Diane Sanfilippo - Keto Quick Start

First Published in 2019 by Victory Belt Publishing Inc.

Copyright 2019 by Diane Sanfilippo

All rights reserved

No part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without prior written permission from the publisher.

ISBN-13: 978-1-628603-47-7

The information included in this book is for educational purposes only. It is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice. The reader should always consult his or her healthcare provider to determine the appropriateness of the information for his or her own situation or if he or she has any questions regarding a medical condition or treatment plan. Reading the information in this book does not constitute a patient-physician relationship.

The author/owner claims no responsibility to any person or entity for any liability, loss, or damage caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly as a result of the use, application, or interpretation of the information presented herein.

Cover photography by Diane Sanfilippo

Food photography by Diane Sanfilippo

Cover design by Charisse Reyes

Interior design by Yordan Terziev and Boryana Yordanova

Printed in Canada

TC 0118

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Welcome to a new way of looking at your plate!

We all want to eat whats best for ourselves and our health, but at some point, figuring out what that means can become overwhelming, and when the media is full of conflicting information, its enough to make even the savviest of eaters throw up their hands and ask, What gives?!

Allow me to set your mind at ease. This book will give you a new way of approaching how you eat. You may choose to use this approach solely for a short-term reset to get yourself off of a blood sugar roller coaster, lose some body fat, or kick some bad habits that have crept in over a stressful period of timeor you may find that this becomes your new lifestyle going forward. Either way, there are amazing benefits to experience by filling your plate with nutrient-dense, satiating foods, focusing on quality protein, healthy fats, and plenty of vegetables while cutting out processed foods and excess carbswhich is exactly what youll learn how to do in this book.

A NATIONAL HEALTH CRISIS

In the last forty years or so, weve gone all too far to the opposite extreme of what healthy eating can and should look like. Starting with the invention of hydrogenated oils (in the early 1900s), continuing with the introduction of high-fructose corn syrup (in the 1970s) and canola oil (in 1978) into the marketplace, and finally coming to a largely grain-based (nay, sugar-based) diet today, our health has gotten progressively worse.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as of 2017, diabetes is the seventh-leading cause of death in the United States and affects nearly one in ten Americans. (This refers primarily to type 2 diabetes, a condition brought on by diet and lifestyle, not type 1 diabetes, an autoimmune disease. Of all diabetes patients in the US, 90 to 95 percent have type 2.) Worldwide, this number is even more staggering: in 2011, over 366 million people had diabetes, half of which were undiagnosed, and this number will reportedly rise to well over 500 million by the year 2030. In 2000, this number was just 150 millionso by 2030, the number of cases of diabetes worldwide will have tripled over the course of three decades.

Its hard to know for sure how many cases of heart diseasethe number one cause of deathtype 2 diabetes contributes to, but Id venture to guess its a large percentage. The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute states that type 2 diabetes raises your risk of having silent heart diseasethat is, heart disease with no signs or symptoms. You can even have a heart attack without feeling symptoms. Diabetes-related nerve damage that blunts heart pain may explain why symptoms arent noticed. So we see that even though its the number seven cause of death in the United States, type 2 diabetes is likely contributing significantly to the number one cause of death.

I believe theres a strong connection between our national health and our national diet.

Today people are also being diagnosed with autoimmune conditions at higher rates than ever. The various incarnations of autoimmune diseaseceliac disease, colitis, Crohns disease, lupus, psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis, Hashimotos thyroiditis, and many moreimpact over twenty-three million Americans, according to the National Institute of Environmental Health. I believe theres a strong connection between our national health and our national diet.

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FINDING A SOLUTION IN FOOD

We cant expect our health-care system to fix whats broken. Problems rooted in diet and lifestyle simply cannot be solved in a medical setting. For example: your doctor cannot possibly reverse type 2 diabetes with medicationperiod. It wont happen. Diabetes medication can improve numbers, but it cannot heal your body.

But Ive heard from countless people who, after just a week on my 21-Day Sugar Detox program, which is similar in many ways to a keto diet, stopped needing multiple prescription medications. Within seven days of changing the food on their plates, peoples bodies are righting themselves. This isnt wizardry; its nature. Our bodies work optimally when given a better set of inputsthat is, real food, not processed, carb-loaded junk. Of course these folks all consult with their doctors before ceasing any medications (as should you!), but this is staggering. Doctors arent typically giving nutritional advice to cut back on refined carbs and sugar, but theyre quick to say Keep doing what youre doing when they see the results.

Our bodies work optimally when given a better set of inputsthat is, real food, not processed, carb-loaded junk.

Naysayers will argue that keto is just another fad diet. To that I say: not the case. Theres a reason why various diets or ways of eating gain traction and begin to fill up bookstore shelves: they work for and help a lot of people! And science backs up the experiences so many people have had on keto. In the coming chapters, Ill explain why eating few carbs, more fat, and a good amount of protein will stabilize blood sugar, promote weight loss, and improve the symptoms of many health conditions, including type 2 diabetes, epilepsy, heart disease, and more. And besides, to me, trying something new isnt following a fad; its being open-minded and experimenting to find what works best for you.

WHY A KETO BOOK?

Many of you may know me as the author of Practical Paleo, and you may be wondering why Ive written a book about keto. Well, as youll read in the next chapter, Ive eaten a Paleo-style keto diet on and off for yearsconsistently for about a year and a half and as a reset diet many times since. I know and love the merits of this way of eating, but I think that many approaches to keto go to extremes or dont focus on how to easily eat keto with a real-foods focus, and that can make it not only difficult to sustain but also less beneficial in the longer term for overall health.

So I decided to write this book to explain how to come up with a truly healthy keto diet that you can live with for the long termor use as a short-term reset diet if you find yourself feeling off or what youve been doing stops working, or use to launch a low-carb diet that works for you but may not be strictly keto. My focus is on the practical: what to expect when you start eating keto; how to ease into keto in a doable way; how to determine if you need more carbs than is standard on keto and how to incorporate those carbs in a healthy way; how to customize keto for particular goals, especially weight loss; and things to be aware of if youre concerned about a particular health issue, such as type 2 diabetes, cancer, heart disease, or liver health.