Progress Report: Why no diet is perfect

I'm not going to lie. The ketogenic lifestyle is kicking my ass.  The first month, I had excessive urination which led to potassium, magnesium and sodium depletion. This cascaded into rapid heart beat, muscle weakness and headaches. The magnesium and sodium are easily supplemented through salty foods or pills but the potassium is hard to come by especially when you're trying to maintain low blood insulin levels.

This guy recommends bone broth soup.






The only problem is they don't sell bone broth soup at McDonald's.

I recently added almonds to my diet.  One cup has almost a thousand milligrams of potassium which is a fifth of government recommended daily allowance guidelines.

The good thing about almonds is they're low in carbohydrate.

As you can see, it has two net grams of carbs per one ounce.  It has also has three grams of fiber. This will quell your appetite quickly.  Also because of the fiber it balances out any excessive digestive acid that you might have taken on when consuming animal fat and protein.  Now for the bad part. The fiber will also cause you to sit on the toilet a couple times of day. 

This is why I say no diet is perfect.  The ketogenic lifestyle makes it necessary for you to exist on only fat, protein and fiber with very little carbohydrate intake which is a very primitive way to eat. My food choices are spinach salads, meat or chicken, low carb vegetables and nuts.   Your selection is limited especially if you eat out a lot.  

Pros vs. Cons. Which one do you sacrifice? Do you give up feeling energized and focused throughout your day while keto adapted or do you choose a large and varied food diet that is accomplished through a high carbohydrate based diet? 

PROGRESS REPORT

Here are my numbers.

Gym Tuesday 12/23/2014 01:08 PM 

Conventional deadlift mixed grip 1"deficit 325-4, 345-1, 355-1, 375-1

Stiff legged deadlift mixed grip 1" deficit  325-1

Life fitness cable row machine 260-1 

Rack pull mixed grip 425-1

Technogym leg press machine 340-1

Workout notes:  I've been experimenting with the mixed grip on all my pulls.  The trick to holding onto the bar is your undergrip hand.  Your undergrip hand has to lock onto the bar with a hook grip (fingers overlapping thumb), and then use your other hand to pack the thumb of your undergrip hand deep into the center of your palm.  Then take the overlapping fingers and clamp onto your thumb even harder.  I find that one tightly secured hand is enough to not let the bar slip out of your grip. 

There is a slight strength difference in grip when alternating between left and right.  My left undergrip hand is weaker than my right, but I alternate just to give both hands an opportunity for grip strengthening.  

The other thing I noticed is using mixed grip on my pulls strengthens the forearms, fingers and wrists.  This has great carryover to the bench press because the harder you can squeeze the bar seems to aid in exploding the bar off your chest.