Why did we choose low carb, keto way of eating while traveling the world?…Food photos and recipes!

1. For many readers, today's third of five SEO posts, they may find it to be controversial, again with some repetition required due to this process on post #3 of 5 for this purpose. If you still believe and follow in the low fat, low or moderate protein, mostly plant-based, high carbohydrate way of eating, this post won't appeal to your personal beliefs about food. That's OK. The intent here is not to dismiss or express disdain for any way of eating that may serve you well. Nor do we intend to "convert" any of our readers to our chosen lifestyle of low carb, keto way of eating while traveling the world. Please understand, that which we post here today on the low carb, keto way of eating while traveling the world has worked for me, for Tom, and for many throughout the world. Over the years we've received tremendous positive feedback from readers following a similar path, often requesting tips and recipes which we happily provided and posted. In no manner are we dispensing any medical or health advice. Please seek your own resources for additional information. How one chooses to eat and to ultimately care for their health is a personal topic, one which we're sharing here again today based on countless emails we've received from readers asking us to reiterate how we are in fact living a low carb, keto way of eating while traveling the world when so much of the world's food consists of high carbohydrates foods including grains, sugars, and starches. Why did we choose low carb, keto way of eating while traveling the world?... It all started for me in 2011 when I sought treatment from an integrative medicine doctor, a licensed, accredited physician, one who treats the entire body, rather than a part of the body causing an issue. I had been suffering from hereditary auto-immune conditions, including pre-diabetes, hypothyroidism,​​ hyperinsulinemia​ , and​​ metabolic syndrome. These three conditions, coupled with a hereditary propensity to advanced spinal stenosis (and subsequent diabetes and heart disease) resulted in constant full-body pain commensurate with my three MRIs illustrating that my skeletal frame was rapidly disintegrating. Based on these three MRIs, the doctor expected I'd be in a wheelchair in a matter of months. At that time, I was 61 years old, living my life as a disabled person, struggling to stay active with excessive painful exercise, requiring me to retire early. Mainly, I didn't discuss the degree of pain I was suffering, preferring to avoid eliciting sympathy from family and friends. With pressure on nerves throughout my body, the "crumbling vertebra and other joints," and other above-mentioned conditions, left me with chronic full-body pain.

2. This amazing doctor handed me 20-pages of literature from the renowned Cleveland Clinic as to how a low carb, ketogenic way of eating may reduce my level of pain and symptoms from the above conditions. As it turned out, a lifetime of eating low fat, high carbohydrate, low protein, high sugar-grain-starch diet, eventually impacted my cardiovascular system which was firmly in place long before I changed my diet in 2011. Inflammation, ultimately, was the cause. As the surgeon explained, after my triple cardiac bypass surgery in 2019, I'd had heart disease for the prior 20, 30, or 40 years and didn't know it. By the time I changed to a low carb, keto way of eating in 2011, the damage had been done. In 2019, the cardiologist explained that those changes made in 2011 may well have saved my life from a fatal heart attack, as well as years of exercising, which I used as a means to avoid further deterioration of my joints and muscles. What does a low carb, keto way of eating while traveling the world look like? As I read through the 20-page report from the Cleveland Clinic, I wondered how I could possibly follow such a strict way of eating. In my usual way, I sought information online from reliable sources on the controversial low carb/keto diet, which was often used for a number of chronic conditions. Much to my surprise, I found a tremendous number of reputable resources to assist me in my journey. For the sake of expediency, I won't be listing "how to do a keto diet" here today, other than to list the following foods in general which are allowed, as opposed to those "not allowed." 1. Animal protein (including eggs): Any form ​ without​ sauces and spices containing starch, grains, and sugars 2. Vegetables: Any non-starchy vegetables primarily that grow above ground, ​ excluding corn, beans, peas, prepared simply with butter, Himalayan salt, and some spices. No fruit of any type, which is high in sugar, other than a few berries from time to time 3. Dairy (if tolerated): In moderation: Hard cheeses, full-fat cream, butter, sour cream, cream cheese. (Yogurt is generally high in sugars and whey protein containing milk sugars). 4. Spices: Mustard, fresh or dried spices without additives; homemade mayonnaise (most mayo includes toxic oils). No store-bought ketchup which is high in sugar 5. Oils: Pure, high-quality olive oil, butter, lard, tallow, bacon fat. (Vegetable oils must be avoided due to high inflammatory effects). Goal: No more than 20 actual (not "net carbs" often calculated after deducting fiber) grams of carbohydrates per day, easily available for calculation on numerous free online apps.

