i jumped on that keto bandwagon

February 21, 2019



january 1, 2019 marked day one of full on keto at the orellana household.  i talk about it a lot on my instagram stories, sharing recipes and when i cheat, so make sure to follow along over there.    i figured today i could go a little more in depth on why i'm doing keto and what keeps me motivated.

i started out doing keto for several reasons and am continuing to do it for different reasons! when people hear the word “diet” they assume people only go on diets to lose weight. diets are for many different reasons, not just to lose weight. in fact, some people go on  diets to actually gain weight or because of other health issues. forget it, when i mention to my family about my “diet” cue the comments. ay ralizabeth! pero, you need nutrients yea, but there’s no nutritional value in rice. ay ralizabeth, pero you need vegetales!  i’m eating more veggies than ever before. ay ralizabeth! pero tu ta bien flaca.  i've been "skinny" my whole life so...

my number one reason for starting keto was to motivate my husband. he has so many different gastrointestinal issues. he’s spent many hours cooped up in the bathroom, ruining so many of our weekends together and causing him to either call out of work or leave work early on some days. it’s been literal years that we’ve been trying to figure out what exactly causes his flare ups. we would always narrow it down to specific foods and then bam. flare up out of nowhere after having something we thought was ok for him to have. he’s gone to the doctor many times, has had a endoscopy and has just been told he has food allergies and stay away from those foods.  sure.  thanks.  this makes my life as the chef in our household not difficult at all!  *eyeroll*

aside from all that, he’s picky (or i should say he was picky). i’m talking nothing green, nothing foreign. us going to peoples house for dinner has always been an issue. and that’s another thing, if you don’t eat at someone’s house, it’s the ultimate offense. insane how people would take his allergies so personally as if there was something wrong with their food because his body legit couldn’t tolerate it. or even worse, the assholes that lie and say they cooked something and really made what he was actually allergic to. those nights were fun.

so cue the keto diet. i’d heard about it. i’d been wanting us to eat better, be healthier, eat more veggies but getting that stubborn man to ever listen to me was hard. so i’m like pshhh! screw him. i can’t get him to eat healthier. we know he can have these specific, processed foods, that’s what he’s going to eat! and one day i said that in a convo with a few of my dominican aunts and my tia enma was all like “mija, he’s going to end up in the hospital and it’s going to be you suffering”. and i was like damn, why you gotta be right, though? get yourself a dominican aunt if you don’t have one! they put shit into perspective, man!

so we tried it last year and we failed. i wasn’t committed. and i say i because he’s not one to be in the kitchen or do the grocery shopping. he’s not the one cooking and researching. he eats what i give him. or he cooks what i take out. i used to get angry because that responsibility fell on me. but let’s be real, the responsibility falls on me. and i wasn’t prepared!

finally, at the end of last year, we made a commitment...we’re going to be basic bitches and start a new year’s resolution.  on january 1st... keto diet! it’s on!

and we didn’t fail like i thought we were going to. dude! we’re still doing keto. this is no longer some cool fad that we’ve jumped on. na bro. this is our lifestyle!

so aside from wanting to help myself by helping my husband, i also had a little goal i wanted to reach. i wanted to lose those last 10 pounds i had gained after college and getting married. yea yea, i know. i’m skinny. i look good. blah, whatever dude. we all have personal goals in our minds and we all know what our best self looks like. i despise talking about weight because people always tell me i shouldn't be watching what i eat or wanting to lose weight but it’s my body and i wanna live my best life! anyway, within 2 weeks of keto (with 2 cheat days mixed in) i lost an inch around my waist and 5 pounds. now, almost 2 months in, i've reached my personal goal of losing 10 pounds and now my focus is maintaining and just staying healthy. i'm working on getting myself to work out or do yoga. that's my next self care project.

