#98 Kim Caruk – Keto Helped Son with Neurological Problems

Meet Kim:

My name is Kim, and I have been following the low carb/keto lifestyle for over a year now. I run an Instagram and Facebook page helping to inspire people to make healthier food choices. I currently develop low carb recipes and have recently produced an ebook as part of a collaboration with several other Australian food bloggers. My main goals when starting this way of eating were to improve not only my health but also the health and well being of my 3 teenage children.

Show Notes:

ABOUT KIM

• I have been following the low-carb lifestyle since May of 2018
• I have 3 teenage children and I am a trained chef
• I worked as a chef for a little over 16 years but it did not work out so well when I became a single parent
• I needed to look for something different that was going to work around my children and their school hours
• Instagram kind of came about by changing the way we were eating and my children encouraged me to jump on, and put the food up their just so we could show other people what we are eating and that it doesn’t need to be boring
• The thing that I love about this lifestyle is that you can just eat normal food
• You don’t need to go and buy all these strange ingredients, you can just go to the supermarket and buy these normal whole foods and put it all together

HOW DID YOU FIND KETO

• A few years back, I was kind of looking into the low-carb lifestyle
• My son was struggling with both vocal and physical tics and I did a little bit of research and I found online that reducing sugars and carbs could possibly make a big difference to him
• So, I looked into the low-carb lifestyle and tried a few recipes
• Fast forward a couple of years, his tics were getting worse and I knew that I had to do something about it
• A lady at work had recently started the keto diet and thought it was simple for me to do
• After talking to her and getting the information, I jumped online and read a lot.  Then, I grabbed a lot of recipes from dietdoctor.com, which was also very helpful
• So, I gave it a go and it just kind of worked really well
• Because the food tastes so good, everybody wanted to eat it and no one resisted it
• Before, when we were on the standard way of eating, I’d make dinner and some of my kids wouldn’t eat and some would
• And I think now because it has so much flavor, everybody is happy and everybody eats it
  
  
• My weight loss kind of just happened
• I had a lot of inflammation in my back, reflux, which I needed to do something about that but also for my son with his tics
• So, my main focus on changing the way we were eating was more about our health
• And as a result, I’ve lost weight
• I don’t stand on the scale or weigh myself, I just go by how I feel and go by my clothing
• I dropped 55 lbs. over the 12 months that I have been doing it
• Because I am not focused so much on the number of the scale, I think it just kind of happens
• A tic is a little bit like a Tourette where they are making sounds whether it is a grunt, sniff or they could yell out some sounds. So, that is the vocal side of it
• The physical side, he’ll be blinking his eyes quite a lot or his head will start twitching
• That started about back in 2014 or 2015 and it kind of just escalated
• I did a lot of research about it and I have taken him to doctors, pediatricians, just trying to see if there is something physical that we could do
• Looking into his diet, I thought we really needed to try this diet and see if there is much of a difference and it was incredible
• He is much more settled, he sleeps better and although his tics are still there, they significantly reduced and it certainly made a massive difference for him
• My girls were a little bit of sluggish and tired beforehand, and now they have embraced it 100% – they fully eat low-carb
• With low-carb and keto, I think everybody is different, so you kind of work around what works for you
• There have been some challenges along the way, but overall, it definitely has given us huge improvement in all of us – myself and the children
• Being a single parent and working full-time, I made something easy and I found that if I needed to track things, I would not stick to it
• I just look into what foods that fell into the low-carb group and see what I can eat. So, I just based it on that
• I also listen to my body. If I am hungry, I will eat and if I am not hungry, I won’t eat
• Most days, I will only have one meal a day
• I don’t track macros, because for me personally, I don’t think that I would stick to it if I am that strict
• I am getting the results and it is working for me, but if tracking works for other people, that is fantastic
• We don’t eat by the clock anymore. We just listen to our bodies
• If we are hungry, we eat. If not, then we don’t eat
• Even with the kids, they are now learning to listen to their bodies
• For me personally, teaching the kids to be able to listen to their bodies and to do what works for them is really important to me
• My oldest is in the final year of high school and she’s looking into moving to a university and working in health and nutrition. It’s something she’s really passionate about as well
• It is great to see that they are on board with me and that they understand how the sugar affects their body
• Thankfully, they are choosing to not have the sugar and focus on their health

ADVICE

• I encourage them to not to focus on other people
• Because there are a lot of people that are losing weight really quickly, and they are not losing weight quite as fast
• Any change in their diet is a great change
• Start off slowly and get used to it because I think you can make it too overwhelmed with too many things
• Start by reducing your sugar
• Just do slow changes, and then you’re going to be slowly changing your palettes
• I am a big believer of not standing on a scale too often because that can be your main focus and that could lose motivation if you do not see the scale changing
• The scale is just a measure of how much pressure you are putting on it
• So, it is not actually measuring on what’s going on in your body
• There is so much more to it than what that number says
• Your clothes will show you more than the number of the scale
• It’s all about how you feel and being fit and stronger

• I just love the food in keto because it is really good
• When you start putting fat back into your diet, it tastes incredible
• I remember before my wedding, everything has to be low-fat and it was just so tasteless
• Once you start normally, you will realize that fat taste good – I love it
• I have realized how much flavors in fat and it fills you up that you do not need to eat as often because you are satisfied
• In keto, you can eat real food that tastes really good
• I am not so much of a sweet tooth, but my go-to is bacon because it goes with everything
• I love Caesar salad and make some fresh mayonnaise and I love cheese too
• I do fast. Most days, I just eat around 6:00 at night
• I have done a 5-day fast which is more of a mental challenge, but you just have to listen to your body
• I was going for a 6-day, but on the 6^th day, I just had enough
• I did lose about 3 kgs. Over that time and it stayed off
• Generally, 24-48 hours is my standard

WHAT’S NEXT FOR YOU

• My second eBook is in the process
• I want to get into the food photography and food development area
• I am working with one local company that is a supplier of low-carb products and they got me working on developing recipes

WORDS OF WISDOM

• You do you
• Focus on you, focus on making yourself happier and healthier
• Do what works for you
• If the weight is not moving, there are other things that are happening in your body
• Your body is healing, and it is doing some other things
• I think this is a lifestyle change

HOW CAN PEOPLE FIND YOU

• Instagram: deliciously.keto
• Facebook: deliciously.keto
• Website: deliciouslyketohub.com

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