
Food as Medicine to Reverse Dementia

Founder, Solcere Health Clinic and Marama
Food as Medicine to Reverse Dementia
Heather Sandison, ND
Full Transcript
Ketogenic Diet Overview and Resources 0:00
Thank you so much for joining me on day four of the Reverse Alzheimer's Summit. I'm excited to share with you some of the takeaways and kind of go back over the ketogenic diet and what we see at Marama and at Safari at the clinic. So, you know, we've talked a lot about diet today and nutrients and nourishing our bodies so that our brains are optimally functional. And ketosis is really what I think at this point, at this stage, with the data that we have right now, ketosis really makes the most sense to me, and there are ways to do it in a really, really, really healthy manner so that you're not just eating bacon and cheese all day.
I know Amy and I talked about that earlier today. You may have seen her talk and she was like, no, no, it's okay. Bacon and eggs, bacon and cheese for, you know, a couple of weeks to get into ketosis is maybe okay, that we don't have to be so stringent about or dogmatic about what's healthy versus what's not. But it's really about flipping that metabolic switch. And that's what's so compelling about the ketogenic diet, especially for our brains. So I want to make sure that you have lots of resources to do this from home.
I really love Amy's book, which I, she was, both Brandt and Amy were both interviewed today, so they both have books that are fantastic and that I refer to a lot to my for my patients. And also for all of you, of course, to get the benefit of of all of the information on those books and then the keto mojo and this website, keto motakam keto-mojo.com, and it is full of fantastic information about the ketogenic diet. And so there are recipes, recommendations, frequently asked questions, and of course all of their answers, lots of information about how to use the keto mojo.
And that meater the best. This is the most essential tool, I think, in terms of getting into ketosis. Even when I go into ketosis, I want that feedback. Once you get to know your body and you've had you've gotten into ketosis, you've confirmed it with the blood, meter. Once you've gotten there, you can kind of feel the difference, but until then, there's a lot of questioning of am I in it, am I not? I think I am, maybe I am, and when we can just test and say yes or no based on the blood on the data takes a lot of the guesswork out of it.
So helpful. And then, of course, if you're going to do the keto meter, and I love that the keto mojo because it has the option of doing glucose. So testing blood sugar or testing ketones, you just need the strips. The strips are the most expensive part. Obviously the meter doesn't work without the strips, so you need both. And what I typically recommend is to, you know, use this tool for maybe the first month or first few weeks of getting into ketosis. And then once, you know, once you have that feedback from your body, once you know what it feels like, then you don't need to test all the time and the cost goes away.
So it's a little bit of an investment upfront. But again, takes the guesswork out of it. This science. So the latest research that just came out in January of 2022 and from Florida showed us that, this is a feasibility trial. So right on in the hierarchy of research, this is not at the top. This is a very small trial of just eight participants or nine participants, eight of whom achieve measurable levels of ketosis. And they measured cognitive function and what they saw was significant improvement in cognitive performance between baseline and follow up.
And so this is statistically significant. This is a huge if you can just get into ketosis for six weeks. This is only after six weeks. Baseline was was zero. Excuse me at baseline. And then six weeks later they measured that follow up. And there was statistically significant change in cognitive function for the better at just six weeks. I mean this is so compelling. The reason I, I also feel it's compelling is because I see the same thing clinically. And I've experienced it myself. I feel clearheaded, I have more energy.
I feel like I can engage in a different way when I'm in ketosis, and I watch it over and over again with my patients, and they see it in Maremma. So this is a little bit of a sad story. It's a it's painful to share, but it's also very illustrative of someone who, who had a baseline Moca. And again, this is starting point zero. The first time we met, she had a baseline Moca of 18 and and she was not in ketosis. And then we got her on the ketogenic diet. She did all of the supplements. You know, she kind of got excited about it.
And for the first three months, she just really great. And her Moca improved in December. Even in January, she's still mildly ketogenic, but she peaked in in December. And then after we told her that she was getting better,
Ketosis Research and Clinical Results 5:09
she dropped off of everything. She also had somebody telling her that the ketogenic diet wasn't healthy. There were other, one of her children was concerned she was losing too much weight. And so even though her cognitive function was better, her conventional doctor put her on statins again. Her, the person who is supporting her, helping her go grocery shopping, was putting a little bird in her ear, was saying that the ketogenic diet wasn't healthy for her, and she had a sister with a nutritionist, so she had a lot of kind of ability.
