My sister asked me the oher day why we are all getting diabetes?

That got me thinking.  Why are people getting so fat?  Why are so many people allergic to peanuts today?  Why is alzheimers so endemic?  Why is cancer and heart disease rampant?

There are many reasons, but they are all related.  The common theme is diet.

Let’s start with obesity and diabetes.  When did we really start getting fat?  The first food pyramid was introduced in 1974 in Sweden and introduced to Australia in 1980 and America in 1992.  Before then, obesity existed, but it was not nearly so common, especially in kids.  Then in came the Government and lobbyists.  We all know (or should know) the Government screws up everything it touches.  But, I won’t get into that.

So basically in the mid 70’s the Food Pyramid was accepted as Gospel.

Eat lots of vegetables and grains and bread.  All vegetables are good.  White bread is good, but whole grain is better.

• Grains contain lectins.  Lectins are carbohydrate binding proteins in certain foods that react with your system, especially your digestive system.  They can often create bloating, damage to the intestinal lining, gá and many other issues.  Grains contain lectins – we’ve all heard of Gluten Intolerance – gluten is a lectin.  Plants developed lectins to ward of insects and pests that wanted to eat them – they are a plant defence mechanism.  The worse thing we were ever told was that whole grains were healthy.  This increased our consumption of lectins as the hull of the grain is high in lectins.
• So we are now consuming lots of grains.  Most cereals today also include LOTS of sugar.  High carbohydrate and high sugar – a recipe for obesity.
• Also think about the meat we eat – beef, chicken, pork and even fish.  If we are what we eat, we are also what those things eat.  Grain, corn and soy.  A lot of the grain and corn is also GMO.
• Why is GMO bad?  Think about what it does.  Foods, especially grains and cỏn and soy, are modified to withstand glyphosate (roundup).  Normally, if you spray roundup on a plant it dies – within minutes you can see the effect.   Now, your GMO food still absorbs the glyphosate, but it doesn’t kill the plant.   Instead it absorbs it and then we eat it.  Of course there are only trace amounts, but over time the effect gets worse.

Vegetables

• Starchy vegetables are instant fat.  Potatoes, corn and a ton of others contain starch.  Basically, starch is a bunch of glucose molecules stuck together.  They break down a little slower than pure sugar, but they still cause an insulin spike (insulin’s job is to store fat).  Now, even worse, if you combine protein and sugars, you get an exaggerated spike in insulin – more than if you ate these separately.
• So you never want to consume animal protein with sugar or starches.  So, no meat and potatoes, no burger with a bun and tomato sauce (ketchup),  meat and rice, burger and fries, fish and chips.

Dairy

• Milk is full of sugar (lactose) and carbs.  Also pasteurisation kills all the good bacteria.
• Full cream is good.  Much lower carbs (turns into sugar), higher fat, much less protein
•                                                                           Calories     Carb (G)   Fat (G)          Protein (G)

• Cream, light whipping, 2 Tbsp	88	.9	9.3	.7
  Creme Fraiche, 1 ounce	103	.9	9	.7
  String cheese snack, 1 ounce	80	1	5	6
  Milk, whole, 8 ounces	149	11.7	7.9	7.7
  Milk, 2%, 8 ounces	122	11.7	4.8	8
  Milk, skim, 8 ounces	83	12.2	.2	8.3

• Cheese is good too (most) – swiss, gouda, mozarella, brie – high fat, low carbs, fairly low protein.

Fats/Butters

• This is the biggest thing that most people can’t get their heads around.  We’ve been told for decades that fat is harmful and will cause blockage of your arteries.   Don’t eat eggs becasue they will raise your cholestrol.  ALL totally untrue.  Ingested cholestrol does NOT add to your body cholestrol.  There are NO medical studies that show that fats cause plaque (which blocks your arteries).  You know what does create plaque?  Sugar.
• You have to make sure you’re eating good oils/fats.  Butter (grass fed), olive oil, coconut oil, palm oil, ghee, avocado, nuts and seeds, flaxseed oil, sesame oil, lard and fatty fish.
• Bad oils – margarine, soy oil, corn oil, trans fats (fast foods), any GMO oil and mót vegetable oils.
• Saturated fats – the more you eat – the less chance you have of heart disease.

