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5 Ways To Budget Friendly Keto

Switching to an entirely new dietning plan can be daunting and scary. No matter how many times I say that Keto is in reality very simple once you make the switch, people who I talk to always have doubts. Honestly the hardest things is making the first step… But in the process of me trying to get more people on board of the healthy train(Keto), I feel like I need to write this guide/article. One of the huge concerns of mine when I was starting, as well as a reason why people don’t take the leap is the cost. Listen, I get it, carbs are cheap, easy and quick. Getting fats in could be a little more challenging or costly, but today I’m gonna give you 5 ways I have used to make keto appealing to any budget.

Buy bulk

This one is probably not as obvious to the younger keto-ers, but should be straightforward to everyone. A lot of people ask how do I meal prep and how I only go shopping like once or twice a week? That is exactly how, I buy bulk. Be it meat, cottage cheese, brie cheese, butter, water or salt… whatever I’m buying, I’m looking for bulk. Items which are sold together are more likely to be discounted and you also don’t have to pay for the man time of unpacking them.

NOTE: When I buy meat, I will leave enough for 2-3 days worth of meals and freeze the rest, to keep the freshness.

Avoid recipes

You can’t deny it, when you type in keto into any search box you will find hundreds if not thousands of recipes specifically made to advertise some sort of keto product or, which are pointlessly complicated. On top of that they also require stuff like Almond Flour, Atlantic Salmon, Extra Exclusive Virgin Olive Oil or some other expensive ingredient. They could also try to promote some kind of special MCT Oil, Keto Powder or other worthless supplements.

Even though those products are really healthy, they just aren’t needed. Stick to basics, especially at the beginning. I really don’t want to make this article too long so if you want to know how to make up your own simple keto recipes and you want to know exactly what to buy, you can read my Ultimate Simple Keto Starting Guide here https://krystiangorak.tumblr.com/post/173445643326/ultimate-simple-keto-starting-guide

Shop online for certain things

This will be highly dependant on the country you live in. In most european countries as well as the United States, you are better off getting some products online. Main ones being nuts, coconut oil, MCT Oil, electrolyte supplements etc. When doing so, refer to first advice I gave in this article. The more you order, the more you will save on shipping and you might also catch a nice bulk discount.

Plan your eating day/week

This is super crucial, so listen up. I have an exercise for you to make this a fun learning experience. Plan that you only shop once or maximum twice a week and then plan exactly what you will need for the next 3 or more days. Always start with the basics like meats, veggies, fats, and dairy and then work your snack into the mix. Make a list, and only get what is on it. After you get home meal prep straight away or the same day. This should prevent you from snacking and running out of foods which you had planned, also not forcing you to go to restock early. A little evil chain reaction.

Avoid eating out

I want to be 100% clear here, I’M NOT TELLING YOU TO NOT EAT OUT. All I’m saying is that, if you are on a budget, how does paying a full price for a reduced portion sound? Some places will serve you the same portion but without the bun, fries or potatoes on the side(for the same price), will refuse to change their meals or will straight up not serve you at all. Poland isn’t a very keto friendly place so all of those happen to me on a regular basis. If you are living in a little more nutrition-conscious developed country though, you should be able to to ask on reddit or keto Facebook pages for good low-carb friendly places.

If prior to starting keto you were a fast/junk food kind of person, you will see how much you were really spending on that type of a lifestyle. Keto will not be so costly when you do the calculation.

So there you have it, these are all the things I go by to keep my keto budget under control. Now you have 1 less excuse to start your journey to a much healthier place! Keep calm and keep keto.

[krystiangorak-blog]

Ultimate Simple Keto Starting Guide

The hardest thing to do with anything new, is to start, that is including any kind of diet. There is a lot of information out there… Recipes, guides, videos, suggestions, transformations and many, many more sources of good and not so good information. All of this can be a little daunting, especially if you have never heard of Ketogenic or low carb dieting. I can relate to that myself, as at first I was very hesitant to pull the trigger on starting this lifestyle.

