If you’re like me who cries at every 1inch hair trim then you know the feeling when you brush your hair and find it shedding CLUMPS. Once I noticed my hair wouldn’t stop shedding I immediately dove into the internet and found a hair routine to stick to.
Below is a list of items and tips I’ve been using to help me achieve the locks of my dreams:
1. Supplements!
Viviscal and Collagen has been my go to on tackling my hair shedding and promoting hair growth. You can find them
Working in the restaurant industry I would leave with an aroma of oil and grease…LOL so the thought of not washing my hair daily use to freak me out. Turns out its best to NOT wash your hair daily so that your scalp is not stripped from natural oils. Luckily, I do not work in the Resturant industry anymore and feel comfortable on stretching out my washes. I noticed my hair felt more soft and not as brittle as before.
3. THE “BRUSH”
Ok, I’m boujee and I know it. I’m the type that needs all the bells and whistles when I’m laser focused on something. The coveted Mason Pearson hair brush is meant to stimulate circulation, bring blood flow to the scalp, and in turn promote healthy hair growth. Does it work? Not sure yet, but it feels oh so goooooood and makes me want to take care of my hair. The average price for this brush is around $250 but we found an amazing dupe for $40 Here
Whether you’re at the office or working from home, boredom eating is something that can go from a bad habit to affecting your overall well-being. This is something we both know we struggle with, especially nowadays with the current world situation happening around us (um, coronavirus and the social distancing). To us, boredom eating goes beyond us feeling like there’s nothing to do. It’s a coping mechanism we use to deal with our stress and anxiety – to help us distract ourselves from thoughts or triggers buzzing around us.
This article is in no way written to discourage anyone from eating, rather, help some of you break the cycle, especially during these trying times. Our motto has always been “eat when hungry, stop when full”. In our personal experiences, we have found 90% of the time we think we are hungry, we’re actually not. We are not healthcare or nutrition experts, so please consider the following opinions, not professional advice.
Here are some tactics we have and will continue to use to beat this bad behavior:
Drink water. There is a difference between being thirsty and being hungry. How do we know? We’ve practiced intermittent fasting and regularly egg fast – and most of the time, a tall glass of water does the trick. Have a glass, wait a few minutes, and then re-evaluate your hunger.
Go for a walk. It doesn’t have to be a long one, but getting up to move can help distract you, burn calories, and get you some fresh air that you body would appreciate. If you can’t get outside, a few laps around your home or office can get your blood flowing, and likely, your hunger or boredom at bay.
Brush your teeth. It’s hard to chow down on on some pork rinds or candy right after you’ve brushed your pearly whites with some minty toothpaste. You will feel your need to snack decrease, trust us.
Clean the space around you or organize the apps and/or emails/texts/notifications on your phone. You will stay busy and forget about that pint of ice cream or bag of salty snacks.
Phone a friend – cause that’s what they are for, right? Having a support buddy or family member is good for so many reasons – and this is one of the times having someone to call or text can help you talk through anything you’re feeling or just chat about the latest celebrity to be revealed on The Masked Singer. Whatever the topic is – it will help pass the time you’re trying to kill.
Ok, here’s the deal…before going back on Keto, I swear I never craved sweets. Every now and then I’d eat a snickers or a kit kat bar but never had the urge to go out of my way for some candy. Now? It’s like I’m a hunting dog on a mission to find every sugar free option on the market!
The standard sugar free candies that come to mind when I crave them are the popular maltitol based options. Maltitol is a sugar alcohol that is common in sugar free candies such as Werthers Caramels, Sugar Free Reeses, and Sugar Free Russell Stovers. These candies can typically be found next to the regular candy at the grocery store or in the diabetic care area of pharmacies/drug stores. Target and Walmart both carry them regularly.
So what’s the deal with Maltitol? The body does not absorb Sugar Alcohols the same way that it does sugar, but there are still some carbs in the candies. A lot of people who follow the keto diet do not like to eat foods with Maltitol because it’s not a sweetener that is found naturally. Others choose not to eat these because of the um…laxative effect if you have too many. For me, having one or two pieces will not make me feel sick or kick me out of ketosis. Sometimes, a girl just wants a sugar free gummy bear or Twizzlers! I will choose a more keto-friendly alternative if it’s available, but I do have a stash of candies with maltitol in my pantry to keep in the sweets rotation. Here is an article, of thousands, that spills the tea on Maltitol: https://www.healthline.com/health/food-nutrition/is-maltitol-safe#2
Now, there are other sugar free candies that are sweetened with naturally occurring sweeteners such as monk fruit or Stevia and these can usually be found in the health food section of most grocery stores. The only drawback to these candies are that they can be very expensive. Luckily, these items often go on sale or there are coupons available to reduce the cost. Some of my favorites are the Lilly’s Milk Chocolate Bars and Smart Sweets Gummies. Whole Foods, GNC, and large grocery chains will typically carry these items. Stay tuned for some upcoming grocery hauls that include different candies we’ve picked up!