In this case, she was nine. And then her son was worried about her weight loss. Her weight was stable. She wasn't losing weight, but she was quite thin. And that's okay. That is okay. And what was so sad was that because, because she was getting this sort of conflicting advice, she wasn't fully committed to to either path, really. So she was taking things irregularly. She was no longer in ketosis. She kind of fell off the exercise. She fell off the supplements, fell off the hormone replacement. And then went downhill.
Unfortunately. But we can see how her ketones track her cognitive function. So low, low cognitive function was associated with this low level of ketone, ketone level. And then as, she got sharper, her ketones were going up again, that higher Moca score. And I really wish it had kept going in the same direction, unfortunately, it doesn't if you don't do it, it doesn't work. So keto basics. What do we want to know? The goal here is to change your metabolism. So a lot of people ask, is this a good thing for the diet?
Is this a good food for the diet? Can I eat this? Can I add that I care what you eat? Of course I want you to eat healthy. Lots of veggies, fiber, phytonutrients, all of that. But it's not so much about what you eat, it's how your body processes it that is what's most important to us. We want you to be in ketosis. That means burning fat or ketones for fuel instead of sugar. So your body takes that dietary fat and when there isn't sugar to burn it, your body turns those fat into ketones. And those ketones then get turned into fuel that your body can use for energy.
And so the focus of our diet is on fat and protein and veggies. And we want to limit those carbohydrates to between 30 and 50g. Some people have to go to 20g of carbohydrates a day. So when I say sugar I'll use sugar glucose, carbohydrates kind of interchangeably. When I say sugar, I don't mean a candy bar. I don't mean skittles, I mean carbohydrates. So if you eat bread, if you eat pasta, if you eat a candy bar, by the time they get to your stomach, rice is the same grains. By the time it gets to your stomach, it's all the same.
It's all sugar. And so yes, high fructose corn sirup might create some other issues for sure. But breads, rice, any sort of grains, essentially anything. Most white things are going to raise your blood sugar level and that will keep you out of ketosis. Again, it's like a light switch. You're either burning sugar or fat for protein or for fuel. Excuse me? And if you're burning sugar for fuel, you will not burn fat. So what our goal is here is to restore metabolic balance. So our ancestors, our hunter gatherer ancestors, which our bodies are very much based on, our humans were hunters and gatherers for millennia.
And we've only been in this kind of post-industrial, you know, where food is abundant only and in that area for really the last 2 or 300 years. And so our so much has changed in terms of our, our body's ability to be resilient. And we're not adapted. We don't we haven't had enough generations to fully adapt to burning so many carbohydrates all the time. So really our body prefer is going back and forth from ketone genesis or from ketosis, excuse me, to glycolysis, burning fat for fuel, burning sugar for fuel.
And you can imagine our hunter gatherer ancestors, they didn't have sugar available 365 days a year. You know, the way that we do now. So we want to approximate that metabolism of our ancestors because our bodies are adapted for it. That's what they want. And that's how they burn, fuel most efficiently. So when we think about the ketogenic diet, there's a lot of myth around it. There's a lot of of assumptions around it. There's a lot of misinformation. So we want to let go of the idea that because, like getting on a ketogenic diet, we're going to be hungry and deprived.
Now, you may feel that way for 24 hours, maybe 72 hours at the most. But you as long as you're getting plenty of fat and protein, you should not feel hungry or deprived. You do not need to replace real food with shakes or bars or meal replacements or anything like that. You can eat good, healthy, high quality foods
Keto Basics and Metabolic Switching 10:20
without issue and be satisfied. You don't need to replace your your meals with supplements. The supplements are supplemental. Things do not need to be perfect. You're going to mess up. I do to everyone does I have all the information I could possibly need in terms of getting into ketosis, and I still have to test a little bit, like, can I have five raspberries? Can I have eight raspberries? When will my blood sugar go up. Right. So you can make mistakes and you just get right back on the wagon. It's okay.
And so things don't need to be perfect. The meals don't have to be perfect. They can be simple. They can be a little funky at first. And it's okay. You'll get used to this. And it's it's getting into ketosis. It's like doing I tell my patients like doing bicep curls for your brain. Just the act of changing your diet, changing the recipes you're familiar with, changing how you shop, changing your grocery list, changing maybe the tools you use in the kitchen. All of that is hard work for our brain.
And that alone is like the exercise. You know, we think of Sudoku and these other puzzles, but the executive function of planning meals, of preparing meals, that is even more it's more practical, really. We want to maintain independence for as long as possible, when we can feed ourselves so we can cook healthy meals for ourselves. That's much more practical skill building than something like Sudoku, although you can do all this pseudo code word, crossword puzzles and things like that that you want, I highly encourage it.
