Keto diet - anyone else?

[Lemming Train]

Have you of any got an air fryer? Both the missus and myself have been getting increasingly pissed off at the clean up required for the main oven and my electric grill after use so we finally succumbed to the air fryer hype last week and bought one! It's this big beast from Argos : https://www.argos.co.uk/product/7988321. And they are big as well - you can just about get 2 decent sized joints of meat in the basket! Price was £130 then reduced to £100 and now down to £90. Despite my initial reservations I think it's chuffin' brilliant! Done bacon, belly pork, steak, chicken breasts and chips thus far and after a bit of trial and error with the timings it's all come out good. The bacon and belly pork being fully contained so no splatter outside of the main container is fantastic and worth the money alone imo.

Definitely a kitchen 'must have' for the serious keto dieter! Wish I'd bought one years ago.

[grumbledoak]

Lemming Train said:

Have you of any got an air fryer? ...

Definitely a kitchen 'must have' for the serious keto dieter! Wish I'd bought one years ago.

No, I recently upgraded to a Le Creuset griddle pan for most of my frying, and I don't bake much at all. How do these work in practice?

[Lemming Train]

grumbledoak said:

No, I recently upgraded to a Le Creuset griddle pan for most of my frying, and I don't bake much at all. How do these work in practice?

They're nothing special and despite all the hype and techno-jargon they're basically just a mini electric fan oven. As you can see in the photos in the Argos link, you get a large non-stick coated container with holes in and an optional divider to stick in your meat, chips, veggies or whatever, and any fat/juices from the meat falls through into the outer container below. If doing them in a traditional oven or electric grill you've got all the fat splatter to deal with which gets everywhere. I've just done a big slab of pork belly in my air fryer - I cut through the rind with a sharp knife where I'll want to slice them once cooked, then coated the entire rind with a copious layer of olive oil and fresh ground salt, chucked it in the air fryer, set 45 mins on the timer at 180C and went out shopping. Came back just as it finished and both the meat and the crackling were absolutely perfect.

Usually if you want good crackling in a traditional oven you have to mess about cranking up the temp towards the end and it takes longer than 45 mins too - also you're supposed to put the meat in the fridge overnight beforehand to let the rind dry out in order to get good crackling in a normal oven, according to the food experts. No such requirement necessary in the air fryer from my experiences thus far!

Clean up takes 2 mins to wash the inner and outer containers in the sink, dry them and slot them back in ready for next use. Couldn't be simpler . I specifically bought this model because of the inner container design as all the others I've seen have metal racks like a traditional over and these are a pain in the arse to clean properly. I have seen a few negative comments about the non-stick coating coming away after a while but I'll worry about that if/when it happens.

This woman on YT has done a decent and factual non-shouty review on the specific model if interested : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZ6tOOW49GM. She makes a complete hash of the chips by not tossing them properly so ignore that and check out the fried chicken towards the end which has come out great.

Edited by Lemming Train on Friday 30th August 20:13

[grumbledoak]

Lemming Train said:

<explanation right above ^^^ snipped>

Thank you, I will take a look at that review.

[a311]

That's it a month done of (hand on heart) strict keto.

Been easier than I thought on the eating side, not really missed anything food wise-fat makes things tasty. I miss some root veg and cooking with onions.

Training performance I would say is slightly down, the main negative side effect for me has been having a much shorter fuse than usual. I'm putting this down to either not giving it long enough or the fact I'm on the bigger side and do a lot of exercise.

I'm going to tinker with upping the carbs a little, this won't mean re-introducing bread, chips, and loads of sugar more on the side of pre-training dosing and seeing how that goes. Weight loss was around 6lbs I was more relaxed on the calorie counting overall, if my focus was purely weight loss for me a more conventional approach is more effective.

Thanks to all those who offered some advice.

[mikal83]

OK time to join the Me too brigade and start a keto diet of my own. I've put on 2 stone in a year and my belly is quite noticeable. My exercising was down and thats all going to change from tomorrow.

I am using this The Diet doctors plan. I've even cut out the shopping list for tomorrow. That and every other day I intend a 5 mile
walk. Booze is my downfall. I drink way way too much. 2 large rum n cokes, a bottle of red and then a BIG whisky, every other night. My bp has taken a hammering and my heart beats like a hiphop singer!

Its got to change

I am 62, 6'1 and 102 kg's.

I will miss booze, never drunk much beer, just wine. Can I still have a glass of something everynow n then

Edited by mikal83 on Monday 2nd September 21:51

[R.Sole]

mikal83 said:

OK time to join the Me too brigade and start a keto diet of my own. I've put on 2 stone in a year and my belly is quite noticeable. My exercising was down and thats all going to change from tomorrow.

I am using this The Diet doctors plan. I've even cut out the shopping list for tomorrow. That and every other day I intend a 5 mile
walk. Booze is my downfall. I drink way way too much. 2 large rum n cokes, a bottle of red and then a BIG whisky, every other night. My bp has taken a hammering and my heart beats like a hiphop singer!

Its got to change

I am 62, 6'1 and 102 kg's.

I will miss booze, never drunk much beer, just wine. Can I still have a glass of something everynow n then

Edited by mikal83 on Monday 2nd September 21:51

Not for a couple of months imo after that for every month you go alcohol free gives you a pass to have a few drinks on a night out and before you know it as the weight drops off you will not miss it.

[Badda]

Lemming Train said:

gregs656 said:

Maybe when you get frustrated with people who are learning the score and feeling a bit rough you should go back and read some of your own posts on that subject to remind your self that it was a learning curve for you too.