Allergies / Alzheimers / Immune Diseases

A lot of these problems are linked to lectins found in grains.  All of these diseases including diabetes have increased since we were told to eat more grains and less fats.  Having a bad gut biome, in some people’s opinion, are linked to all of these problems. Dr Steven Gundry, cardiac surgeon, is really interesting on thí subject.  He argues that ALL disease is linked to the gut.

Like I’ve said before, Keto is more about what you can’t eat rather than what you can eat, but there are some things that you should make sure you include:

• Apple Cider Vinegar.  A couple of tablespoons in a glass of water and drink it before every meal.  It’s not that bad – at first I would just skull it down quickly, but now I drink it a little more slowly.  Apple Cider Vinegar contains acetic acid which is good for a lot of things.  It aids digestion, fixes acid reflux, aids calcium absorption, high Blood Pressure, constipation, weakness, aids the immune system as well as many other things.  As we get older our stomach starts becoming more alkalin – so Apple Cider Vinegar can aid in our PH level.  Stress can also make our body more Alkalin, so it aids in the effects of stress as well.  ACV helps our body adsorb calcium – if you start getting a twitch in your left eye – it’s a potassium deficiency.  APV will help your body absorb potassium better.
• Vitamin C: Vitamin C will help repair the damage done from years of high sugar and insulin – the vision, the arteries, the kidneys, the nervous system and to heal insulin resistance.  Bell peppers are great, pure lemon juice (not bottled) and sauerkraut (1/2 a cup a day) and Kim Chi.  I sip on a couple of glasses of lemon water every night – I just squeeze 1/2 a lemon in a glass and leave the lemon in the glass and I refill it 2 or 3 times.
• Omega 3 oil: salmon and fatty fish.  Make sure you know the source – you want wild caught salmon from clean waters (to avoid heavy metal buildup like mercury) and fatty fish like sardines, mackerel and tuna.
• Vitamin B1: Sunflower seeds, pork including bacon,  nutritional yeast
• Potassium and magnesium: Really important.  You get these from your vegetables – 7-10 cups a day – dark leafy greens, avocadoes, beet tops (1300 mgs of potassium in 1 cup!)
• Iodine: Seafood and sea kelp (yes, seaweed)
• Iron: Red meat or organ meat.
• Phytonutrients: These are anti cancer, anti oestrogen – a good source of these is sprouts.

What do I eat in a typical day?  I now only eat 2 meals a day.  On this diet, I never feel hungry, even though I only eat 2 meals.

1st meal:  My first meal is normally quite light.  If I’m at home, I’ll often eat 2 strips of bacon, eggs and avocado – no toast!  Sometimes I’ll add a bit of cheese.  If I’m out, I’ll

normally eat a dish called Bo Kho (I call it vietnamese stew).   Bo Kho has cubed beef ( normally with tendon attached) and carrot in an aromatic sauce – usually served with fresh herbs. In vietnam, most dishes contain a small amount of meat compared to normal western dishes.

I’ll also eat a dish called Sui Cao which is a Chinese dish.  It has wontons in a delicious broth, with green vegetable – like Bok Choy (I’m guessing), some spring onions and caramelised/crispy onion.  I always add some lemon juice, brown vinegar, black sauce and chilli.

 

2nd Meal:  This is my big meal of the day.  I’ll usually eat around 100 grams of protein – meat or fatty fish.  Most nights I stir fry or steam leafy greens and or cruciferous vegetable (I love broccoli and cauliflower).  I eat a lot of mushrooms (good nutrition and boosts testosterone).

I usually cook the meat in coconut oil and if I’m doing mushrooms in a cream sauce, I’ll

add a stick of butter and then cream.  Remember, this is a high fat diet.