but none of the above is why i’m still doing keto! (what?! you mean she’s not done writing??? nope! i’ve got more to share). when i was younger, i used to pass out from hunger. wtf! why didn’t your parents feed you? they did. a lot. i was told i was perfectly healthy and just had a fast metabolism. but if i didn’t eat every 3 hours, my blood sugar would drop. i would start shaking, sweating, get really really hot and then really really cold. the passing out ended up being from anxiety of feeling so sick. (my anxiety attacks, i’ve recently learned, are me just completely blacking out.  shutting down.  done with living life right now.  be back in a bit.  lol!!!  more on that another day, this post is long enough).

a few weeks ago, i had a cheat day. i ate sushi for lunch which had a lot of carbs in the rice. i went in! it was delicious and i don’t regret it at all. but within 3 hours of eating, my blood sugar dropped. i was starving. so starving you would have thought i hadn’t eaten in days! i started shaking. what. the. actual. fuck?! this is when it hit me. my body literally cannot tolerate the excess sugar. the excess carbs that turn into sugar. it just does not work out for me and no conventional doctor would ever know that or think to tell me that.

when you test me, i’m perfectly healthy. just eat more frequently. ok sure. but now that i’ve eliminated carbs and sugars from my diet, i can go 4, 5 even 6 hours without feeling sick. yes, i’ll be hungry.  starving even. but hungry like a normal person! when people would tell me they could go all day without eating i never understood! i would pass out if i didn’t eat at minimum 3 meals a day! those survivor shows like naked and afraid??? but how?! i could never! but now i get it. no one gets sick like i would get sick. typically your blood sugar shouldn’t drop like that. i was never diagnosed with hyperglycemia or hypoglycemia (is there a difference?) or diabetes. i was perfectly healthy. but i wasn’t. and now, i know i can control that.  i won’t feel sick like i used to. and for me, that is enough of a reason to motivate me to stay on keto. yes i want to look my best. sure, i wanna help my husband. but i’m on keto because it really just agrees with me and my body and helps me live my best damn life!

small disclaimer...i’m no doctor. i’m no nutritionist. i’m just a regular girl from new jersey, born and raised.  just over here figuring out how to live my best life. go talk to your professionals and figure out what’s best for you. the keto diet works for me. at least for now. and i’m more motivated than ever.



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11 comments

  1. So - it was interesting reading the first bit about your husband, because I actually have a gastrointestinal disease. One that took literally 19 years to diagnose. I mean, I always had "tummy issues" as a kid, but it got to the place that I lost job after job calling out with flare-ups (hence why my blog began in the first place). Has he had a stomach emptying study done? That's what solved my mystery. I have gastroparesis. I also have a food allergy list a thousand miles long, but this was the kicker. I'm hopeful keto will help him out - and that you see benefits as well. I'm looking forward to reading more about your journey.

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  2. I've been thinking of doing Keto myself because there are so many people around me that are doing it and it has worked wonders for them. Literal wonders. I can't wait to hear more about your experience!

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  3. This was a very interesting post, and I've heard so many things about Keto! Can't wait to hear about your results and progress!

    Kileen
    cute & little

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  4. I haven't done keto exactly, but I try to do low carb & low sugar anyways. Hoping this works for your husband!

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  5. How awesome that you jumped in to help motivate your husband! I really hope this works for him!

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  6. I've been thinking of starting the Keto diet

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  7. Interesting! I've never done keto, just because I have a hard time trusting diets that have a name (which I know sounds weird but it's just my personal preference). I'm Korean and I've grown up on a staple of Korean foods and I've been pretty healthy for my life so I just figure... if it ain't broke, don't fix it haha.
    Glad to hear Keto is working for you though! Good luck keeping it up!

    xo Deborah
    Coffee, Prose, and Pretty Clothes

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  8. The keto diet sounds incredible! Love your outfit by the way.

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  9. It's so interesting to learn about keto diet and how you approach it :)

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  10. Keto has been a game-changer for so many people. Sounds like it's working well for you! Keep us updated on how it works for your husband!

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  11. i've seen some seriously amazing keto results! i love seeing people's success!

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