I took a leap of faith and here we are some time later and I’m happy, excited, energized and getting shredded. I want to help you make the same leap but reduce the unknown by giving you a step by step breakdown of what you should eat as well as some tips to get you started. Bookmark/favourite this page, so you can refer back to it as this is a staple for starting Ketogenic diet.

I’m not gonna get into too much detail as I can write 15 separate articles on what Keto is and it’s benefits(link to a video) so let’s keep it simple. Ketogenic diet consists of reducing your carbohydrate intake to minimum(below 35g), ramping up the fats(around 200g) and keeping the protein moderate(around 90g). The idea is when your body doesn’t get enough carbs to fuel its functions, it fully switches to taking energy from fat, turning you into a fat burning machine 24/7. You might say “Krystian, that sounds amazing, how do I get started”. Let me give a list of must have foods on Keto diet as well as some of the ones that I tend to avoid.

Meats:

This is the first section where it flips old fashion low fat diets on their heads. When choosing a meat you want to look for ones that have high percentage of fat.

Best ones include:

All sorts of minced meats(pork, pork&beef, full fat beef, chicken legs)

Fatty Steaks

Pork Chops

Fish(Salmon, Mackerel, halibut a little more rare)

Bacon

Sausages(Companies tend to put sugar in some so be careful)

Meats below aren’t necessarily bad but are very low in fat and high in protein. You can still eat them but you will have to pump much more fat on the side to balance them in your meals

Meats to stay away from:

Chicken Breast

Tuna

Reduced Fat Minced Meats

Dairy:

There is a lot of conversation around dairy, as some people do not react so good to too much of ir and will actually gain weight. The only thing I can say you shouldn’t stay away from it but you should definitely use it as an addition to your meals rather than a main ingredient(moderation is key).

Cheeses(Any kind ranging from normal Gouda all the way to Brie or Camembert) Avoid flavoured cheese.

Heavy Cream

Butter

Mayonnaise

Cream Cheese

Natural Cottage Cheese

Nuts & Seeds:

These are a great source of omega-3, omega-6 fats, minerals and necessary vitamins. All around great keto snacks in moderation and an amazing addition to a salad.

Macadamia Nuts

Hazelnuts

Almonds

Sunflower kernels

Pumpkin seeds

Fats & Oils:

I would say total basic of keto diet is to have a strong foundation and these are exactly that.

Olive Oil

Coconut Oil

Avocado Oil

Macadamia Oil

MCT Oil(Test it first, some people do not react so well to these)

Custom made Fat Bombs

Fruit:

A lot of people will tell you that some specific fruit is ok but I found that they really easily knock me out of ketosis, even in small amounts so I only have a couple VERY specific that I eat

Avocadoes

Olives

Vegetables:

You gotta be careful with these as well… I’m not going to be your grandma and tell you to eat yo’ veggies. I would say anything that grows above the ground you should be safe with but even then I have my safe list which I refer to.

Cabbage

Cauliflower

Broccoli

Spinach

Kale

Tomato(Really watch how much)

Onion(same here)

Green Bell Peppers(aaand here)

Beverages & Drinks:

I like to keep this really simple, but I know some people do need some other flavors in their lives. Here is a list of keto safe drinks:

WATER

Broths

Flavored Water(Sugar free little squidgy flavorers)

Tea

Coffee

Coconut/Almond milks(moderation)

Sauces & Condiments:

I tend to stay away from sauces, as there aren’t that many sugar free here, where I live. Nevertheless there are some I can recommend, but always be on guard of what it says on the back if the label.

Salad Dressings(Choose low carb, fatty ones like ranch or caesar)

Yellow Mustard(Moderation)

No sugar ketchup(Moderation)

Please stay away from sweeteners. They are not necessary… you are trying to get rid of sugar in your diet, not exchange it with something else.