Then I’ll sautee a bunch of leafy greens, cruciferous vegetables, chilli, garlic and bamboo shoots (I doubt bamboo shoots have any nutritional value, I just like the taste and texture).  Remember, you need 7-10 cups (ounces) of vegetables every day.

Sometimes I’ll cook a 4 egg omelette, again cooked in coconut oil and butter.  Add whatever you like, but I often add mushrooms, cheese (like emmental, gouda, edam) onions and capsicum (bell peppers).

Tonight I made a salad – a whole small lettuce, 2 medium tomatoes, a small cucumber, some gouda cheese and a (not too) hard boiled egg and then splashed olive oil over it all.

I had a piece of pork cooked in coconut oil and butter with mushrooms and cream, but I will often have a tin of tuna, mackerel or sardines.

Sometimes if I want some energy (if I’m going to the gym) I’ll eat 2 squares of 85 – 90% cacao dark chocolate. I told my brother about this – his comment was “I’ve never eaten shit before”.  It’s an acquired taste I suppose, but I’ve always loved bitter dark chocolate.

I always have cheese – brie, Camembert, Gouda, Edam, Emmental (swiss cheese).

Things to avoid

No sugar.  If you have to have a sweetener, go for Stevia.  I personally avoid all sweeteners.    No sweets.  No honey or maple syrup.

Processed carbohydrates.  Bread, bagels, muffins, pancakes, anything made from flour, chips etc.

Starchy vegetables.  No corn, potatoes, beans etc.

Bad oils – vegetable oils, soy oil (soy raises oestrogen levels), corn, cottonseed, canola, margarine (trans fat).

Fruits.  You can eat a small amount of berries – strawberries, blackberries (mulberries), raspberries, blueberries etc.  Avacado is a fruit – it’s fine, as are tomatoes.

If you are going to cheat, be really careful of your food combinations.  Don’t mix carbs and fats.  The carbs cause an insulin spike, which opens the cells for the sugar – but once the cells are open you can drive the fat in there as well.

 

I’ve now been doing Ketogenic eating and intermittent fasting for 18 days.

Blood Glucose Levels

When I first started, I wasn’t actually monitoring my Blood Glucose Levels (I didn’t have any test strips, then I had problems getting them because my meter was too old (and I’m in Vietnam).  So I’ve actually only been monitoring it for the last 12 days.

• For the first 3 days my BGL was fluctuating between 8.1 and 9.7
• The next 3 days it fluctuated between 6.6 and 7.5
• The next 3 days were between 5.6 and 8.6
• The last 3 days between 5.7 and 9.1.

Over the last 6 days, I had a 2 high readings, but they were 1) shortly after I had a cup of Cafe Latte and 2) shortly after I had breakfast/lunch at a cafe.  In both instance the BGL levels fell back to normal after 2 hours (which is what happens in a healthy, non-diabetic person.

My 14 day average is 6.7, my 7 day average is also 6.7 and the 18 day average (since I started) is 7.1.

So, what does that all mean?  It means my BGL have dropped to within normal range after 18 days on this diet.

Blood Pressure

I haven’t been able to test my blood pressure, but the symptoms I’ve become familiar with (feeling flushed in the face and having a reddish colour, swelling of the ankles) have completely disappeared.

My weight

When I started this I was 94 kg.  Today I weighed myself and I was a touch under 90 kg.  A lot of the initial loss was fluid, so I don’t expect to keep losing at this rate, but I am confident I can lose 1 kg a week.

My Skin

I have been telling myself for the last couple of months that I have to go to a skin clinic and have the skin cancers cut out.  My left arm is now 95% cleared up and my right arm is 80% clear.

I also have a mark on my face which I had checked 5 years ago.  The doctor said it was harmless, but if it worried me from a cosmetic point of view he could cut it out.  I never bothered, but in the last 12 months it has got significantly more obvious and I was going to get it looked at again too.  However it is getting less obvious every day and I’m hoping it will completely disappear soon.