And I know that sometimes this feels hard, and I want you to know that that hard work pays off in more ways than just getting you into ketosis. Some other things to let go of our fancy and exotic ingredients. So, sure, if you are, you know, Master Chef, go for it. If you're a master gardener, even better. Wonderful. Okay, Pat you on the back all day long. So exciting. You probably don't even need to be here for this part, because you're a whiz in the kitchen. Now, for somebody who feels intimidated by this idea of switching, meal planning, switching their diet because they feel like it's going to be super expensive or it's going to be too fancy or exotic, or I don't even know what an artichoke is.
How would I eat that? How do they make that? You don't have to have fancier, exotic things. Really, this can be very basic produce. I'll meet I'll again those those edges of the store just going through like the butcher's area and the produce section and some minor like spices, things that will, keep it fun and exciting. Go back to that list of category one foods from this whole sorry keto diet guide that's available to you through the summit. And if you just go back to that, that list of foods, it's on that periphery of the of this grocery store.
And it's they're so flavorful, so filling, so satisfying. It's just a matter of mixing them up, cooking them up, in ways that you enjoy. It does not have to be expensive, organic as much as possible. If that feels out of your reach or if it's not available, just do it. You can. The more fresh fruits and veggies or fresh, fresh fruit. Fresh veggies, not the fruit. Excuse me? The more fresh veggies, the more good, high quality produce. Plus some animal proteins really prioritize the animal protein, the cheese, and any meats, all of that prioritize as organic and grass fed as much as possible.
It's more important if it's coming from an animal than if it's in the produce section. Do what you can financially. So the nutrient basics that we're talking about here, ketogenic diet, it's about changing the fuel. We've talked about this over and over. Right. It's about burning fat for fuel, not sugar for fuel. Right. Then some things that you can start to think about. All right. Do I want to get some additional support through nutrient IV's. If you have gut issues, if you've struggled with, with any sort of gut issues, particularly diarrhea, then you may not be digesting and absorbing appropriately and you may end up nutrient deplete.
And as we go through the ketogenic diet, it changes how you metabolize minerals a bit. So sometimes people complain of cramping. I experienced muscle cramping when I go into ketosis, but I have to be sure and supplementing with minerals. And you can do this by IB. And again, particularly if you struggle with diarrhea or you kind of have a more inflamed gut, then we can just go around the gut and get you good IVs and good nutrients by IB. Things to consider here are vitamin C, all of the B vitamins.
They play well together. Same with the minerals getting potassium and calcium and magnesium and zinc. Getting all of those mixed in there, can be very helpful. And then Navy Plus is another one I love because it just helps to protect the DNA and with anti-aging and also kind of helps to get up over those sugar cravings. So if you do some NAD or early on as you're trying to get into ketosis, energy is used for addictions. And essentially most of us are addicted to sugar. And so when we use the nad to sort of, prime you to get into ketosis, then it can feel a little less stressful and a little less challenging to get up over that sugar hump.
Then we also want to think about healing the gut again, especially if you've had nutrient issues, and or diarrhea. Then we might, to heal the gut, make sure that there's good healthy flora through probiotics. Maybe using enzymes to reduce inflammation also help your digestion, assimilate foods. Things like butyrate, Douglas Trinidad, licorice, aloe, glutamine these all can help to heal that gut lining. So work with your provider to consider. What you might want to add there. To help get the most out of this diet and also maybe reset your gut from more optimal gut function.
Sometimes just changing our diet is so helpful for healing the gut. So, there might be a little extra benefit you can get there. And then supplements to consider, of course, are like the no. Tropics Omega zinc. The mushroom blends like Lion's Mane and other other nootropics in the mushroom family, things like choline. Right? Acetylcholinesterase inhibitors are the medications commonly used for those suffering with dementia. And what they do is they create. They basically keep more choline in the synapse between the nerves.
Well, if we want more choline in the synapses between the nerves, and we notice that that helps with cognitive function. Why do we offer the body more choline nutritionally. And that will also be another way to just generate and have more of that choline in in the brain. So lots of things to think about in terms of nutrients, not just the diet. So work with a provider health coach and maybe consider if these would be
Myths, Meal Planning, and Keto Mindset 17:20
helpful for you. So are our big macros. Our macronutrients are fats, proteins and carbohydrates. And so the roles of of ketones in the brain, they are essentially a super fuel. So they, you know, sugars when fuel high octane. Like what we really want for the brain is ketones. The brain prefers to burn ketones over sugar. And it's going to be much cleaner and much more efficient, less and less inflammatory. And we're going to get more energy that helps us do that heavy lifting of a cognitive work in our brain.