How I prepare my meal(Typical day of eating)

Probably going to be the most useful part for you. You might have the ingredients but what the heck to you do with them? I 100% recommend to KEEP IT SIMPLE, especially at the beginning. You do not need all of those fancy recipes or keto friendly versions of high carb foods. You wanna keep it as simple as possible so you don't spend 5 hours a day in the kitchen.

Before breakfast/Pre morning workout:

Every morning, no matter if I’m going to the gym or not I’m having my “Coffee of the gods”. Some people call it bulletproof, some just call it keto coffee. Basically what we are looking at is:

Black coffee

15g of Butter

3tbsp of Heavy whipping cream

15g Extra Virgin Cold Pressed Coconut Oil

All of those ingredients are blended together in a blender to give you a really nice energy boost you need in the morning. That baby is around 44g of fat, 1g of carbs and 1g of protein. It is an equivalent of having a pre workout supplement, but rather than pumping sugar into your body, you are giving it a healthy portion of fat to function off. This will usually be enough for me for good 3-5 hours.

Breakfast:

Now you will see exactly what I mean by keeping it simple. I will usually have breakfast post workout or just whenever I will feel hungry(on my rest days). This usually consists off:

3 scrambled Eggs

50g of chopped Tomatoes

30g of chopped Onions

30g of grated Gouda Cheese

60g of some source of meat(Usually it is some kind of sausage or bacon)

20-30g of Mayonnaise

This delicious and beautiful breakfast adds up to around 6g of carbs, 56g of fat and 35g of protein. Notice how simple it is! I scramble some eggs, and pretty much just throw the rest of the ingredient on top. Remember to add salt(more on this later)!

Lunch:

There isn’t like a set in stone lunch, I will usually have whatever I crave from fats in moderation. Sometimes I have bread-less sandwich:

2 leafs of Chinese Cabbage

30g of Salami Ham

30g of Sliced Cheese

20g of Mayonnaise

Or I might have some peanut butter(unsweetened) with some nuts or other snack. It really depends on the day. The above sandwich adds up to 1g carbs, 29g of fat and 14g of protein.

Dinner:

I keep it simple with dinner also but I have a little blueprint for making a nutritious dinner. I’ll try to explain it the best I can:

1 Avocado

200g of any Meat mentioned in recommended meats above

100g of some vegetable, broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, kale… you name it

Then if I need to fill macros I’m gonna add whatever will fill them best. I could go Olives, piece of chicken with a bunch of mayo or cheese.

Depending on what you pick and choose, you will end up different macros but I’m always aiming for the highest number to be fat.

Snacks:

Everyone is different but I will generally only snack when I either need to fill my macros after all the meals(mainly fat), when I’m away and I can’t get a meal in or I’m just super hungry. I usually treat my lunch as kind of a snack, I guess that is the reason I snack very rarely. When I do:

50g Sunflower seed kernels

Or

1 Fat Bomb

When eating sunflower kernels we are looking at 26g of fat, 5g of carbs and 10g of protein. My own fat bombs(very simple, I’ll share how to make them soon) have 10g of fat and 1g of protein per bomb.

These right here, are only guidelines… Keep it simple, pick and choose from the list of keto friendly foods and make up some easy meal ideas. You don’t have to be an amazing cook or use all of those fancy Instagram/Pinterest recipes.

Now to finish up this Ultimate Keto Beginner Guide I’m going to share few tips on how to succeed. These are general and will work for everyone if applied correctly.

1. Remember about Electrolytes

This one is really important and was a night and day difference for me. Couple of days into the diet I started feeling lethargic, tired and like I had no energy.Naturally my body, which was still craving carbs, automatically thought that the reason was the lack of carbs but it was something completely different. I wasn’t supplying enough Potassium, Magnesium and Sodium into my system. These are crucial for balancing fluids in your body, helping supplying energy to muscles and regulating heart rhythm. I ran out to get multivitamin tablets and all of the above symptoms went away almost immediately.