Overall, my skin is looking 100% better.

Why would your skin clear up?  A typical symptom of high blood sugar is that things like cuts and scrapes take a lot longer to heal.  Not only that but blemishes and skin cancers feed on sugar.  Remove (or at least reduce) the sugar levels and you starve the blemish or cancer.  In fact high insulin levels have been linked to acne.

Now, I’m not saying all cancers, but certain types of cancer like skin cancer have been proved to be impacted positively by reducing sugar levels.

Vitality

This one is very hard to quantify, but there are definite and wonderful changes here.

Anyone who knows me knows I am not a morning person.  Living in Vietnam, I start work normally at either 7:15 or 7:30am.   I have to get up at 6 (even though it only takes me 10 minutes or less to get to work) to have my cup of tea and slowly wake up.  3 weeks ago, I hated going to work because I just felt so tired and washed up.  Now, I bounce out of bed, often before the alarm (this morning I was up at 5:25) and I’m awake and full of energy.

Before, when I woke up I would be hungry, but too lazy to worry about breakfast.  I would always have a break between 9:30 and 10 and I would eat then.  Now, I wake up, I have absolutely 0 hunger most days and I have my first meal between 10:30 and 12:00.

Before, I would eat 3 times a day and often snack between meals.  Now, I rarely snack and if I do its a square of high cacao dark chocolate or a piece of cheese or some avocado.  Now I eat 2 meals a day – the first meal is normally a soup with wontons and lots of green vegetables and then my evening meal (around 6pm) is a big meal that keeps me feeling satiated until the next day.

Before I was drinking about 5-6 cups of tea with milk every day and about 4 – 5 cups of Cafe Latte.  Now I drink black tea/coffee after before I eat and after my last meal.  During my eating window I have been allowing myself a little milk in my tea and 1 Cafe Latte, although lately I haven’t even been having that.  I am also drinking less tea and coffee and have added lemon water to my beverages.  At night I’ll have 2 or 3 cups of water with a few slices of lemon in it.

Conclusion:

Is it working?  By all measures, objective and subjective – hell yeah!

Well, it’s both.  Without it, we die.  Too much of it, we gain weight.  Why?

Insulin is a hormone who’s job it is is to make sure we don’t waste energy.  Insulin takes sugar out of our blood and deposits it in storage – our fat cells.  Insulin is created in 2 places in our body – the pancreas and the liver.  When we are awake and we ingest food, which our body converts to sugar in the form of glucose.  This triggers the pancreas to create insulin – the insulin then takes the sugar that we haven’t used for energy and opens up our fat cells to deposit the sugar, which will then be converted to fat.

When we are asleep, we still need to control our blood glucose – this then becomes the job of the liver.  This is why often when we wake up our blood sugar levels have risen.

This causes a number of issues.  Over time, we ingest too much sugar – in the form of sugars, carbohydrates and protein.  One thing that doesn’t trigger insulin production is fat.  Don’t believe me – take your blood sugar level, then ingest some coconut oil and test your sugar again 10 minutes later.  Your sugar level will be basically the same.  Now eat a saltine cracker.  10 minutes later your blood sugar will have risen.

Now, a healthy body secretes insulin, this insulin then takes the sugar out of our blood and deposits the sugar into the cells.  However, over time when we eat lots of sugar and carbohydrates, our cells become insulin resistant – it’s like when you live next to rail line.  At first the noise is not only annoying, but it drowns everything else out.  But after a short while, we become accustomed to the noise and we are able to filter it out.  Now, we don’t even notice the train and we can still hear the TV.  We become resistant.  Our cells are the same – the constant demand by insulin to let it in get ignored, and the sugar stays in our blood stream – we are now insulin resistant.

