I was just curious if some people around here had (or know people who) ever tried planting on a ketogenic diet or preparing for planting season by eating fully keto in the few weeks before the start of the season.
I am considering trying it on the coast this year, and would love to get feedback from people who have experimented with it before. I know low carb diet might sound like a heresy for some, but it seems to have quite a few benefits for endurance athletes (among which reduced inflammation and more constant body fuel during effort), so it could be worth a try, at least while I am living out of a motel and feeding myself.
I am also interested in what kind of supplements/vitamins people use during the season, after experimenting with green supplements and probiotics last year, I am likely to go for a more classical mix of vitamins B, C and D, and extra magnesium and potassium this year.
Any thoughts?
Keto diet and planting
Re: Keto diet and planting
Aren't keto diets designed to burn fats? I feel like you'd want a diet where you've got lots of easily accessible energy throughout the day. I always follow a pretty high carb diet when I'm planting, and I always run out of fat by the end of the season. But apparently some ultra runners are doing it, so you could probably make it work. I'd be interested to see how it effects your performance over a 5 or 6 month season.
Also, I think you might end up paying a bit more on your grocery bills if you go full keto, at least by $/calories. Unless you're eating full tubs of mayo or something.
And just a cursory glance through some abstracts of peer-reviewed studies doesn't really show any conclusive evidence to support the idea that keto is going to give you any boosts to energy access or your endurance. I would just tailor your diet to where you feel good during the day, and you feel like you're recovering properly during the season, rather than strictly adhering to something like this. But do whatever works for you I guess.
Also, I think you might end up paying a bit more on your grocery bills if you go full keto, at least by $/calories. Unless you're eating full tubs of mayo or something.
And just a cursory glance through some abstracts of peer-reviewed studies doesn't really show any conclusive evidence to support the idea that keto is going to give you any boosts to energy access or your endurance. I would just tailor your diet to where you feel good during the day, and you feel like you're recovering properly during the season, rather than strictly adhering to something like this. But do whatever works for you I guess.
Re: Keto diet and planting
Keto diets are indeed designed to burn fat, their principle is actually to adapt the body to use fats instead of carbs as the main fuel of the body. One of the reasoning behind that is that the human body can only store a limited amount of carbs calories (about 1600 to 2000 kcal on average, stored as glycogen), while, even for somebody with little body fat, our bodies are able to store about 20 times that amount of calories in fats. So, in theory, if someone's body was fully adapted to burn fats, they would not even have to eat during a planting day because they would have access to a large supply of calories to burn, they would just need to replenish water and minerals, and eat fat-loaded breakfast and dinner.
Now, don't get me wrong, I don't disagree with you, there is not much conclusive scientific literature on the subject, and I am quite sceptical myself, this is why I am trying to get some feedback of people who actually tried it.
That being said, I have been experimenting with a moderate keto diet in the past few months and I like how I feel, and also, to my surprise, my grocery bills seem to have gone down too, which I guess might be due to the fact that fat contains 9 kcal/g whereas carbs and proteins only contain 4 kcal/g (but this is just a wild guess, that was a pretty satisfying side effect though).
My idea would be to go on a strict keto diet for 3 weeks before the season, then somewhat moderate keto during my 2 months on the coast (I won't keep doing it in the interior because I will be in a camp and I would like to spare the cook the extra headache), and see how it goes, I mean, if it doesn't feel right at any time during those 2 months, carbs are pretty much available everywhere.
Now, don't get me wrong, I don't disagree with you, there is not much conclusive scientific literature on the subject, and I am quite sceptical myself, this is why I am trying to get some feedback of people who actually tried it.
That being said, I have been experimenting with a moderate keto diet in the past few months and I like how I feel, and also, to my surprise, my grocery bills seem to have gone down too, which I guess might be due to the fact that fat contains 9 kcal/g whereas carbs and proteins only contain 4 kcal/g (but this is just a wild guess, that was a pretty satisfying side effect though).
My idea would be to go on a strict keto diet for 3 weeks before the season, then somewhat moderate keto during my 2 months on the coast (I won't keep doing it in the interior because I will be in a camp and I would like to spare the cook the extra headache), and see how it goes, I mean, if it doesn't feel right at any time during those 2 months, carbs are pretty much available everywhere.