Unlearning is a super power

In last week’s article, I shared that I lost 10 kg in one month after I started eating a ketogenic diet. In fact, I ate a zero-carb diet – a carnivore diet, which is at the extreme end of the ketogenic diet and some doctors have actually termed it the ultimate elimination diet. But don’t worry, if eating only meat and drinking only water doesn’t sound attractive to you, there are other options on diets which adhere to the principles of the Proper Human Diet. And I don’t like that word, diet. It suggests that it is something you will do for a while and then revert to the old ways, the aim is to change your lifestyle and never have to lose any gains you get. Anyway, before I digress, the feedback to last week’s article was overwhelming. Many people got in touch with me wanting further details on how to get started. So today, I am going to give some tips based on what I have learnt and experienced along the way.

1. Be open to unlearning
If learning is power, unlearning is a super power. In your research, you might come across information which goes against everything you have learnt about what humans should be ingesting since you were born, don’t dismiss it at face value. Like Dr Ken Berry likes to advise, always filter it through common sense and you’ll make more informed choices about what to do next. I have had to unlearn so many things about food. Growing up, we ate four slices of bread and tea with sugar for breakfast, that was the standard. Other times, we ate John Cena buns or sweet potatoes. Rarely, we spread some margarine on that bread and we thought that was healthy, it was actually a delicacy. For lunch, we ate proportionately more nshima than the relish which was available, most times, it was vegetables because Mother had made a decree that there’s no way those who were at home during lunch could enjoy meat while she was toiling at work. So whatever little meat Mother could afford was eaten at dinner time, when everyone was home – with nshima again. That was the standard. I even used to envy our neighbours at some point because we would be playing hide and seek and their mother would call them to go and eat “16”. I thought that was the life! To eat custard at 16:00 hours and various other snacks throughout the day. While I could afford more meat and snacks like cakes and brownies after I started fending for myself, my diet never really changed much from the one I learnt to eat as a child. Firstly, I have had to unlearn the number of times I thought we should be chewing per day – most of us only need one or two meals per day at most. I have also had to unlearn the notion that human beings need carbohydrates or that there’s nothing wrong with consuming sugar and processed foods albeit in moderation. I have had to unlearn the argument that breakfast is the most important meal in the day, instead, I now believe that the most important meal in the day is the one you do eat. I have also had to unlearn the idea that we need glucose for energy, that is the biggest scam of all. Now that I am eating a ketogenic diet, my energy levels are very high and stable, they don’t rise after a big starchy or sugary meal and then drop all of a sudden after about an hour.

2. Understand your why
Ask yourself why you want to make a change in your life in the first place. The more desperate your reason, the more likely you are to stick to any lifestyle change you make. For me, my why was my health. I was getting the wrong health signals and I knew I needed to switch things up in my life if I didn’t want to end up with hypertension and type two diabetes. I have previously written about this, so I won’t go into detail but always remember why you are doing it and that will keep you on track.

3. Research
Take time to read about the low carb, ketogenic, ketovore, banting or carnivore diets before you start. I cannot emphasise this enough. You might end up doing things which are the opposite of what you should be doing and quit. I remember in 2018, the first time I attempted to do a keto diet, all the read was that you need to eat very fatty foods and quit carbohydrates. So I went home and fried my vegetables in so much vegetable cooking oil I almost puked midway through that meal and instantly quit. I did not understand that vegetable oils were actually not allowed because they are highly inflammatory in nature. I didn’t understand that having a high fat meal doesn’t mean go and exhaust your bottle of cooking oil on one meal, LOL. Right now, I know that it’s best to cook in beef fat or bacon grease and I know the best ways to flame grill my meat to get the best tasting fat bites! So go on the internet and research, maybe this Mukosha lady is lying to you about the Proper Human Diet, check it out for yourself, meet amazing people who have reversed so many chronic conditions by eating this way and once you stumble upon a meal plan which looks manageable for you, do it. And this day and edge, you don’t even need to read if you don’t want to. Just go on YouTube and search for these topics, find well respected doctors doing research in this felid of nutrition and listen to their stories. And when you research, you will know that you might not feel great in the first few days or weeks, but you will push on so that you can experience bliss at the end of that tunnel.

4. Be patient
That big belly you are trying to get rid of didn’t grow overnight. That type two diabetes you are suffering from didn’t develop in a single day, it took years – about 10 to 20 years in some instances. In fact, one of my favourite cardiologists Dr Pradrip Jamnadas says “if you have type two diabetes, congratulations! You earned it”. That hypertension didn’t develop in an hour, it developed over time. So, give your body grace. Change around your lifestyle and don’t expect that your desired results will come within a week or a month. And in that spirit, don’t compare your progress with anyone else. Just because I lost 10 kg in a month doesn’t mean that you can also lose the same amount of weight in that timeframe too. People are different, results vary from person to person based on so many factors like one’s hormone profile. You might lose 20 kg in a month, or much less than that, but that’s okay. Have a proper human diet for 30 days without cheating and afterwards, take an inventory of how you feel, push it to 60 days, maybe 90, how do you feel? Chances are, you will feel great and won’t want to quit, I know I don’t want to.

5. Stick to your personal budget
Eating a proper human diet calls for eating more fatty meat. This doesn’t have to break your bank. You can eat very cheap cuts of meat like ground beef, offals, eggs or even trotters. You can also eat chicken feet which are, in my view, a super food because they are about 70 per cent collagen, you know, that stuff which keeps your skin stretchy and looking young. Some people actually sell collagen supplements for quite some coins, but you don’t need to pay for that, wink. And once you eliminate some high carb items form your budget, you actually free up some money which you can use for the good stuff. And if you want to eat a banting or keto diet, there are so many options for cheap low carb vegetables like cabbage, bondwe, kalembula etc. You can even throw in the occasional sweet potato or fresh corn, I do. Don’t let anyone lie to you that this is expensive. You don’t need to buy those fancy things labelled keto or low carb in certain stores nowadays, you can totally survive with just eating what you cook at home. With anything in life, if you want it bad enough, you will make it happen.

I have included a before and “during” picture of myself today, the journey continues.