Admin So you want to start a ketogenic diet. But you have a family. They are not ready to make this change. How do you eat when your family isn’t on the keto diet? It’s possible, and I’m here to show you how to make it work. Read on to learn our secret to success.
How to Eat Keto When Your Family Don’t
Be clear on your why
Do your research. Know why you are doing it. Read my keto diet post so you can understand the science behind how it works. When you eat this keto diet, you really have to give it your all, especially if your family isn’t.
If you don’t have a clear idea of why you’re doing it and what you’re hoping to get out of it, you’ll have a hard time getting through the first week when your body switches from burning sugar to burning fat.
To see firsthand how this diet makes you feel better, you need to go for two weeks without cheating. So keep yourself motivated as much as possible so you can get through the hard parts.
Ensure everyone knows about your diet
Starting a ketogenic diet is the most challenging part because you have to change your lifestyle and the way you think about food.
Make sure to tell your friends and family about your plans so they can support you and keep you on track! Ask your family to remove all junk food from the kitchen to avoid temptation, and make sure you don’t sneak any carbs or sugar with you when you leave the house!
Try to avoid going out to lunch and avoid drinking alcohol at social gatherings so you don’t get unhealthy temptations.
If your family knows you’re on a keto diet, you can avoid a lot of unpleasant situations like them offering you a piece of cake or pestering you to eat because you feel bad for not eating with them.
Be prepared for these situations and make sure they know what you’re doing and why, so they understand why you can’t eat certain foods with them.
Plan ahead
Plan, plan, plan. Planning is the key to long-term success, especially as you start trying to break old habits and temptations. Try to identify potential obstacles in your journey to help develop a game plan ahead of time.
- Dining out? Look up the menu options online.
- Still struggling with junk food in the break room at work? Try keeping some keto snacks in your desk drawer.
- Worried about overindulging at a dinner party? Eat a healthy meal beforehand, which will help reduce the temptation to overeat.
Success lies in changing habits and adapting to a new way of eating, and it will only get easier over time.
Set rules for yourself
If you live with other non-keto people, you’re going to have to deal with temptation from time to time — there’s no way around it.
Set strict rules for yourself and stick to your ketogenic plan.
If you’ve made a firm decision, it’s much easier to stick to it every time someone around you eats a cookie, rather than relying on sheer willpower.
Focus on all the delicious, healthy low-carb foods you choose to have, not the things you can’t have.
Make it about choices and not about limitations (“I choose to have a healthy, low-carb dinner” ; “I choose not to have pizza” instead of “I cannot have pizza”).
Keep meals simple
In order to follow a ketogenic diet, you need to make sure your diet is as simple as possible. You don’t need to research complicated recipes when you’re just getting started on keto.
Instead, try to create healthy meals that are easy to make and don’t take too long to prepare. Not only is it easier to cook simple meals, but it also gives you a better chance of success on a ketogenic diet.
Even if your friends and family are eating unhealthy high-carb meals, an easy quick meal can help you stick to a low-carb diet.
Don’t be a short-order cook.
At the table, the cook holds considerable power. Run with it. Eating more fresh whole food is what I recommend to everyone in my family. It is unrealistic or sustainable to try to please everyone by cooking two different foods.
Family favorites can still be enjoyed; just modify and leave the rest up to them. For example, if the family loves chicken alfredo, replace the pasta with buttery spaghetti squash, keto dinner rolls for the garlic bread, and consider adding on a fresh Caesar salad with parmesan crisps in place of croutons. The family can either choose to enjoy your delicious healthy meal, or find themselves on their own – but whatever you do, don’t be a short-order cook.
Don’t let mistakes derail you
It’s not easy managing your life between work, caring for your family, losing weight, and taking proper care of your health.
However, if you plan ahead, you’ll master the art of low-carb dieting in no time, and won’t need to make excuses to make yourself feel better about the occasional mistake.
Because mistakes will happen. Acknowledge and accept the fact that it’s natural to make them and that every change takes time (you haven’t gained the weight you wanted to lose in two weeks now and you won’t lose it in two weeks) , forgive yourself, and move on.
Stop spending time thinking about why you made a mistake, and stop punishing yourself. Ask your family to help you stay on track and hold you accountable.
Have you tried a non-ketogenic meal? Forgive yourself and make sure your next meal is a ketogenic diet. Don’t let a cheat meal become a cheat day or a cheat week.
Bottom Line
The keto diet is a very effective strategy for losing weight and lowering blood pressure levels without excessive exercise. But, for a ketogenic diet to work, you need to stick with it. However, if your family is not following a ketogenic diet, it can become very challenging.
When your family doesn’t, you can go keto by cooking separately or making their favorite dishes low-carb so they can enjoy the same taste with half the carbs.
Communicating effectively and letting your family know about your diet will help them adjust to the changes you will be going through when you first start keto.
You should also plan your meals and keep them simple to make your ketogenic journey as painless as possible. But if you end up straying from your eating habits, there’s nothing to blame. Every day is a day to try again, and eventually, your body will begin to enjoy the effects and benefits of ketosis.
