ribeye steaks, it's better to eat 59 cent per pound chicken leg quarters than it is to go back to eating more carbs & processed foods lol.

Fruit I've always loved (too much sometimes, lol), but I can eat it sparingly. Small portions. It's not so much a nutritional benefit as it is to just keep the plate from getting boring.

I generally stick to 5% or less carbs per day, which is around 20g for me.