When we become insulin resistant, the traditional response is to give us more insulin (in the form of diabetes medication), thereby lowering our blood sugar – how?  By pumping the sugar into our fat cells and making our fat cells fatter.  Eventually, our body may even have to make more fat cells (this doesn’t happen in a normal, healthy body).  So what happens – we get fat.  And fatter.

This then leads to many other problems – inflammation, higher blood pressure, cataracts and blindness, triglyceride levels rise and many more.

Most doctors and nutritionists don’t understand this – how do I know this?  Look around.  Since the Americans have been following the Standard American Diet (SAD) and we have been following the Australian Standard Diet, we have got fatter.  50% of Americans are now either diabetic or pre-diabetic (insulin resistant) – and some say this number is in reality much higher but undetected.

What does the Australian Standard Diet tell us?

Do the Australian Dietary Guidelines recommend that I only eat certain foods?

No. The Australian Dietary Guidelines, Australian Guide to Healthy Eating and consumer resources assist by helping you to choose foods for a healthy diet. They also provide advice on how many serves of these food groups you need to consume everyday depending upon your age, gender, body size and physical activity levels.

Evidence suggests Australians need to eat more:

• vegetables and legumes/beans
• fruits
• wholegrain cereals
• reduced fat milk, yoghurt, cheese
• fish, seafood, poultry, eggs, legumes/beans (including soy), and nuts and seeds.
• red meat (young females only)

Evidence suggests Australians need to eat less:

• starchy vegetables (i.e. there is a need to include a wider variety of different types and colours of vegetables)
• refined cereals
• high and medium fat dairy foods
• red meats (adult males only)
• food and drinks high in saturated fat, added sugar, added salt, or alcohol (e.g. fried foods, most take-away foods from quick service restaurants, cakes and biscuits, chocolate and confectionery, sweetened drinks).

(Source: https://www.eatforhealth.gov.au/guidelines/about-australian-dietary-guidelines)

There are so many problems with this.  Grains convert to sugar, fruits contain high levels of fructose.  Fructose (sugar from fruits) is worse for us than sucrose (table sugar) becasue it requires less processing and is absorbed and stored as fat directly into the liver.  Beans and legumes contain high levels of carbohydrates that quickly convert to sugar.  Reduced fat dairy which leaves only the bad elements of dairy.  Soy increases the level of estrogen in our bodies causing hormone imbalance.  Red meat only for women – depriving men of much needed protein and healthy fats.

I don’t like calling Keto a diet – to me a diet raises images of a diet plan – you must eat so much of this and that and measure your calories.  Keto is more about what you can’t eat,

When we look at a ketogenic diet there are three “macros” we need to be very aware of.  (On a keto diet sugar is forbidden – including fructose).  So we need to be aware of our macros – carbohydrates, fat and protein.  Keto is a low carb, medium protein, high fat diet.   You should get around 80% of your calories from fats, 15% from protein and 5% from carbohydrates.  On keto, there is no calorie counting, you simply eat until you are satiated – that’s right, eat until you are full.

Fats

On keto, your fat sources should be oils like coconut oil, olive

oil, sesame oil, omega3 oils,  avocadoes, cheeses, some yoghurts and more.  I have added a more complete guide in the resources section.

Protein

You should consume no more than 100 – 150 grammes of protein per meal.  So, no, you can sit down to a 500 gramme eye fillet every night.

Red Meat is a good source of protein, but make sure it is grass fed and grass finished.  Grain fed/finished meat is full of estrogens (from the GMO corn and Soy they are fed) and antibiotics which can wreak havoc on your gut.  Generally avoid lean cuts of meat (some people say to eat lean meats and add your fats from a healthy source, but that is another discussion).  You WANT the fat.

Fatty fish like salmon, tuna, mackeral and sardines are a good source of omega3 oils and you should look to eat fatty fish at least 3 times a week.  The biggest issue is the source of your fatty fish as you want to avoid high levels of heavy metals like mercury that occur in polluted waters.   Also, you want to avoid farmed fish.  Farmed fish have 1/2 the omega3 oils, 3 times the omega6 oils (inflammatory) and are high in toxins, GMOs and other unhealthy things – even possibly antibiotics.