I've been doing various keto diets (atkins, carnivore) on and off for years, long before I signed up here. It took literally 60 seconds on google to discover the small list of food types that I should stick to and what not to eat. It's not unreasonable to expect people to do the same basic research, especially when the same question has been answered hundreds of times over the course of this thread by people like Kenny, grumbleoak and Grover.

What’s the purpose of the thread then if everything you need to know takes a 60 second google?

You just sound hangry to me.

[grumbledoak]

mikal83 said:

OK time to join the Me too brigade and start a keto diet of my own. I've put on 2 stone in a year and my belly is quite noticeable. My exercising was down and thats all going to change from tomorrow.

I am using this The Diet doctors plan. I've even cut out the shopping list for tomorrow. That and every other day I intend a 5 mile
walk. Booze is my downfall. I drink way way too much. 2 large rum n cokes, a bottle of red and then a BIG whisky, every other night. My bp has taken a hammering and my heart beats like a hiphop singer!

Its got to change

I am 62, 6'1 and 102 kg's.

I will miss booze, never drunk much beer, just wine. Can I still have a glass of something everynow n then

Can you still have a glass every now and then? "Yes, but".

Two cokes and a bottle of red is a stload of sugar - you are probably very much sugar addicted. You can expect to feel quite rough for a week or two just from the withdrawal, on top of any "keto flu".

So don't do it at all while you are transitioning, that's at least a month. After that, one glass of wine will smack you out of ketosis for about a day. A proper "session" will knock you out for maybe two or three days. So you cannot do it often.

You will find that the further you get from sugar the less you crave it.

[mikal83]

Cheers. Doing the shopping list now from the dietdoctor fellah and wife says, thats a heck of a lot of eggs.....you know cholesterol and all, of which I do take a pill for. Much of the keto diet is very high in egg usage, ie 2 scrambled eggs for brekkie. So how can I have a filling breakfast that doesnt involve eggs? it was usually a bowl of cornflakes or toast!

[grumbledoak]

Personally I believe that the cholesterol scare is phony. I check TG:HDL ratio and ignore the TC. I eat a lot of eggs.

Obviously you'll have to make your own decision there.

[a311]

mikal83 said:

Cheers. Doing the shopping list now from the dietdoctor fellah and wife says, thats a heck of a lot of eggs.....you know cholesterol and all, of which I do take a pill for. Much of the keto diet is very high in egg usage, ie 2 scrambled eggs for brekkie. So how can I have a filling breakfast that doesnt involve eggs? it was usually a bowl of cornflakes or toast!

I'd seek the advice of a doctor/nutritionist. Problem is the doctor may advise agaisnt it. I'd just be concerned if you're on prescribed medication. A Keto life style isn't the only way to loose weight it will get you off suagr though. There are other approaches thar will see you loose weight and still allow you to have the occasional glass of wine.

Edited by a311 on Tuesday 3rd September 10:52

[Lemming Train]

mikal83 said:

Cheers. Doing the shopping list now from the dietdoctor fellah and wife says, thats a heck of a lot of eggs.....you know cholesterol and all, of which I do take a pill for. Much of the keto diet is very high in egg usage, ie 2 scrambled eggs for brekkie. So how can I have a filling breakfast that doesnt involve eggs? it was usually a bowl of cornflakes or toast!

If the wife is freaking out about eggs already you're gonna be in for a world of nonstop aggro from her when she sees you buying up the entire deli meat cabinets as well. Perhaps best you educate her about the diet and cholesterol before you start. Good luck finding a doctor/nutritionist with a good understanding of keto. Pretty much all of them haven't got a clue and will tell you that you'll be dead within a month.

Edited by Lemming Train on Tuesday 3rd September 13:52

[LordGrover]

mikal83 said:

Cheers. Doing the shopping list now from the dietdoctor fellah and wife says, thats a heck of a lot of eggs.....you know cholesterol and all, of which I do take a pill for. Much of the keto diet is very high in egg usage, ie 2 scrambled eggs for brekkie. So how can I have a filling breakfast that doesnt involve eggs? it was usually a bowl of cornflakes or toast!

You may find this interesting: cholesterol basics.
It would be interesting to ask anyone who tells you egg yolks/dietary cholesterol is bad for you, to produce some scientific studies to demonstrate it. The only 'research' I'm aware of are weak epidemiological studies showing a poor correlation, not causation, and the 'fact' that 'everyone says it' - including doctors and dieticians.

[mikal83]

I'm a product of my own misery as I do all the shopping and cooking....but I've turned into a lazy arsed lounge lizard with 3 remotes all neatly lined up. As the record by the Stranglers, (who I loved) Somethings better change

[Lemming Train]

Going off on a slight tangent here : what do you guys do with all the fat that quickly accumulates from cooking meat and the oil from tinned fish if you have it? If it were only a very small amount I'd just put it down the sink with some boiling water to flush it through, but there's far too much of it from cooking bacon, pork belly etc to do that.

[LordGrover]

Mostly, I eat it. I pour the fat over whatever I've just cooked, unless there's too much in which case I keep it in the fridge till needed for frying or whatever.

[grumbledoak]

I usually use a griddle with no added fat, and pour the excess onto the meat. Anything uneaten I try to mop with a kitchen wipe and put in the bin rather than down the sink.

[Halb]

I soak it up with 50/50 bread

[OFORBES]

Poor it on what you're about to eat. When finished, lick the plate clean (out of sight of the wife or children)