3. How and when did we decide we could maintain a low carb, keto way of eating while traveling the world? After three months of eating this way, following the above with relative ease, one morning I awoke and the pain was gone! And I mean GONE! It was only five months later that we decided to forgo life as we knew it to travel the world. Shortly thereafter, Tom embraced this way of eating, losing 40 pounds, 18 kg, while totally recovering from irritable bowel syndrome and restless leg syndrome. In six months he was totally off seven pills a day! But, we wondered, was it conceivable to maintain a low carb, keto way of eating while traveling the world? Highly motivated, with the pain still gone for me and weight and illnesses gone for Tom, we were on our way on October 31, 2012, soon to be our eight-year anniversary since we began our journey. Hovering in our minds was the upcoming three months in Italy only 11 months later, the endless restaurant visits, the foods popular in various countries in Europe, the tempting desserts, bread, and flour-laden dishes on cruise ships. How would we do it? It required a huge commitment from me, more than Tom, who seemed to be able to occasionally vary from our low carb, keto way of eating while traveling the world withou any major consequences. For me, I was terrified that if I so much as took a bite of a dessert, a flour-thickened sauce, pasta or bread, I'd immediately revert to my former pain-ridden condition. I avoided anything that didn't fall within the above parameters. Was it easy to shop for and maintain a low carb, keto way of eating while traveling the world? In time, we developed a sensible routine for shopping for our home-cooked meals. Comparable to most home cooks, we created a list in our minds of favorite dishes, shopping for ingredients accordingly. Every country, without exception, sells come form of animal protein such as fish, shellfish, chicken, beef, and pork. (Although, here in India no beef or pork is served, other than bacon). Every country sells eggs, most often free-range, butter, and non-starchy vegetables. We were always able to purchase quality imported hard cheeses, and other low carb cheeses, although at times, they were expensive. We budgeted accordingly, I suppose the most difficult situation has been in India, where we're longing for a bun-less burger, a juicy steak, or pork chops, none of which are available due to Hindu religious beliefs. As a result, we continue to eat chicken and on occasion salmon (for me), which is expensive for a tiny portion. Shopping for groceries was most difficult in Belize where the grocery store offered only frozen, often freezer-burned meats, and again in Fiji, where a wonderful meat market provided many wonderful cuts of meat of all types, but the grocery store with only two aisles had few items we used for preparing our meals including vegetables and spices. Somehow, we always figured it out, never having to sacrifice our chosen low carb, keto way of eating while traveling the world.

4. Recipes for maintaining a low carb, keto way of eating while traveling the world... Like many of our readers, we all have a "favorite" recipes list, often a top 10. Years ago, I wrote a post about our favorite top ten LOW CARB recipes which include: 1. Bread-less submarine sandwiches - See the link​​ here​ for the details and photos. 2. Bacon-Wrapped Meatloaf - See the link​​ here​ for details and photos. 3. Chicken Stuffed Almond Flour Loaves - See the link​​ here​ for details and photos. 4. Chicken Pot Pies - See the link​​ here​ for details and photos. 5. Meatballs stuffed with Mozzarella with Mushrooms & Sugar-free Marinara - See this link here​ for details and photos. 6. Pizza - See this link​​ here​ for the crust to which you add your favorite low carb, sugar-free topping. 7. Taco salad with low carb bowl - See this link​​ here​ for the bowl to which you add your favorite low carb ingredients 8. Gluten-free hamburgers with low carb buns - See​​ here​ for our low carb bun recipe to which you add your favorite burgers and vegetables 9. Sunday Roast - See our low carb Sunday roast so popular in the UK,​​ here​ . 10. Coconut or Almond Flour Battered Fish or Chicken - See this link​​ here​ for either option. How to maintain a low carb, keto way of eating while traveling the world, especially while in lockdown in India during the past six months... It's been difficult these past many months in lockdown in India with room service providing all of our meals. We've always preferred to eat only two meals per day. On occasion, for health reasons, we've chosen intermittent fasting, which is easier for us when we're living in a holiday home and may need the break the fast with the food we have on-hand. Here, we have nothing available if we felt a "need" to eat something appropriate for breaking the fast. Indian food, although delicious to me, is not a favorite of Tom's. And, Indian food is packed with starch, sugar, fruit, and grains, none of which are suitable for my way of eating. At one point, early on, I considered throwing caution to the wind and just eat the delicious Indian foods. However, after seeing how I had difficulty walking after eating only their rich red sauces (all without gluten), for several months, I now realize I wouldn't have been able to do all the walking I've done so far, never missing a day, solely with the intent in benefitting my heart health. If the pain made it impossible to walk, I'd only have been damaging my health further. I've literally forced myself to walk the past few months.

5. Now, back to my strict keto diet, forgoing all those carb-laden sauces, eating less than 20 grams of carbohydrates per day, I'm finding the walking easier each day. The philosophy of deducting the fiber grams from the total number of grams of carbohydrates has been proven to be a fallacy. I count only the full carb content of carbohydrates and now, I'm gradually improving, more each day. Hopefully, by the time we leave India, I will be back to fitness and health, in every way. How you can achieve a low carb, keto way of eating while traveling the world or when living life anywhere in the world... At first, when I decided to write on this topic, I considered adding links to the doctors, researchers, and scientists who've done extensive research on this way of eating. After thinking about it, I decided with the vast information available online, each of us needs to do our own research to bring us to a point of realization that the ​ low fat, high carb, low protein, highly processed grains, sugars, and starches​ may not be for us. One need only look at the poor health of the citizens of the world and in the US, from following this modality for the past four decades. There are countless highly reputable resources online you may choose to investigate. It took me years of research to find my way to this life-changing way of eating. If you have difficulty researching, feel free to contact me at the end of any post, in the comments section and I will add some links for all of our readers to see. Thank you for letting me share this story, once again as we each decide which path works best in extending our lives, the quality of our lives, and the ultimate guilt-free enjoyment of many outstanding foods and meals at home and throughout the world.