Keto Classifications
the dirty side of keto
By Lindsay // The Ketoneer
You may have heard talk in the keto community about dirty keto. Spoken about like it is a bad word. There are different classifications such as dirty, strict, clean, and lazy keto. Here is my beef with these classifications: they are ALL keto. They are ALL better than the standard American diet, aka the SAD diet. On any given day, I may be doing any of these various versions of keto. For me, keto is a lifelong commitment. I am determined to make this lifestyle sustainable for the long term as I use it not only for weight loss maintenance, but for medical reasons (with permission from my doctors), mainly a headache disorder and acne, among the other health benefits. When I cheat and eat sugar, my headaches, acne, carpal tunnel, joint pain, bloating, and fatigue all come back with a vengeance. This keeps me in check and keeps my cheats to a minimum. Tasty, sugary foods are often not worth being in physical pain.
Dirty Keto
One of the issues with dirty keto is that everyone has a different opinion of what it is. Some people will say if you eat anything that comes in a package, anything other than meat or produce, you are basically doing dirty keto. My opinion of what is dirty keto may differ from the next person. You have some people promoting the “if it fits your macros” mentality. This is that if you can make it fit your macros for the day, ingredients totally do not matter. Some will consider eating anything sweet, including stevia and keto approved sweeteners is dirty keto. Some consider all dairy products dirty keto. I do not. I would consider something like a “low carb tortilla” a dirty keto item. These are usually just wheat tortillas loaded up with fiber. Some people eat these and do fine. I eat them and become bloated and miserable. I am not and never will be the Keto Police. I want you to do the best form of keto with the best ingredients that you can reasonably accomplish for your personal lifestyle. We all have different schedules, different budgets, and different goals. People who are using keto to battle medical conditions (again with the blessing of their health care providers) may have more motivation to be strict. I understand it is more expensive to live on a strict/clean keto diet of only grass fed meat, wild Alaskan salmon, pasture raised eggs, and organic veggies for example. It is sometimes difficult if not down right impossible to even find these things in my local area. We do not have Whole Foods or Trader Joes. And even if we did, so many people would not be able to afford to shop there. If you are financially able to find and purchase better ingredients, look at it as an investment in your health. Look at it as you will be spending less money on hospital and doctor visits in your future if you take care of your health now. If you can’t shell out the money for the wild Alaskan salmon, you can still keto. You can buy the commercial eggs and meat and still be doing a great service to your health by cutting out grains, starch, and processed sugar.
Clean/Strict Keto
Like I said, I have days and weeks where I live on a more clean and strict version of keto. Staying under 20 net carbs and only eating real whole foods. It depends on what I can find in my local grocery stores that week. Sometimes, I may be able to score some grass fed beef, or some wild Alaskan salmon. Maybe I will really luck out and find an organic avocado that is not already overly ripe. I love to start my day with pastured eggs, cooked in grass fed butter, and topped with grass fed cheese. But, that is not the only thing I eat. I still crave treats just like the next person. I have Lily’s chocolate and low carb ice cream sometimes as a treat. Most would consider these dirty keto items. Being able to have treats makes this lifestyle sustainable for me, personally. Now, you may be different. You may have issues where having a keto treat leads to eating real sugar treats and falling off the wagon. Especially if you still have a lot of junk food in your home, staring at you, waiting to be binged on. If this is you, try to stick to real whole foods and stay away from the snacks. I have found dirty keto to be the gateway to clean keto. Often people find themselves feeling better as they eat better quality food.
Lazy Keto
People also of course have different ways of defining lazy keto. Normally, it is where you do not track your macros on a daily basis. You may also hear it referred to as “intuitive eating”. Eating when you are hungry, not eating when you are not hungry, and listening to your body. Now that I have lost the weight and have been doing this a long time, I no longer track. I sometimes keep a general idea of the number of carbs I consume, but not every day. I just keep eating the same low carb foods I have been consuming over the past 16 months. I eat until I am satiated and some days I may 16 hour fast if I feel I am not hungry. If weight starts to creep back up, or I have become a little too overzealous with my carb consumption, I may go back to tracking for a few days to get myself back on the right path. I have become better at listening to my body. I know, go ahead and roll your eyes at me. I used to feel the same way. I used to just consume all the crap food no matter how it made my body feel. I think we can all so easily become set in our unhealthy ways, that we lose sight of what foods make us feel good and which ones do not. We just eat and eat all the junk that satisfies our carb addictions and then wonder why we have constant bloating, fatigue, and gastric issues. And yes, carb addiction is REAL y’all. Hi, my name is Lindsay, and I am a recovering carb addict. Stay tuned for a future blog on carb and sugar addiction as that is a topic all on its own.
The bottom line is, I want you to throw out these keto classifications and do whatever form of keto works for you. Do the best you can with your budget and schedule and quit beating yourself up if you can’t live off grass fed meat and water. If you can and want to do that, I applaud you. If you want to eat a Lilly’s chocolate bar, I applaud you for choosing that over a Snickers bar. If you want to eat some Quest chips, I applaud you for choosing that over a bag of Doritos. If you want to cook every single meal from scratch and be super strict with your macros, go on with your bad self. There will be trial and error on your keto journey. You just have to find the path that is best for YOU. Don’t be afraid to try new things and tweak what you are doing if it is not working.
I love it. You’re hilarious! Thanks for the advice. Naysayers are wearing me out!
Thank you friend! Glad you enjoyed it. The keto haters are everywhere. We just gotta keep on truckin and being fabulous!