Carbohydrates

Most of our carbs should come from vegetables and other natural food sources.  Vegetables contain varying levels of carbs – and vegetables contain fibre.  When you calculate carbs from vegetable sources, you subtract the amount of fibre.

You need to avoid processed carbs – muffins, cakes, bread, pancakes, biscuits etc.

In one of the first videos I watched on Ketogenic lifestyle, they said you have to fit Keto into your lifestyle, not change your lifestyle to fit Keto.

I’ve made some really big changes, but I still need to have a life.  I was invited out to have dinner and drinks with a friend of mine.  I decided that I would have “a few” drinks, even though alcohol is not a good idea on keto.

We went to a French Restaurant at my suggestion, because I knew they had meals that were suitable for my new lifestyle.  I had onion soup which had elemental cheese (good high fat) and Sausages in lentils (lentils are OK occasionally).  So dinner was quite good, but no greens.  Then we went out for drinks.  So I had a couple of beers and then vodka lime and soda.  Obviously, the alcohol was not good, but at least I made an effort with the lime and soda!

So it was a pretty late night and the next day my blood sugar levels were a little elevated, but no too bad at 7.3.  By the evening they were down to 6.3 (before dinner) and then back down to 5.7 before bedtime.

So, I’m not going to beat myself up for breaking my diet, but I’m also not going to do it every day, or even every week, but I am occasionally going to go out.

 

The “Food Pyramid” that has been promoted as “Healthy” since the 70’s tells us to eat lots of bread, rice, cereal and grains, then a lot of vegetables and fruits, followed by dairy products, meat poultry and fish and use fats and oils sparingly.  This is what they’ve told us for 50 years right?

They say eat 3 meals a day or even better, 5-6 smaller meals – this is healthy the say.

Every time you eat (carbohydrates, sugars), your glucose level rises.  So, your body creates insulin which lowers your blood glucose.  As part of insulin’s job, it opens the cells and allows you to store sugars into the cells that then become fat.  So, eating more often makes you become fat.  The fatter you become, the hungrier you get and the more insulin your body produces.  Then you become diabetic and they prescribe more insulin.  Over time, your body becomes insulin resistant and you need more insulin.  A vicious cycle.

Well, the Keto diet (not supported by the sugar and grain lobbies) basically turns the food pyramid on it’s head.  Keto prescribes no sugar, low carbs, moderate protein and high fat.

Let’s look at each of these food groups. (Disclaimer: I’m not a doctor or a nutritionist – which is why I’ve added a heap of links so you can listen to an expert.)

Breads, grains and cereals.  Theses products are high in both sugars and carbohydrates.  Sugar, or white death as I like to call it, is off limits on a Keto diet.

• Grains – grains cause a lot of inflammation in the gut from the gluten.  Grains have a defence mechanism called Phytic acid which blocks minerals in your body.  Grains also have enzyme blockers (they don’t want to be eaten!)  Whole grains have the same glycemic index as refined grains, and you actually get a higher glucose spike than if you eat sugar.  They’re high in Omega 6 fat (bad fat) and low in nutrition.
• Bread/Pasta is made from Wheat (normally) which has been modified and then highly processed.  White flour has been bleached (toxic to the pancreas) and then spray it with synthetic vitamins and call it fortified.
• We’ve been told cereals (especially oatmeal) is good for us.  The most healthy breakfast has been proved to be protein and fat.

Fruits are healthy right?  Fruit contains fructose, which is better than glucose right?  Well, fructose can actually spike your blood sugars more than glucose.  Fruit juice is even worse.  Whole fruit contains fibre, which binds the nutrients.  When you create juice, you lose the fibre and most of the nutrients.  Processed juice is even worse, because it has been heated which removes any remaining nutrients and generally contains corn syrup (GMO).