2. Fat, fat, fat...

You have to get over the notion that fat makes you fat… IT DOESN’T. It’s carbs/glucose stored in your fat cells that make you bigger. Anyway, the point I’m getting to is don’t be afraid of fat, and supply plenty of it! Look at it this way, your body will now be running primarily off of it so it needs a lot of it. I know it can be hard switching after hearing for so many years that fat is bad and you need a healthy mix of nutrients.

3. Track or not to track

I would suggest tracking for the first 2 months and then trying to not track at all. After couple of months you will know how your body feels when in ketosis and you will be able to carry out your life without tracking. Remember to monitor your ketones, especially when you stop tracking to make sure you are on the right track. If not, go back to tracking for a few days and try going off again. No one expects you to track forever!

4. Stay away from any sugar or sweeteners

This is a rule of thumb. Sugar is bad but many keto-doers will still use artificial sweeteners and will successfully stay in ketosis. For me it is like a bad middle, this means you aren’t freeing yourself from sugar, but rather just settling for a different version of it. I would say stay away from sweeteners, especially when starting out to for sure break the addiction from sugar. You will later find out that you don’t need them at all anymore

5. Hydrate

This is kind of general health tip. 60% percent of our body is made out of water so it makes sense we need plenty of it. Drinking plenty of it will also promote weight loss as first of all you will lose all the excess water stored in your body but also your body will be able to more efficiently transfer nutrients around all organs.

6. Work out

If you are going to use keto as a mean to lose a bunch of unnecessary weight and you aren’t very active, I would suggest starting to work out or just implement some kind of activity into your life. I’m not saying you have to become a bodybuilder or a professional athlete, but just get yourself moving and use the energy you are supplying to your body for more than just maintaining. Again, this doesn’t have to be a heavy weight lifting routine, it could be as simple as taking your dog for a longer walk, riding your bike to work and taking the stairs rather than the elevator.

7. Change your mentality

I see a lot of people making this mistake when starting Keto. They think “I need to cut carbs” or “No carbs”... carbs, carbs, carbs. Even though they just switched to ketogenic diet, they are still thinking in terms of carbohydrates all the time. The thing about it is that your brain doesn’t understand the word “No”, so when you think “No carbs”, your mind and action will naturally gravitate towards thinking about carbs, potentially craving them or making it hard for you to withstand the urge. Rather than thinking of limiting carbs, think of increasing fat intake! This is extremely helpful while shopping early on in the diet. Whenever I walk into a grocery store, I don’t think “Ok, which carbs I’m gonna avoid today”... I’m literally going to be like “Where are the fats at?!”. Switch your mentality, it will help a ton.

8. Chill out

This is another general health tip. When you stress about your job, relationship, your dieting result or anything, your body produces cortisol, which in turn causes it to go into body fat storage mode. That is bad, we don’t want that. Also stress causes you to overeat, lose sleep, have sexual problems among many others. Calm mind and a good diet go hand to hand so get meditating or do something that chills you out.

Here we are, an extensive look at starting a simple(the way it is supposed to be) ketogenic diet. Hopefully my list of foods, super easy recipes, as well as some starting tips will help you on your journey or make it easier to make your first step into the healthy keto world.

[krystiangorak-blog]

5 Ways To A More Effective Cut

We all want to look better for different reasons. Be it to obtain a “beach” body, prepare for a bodybuilding show, get healthier, to impress your partner or just be proud of yourself. Cutting allows you to show off all the gains you made during your hard working off season. Whenever I start the process of cutting I always remind myself of few steps that I take to make it more effective. These can help anyone, from a beginner to a pro. Beginners will find out what cutting is and what are the most important factors, whereas pros can get different approach on an already implemented process.

What is cutting?

