Hey guys, so many of you ask on Instagram about my keto desserts that I often post about, so I thought, why not talk about my “keto-ish” lifestyle? yes, that’s correct I don’t do a strict keto diet as healthwise I don’t have any reason to do it. However, I’ve seen so many benefits from a low-carb diet. I know you see tons of other diets in the market, such as paleo, vegan, vegetarian, carnivore, Atkins diet and God knows what not. Any of these strict diet plans would work for only a period of time I promise. They’re great if you’re trying to fix a particular health issue. Hence the reason people always sway and never stick to one diet plan.
I think the balanced approach is the best because you get to choose a variety of foods while nourishing your hormones (especially as a woman) and maintaining a healthy weight.
If, I were to say a big NO t any of these diets from a woman’s perspective that would be a vegan/vegetarian-only diet. It’s almost impossible to get all those superior quality proteins and amino acids (the building block of muscle) that only good quality animal protein would provide. For example, it’s impossible (unless some fermented natto) to get K2 from plants which are extremely important for bones and heart health. As women, we know how important our bone health is when we hit menopause. Next, I wouldn’t go for a carnivore-only diet either because despite getting all those B vitamins, zinc, copper, etc, you will still miss a lot of other essential nutrients and vitamins that nuts, fruits, and vegetables provide. Unless you have a health reason to follow a certain diet, I personally would never do that as I think women’s hormones need a lot more nourishment compared to men’s. Our hormones fluctuate and the sad thing is we don’t do or know much about it.
For example, a couple of years back my mom became a type II diabetic so, my sister and I put her on the keto diet. It helps her tremendously to get her blood sugar under control. Now she has mentally accepted that this diet is her lifestyle and this is how she’s going to live healthier (the only way a certain diet plan would work is if you accept that as your lifestyle and don’t feel deprived).
I learned that from my own experience as I fixed my painful menstrual cycles of many years by balancing my hormones. My medical doc couldn’t offer me any valuable advice regarding my pains other than offering birth control and saying it’s normal for women (LIE; don’t take birth control and don’t believe pain is normal), I decided to take the matter into my own hands.
Apart from discussing with your health provider obviously, these are the basic steps you can take for weight loss, period cramps, type II diabetes, PCOS, and many other hormonal issues because generally, they all boil down to what goes in your stomach and how your BLOOD SUGAR acts.
- Reduce INFLAMMATION. The inflammation you’d be surprised by is the driving factor in almost all modern diseases. Let it be rheumatoid arthritis, Alzheimer’s (brain inflammation), diabetes, or various heart disease. You name it. Inflammation comes from refined carbs, stressful lifestyles, toxins in the air and water, and from your diet. It’s a lot of things combined, but I will start will a clean diet and meditation (if you have stressful life). Simple as that.
- Eliminate highly inflammatory SEED OILS (canola oil, palm oil (Worse), sunflower oil, soybean oil). Can you think of any snacks on shelves in US stores without seed oils? I can’t because all of them have it, so I don’t snack. The ones which are cleaner, they’ll write in the BOLD letter for you, cooked in avocado oil or olive oil. You’ll have to go MOMs or Wegmens etc for healthy alternatives if you must have a snack. The best thing is to stop buying and you’ll not eat those snacks. I never buy snacks nor crave them because I eat whole foods which keeps me full and away from cravings.
- Use tallow (animal fat), ghee, grass-fed butter, avocado oil to cook, and olive oil for salad dressings and drizzling (the best way to reduce inflammation).
- Eliminate REFINED CARBS from your life to reduce inflammation and balance your blood sugar (crucial). You have to let this one go if you’d like to have balanced hormones and stress-free liver and adrenals. All the bakery items snacks and fried food from outside made from refined wheat flour are considered refined carbs. I know it’s easier said than done as I didn’t grow up with those so it wasn’t an issue for me, but if you have this issue find alternatives that are healthier.
- Balancing blood sugar is extremely important because if your blood sugar is up and down all day, soon you’ll develop diabetes, and many other health issues such as PCOS, blood pressure, etc. One sign of off-balanced blood sugar is feeling sleepy and lethargic after meals and having low energy.
- Eat grass-fed animal proteins (can’t stress this enough for menstruating women)1q, pasture-raised eggs, and high-quality fats from meat and other sources of soaked nuts and avocado for example.
- Cook at home as much as you can. Takeout is going to have seed oils and you’ll get inflammation.
- Out of all of these, I focused on getting more proteins and more fats, reducing my once-a-while snacking to no snacking and detoxifying my liver. Hence today I have periods with no pains at all.
- Oh, I didn’t mention magic detox drink because there isn’t any unless you unload your liver with the right diet. 🙂
For now, that’s the quick summary, but I’ll write more about how I detoxified my liver and how I live almost toxins free life now which gave me so much more mental clarity, peace, and balanced hormones.
How I got rid of period pains READ HERE: click here
If you have any questions, please feel free to ask and I shall answer.
With Love,
Nimra
