11 Things I Wish I’d Known Before Going Keto

9. It’s easier if you can cook and eat at home
You can easily eat out and still follow a ketogenic diet. However, while the standard western diet continues to be promoted as the low fat, high carb, calories in versus calories out approach, options for dining in restaurants or buying take away can be limited and you may find yourself getting bored easily. Then again, you may not.

Cooking for yourself (or if you’re lucky enough to have someone supportive of keto to cook for you) means that you have more control over your macros. Of course, this requires some degree of planning and preparation.

I used to hate cooking. And I mean with a capital “H”. I was never taught how to cook, I have a demanding job that often requires long hours in the office and when I got home from work the last thing I wanted to do was expend any remaining mental energy thinking about what to cook, let alone physically cook the meal itself. I’d rather dine out, or rely on someone else to cook-whatever-they-wanted-and-dish-up-a-plate-for-me-while-they’re-at-it-thanks-very-much!

I realised though that if I was to really commit to this way of eating then I needed to not only learn how to cook, but take a genuine interest in my nutrition. After much time spent searching Pintrest, YouTube, low carb recipe sites and cookbooks I started to get the hang of it and then, much to my surprise, I even started to really enjoy being in the kitchen and now look forward to finding new recipes to try. I’m pleased to say that my hit/miss ratio is much better than it used to be as I’ve learnt new skills and flavour combinations that appeal to my palate. Let’s just not talk about the disastrous blueberry crumble I made last night…it really was the stuff of nightmares.

The thing is, while there are some really incredible keto recipes and cooking methodologies out there for you to find that are full of all sorts of weird and wonderful ingredients and food combinations, there are just as many really basic recipes that are unbelievably tasty in their simplicity.

The moral of the story? Fake it ‘til you make it.