Why I Became Keto Vegan for 3 Months

I am a holistic Chef and was contracted to work at a beautiful eco-village called Bio Sana, Mexico.

It was at the end of 2017 and I was cooking for the members for their annual general meetings which lasted a week.

Most of them were vegans and vegetarians and I was in charge of cooking amazing vegan meals for them.

At one point, I was having a discussion with the maintenance manager who was vegan.

I eat mostly a plant-based diet however, I am an omnivore.

The topic of what was the most optimal diet came up and so we got into a heated argument about it.

He was a very educated man and we both cited solid evidence from world experts to support our own stance.

After a while of this back and forth and getting nowhere, we politely agreed to disagree and went our own separate ways.

It wasn’t until lots of introspection and honest self-reflection later that I was able to see the situation more clearly. 

There is a thing called confirmation bias where you will only take in information that supports your beliefs and disregard everything else. 

This seems to be the case here. In order to remedy this, I had to try to be completely objective. 

To do this, I had to take in all the facts and not just the ones that support my position.  

Although I have tried being vegetarian before, I have never tried a vegan diet. 

So who am I to claim that an omnivorous diet is more optimal than a vegan diet when I have never been a vegan before!?

After this epiphany, I decided to try to see from his point of view and “walk a mile in his shoes.”

So I decided to become vegan for a month since direct experience is the best way to validate a point of view.

I had already been doing the keto diet for years and felt amazing on it.

So it was a natural progression for me to try to become a keto vegan to make it more challenging.

Although the challenge was supposed to only last for one month, it ended up becoming a 3-month ordeal.

I slipped up 3 times and had to start over again, but that’s another story.

So through my experience with this challenge, these are the “must know facts” I learned about the keto vegan diet.

1. Avoid the Keto Flu

If you are thinking about starting the keto vegan diet, there’s a 97% chance that you are already vegan.

This means your diet usually contains a high amount of carbs from beans, legumes, nuts, and grains.

That will also be true if you’re transitioning from an omnivore diet to a keto vegan diet.

Both these diets are usually on the carb-heavy side.

These are all the foods you’ll be cutting out. This will be a huge shock for your body to take.

If you cut them out too fast, you’ll get what’s known as the keto-flu.

Symptoms of Keto Flu

• fatigue
• weakness
• headaches
• nausea
• constipation
• diarrhea
• muscle cramps
• dizziness
• disrupted sleep patterns

To avoid the keto flu, you have to gradually switch out your carb intake for healthy fats.

I recommend getting into keto gradually and taking 3 weeks to ease into it.

These are the percentages of macros I recommend.

You can download apps to determine how much calories you need for your specific weight, age, and fitness goals.

Recommended Gradual Keto Schedule

Week 1  50% carbs 25% healthy fats 25% protein

Week 2  25% carbs 50% healthy fats 25% protein

Week 3  5-10% carbs max 70% fats 25% protein

I recommend only having carbs with the last meal of the day as well.

By doing this, you will restore glycogen for the next day and provide your body with the glucose it needs to regulate your blood sugar levels during sleep.

It’s also good to have unprocessed complex carbs like sweet potatoes vs something like pasta.

In the second week, try to cut that carb portion in half and fill that half with more healthy fats.

By the 3rd week, you should be good to go by going full keto vegan. So in this case, limiting your carbs to as low as possible.

Within the 5-10% range max. If you are experiencing one or more of the symptoms of the keto flu, up  your intake of carbs a little for the rest of the week.

Then try a more gradual cut percentage of carbs the following week.

I also recommend ingesting a 1/4 teaspoon of activated coconut charcaol before bed every night.

This will bind to the toxins in your body over night. Having less toxins will help to prevent the keto flu.

Also try to have a lot of bitters as they are excellent in helping your liver produce more bile.

Bile helps your body break down fats which will help you immensely in the transition to become keto.

Include bitters like organic cacao powder, bitter mellon, dandilion tea, ect. 

By week 4 or 5,  you should be able to go full keto vegan

2. Dirty Keto vs Clean Keto

The difference is like night and day. Consuming a 100 calories from a doughnut vs 100 calories from a salad is not the same.

So if you’re going to do this diet, do it properly. You will definitely notice it in your energy levels, mood, and your mental clarity by eating clean.

3. Best Ways to Eat  Clean 

Eating Organic matters – The food that is commercially grown nowadays are laced with a ton of chemicals.

Mainly from glyphosates which are from vegetables sprayed with monsanto’s round-up herbicide.

These have been proven to wreak havoc on our gut microbiome which has been proven to contribute to over 70% of our overall health.

Eat mostly whole foods – Avoid processed package foods. Basically,  if it isn’t grown from the ground, it’s processed.

Eat mostly leafy and cruciferous vegetables These are vegetables with the highest nutrient content and low on carbs.

It’s good to consume different varieties of seaweed in moderation.

Although they have many vitamins, they’re also high in iodine which can cause thyroid issues.

Eat berries in moderation – They have the lowest natural sugars with the highest nutrient content.

However, more than a hand full will kick you out of ketosis.

Avoid all other fruit as they are really high in natural sugars.

