Honeycomb and the Return to Keto: Part 1

I have practiced a ketogenic diet (low carbohydrate/high fat or LCHF) on and off for several years now. In point of fact, it is the only way of eating that has ever been remotely successful in allowing me to maintain the healthy weight, energy level, and athletic performance that I desire. Typically I will do well for up to 7-8 weeks, then the stresses of life, and the difficulty of palate fatigue, or the anti-social quality of eating minimal carbs begin to add up and I’ll give in. For me, the process of coming off of keto, unintentionally mind you, is a slow one - I’ll start by having some corn chips and salsa (the best!) here and there, not too much, but like a half-serving of chips. Or I’ll finish the sweet milk my kids leave in their cereal bowls after finishing their Honeycomb (seriously, who leaves their Honeycomb milk unfinished?). Pretty soon I’m having my own bowls of cereal, or garlic bread with butter, or double servings of chips and salsa. Can you relate? I thought so.

There is something about the mouth-feel of all these carbohydrates that resonates deeply within us. It’s our childhood and teenage years, and the success of the marketing industry in the 60s, 70s, and 80s to get us addicted to these tastes and textures. We feel physically and emotionally comforted (safe?) with a bowl of cereal for breakfast (or at bedtime, or anytime really). So it’s an addiction, but just an emotionally-attached addiction. No big deal, right? Let me give you an example.

When I was 10 or 12 years old, I ate Honeycomb dry out of the box on hunting trips with my dad. After hunting in the early morning, we would drive the powerlines and logging roads of central Washington in his green tiger-striped GMC 1970-ish pickup. In the cab of the truck, I was “the boss of the Honeycomb” (his words). Do you remember a few years back when they changed Honeycomb to make it more whole grainy and less sugary? They were honestly trying to help, I think, but in the process they stripped me of one of the fondest childhood memories. They must not have known that I was the boss of the Honeycomb, because then they would’ve asked me before making a change to the recipe.

[Update: in the last year or two they did change it back… probably because someone my age took the reins of the company and brought them to their senses. Well, at least now my kids can be addicted to the same stuff I was when I was their age. My 8 year-old actually said last night, “Dad, we should have bought two boxes of Honeycomb because the first one is already running out…” A marketing triumph!]

Honeycomb, chips and salsa, and all of the breads are so good, but all the evidence points that they are not good for us. I’m sure there were genetic factors in play (they’re always in play), but I now attribute my heart disease and having a heart attack when I was 30 (15 years ago this spring) to the copious amounts of sugar I consumed from my adolescence through my 20s. I’m talking about 4-6 cans of Coke (or Barq’s Root Beer, or Orange Crush, etc.) a day for 15-20 years. In graduate school, I can remember eating a whole rack of Famous Dave’s ribs (with HFCS BBQ sauces and about 6 20oz regular Cokes). Genetically I’m not wired to gain a lot of weight, though I did gain 20-25 pounds in those years because of all that sugar consumption. Outwardly I didn’t look unhealthy, nor was I obese, but I was really really sick metabolically. The last 14 years have been an exodus out of that physical sickness and toward something that looks like metabolic health and potentially even fitness.

All of this is super complex, and I’m not pretending to be a scientist or even a food journalist - I’ll put links to everything I’ve read below - my goal here is not to distill all of that reading. Instead, I just want to relate my experience in this area of food/nutrition and explore my thoughts and emotions as I step back on the path of health. I’m blessed to have a wife who is willing to continually learn about this with me, and to make micro- and sometimes macro-adjustments to our eating. Together, we were somehow able to stay “on track” through the holidays with a low-carbohydrate eating plan; it wasn’t easy. But like many of you, we’re using the New Year as a way to refocus on health, nutrition and fitness. We find ourselves moving away from the language of diet, which no matter how you use the word sounds like a punishment, and moving in the direction of lifestyle, or way of life, or way of eating.

This seems to be the way of eating that best fits the Yoke I try to teach my family and my students, as we pursue the best possible way to live. In Part 2 of this, I’ll retrace the steps of my journey through reading materials, documentaries, and lifestyle changes that I hope you’ll find helpful. Everyone’s journey is different, and I can’t say that what works for us will work for you, but I hope you’ll find encouragement to make some clicks forward toward health and wellness.