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You’ve probably been reading a lot about the new trend in eating: The Ketogenic, or Keto, Diet. OK, you ask, what is that?

The purpose of this article is to inform as best I can, about what has become a massive new trend in dietary fat loss and energy revitalization. For the record, I don’t do the Keto Diet in any form. I love my bacon and eggs but I only eat them occasionally now.

A Ketogenic diet burns fat for energy instead of carbohydrates. The energizers are Ketones instead of Glucose (sugars). You eat moderate protein and high fat foods for energy. You stay away from starchy carbs, sugars, grains and some fruits.  When on the Keto diet, you consume 50 to 75% of your calories from fat, 15 – 30% from protein, and the rest from carbs (mostly from vegetables). That’s a lot of fat.

The diet puts your body into a state of “Ketosis”, a metabolic state where you burn fat for energy rather than carbohydrates. It happens because the liver turns the dietary fat into organic compounds called Ketones, and sends them into your bloodstream. It started back in the 1920s as a treatment for epilepsy.

The Keto diet is becoming more and more mainstream mostly because there have been good short term results. There have been few long term studies to determine the effects of staying on the diet for a substantial length of time.

Does this mean we can load up on bacon? Some promote that. Others say the fats should be non-animal fat except for fish, and to load up on Onega 3 and some Omega 6s in varying proportions. Avocados are promoted highly. It all depends on who you listen to.

I first learned of Ketones when I encountered a “biohacker” named Dave Asprey. He is an entrepreneur who sold his company and started drinking coffee laced with grass-fed, unsalted butter. It seems he was traveling somewhere exotic and was given Yak butter to put in his coffee. He said that his energy levels peaked. So he created a new trend called “Bulletproof” this and “Bulletproof” that, and it is based on burning fat instead of carbs for energy, putting you into Ketosis. Bulletproof products have become quite popular in some circles.

As with all diets and other Nutritional confusion, we will have to wait and see. As I said, short term results seem to be positive. Long term issues have not been studied at length, simply because with the exception of the Atkins trend years ago, the diet hasn’t been mainstream long enough for most of us to show any extended benefits.

Here’s a note. I have talked to two separate cardiologists who sell weight loss eating products directly from their offices as a side business. They are both based on a low carbohydrate, high fat underlying base.

I can’t say whether a Keto diet is good or bad. I can only write what I have learned about it. I am still of the belief that a diet filled with a variety of food groups, staying away from sugar, junk food and refined flour, is the best. That’s only my opinion based on my own 40 pound weight loss and high level of physical energy.

So inform yourself. If you are thinking about trying a high fat, low carb eating pattern, then let this be a starting point for your own exploration into the subject.

At least you know what the “Millennials” are talking about when they all say they are in “Ketosis”. Now you won’t think they are in some wild, exotic hallucinogenic state (at least not from the food).

Note this, however, if you are diabetic. The WebMD website says that if you are diabetic, you can build up too many ketones and it could be a major health hazard. Check with your doctor first.

Thank you for reading.

Whether you are trying to lose weight, bulk up, or just keep lean and fit, it will pay off for you to keep track of what you do to get and stay that way.

As a speaker and writer on the topic of Physical Energy for Seniors, I want real statistics and data that I can associate with actual results. I want to know that if I gain or lose weight, what am I doing or not doing that resulted in that weight change.

Many people keep a record of their weight, food and exercise by keeping a daily log. Some keep track weekly. I have kept a daily log of weight, food and exercise for the last ten years. The weight and food logs take about 30 seconds total out of my entire day. Gee, I don’t know if I have time for that.

I keep track of my weight on a 5X7 index card. I can get a full year on two cards (both sides). I can write down over three months on each side. I put the date on the page on the 1st and the 15th of each month so I don’t get lost. If I miss a day, I put in a short dash. How difficult is that? I keep the index card by the sink in the bathroom. Ten years worth of keeping track comes to 20 index cards. I stack them on a bookshelf alongside my exercise and food logs.