So ketones are the super fuel MCTs modified train, excuse me, medium chain triglycerides that are about 70% ish of coconut oil. Really easy to turn into butyric acid or one of our ketones. So this is why you see coconut oil used so often in a ketogenic diet. Now, there's a caveat there that some people with especially 84 for status may want to avoid all the saturated fats, including coconut oils. You want to watch your cholesterol. So, cholesterol and been around here. Forgive me, but cholesterol the next one on that list.
Cholesterol. We've been told over and over and over again we can't have high cholesterol. Cholesterol is bad. What we want to do is have plenty of good cholesterol and plenty of cholesterol. Not too little. So I know most people talk about having high cholesterol and that being a bad thing, but when I see a patient with cholesterol levels under one 5140, I start to worry about depression, about anxiety, about poor wound healing. Cholesterol is unnecessary. Very expensive thing to have traveling around in our blood.
It's the backbone of our sex hormones, of stress hormones. And if we don't have it, we won't heal our wounds very easily. So it's really important that we not only don't have too much, but we have enough, right? This is about balance and a complex system. And of course we want the good guys. So lots of avocado. I've got one here for my lunch. I eat probably an avocado a day. But particularly when they're in season because they're so good for us. And this is a great way to get minerals is by putting some grape sea salt on top of it.
So I'll have this for lunch. Sometimes I just have an avocado for dinner. It's just me and I'm not that hungry. Avocado for dinner? Omega three. These are fish oils. So again, very important to the brain. Very important to keeping, our, our inflammation down. And again, going back to those ancestral diet omega three six ratios used to be about 1 to 1. Now we're looking at omega threes. We'll get about one for every 200 of the omega sixes in a standard American diet. So this these are the fried foods those saturated fats the longer saturated fats your, your oleo or like margins are this omega six and then anything deep fried.
So very, very high high heat fat at fats that have been highly heated. And then they change configuration, make them much more inflammatory. So what we want is to go towards that ancestral diet that had closer to a 1 to 1 ratio instead of a 1 to 200 ratio, where we're out of proportion, having way too many omega sixes. And so the way that we get omega three is from grass fed beef. We all know salmon, of course wild caught salmon not farmed. And the other thing here. So yes of course you can do the supplements.
There are lots of omega supplements that I recommend I love, I use them with my patients. I take them myself. That's great. And I want supplements to be supplemental. So ideally you would be getting most of these omega threes from your diet. Now the things that omega threes come from are typically animals. So you can get some of the earlier omegas kind of up the chain. That would need to be from plants, things like algae and also flax. But then it needs to be converted biochemically. And not everybody is very good at that.
So I am a fan of animal protein now. It's not the best thing for the environment. And with the number of billions of people on the planet, not everyone can do this. So there are pros and cons, but for your brain, the best thing is to have regular servings of wild caught salmon, sardines, anchovies and herring mackerel, the smash fish that are low in mercury and high in these omega threes. And then another way to get them is from grass fed meats. Grass fed, grass finished. No grain feeding if you have grain fed need.
If you're consuming grain fed meat, it is going to be high in omega sixes. So you want to make sure that if you're having farmed salmon, not only is it not good for you anymore, it's bad for you. Which is so painful for me to say because I wish there were a way to have plenty of farmed fish that was good for us all. But it just doesn't appear that that we've figured that out yet. And then same thing with with cow or beef, anything like that. If it's grain fed, not only is it no longer good for you, it is bad for you.
However, I think we've also heard this this idea that red meat is bad for us for so long. And if we have small amounts of red meat that is grass fed grass, finish organic, then it's good for us. This is can actually be good and healthy for us. Okay. And these are proteins. And the reason protein is so important. So there's kind of three things to think about with proteins. Amino acids are like the pearls on like a strand of pearls is a peptide. The pearls are amino acids. And then the protein is when you take that strand of pearls and you fold it back on itself and it becomes a, three dimensional structure.
And that three dimensional structure is a protein, and it really depends how it's folded. If it's misfolded, it doesn't work that well. So we need a good, high quality, high integrity protein. And that starts with those pearls that make up the peptide. And then the protein. And those amino acids typically come from animal products that these are why we say protein. You know, meat is high in protein. Eggs are high in protein. Other other things are high in protein like rice and beans, but they are also high in carbohydrates.