Dairy is an interesting one.  Many dairy products are high in fat, which is GOOD, but many dairy products, like Yoghurt, contains lots of sugar to make them more palatable.  8oz (227 grams) of fat free yoghurt contains 47 grams of sugar!  Fat free plain yoghurt contains 19 grams of sugar.  2% milk has 12grams of sugar per cup.  Whole cream (unsweetened) contains .1gram!    Cheese goes through a fermentation process, and fermentation eats up the sugar.  So “natural” cheese is good, but processed cheese contains 19grams of sugar per cup and cottage cheese 6 grams – but cheddar cheese contains 0grams of sugar.  So, on a keto diet whole cream and most cheeses are good, but not milk or yoghurt or processed cheese.

Fats and oils – we’ve been told fats are the killer and they will clog up your arteries.   Not true, it’s sugar that does the damage.  On a keto diet you need 20 – 40 grams of fat per meal.  The type of oil is really important – olive oil (uncooked), coconut oil (cooking, salad, skin care!), butter (not margarine), fish oil (high in Omega 3) are all good fats.  Avoid corn oil, vegetable oil, soy oil, palm oil – most of the cheaper oils are not good.

Vegetables are crucial, but the right type of vegetables.  Green and red leafy vegetables (spinach, cabbage, bok choy) , cruciferous vegetables (kale, broccoli, cauliflower) but avoid starchy vegetables (corn, potatoes, artichoke).  You need 7-10 cups of vegetables per day on a keto diet.  Avocadoes are excellent, bell peppers, the green leafy vegetables the cruciferous vegetables and sprouts are the best.

Meat, fish, poultry and nuts are all good sources of protein.

• Red Meat – fatty cuts of meat are better than lean meat and offal are the best meats.  On a keto diet you only need between 3 and 6 ounces (85 – 170 grams) of protein per meal.  Remember, you will get protein from your vegetables, so you need to take that into account.  Grass fed beef, not grain fed beef.  Cows don’t naturally eat grain, they typically eat crass.  The grains they feed cattle are very high in corn and soy (GMO) and are fed high amounts of antibiotics (due to illness from the grain diet and restricted movements)
• Chicken and pork – pork is slightly better than chicken because it is a fattier.  A lot of the benefits of chicken is in the skin!
• Fish – oily fish like sardines, tuna and mackeral are all good sources of Omega 3 fatty acids which are essential for health and weight loss.  The biggest issue with fish these days is heavy metal contamination, so your source of the fish is critical.  Avoid all farm fished seafoods.
• Nuts – nuts are a good source of protein, fats and carbohydrates.  Brazil nuts, macadamia nuts, almonds, pecans and pine nuts are all good.  Peanuts are actually a legume and not so good.  Peanut butter is excellent – but you need to be really careful of sugar.  Almond butter is the best of all

On a keto diet, you need to be aware of your macros (fat, carbohydrate, protein).  You need to consume around 75% of your calories (not volume) from fats, 20% from proteins and 5% from carbs.

Many people on a keto diet eat 3, 2 or 1 meal a day (some only 1 meal every 2 days!).  I personally am eating 2 meals a day, but I’m probably going to 1 meal soon.  The beauty of a keto diet (high in fat calories) is that you never feel hungry.  Intermittent fasting is not really essential, you can eat 3 meals a day on keto (but never more).  I am intermittent fasting on a 16/8 window – I eat during an eight hour window, and fast for 16 hours.   As I’m writing this, I haven’t eaten since 8pm last night and it’s now 12:30pm – that’s 16.5 hours and I’m not hungry at all.

I hasten to remind you, I am not an expert on this – I am giving you my understanding.  All the links in this article are to Dr Eric Berg (Chiropractor and nutritionist).  He is not the only one I follow, but he has over 2,000 videos that cover pretty much everything.  Others I follow are Dr Jason Fung (Nephrologist/nutritionist) and Thomas DeLauer (Body Builder/nutritionist) and a few others.