Why I am Taking on a Ketogenic Diet

I am just not one who has ever gotten on a bandwagon when it comes to diet. I try to have a good balance of foods and nutrients and have relied on some of the science behind Trim Healthy Mama. It has treated me pretty well in relation to keeping my weight down and feeling good.

But a certain word keeps popping up in my health exams, and has been for the past few years ...

Pre-Cancer. 

I have had a couple of separate bouts of pre-cancerous cells in my cervix. I have had one pre-cancerous spot removed from my nose and now appear to have another one forming. And then this week my follow-up mammogram showed some indeterminate calcifications that were troubling enough to necessitate a biopsy.

There is a better than good chance that the calcifications are nothing, completely benign. But with the tiny amount of family history I have with breast issues, and the fact that there were more calcifications present together than what could be classified as definitely benign, I went for a biopsy yesterday. Now we wait for the results from the pathologist. There is at least a slim chance that they could be pre-cancerous or even cancerous. (The good news is that if they are, in fact, cancer that it is a cancer called DCIS that is a Stage 0 breast cancer confined to the milk ducts and is 100% curable after a lumpectomy .. no radiation or chemo needed.)

But there is that word again ... Pre-Cancer.

And it just makes me mad.

Gosh darn it, I do my best to take care of my body! I eat as healthy as I can and exercise, take my vitamins, drink tons of water, wear sunscreen, and more. Perhaps it's my early years lifestyle coming back to haunt me or possibly it's just genetics. In any event I am not taking it lying down.

It has become obvious to me that cancer thinks it might want to take residence in my body. No way!

The first thing I always turn to when I am having a health issue is diet. What can I do to change my diet to make things better?

Research told me that cancer needs glucose to thrive. There is a pretty decent following of the theory that eating a low carb, higher fat diet is one way to battle cancer. If carbs and sugar are limited in the diet then there is no glucose to feed the cancer cells and they die.

I am believing that I do not have cancer, and I think it is doubtful that I have any pre-cancer cells in my breast. The specialist really didn't thing so, either, when he extracted the calcifications.

However, I have decided that I am not going to willingly open my body up for such a predator.

I am a carb addict and always have been! I absolutely love carbs! And they make me thick in the middle. And I need to limit them anyway. So, this is a win-win, in my book .... if I can pull it off. Extremely limiting my carb intake is going to be a major adjustment!

But my health and my family are more important than my love of carbs, so I am going to give it a true shot!

I made goals changes on MyFitnessPal to help me stay accountable. I am attempting to limit my carbs to a therapeutic level of 5% of my total daily calories. That's hard to do! It's not enough to just cut out breads, pastas, and the like. (Although I am reading and relying on Wheat Belly Total Health by William Davis, M.D., to help me with this difficult step.) Carbs are everywhere! The last couple of days I have had my levels at about 11%. I still have some work to do.

My goal is not to lose weight. I am happy with my weight and general body composition right now. And I am staying away from Trans Fats and loading up on healthy fats, primarily coconut, avocado, eggs, cheeses, and a little more butter.

What I eat will, honestly, not be that much different from what I normally eat. But I will just be cutting out cereals, pasta, and breads, and limiting my fruits while upping my veggies. I have gotten into a habit of eating about 20% Protein each day, anyway, and I will continue to push those lean proteins. The real test will be in getting in enough of healthy fats. I grew up in the Low-Fat generation.

So that's what I am up to today. While I am recovering in bed from the biopsy and cell extraction I am pinning some ketogenic foods and looking at websites. If you have any experience with this lifestyle change, I would appreciate your input!