90 - Best of the Fitlandia Podcast : #60 Jumping into Keto with Leanne Vogel

If you have been contemplating a switch from carb-loading to fat-fueling, today's repeat of an interview with guest Leanne Vogel is for you! Join Christa and Leanne as they discuss overcoming the fears and getting in touch with your core desired feelings along the way to permanent lifestyle change. They also address important distinctions between healthy and unhealthy approaches to a keto diet.

Leanne started studying nutrition in 2007 to help her better understand her body and how it worked with the foods she was putting into it. Originally going to school to help herself, she discovered after graduation that she had learned too much not to help other people and that’s when her blog, “Healthful Pursuit” was born.

Being a super athlete, Leanne noticed after years of not having her menstrual cycle that she wasn’t performing at her best and was continually struggling to put on muscle. This sparked her interest in regulating her cycle, but after starting hormone replacement therapy she discovered it was stunting her training even more. She went to a naturopath begging for help and that’s where she was introduced to a ketogenic diet.

Desperate for a change, Leanne who was a vegan and whole-foods fanatic made it her mission to eat avocados, mayo and bacon for 30 days! She did it and found she could finally get off her ADHD medicine she had been taking since she was 11, her anxiety dropped, her mood improved, she lost 12 pounds, was at 8% body fat and was finally back to training like a beast in the gym.

This was a huge transition for Leanne and her body, but also for her business which included many “vegan health-nut” followers who previously looked to her as a mentor, was now eating bacon on daily basis. Now, three years into keto, Leanne says they’ve been the best years of her life.

Healthy Keto vs. Unhealthy Keto

When Leanne first heard about the ketogenic diet from her naturopath, she found herself scrolling through Instagram that evening and clicking on #Keto. She saw tons of images of processed meats, cheeses, creams and Diet Coke. Many of us dream of a diet like this but Leanne wondered: "How are you supposed to lose weight?" and "How could this be healthy?"

Leanne explains that the problem isn't with the ketogenic diet, or really with any dietary style of eating. This issue is that we often have the mindset that if it fits within your macros (meaning it meets your protein, fats and carb ratios), it’s good to go, regardless of the quality of food. In our culture, we connect weight so closely with our health that if we’re losing weight by eating this way, we rarely consider the micronutrients we’re missing out on. It's simply not true that weight loss alone equates to health so the quality of food is important too.

Afraid to Eat Fat?

Moving from the old paradigms of the low-fat movement can be tough, but we now know that healthy fats have so many important health benefits, including weight loss, balanced hormones, elevated mood, and greater focus. Healthy fat intake also contributes to improved health markers such as resting heart rate, fasting blood sugar and HDL levels through a high-fat, low carb diet. For more info and inspiration for getting over the fear of fat, check out Leanne’s 10 Reasons Why I’m Not Afraid of Eating Fat (and why you shouldn’t be either).

Alcohol and Keto

When we eat a standard American diet, we burn sugar for energy. This is extremely inefficient and causes us to feel hungry soon after meals. When we burn fat as our main energy source, we don’t have to eat as mu