10 Ways Keto Saved My Life

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That sounds like an exaggeration, I know.

How could an eating plan save your life? How could a woman my age (39 – truth) have her life in danger?

Oh, sweetheart, if you only knew.

First of all, let me preface this by saying I KNOW that none of these were guaranteed to kill me. I get that. But at the same time, every single one of these things has been known to cause death and/or suicide. They’re now a LOT less of a threat in my life and I know that’s because of keto and its results.

1. Obesity. I wasn’t FAAAAAAAAT. But, I was 245 lbs at my heaviest and at only 5 foot 5 inches, that’s heavy. And you know it. I was doing  an up and down yo-yo that left me distraught and discouraged. I’m only going to touch on the fact that I had people try to tell me I didn’t look that heavy. Yeah, I know, I carry my weight well, but that doesn’t mean it’s good weight. You know?
2. Heart disease. With my obesity and the fact that I struggled to lift and work out but couldn’t move a pound off my thighs and stomach, my family’s propensity toward heart disease (biological father had a quadruple bypass in his FORTIES and my maternal grandfather had a quadruple bypass in his seventies) was only looking like a forgone conclusion.
3. Diabetes, Type II. Let’s be honest. This wasn’t guaranteed. BUT when you see my grandparents who don’t have an extra pound between them and they both have Type II Diabetes and then you see how overweight I was and you’ll see that T2D was looking more and more like something to put into my health plan. Shots anyone?
4. Depression. Not only did I have a weight problem that depressed me something fierce, but my obsession with food was all-consuming. I couldn’t escape it. I couldn’t deny it and nothing I did got me out of the cycle. Weight Watchers? Nope. That was a joke. Not that it can’t work for some, but for me, it didn’t work. Trust me, I’ve tried THEM ALL. I couldn’t escape my depression and it was cyclical. Not something I can seriously look at and say I would for sure have survived every bout coming at me when they got worse and worse.
5. Cardio health. Wow, I can go up the stairs without dying. I can lift weights, chase my kids, pick my kids up, carry them up the stairs, run after them on the trails, swim, and so much more without feeling like my heart is going to burst out of my chest and my lungs are going to pop. When you lose weight you make room in your body for your organs because the extra fat tissue is significantly decreased. This helps with so much in the way of cardio health. Pssst, I also have circulation back in my fingers!
6. Arthritis. I’m only 39. Seriously. I don’t hide my age. I’m proud of it. I have tendinitis, carpal tunnel, ulnar neuritis, and arthritis in my hands. Actually, I should say I DID. I haven’t had the symptoms since I started this lifestyle last August, except for that ONE time I tried a cheat day. Yeah, there’s a reason it was only ONE TIME.
7. Energy. I’m a VERY ambitious person and my motivation was far exceeding my energy stores. I was crashing every day for a mid-afternoon nap and needing more sleep than I could feasibly afford. I have six kids, I mean, there was no extra-curricular sleeping for me. Now? There’s no nap needed. I have constant energy and no crashes from sugar rushes or anything else. It’s been a life changer.
8. Blood work. I’ve never had bad blood pressure or anything like that. But my blood work used to make my doctors wince. I’d ask what was with the expressions and they’d say my numbers weren’t great, but that they weren’t bad enough to do anything. This put me in a funk. Now, I have the blood work results from the last visit to the doctor and they asked if I’m running marathons. Um, me? Sweetheart, I chase my kids 24/7, does that count? They love my numbers and I love that they do!
9. Sleep. My insomnia has been cured. I couldn’t sleep more than two hours a night. I failed sleep apnea tests and all kinds of other tests that they gave me, but now? My head hits that pillow and I don’t open my eyes until my alarm goes off. It’s QUALITY sleep, too. I rarely move because I’m out so hard. When a person goes from 10 to 14 total hours of sleep in a week (that’s including nap times) to 49 total hours in a week, there’s got to be some life-saving differences there.
10. Medications. I don’t want to get into the things I was taking to get SOME sleep, some energy, some time on the toilet (yes, constipation was awful when I was carb fueled), and more. But let’s just say, that the money I’m saving by cutting back on all of my medications to being non-existent? I can afford to get stress-relieving massages, healthy food, and to spoil my family a little bit. Medications are designed to help you, but instead, they caused a lot more pain and problems that I probably wouldn’t have survived. I’m free from them now.

That’s me. I track everything, though. I know where my benefits are and what the changes I’ve made in my lifestyle have caused. I highly recommend tracking, because once you do, you’ll see that the changes are something you sometimes can’t feel or see, but they’re something you can definitely track.

Do you have any similar results?