We had heard about Intermittent Fasting (IF) prior to starting Keto but hadn’t started practicing it until January. There are many types of intermittent fasting, but the one we decided to go with was 16:8–which is where you fast for 16 hours and eat during an 8 hour window. We chose this approach because we both have day jobs that keep us busy, so fasting through the morning is never a problem.
Typical fasting hours will be from 6pm-10am but we have adjusted based on the day or week as needed. Weekends are usually fast free, but we start back up again Sunday evening.
What have we gained from Intermittent Fasting?
Mental clarity
Reduced appetites
More energy
Feeling full sooner
Though the weight hasn’t just fallen off like we would have hoped, we haven’t had large weight gain if we go off plan or have higher carb days, so in a way, IF is helping us manage our weight. @Fastingnews on Instagram is a really good resource when it comes to all things fasting. We refer to this account when we want to learn more about the different options and benefits. We also watch a lot of YouTube videos and research articles online.
Tools we use:
Zero app (screenshots below) – this helps us track when we fast and allows us to take notes on how we feel (as needed). We are data people so this is really helpful when we need to refer back in time.
Electrolyte supplements: we recently started adding Ultima all natural electrolytes to our water (think a natural powdered Gatorade with stevia)
Multivitamin – to help full the gaps where we might be missing essential nutrients.
Large water bottle: we each have a 1.5 gallon water bottle that we carry around to help us get our desired water goal in every day.
Something to note is that there are days our bodies tell us to eat, because it needs to be nourished, so WE EAT. We listen to our bodies and feed it when it is telling us to eat. This is something important to consider if you are new to Intermittent fasting–our best advice is “don’t over do it, take baby steps, and listen to your body.”
O M G, if someone would have told us we would be hosting a 160+ person networking event at Fogo de Chao this time last year, we would have laughed our asses off because that’s something we would have never done! We are introverts by nature, so the thought of being around other humans for more than 10 minutes freaks the hell out of us, and still does even after we just finished last weekend’s successful event. We were pushed way beyond our comfort zones and we have zero regrets. If you have the opportunity to attend any type of community meet up whether it’s for keto, low carb, or maybe even a hobby or interest you have — we highly recommend and encourage you to attend regardless if you have a plus one or not. If you are shy like us, it will feel uncomfortable, but the connections you can make with people who have similar stories is 100% worth the effort.
The meat up originally began as a mixer for the low carb friends we have met through Instagram and it honestly turned into this huge event that connected people from all over the country. When we first pitched the idea to Fogo in Sept, we were like “let’s shoot for 20 people and aim for an intimate evening for foodies — little did we know, once we released the RSVP link, we had over 100 RSVPs in the first 24 hours! To say we were “shooketh” was an understatement. Fogo was incredible to accommodate so many guests and we are so grateful for the sponsors who donated the prize bags and giveaways – given that we reached out to them only about a month prior to the event. We had about 30 registered people not show up and/or cancel but ended up with 40 additional people who were added last minute by tagging along or walking in to the event. It could have been super stressful, but we ended up having so much support from the Fogo staff and our friends/family, that it honestly was the most stress-free event we have ever planned or participated in. It felt surreal seeing so many ketobaes in one room and watching everyone connect over their love of food and the keto lifestyle. It warmed our hearts hearing so many stories of success and just witnessing guests of ketobaes start to believe in the cause.
There are so many special moments from the event that we could talk about, but we wanted to highlight the fact that there are ketobaes who flew and/or drove from hundreds of miles away and even other states to attend–or hearing about how keto has literally saved lives of some of the people who we met in the room. It almost brings us to tears thinking about last weekend. It’s crazy how changing eating habits and your mindset can change your life. We are so honored and blessed to have met so many kind people through our platform.
There are days when we feel really defeated by the motions of social media and the bad stuff that comes with having a large platform. Days we don’t want to post or share anything because we feel some type of way because we don’t know if its worth it – but Sunday was a reminder that even the little tips/tricks can help give someone a fighting chance to sustain a low carb lifestyle or continue their journey. We heard a lot of “thank yous” at the event from attendees, but we wanted to THANK THEM for giving us purpose and a reason to keep fighting the good fight every day.