Is this being Obsessive Compulsive (OCD) about it all? My wife thinks so. But if I write about it, I’d better be able to prove it — and I can.

The food log? My wife and I write out a menu over the weekend for the next week on one page of a legal pad. We know what we’re going to eat for dinner. I cross it out after we eat it. I also record breakfasts and lunches. It takes about 30 seconds. My wife thinks that’s OCD too. She’s probably right. Folded over, the pages take less than 3 inches of bookshelf space for the 10 years I’ve been keeping records.

The exercise log is a given. You should keep track of what you do. I use small 5” X 8” wirebound notebooks from the office supply store and list the exercises I do. I have nearly 10 years worth. OCD? Not so. In ten years I’ve probably looked at those records fifteen or so times to correlate weight loss with the foods I was eating during that period. The same with weight gain – I wanted to know what I ate at over a particular period, that resulted in a significant weight change.

Should you do all that? The weight log, probably. The food log, probably , but not for ten years. The exercise log? Definitely — if you exercise. It’s nice to know how well you’re progressing. Hey, Bruce Lee did it. Arnold Schwarzenegger did it. Why not you?

Dr. David Agus, author of several books on health and longevity, suggests that one of the best ways to measure progress is to look at yourself critically in the mirror once a week and notice the results you’re getting. How can you not be motivated to keep it up when you can actually SEE the positive results in your body as they are happening in real time.

If you keep a record, you can see the progress you are making – as you make it. You can also see the progress you are not making, and in many cases, the “reason why” will be staring right back at you from those index cards, food and exercise logs.

Most online exercise programs and some offline home based programs provide record books or journals for you to keep as part of the “package”. But if your program is “home made”, then you can write it all down on your own paper and index cards.

You should know your body. You should be aware of what you look like and what you feel like. You should track what you do daily. If you don’t like it, you can always make adjustments.

Thank you for reading.

Just when I was about to give up on a topic for today’s article, I discovered another “STUDY” that has just been published in that prestigious publication that doctors read, JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association. It turns out that we sat an hour a day longer in 2016 than we did nine years earlier in 2007, and it’s all the fault of our computers.

The Wall Street Journal reported this astounding fact in an article headlined: Americans Are Sitting More and We Have Computers to Blame. Yes it’s all the computer’s fault. And the study shows that this phenomenon runs across all age groups, genders, ethnic groups, and any other differentiating factor among people. Wow, we’re all victims of “computer sitting syndrome” (I just made that up), and it’s the computer’s fault. That’s what the study said. Really.

This study (remember this was published in JAMA and doctor’s read it as gospel) did suggest that there were some important limitations, according to the Wall Street Journal article. For example,the new study didn’t seem to cover cell phone use and didn’t “capture how many people lay in their beds on their phones”. Really. It said that.

The WSJ article quoted a cardiologist and chair of one of the Leadership Councils of the American College of Cardiology, as saying: “There’s still an opportunity here. Any exercise is better than no exercise, and daily exercise is still the best exercise.” Wow! What a revelation. Did the American College of Cardiology finally figure that out? Good for them. It’s important because doctors read this stuff (JAMA, not this blog — if doctor’s had been reading my articles, they would have known that a long time ago and I would be famous).

This article is a bit facetious in tone. That’s because I’m trying to outdo a friend of mine who has started a new blog that you might enjoy reading. It’s pretty much a bunch of random thoughts somewhat more facetious than this. I thought I’d give it a plug. You can find it athttps://notesfromtheroomofwonder.com/.

Anyhow, no matter how many studies come out with the message that we sit too much, I’m sure we are all very much aware of it. We also know what to do about it. Just like the genius from the Cardiology College suggested: “Any exercise is better than no exercise.” See, I’ve been right all along. And I’m still not famous — yet.

So, the moral of the story is that you shouldn’t sit so much and should exercise more. If you’re going to be on your cell phone, you shouldn’t be laying in your bed. Instead you should be getting exercise by walking down the street with your head down and buried in your phone. If you get run over by a truck, you can always blame your computer.

Thank you for reading.