Cutting is a process used to lose body weight(mostly fat, some muscle) by all sorts of people around the world to prepare for the season or to show off what they built. It is achieved by “cutting” excess calories and consuming less than your body needs to maintain. Example: Let’s say your body is fairly typical and consumes around 2000 calories per non-active day. On those days you want to keep your calorie intake lower than 2000. Obviously, the less you consume the more effective cut will be achieved. If you consume 1998 cal that day, you won’t lose any weight compared to if you consume only 1800 cal. You might ask “If less calories = more weight loss why not consume somewhere along 1000 cal?”. Simple reason, you will feel tired and your motivation to do anything will fade due to lack of energy. Basically you want to experiment with what lowest intake you feel good with.

What is your daily calorie allowance? I usually start with a rough calorie calculator calculation and monitor my weight to see if the estimate was correct. My daily maintain allowance is about 2320 cal on non-workout days and 2810 cal on workout days. As a result of extensive tests(dialing back 50 cal every week and seeing how I feel) and self awareness, I came to conclusion that I can go as low as 1980 cal/2450 cal respectively and still feel fresh, motivated and energized while I cut.

NOTE: Those numbers won’t work for most of you and I advise you to calculate your own intakes and test what works for you. I decided to share my numbers with you so you have an idea where to start.

1. Counting calories

Back when I first started working out, I thought “Meh, I don’t need to count my calories… I will just eat clean and less and I will be fine”. I was so wrong… I quickly got discouraged, as I wasn’t seeing results and quickly went back to maintaining/gaining weight.

There is no way around, you HAVE to count calories in order to reliably cut and lose weight. Without it you won’t have a way to keep track of your daily consumption and a tangible number of calories to stick to every day.

2. Don't tempt yourself

If you are a beginner or an intermediate, you probably still have problems with self control when it comes to not eating certain amounts or types of food. It is 100% normal… Everyone has that problem, myself included. I wish that mental strength would be enough but it isn’t to withstand the urge sometimes. That’s why I will do 2 things. I will usually stop buying any of those high calories “bad” foods but more importantly I won’t go shopping hungry… Trust me, just don’t do it.

3. Clean isn't always the answer

For the longest time, personal trainers, coaches and body builders around the world preached that key to cutting is eating only and only clean foods. I must be the youngster in the movement and say that it is bull-shit… I’m gonna actually completely flip the script on you and say that eating those non-clean, “cheat” foods is the key to longevity in your diet. There is nothing wrong with going out to have a burger or a pizza, drinking some cola or snacking on some crisps as long as you stay within your daily calorie allowance.

I always like to compare this to an old school joke/riddle. It goes “What is heavier, 1 kg of feathers or 1kg of steel?”. If you don’t think about the answer you’ll probably say that steel will be heavier but when you look closely, they both weight 1kg. The bag of feathers that weighs 1kg would probably be much bigger that a piece of steel, but they would still be the same weight. It is the same way with clean foods being the feathers, you can eat more of them to fit your desired calorie intake but it doesn’t mean you can’t eat the not so clean foods to fit the same calorie limit.

At the same time please be wise with this. Do not consume your daily intake in 1 meal and then starve for the rest of your day… it won’t feel good, trust me. Experience :D

4. Intermittent fasting

Another thing I really like to do when cutting is to use intermittent fasting. It is a process of limiting your food intake to only few hours per day to force your organism to use your body fat stored, as energy. 6 hours after your last meal your body will start to take your fat for energy as it has officially run out of the supply from food you ate. The most common type of a fast is 16-8, it is also the one I like the most. I will start eating at noon every day and stop at around 8pm(8 hour eating window) and then go on a 16 hour fast. Some other ones include 18-6, 20-4 and a 24 hour fast but those are for people who already tried fasting and feel good while doing it.

A tip to get you started. Do not feel like you are entitled to overeat just because you fasted. You will be hungry but you have to resist the feeling of just devouring everything. If you have trouble keeping yourself from eating in the morning, try sleeping a little longer to reduce the hunger time in the mornings.

5. Switching to a full body routine

I’m an overall huge fan of full body workouts, but I do alternate between them and splits. When it comes to cutting I will always switch as full body routines get more activation all across the body(also favor compound movements), at the same time burning more calories. If you are interested in my full body routine let me know, and I’ll share it.