4 day egg fast + 2 day transition. Total lost: 7lbs 🌟
Why I did the #eggfast : For the last month I was traveling every week but stayed on plan and actually lost weight. I hit my lowest of 192lbs in Vegas and was sooo excited!!🎉 But when I came home my body decided it wanted to be on vacation still and started to ACT A FOOL 😒
That just goes to show you that even if you’re “on plan” and your macros are on point…your body is gonna do what it wants sometimes. I was so bloated, tired, my keto mojo numbers were wack and my psoriasis was flaring up badly. I thought “F❌⁉️ it” let me just cheat and eat all the carbs since I gained weight being good anyways 🤦🏻♀️ but I slapped myself back into reality, and decided to do the egg fast because I wanted to break the cycle and didn’t want to revert back to old bad habits. I’m happy I lost the bloat and feeling back to normal! 🌟
This chart is something we use on a daily basis to help guide us through this lifestyle change. Not only are these realistic and sustainable, but they are practical and have helped us through the last 3 months. This is from Perfect Keto, a really great company and resource for those on a ketogenic diet.
The ones we need to work on are:
Prioritize sleep – we do not do enough of this and with the burst of energy from ketosis, it’s really hard. Things we have done is stop looking at our phones before bed but we are continuing to strive for improvement and look for other ways to rest our bodies.
Drink water regularly – this is really hard when we forget our water bottles at home! Water IS KEY and we know this, yet it always gets put on the back burner. We purchased 2 gallon water bottles to help us track better and remind each other to get our water intake goals every day.
When we first got back on the Keto train (we know this isn’t a short term diet, it’s a lifestyle, but sometimes, things happen!), we knew that there were going to be ebbs and flows with our motivation, which warrants us doing something extra. Overall, we will always have motivation to better our health and feel more comfortable in our clothing, but knowing ourselves, there has to be external factors as well to help us stay on track.
Pre-keto, we can 100% say it would have been going out to eat to celebrate achievements and milestones. Now that we’ve pivoted our outlooks on food, we put together a list of non-food rewards that will keep us excited to reach each goal. We both made these lists separately, and then showed each other once they were completed. Surprise, surprise, we had similar items! Birds of a feather…keto together. Our rewards are centered around self-care and having fun. Two things that we have found are key to living our best lives. The nice part about this list is there are items we can enjoy together to celebrate each other’s victories.
As we head into the end of the third month of our journey, this list has been a really good tool to help motivate us to keep pushing. This approach has given us a tangible way of seeing a reward for the hard work that has been done. We’ve only hit one of the milestones so far, but the non-scale victories have continued to roll in week after week. The items on our list are the big hitters!
What tools have you used to keep yourself motivated? Do you have a rewards list? What are the rewards?
Y’all. When we started our first blog, we were cookin’ and going out to eat carbs like there was no tomorrow. We really indulged in the decadence of delicious food on a daily basis. Something that we realized was that good food has never lacked in our lives. EVER. BUT, moderation and balance were. 2018 was a really transcendent year for us because it was the year we both turned 30. THE BIG 3-0 > almost over the hill > prepping for AARP cards, or so we thought. To be honest, thinking how old we were getting made us realize how YOUNG we really are and how many more experiences we have yet to go through – but we need to be healthy to be able to have those experiences.
We both took some time off to travel and reflect toward the end of last year and by the time we returned, it was 2019. Going into the new year was a perfect time to start a new chapter with a clean slate. No more excuses, no more bad habits, and no more wanting and not having. We had a revelation that we were our happiest and confident when we were living dat keto life. We had more energy, focus, and just felt like the best versions of ourselves. As we headed into the New Year, we decided that we needed to seriously commit to bettering ourselves this year.
To keep ourselves accountable, we created @kuwtketodashians, a health/fitness/keto IG to connect with other keto-ers for inspo and support. Little did we know that the secret account we started would grow into a thriving community filled with some of the most kind and inspirational people we’ve ever met.
Now, as we start to wrap up the third month of Keto with no cheats, we are looking forward to seeing how this journey is going to transform our lives and intertwine our #BFFLGang with our #ketobaes.
One of the things that we love about the Keto lifestyle are the substitutions or modifications we can make that can realistically be sustained long term. Like will cauliflower rice ever be able to fill the void of jasmine rice for us? Probably not, but it serves its purpose as a flavor neutralizer underneath whatever flavorful dish is on top of it.
When we first started Keto, there weren’t many tips and tricks floating around at our disposal – luckily, we came across a super awesome Instagram account that offered many hacks to get us through this new way of eating. @ketohackershop is one of our favorite accounts to follow because the information is easy to process and it’s presented in a simple, yet effective way. We’ve noticed that people who are new to this way of eating can get very discouraged or overwhelmed at the beginning due to the amount of information being thrown their way. This account simplifies the concepts and lays out a lot of information for the masses. There are many recipes for keto versions of comfort food and tips on how to order fast food, the keto way. If you are just starting keto or know someone who could use some guidelines, this is just a highly recommended resource.
Below are some examples of the helpful content that can be found on this account:
Photo Credit: @ketohackershop – Instagram
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