Dinner Tonight - Rueben Skillet

This will be our dinner today and it's a favorite! I love a Reuben anyway and in my keto-tenure, I've tried a few variations. There's a good, but kind of fussy Reuben dip with keto bread for dipping. And we've made Reuben roll-ups but nothing could be simpler than this Reuben skillet.

It's from Carolyn Ketchum's Easy Keto Dinners cookbook. It could not be more simple or delish! Basically, you will toast some caraway seeds in butter in a skillet. Layer on some yummy (and healthy!) sauerkraut to warm. Spread with some homemade dressing. Top with some chopped corned beef and/or pastrami. Then layer on slices of Swiss cheese and let it melt. Serve with the remaining dressing. We usually double the dressing recipe because it is so tasty!

If you are looking for a keto cookbook, this is a really good one!

Intermediate Keto-ing.....

Both my doctor and I were pleased when I saw her again in September and had lost 15 pounds. My A1C was now in pre-diabetic range instead of firmly Type2 range. A couple things came out of this visit. She recommended that I look into intermittent fasting (IF) to really ramp up the weight loss. Also, she mentioned that typically what happens with a patient's lab results is that the A1C goes down (as mine did) but that that various cholesterol numbers will go up. She said that what is typically seen, though, is after another few months those cholesterol numbers will go down into good/very good ranges. So we arranged to check my labs again in 6 months. 

After this visit I read everything I could about IF and took the plunge! By December I had lost another 22 pounds! Somewhere along the way, I also mainly gave up diet pop. The more I read Dr. Fung's works, the more I understood the connection between insulin and obesity and the connection between artificial sweeteners and insulin. More on this later.....

I chose an IF pattern of about 16/8; these means that generally within a 24 hour period I am fasting for 16 hours of that and eating within an 8 hour window. Sleeping is fasting, so it's not really as extreme as it sounds! I usually break my fast between about 11:30am and 1pm and try to wrap up my eating by 7pm. 

As of this writing I have lost 55 pounds since June 1, 2019 but really closer to 94 pounds from the all-time high vision I have retained from the scale. I was partly successful with the previously mentioned WW and NutriSystem, having lost a lot and then kept off some of it.

In the Beginning.....

I think of June 1, 2019 as my "keto-versary" but really there were a couple things that happened that led up to me actually starting with eating in a keto-compliant way. I guess we can really consider that everything in my life led to that conclusion and that includes many, many attempts with Weight Watchers (including a life-time achievement in the 90s) and NutriSystem. 

So, what were those presenting reasons in early 2019? First, I visited with my brother who was having a good deal of success on a weight loss plan. Although, he was not really following a keto protocol, he was employing some keto principles during a maintenance phase. (Basically, his approach involved a 9 week losing phase, followed by a 3 week maintenance phase along with a highly appealing "fat-loading" day.)

Then in March, at a regular doctor visit, she mentioned keto as an approach that has been very helpful for those struggling with obesity and type 2 diabetes. She strongly recommended Dr. Jason Fung's books, The Obesity Code and The Diabetes Code. I immediately purchased the books and was transfixed and transformed!

At some point I will offer a review of these books but for now suffice it to say, Dr. Fung explained everything in clear and reasonable way and everything made so much sense to me!

I started out by initially detoxing by eliminating sweets; candies, cakes, cookies, pastries. This was pretty hard initially and I'll be honest, there might need to just be an initial "tough it out". But believe me, it is ultimately worth it because what will eventually happen is you will be freed from cravings for these things.

Once I felt comfortable with this (and I was seeing some initial weight loss), I moved into removing other carbs like bread, pasta, potatoes and rice. Eventually I removed fruits but they were the last really "carby" foods to go.

Welcome to My Sweet Keto Life!

Hi!

I'm glad you are interested in joining me on my keto journey. I'll give a little background in another post but I intend to share here the stuff that's going on with me and all the yummy things I make and eat.