Cut out all refined sugar – Sugar is toxic for your body and the sooner you can eliminate them from your diet, the healthier you’ll be.

Replace with xylitol, erythritol, stevia, or monk fruit instead. Never consume Aspartame as it’s a neurotoxin

Eat fermented foods – They are a great source of probiotics. Things like vegetarian kimchi, and sauerkraut.

Make sure the kimchi is not made traditionally with fish sauce.

That was one of the ways where I slipped up on the keto vegan diet and had to start my challeng over again!

Kombucha is not recommended as its high in sugar, which equals carbs.

4. Have Healthy Oils at  Every Meal

It’s impossible to get enough fats just by eating whole foods alone.

Having a combination of these oils at every meal is a must. Mix and match in sauces and dressings to switch up the flavors.

• coconut oil
• avocado oil
• sesame seed oil
• extra virgin cold-pressed olive oil

Do not use these types of oils as they contain high amounts of omega 6 and are highly inflammatory.

• canola oil
• sunflower oil
• safflower oil
• soybean oil
• corn oil
• cottonseed oil

5. Protein Shakes are a Must with Every Meal

Most vegetable proteins are also high in carbs like beans and legumes.

So are most nuts with the exception of macadamian nuts.

Yes they are high in protein and fats, but most of them are also high in carbs.

The best way around this is to supplement with a high-quality vegan protein powder with the least amount of carbs.

You should aim to have this with every meal to prevent having a protein deficiency or a loss in muscle mass.

I recommend Nutiva plant protein powder because it’s organic and has just 3 g of carbs and 22 grams of protein per serving.

It also has a wide variety of vegetables so its more nutrient-dense.

6. Importance of Supplementation

Nowadays, It’s impossible to get all the nutrients needed from our modern diet let alone a keto vegan one.

Modern farming practices have stripped much of the nutrients from the crops.

Plants are repeatedly grown on the same land so the overused soil doesn’t have time to replenish the lost nutrients.

Also, a lot of plants are genetically modified to grow unusually bigger and faster while being resistant to insects.

Furthermore, pesticides with chemicals like glyphosates are sprayed over commercial crops.

The pollen from those crops can be carried by the wind to contaminate nearby organic crops.

In addition, we are bombarded with unprecedented amounts of toxins from our modern environment.

These include airborne pollutants, heavy metals, industrial solvents, mold, emf, xenoestrogens from microplastic, etc.

Therefore it’s imperative to use supplements to help our bodies deal with this excess of toxins and to restore vital nutrients missing in the modern-day diet.

These are the top vitamins I recommend that are deficient in a keto vegan diet.

• Vitamin B 12
• Vitamin D3
• Omega 3 from Algae
• Vitamin K2
• Zinc
• Magnesium

These are the bare minimum vitamins  I recommend. There are other ones I take to operate at an optimal level.

They can found here in this article and I highly recommend taking these supplements as well for optimal health.

Extra Supplements for optimal health

7. Weekly Carb Cycling is Optimal

Prolonged periods of ketosis has its drawbacks. You may develop thyroid issues, experience fatigue, and suffer insomnia if you are in Ketosis for too long.

Your body needs some carbs once in a while to function optimally. Once a week will do the trick.

This also trains your body to have metabolic flexibility. That means your body can use either fat or carbs for fuel and can switch from one fuel source to the other with ease.

Just make sure you reverse it to eating a high carb and low-fat protocol on your carb refeed day.

This will prevent you from over-consuming calories. There is just one important thing to keep in mind.

Make sure you have been doing Keto for at least 2 months before you start cycling in some carbs.

Your body has to first be used to burning fat for fuel. This is called being fat adapted.

Also, when you are fat-adapted,  your body will burn the body’s fat more efficiently if there is no food present.

This is one of the main benefits of the keto diet. You can capitalize on these gains further by incorporating fasting protocols.

Daily intermittent fasting and periodic types of extended fasts will yeild optimal results.

So only start carb cycling when you become fat adapted.

Conclusion

In my opinion, this diet is not sustainable. First of all, its a super bland diet.

If you want to do it properly with little or no processed food, it’s an extremely boring diet.

You’ll find yourself eating mostly the same vegetables drenched in oil, day in and day out. Being vegan is restrictive enough.

By adding keto to the equation, it makes your tastebuds feel like they’re eating prison food.

In addition, you have to use a lot of supplements to prevent deficiencies. It’s a full-time job to stay on top of it.

Finally,  its a social nightmare. You have to bring with you a bag of supplements and food because you can’t eat most of the things in restaurants or at a family or friend’s place.

So my advice is either choose one diet or the other to stick to and not to combine both.

They are both super beneficial in their own right, as long as you stay on top of supplementation.

At the end of the day, everyone is different, and not every diet works for everyone’s biology.

The best thing to do is to try on a diet and be open to honest feedback from your body. Give it 3 months and see how you feel and perform.

If your diet makes you feel like a million bucks, bingo you found your ideal diet.

If not, do more research and implement new strategies until you find what works the most optimal for you.

So I hope this article gives you some insights into the pros and cons of a keto vegan diet.

If you have any more questions or would just like to add your own insights, please comment below!