Hello Lovelies!!! Hope that you are doing well, and obtaining all your wildest dreams!!

I made it through day 6 of my keto challenge !! So far, the hardest part of this diet is to get enough calories, while staying within the diet parameters. I have found a ketogenic diet to be very effective at normalizing my hunger. I no longer feel ravenous , or get as many cravings as when I first began. I have been feeling very productive and energized, and getting a lot done lately!

WHAT I ATE - DAY #6

BREAKFAST:
For breakfast this day, we had a variation of our regular green smoothie :) This version did not have any kale, as we were out of it. Part of the issue with eating the green shake every morning is that it requires you to keep fresh produce on hand.If you haven't been to the grocery in a few days, you may find yourself missing ingredients.

.

I also took my Vitamin D, Livon Lypo Spheric Glutathione ,and Livon Lypo Spheric R-ALA. ALA( Alpha Lipoic Acid) is an antioxidant that exists in nearly every tissue in a healthy human body. Some ALA is produced within the body , but most of it comes from things like red meat, meat organs, brewers yeast , or supplements. ALA can be found in two forms , R, and S. The R version( what we have here at the house ) is the form found in nature, whereas the S form is synthetic. R-ALA is proven to be more bio-available and biologically active than S-ALA, but is also more expensive and harder to produce .

For more information on Lypo Spheric R-ALA, check out LivOn.

For more information on the Lypo Spheric Glutathione, check out my previous blog here

LUNCH:
For lunch on day 6 I had a "snack style" lunch. This was composed of sliced italian dry salame, cubes of cheese, and a lovely cucumber salad with creamy garlic parmesan dressing. Of course, no meal is complete without a big glass of water !

This was a light and tasty meal, giving me plenty of extra energy before my work shift :)

DINNER:
For dinner on day 6, I had gotten home from from work pretty late, so we did not have a structured dinner. I did however have another snack consisting of a cup of cottage cheese, a medium sized chunk of summer sausage, and one of my leftover delicious Keto Cappuccino Cheesecake Mousse Jars.

The cheesecake jars are such a tasty indulgent treat, I will be sad when I have finished off the lot of them. I think I will experiment in the future with different flavors. These would be great as a nice lime flavor ! They have a lovely texture, and are a great ready-made /meal prep snack :)

SUMMARY:
For day 6 you can see that I was able to stay within range of the basic guidelines for a keto diet, with my fat at 71%, protein at 18%, and carbs at 10%. I was slightly low on calories according to Cronometer, but I have never been much of a calorie counter :) I usually just eat when I am hungry, and as long as the numbers are within reason, I am not going to eat more if I am not hungry just to hit a certain number.

For this day, nutrition is a little bit low, especially in the categories of fiber, iron, vitamin c, and folate. This is likely just a result of not getting enough vegetables in this day.

Carbs are at 51g, which is a little high. sugar levels are also a little elevated in this day.For this day, I hit my water targets with 80 oz of water in the day, for 104% the recommended dailly value. I will have to work on my omega levels by eating more nuts and seeds.

For this day, we are a little bit low in b vitamins, folate, and vitamin E. In addition to improving our omega levels, eating more nuts and seeds can also help the vitamin E levels.The 8 different B vitamins help us to convert food into fuel and allow us to stay energized throughout the day, so I want to ensure that we are properly nourished in this category. This will be an area of special attention as I continue to tweak and adapt this diet.

Mineral nutrition on day 6 doesn't look as complete as I would like. We are low on several minerals for this day, including iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium, and zinc. As mentioned in earlier blogs, we do sometimes take a trace minerals supplement, but this day we did not, and there is a decent chance that our diet may be overall deficient in a few of these key minerals. For that reason, I will be pursuing a more detailed, more trackable mineral supplement next time that we are in town.

Protein on day 6 looks pretty balanced. I was able to meet most protein goals, while not going too overboard. All protein goals were met at at least 75% for complete nutrition according to Cronometer. There are a few categories that are slightly low, but I don't think that they will be an issue when looking at the bigger scale, long term nutrition picture.

CONCLUSION:
Day 6 was a great day, all things considered. I did have to work,which always complicates my eating and leads to snacky style meals. Hopefully throughout this challenge I will be able to fine tune my snacks and overall food intake to be even more nutritious and satisfying :)

This day it was really hard to resist the treats at work. My coworkers had a delicious looking Rosca De Reyes for Three Kings Day, and insisted that I "had to take a piece" even after I told them multiple times that I could not eat it. I did not understand why they were so adamant about me taking a piece of the bread if I was not going to eat it, but they made me cut it open, and explained to me that one piece of the bread would have a "baby" in it . I had never heard of Three Kings Day ,or this tradition, so i was very perplexed.
For more information on this unique holiday check out this Wikipedia Article

Needless to say, I did not "get the baby" and I was easily able to pass this lovely treat off to another co worker , who happily munched it up :) There was also a very rich and very glorious looking chocolate filled flan that was made for this party, which I also resisted . It is getting easier every day to stay on track with my keto diet, and while these things looked great, it is not worth sacrificing the clarity , ambition , and energy increase that I have experienced since beginning this diet :)

Thanks so much for reading my blog and making it through to the end!! Please feel free to comment below with any questions or insights- I would love to hear about your diet and nutrition experiences! Follow my blog to watch my diet and nutrition transformation!!

Brightest Blessings!!!
SO MUCH LOVE!!
Evening Star