For anyone newly diagnosed, stressed out, or overwhelmed by the thought of having to make huge lifestyle changes… I have some words of reassurance. Take it slow. Keep it gradual. You don’t have to go from unlimited carbs to less than fifty in one day; you don’t have to start keto right this second. Take a breath and think about what’s realistic for you.
Sustainable change doesn’t happen overnight. It’s an evolution, and you have to be ready mentally and physically.
We’re talking about breaking deeply entrenched eating patterns, habits you’ve had for years. Some people may be able to turn them off like a switch — my guess it most people can’t, or not for very long.
Everyone’s different, but I will say that when I first started taking prediabetes seriously, it was a challenge just to cut out carbs for breakfast. No more muffins, banana bread, English muffins, or sweet granola bars. That was huge. That was a place to start.
It took about three months for the cravings to go away, six months for me to feel that the change was sustainable, no going back. I can look back now and see the steps and phases I went through, just with breakfast.
I started with a low-carb wrap with sunbutter and a small side of berries – still somewhat sweet and didn’t give me the impression that I was totally giving up bread (scary thought at the time). After about a month, I learned that I should have 20 grams of protein at breakfast, so I changed it up – cottage cheese, nuts, and berries. I ditched the wrap and found that I didn’t miss it that much. I loved eating fresh berries and crunchy almonds.
After a while, banana bread became something almost foreign, not part of my life as it was now. It was no longer part of my breakfast repertoire. The more time and distance I put between myself and those sweet breakfast foods, the less power they had over me and the more ready I was to take the next step.
Now breakfast can be a couple of hard boiled eggs or I might fast until lunch. I look a bit askance at low-carb wraps, knowing they’re ultimately pretty unsatisfying and likely to trigger a craving.
No one could have explained all this to me in the beginning, or convinced me to go straight into fasting. I’m pretty sure I would’ve lasted about two days before reverting to my old habits. I had to learn by experience, let my body and mind adjust to the new normal, allow my tastes to change.
So if the prospect of going full keto overnight terrifies you, it’s ok. Make two or three changes and do those for two weeks. Add one change every couple weeks and see where you are in six months. At that point, keto (or low-carb or clean eating or whatever your ultimate end goal is) won’t feel like jumping off the deep end. It will feel like a natural progression. It will be the obvious next step and you’ll be ready to take it.