I participated in a Keto Challenge for 30 days. I am lactose-intolerant, so this is how I accomplished going keto while being dairy-free.
But first of all, my results:
Starting weight/ending weight:
297.8 – 287.2
Which means I lost 10 pounds in 1 month. YAY! I was kind of hoping it would be more. But since nothing that I have ever tried has worked even a little bit, I’ll take the 10 pounds!
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My Motivation For Trying Keto
My family has a vacation planned for a few months away and I desperately want to go. This theme park we are going to has rides that are ridiculously fun.
But the last time I went, I was maybe 30 pounds lighter, and I barely fit into some of the seats. So I decided that if I wanted to enjoy myself on vacation, then I had to try a diet that promised big results!
The ketogenic diet is the perfect diet, if you want to lose a lot of weight in a short amount of time. It trains your body to burn fat by eating mostly (good) fat.
I live with my parents at the moment, and we all decided together to do this diet. In fact, a lot of my married siblings are doing the keto diet challenge at this time. So there were some times when we would all get together and we would have some sort of grilled chicken or hamburgers (keto style) and everyone would eat it.
Sometimes living at home while on the ketogenic diet was a little difficult for me. Mostly because my parents had salads just laying around so that’s what we would have to eat if we didn’t plan anything…. I hate salads.
I never had cravings, though every once in a while I would want chips, or fries. Those are my absolute favorite foods of all time! And unfortunately, even though you can find a good replacement for most foods, I haven’t found a good enough substitute for chips.
But the cravings for chips wasn’t this all consuming thing, where if I didn’t have them then I would be depressed or crazy. It was more like “it would be nice if I could have these, but oh well.”
But the hardest part for me is my inability to digest dairy, which is where most of the fat usually comes from in the keto diet. Most recipes for the keto diet call for Heavy Whipping Cream, loads of Cheese, or even Sour Cream. Everything I can’t eat.
There are some fats that are still available for us poor lactose intolerant keto people though
Dairy-Free Keto Fats:
- Butter (lactose-free)
- Olive Oil
- Avocado Oil
- Meat Fats (like bacon grease)
- Coconut Oil
- and Coconut Cream (canned coconut milk)
My best friend became canned coconut milk.
I would put it in my eggs, in my shakes, anywhere I could. Then my sister gave me a recipe for hot chocolate that uses almond milk and heavy whipping cream. I substituted the coconut cream instead by whipping the cream, and I would drink it once, sometimes twice a day just to get the healthy fats into my body. Once I started doing that, keto became a lot easier (and yummier).
Being lactose intolerant and trying the dairy-free ketogenic diet, made it so I had to plan a little better than most ketoers. I had to look for recipes that didn’t involve cheese, and that can be really hard to find.
What are Lactose-Free Keto Meals that I ate?
I tried not to eat out because I knew that it would be hard for me to stay away from French fries, which are my favorite. That being said, I did have a few Jimmy John’s unwiches, and Culver’s hamburgers without a bun. I did stick with the diet the whole time.
I love keto bread! There’s a brand at Walmart that we discovered that is soo delicious! Apparently though, it’s not considered ‘clean Keto’ because it does have wheat. But as long as I can eat it and lose weight, I’ll keep using it. What can I say, I’m a rebel! speaking of which. . .
We also have had Rebel Ice Cream, my favorite flavor is the cookies and cream (It has dairy, so I could only eat a few bites before feeling sick. . . but sometimes Ice Cream is worth it). The company is working on making all of their keto ice creams lactose-free by the end of 2021.
There is also some konjac noodles that are pretty good if you’re not into zucchini or spaghetti squash.
Also, if you have an air-fryer. Check out Candied Pecans And Keto-Friendly Veggies to use in the Air-Fryer
Here are my favorite dairy-free keto meals that I have tried so far:
NOTE: YOU CAN ALWAYS TRY THESE LACTAID CHEWABLES IF YOU ACCIDENTLY EAT DAIRY. JUST KEEP THEM IN YOUR PURSE?WALLET
- Spaghetti with Konjac noodles using this sauce recipe.
- Low Carb/Keto Pizza Crust without cheese.
- This is the pizza I made myself. I used Rao’s sauce, and added
- Chicken Parmesan that we had over and over again. (I omitted the cheese).
- Pumpkin Curry Chicken. It was really good.
- Baked Garlic Chicken Thighs. Oh it was amazing! I baked the chicken, then made these veggies to go with it. When you flip the chicken over, I added the already cooked veggies to the pan and cooked them again. So Yummy! (again, without the cheese)
- Also, try these Candied Pecans in the airfryer
- And all these awesome air fryer veggies. No Dairy required!
Other thoughts on the keto diet:
I managed to keep on exercising even while doing keto. I averaged working out about 3 days a week, for about an hour each day. A lot of people have a hard time working out while on the keto diet. I am grateful that I was able to still build my stamina and strength while eating healthy.
The diet made me feel happy and satisfied. Such good, filling food, makes it hard to remember that I’m on a diet.
The dairy-free Keto Diet helped me feel pretty great actually! I never felt sick or lethargic. I felt satisfied and happy.
There was one time where I started having a headache, but I upped my electrolytes (cream of tartar in a glass of water) and it went away.
Many people are intimidated by making their own keto meals, but they aren’t all that difficult to make. I think it would be about the same if you were making homemade meals.
All in all, it was a fairly good experience for me. I am continuing to do this Dairy-Free Ketogenic Diet, because after all, I got a vacation to get to!