And so it's challenging to be on or on organic ketogenic vegan diet. It's not impossible, but it's challenging. And you want a lot of protein. So because while you're shifting from burning carbohydrates for fuel into burning fat for fuel, your body will use some protein. Now, this doesn't last for long. You won't have muscle wasting, but you want to have plenty of dietary
Nutrients, Supplements, and Gut Support 24:10
protein so you don't have muscle wasting. So then with the proteins and these amino acids, you've heard of things like glycine, lysine, Gaba, a taurine. See A9. These are very common amino acids glutamate, glutamine. And so excuse me. Glutamine. Glutamine is the amino answer that you would eat or take as a supplement. Well, it gets absorbed in your gut and it becomes glutamate in the brain. Glutamate is an excitatory or a transmitter. This means it helps us focus, pay attention, remember things.
So it is histamine. So do some of our epinephrine, norepinephrine, dopamine. These excitatory neurotransmitters are essential to focusing and remembering right. These help us do the heavy lifting heavy lifting of cognitive work. Now if we don't have enough of them, we're not going to be able to do that work. So you can see how critically important it is to have amino acids, tyrosine is the backbone of dopamine. It's also the backbone of thyroid hormone. So if we don't get enough tyrosine in our diet, we're not going to have enough psi, right?
So we might end up feeling hypothyroid, fatigued, lethargic, you know, achy, constipated hair falling out if we don't get enough tyrosine, we don't get have enough hydrazine to create thyroid hormone. If we don't have enough tyrosine to create dopamine, we'll feel unmotivated. We won't have great memory. We won't feel excited, we won't get that pleasure reward sensation. And so you can see how this getting plenty of protein directly affects mood and so many critical pathways that are related not only to our brain, but our entire body's health.
Okay, so three three macronutrients fats, proteins, carbohydrates, carbohydrates are the ones that we are restricting. And the reason we're restricting them is not because they're inherently bad, but because we overdo them as a society, we just get too much. And that means that as we age, we go in the direction of insulin insensitivity, insulin resistance, and we don't efficiently burn sugar for fuel. And so what we need to do is go back and change the fuel to ketones. And so type three diabetes is something you'll hear kind of used colloquially or kind of, almost in a joking manner of like this is equivalent to Alzheimer's.
Alzheimer's is a type of diabetes, because what's happening is that the brain is not efficient and burning sugar for fuel any longer, just like what we see in the periphery with diabetes. So instead of hurting your eyes or your big toe, and in diabetes, or all of the other complications your kidneys that the diabetes are associated with, it's affecting your brain at that end artery or those like in the capillary beds and the, in the small, in the small vessels where there's essentially it's like you've caramelized the tissue because there's so much sugar present.
So we want to get rid of that. And then also of course at a more mild level, we're not burning sugar efficiently anyways. So it's almost like it's it's there and it's become toxic. There's just too much of it. So one thing that comes up a frequent question with ketosis is, isn't that ketoacidosis? Am I going to cause myself to go to the hospital with ketoacidosis? So ketones are acidic. But it's okay. There's acidity in your body and there there's alkalinity in your body and in your diet and in the ketogenic diet.
And you can maintain balance. Ketoacidosis is a pathological process that's associated with later stage diabetes and can be life threatening. Now, comparing the ketogenic diet that we're talking about to ketoacidosis is like comparing a tropical sprinkle to a hurricane flood like torrential downpour, totally different, magnitude of levels of ketosis. So we don't have to worry that if you're relatively healthy and your health care provider has said thumbs up, you're good to go on the ketogenic diet.
You do not have to worry about that pushing you into some sort of metabolic acidosis that will require hospitalization. It just does not happen. All right, so some supplements to consider and work with your provider or health coach to determine which ones are best for you. But as I mentioned, when I get into ketosis, I need extra mineral support. So Cal mag is one thing to consider. I do lots of extra sea salt. I have something called Kona Gold. That's a deep sea mineral that I really love and find very, very helpful fish oils.
Of course, we discussed why those are so important to get those omegas probiotics, because our gut flora changes significantly when we change our diet, we want to take that opportunity to inoculate our gut with all of the long lasting, wonderful gut bugs that are going to help us achieve optimal health while you're in ketosis and beyond. Extra liver support can be helpful because our liver, is processing everything we eat. And it's also this is a detoxification diet. So we want to help the liver to get rid of everything as we mobilize fat and as we clean house on the toxins that are stored in those cells, we also want to consider fiber.
So some people become very constipated as they go into ketosis. They're used to getting fiber through the carbohydrates they've been having starchy veggies or whatever it is. So you may want to do some psyllium. You may. The magnesium can be helpful to keep bowels moving. That you must must, must keep your bowels moving. So if you start to notice any little bit of constipation or hardening of your stools, get on the CarMax, the train and then go back to your list and get more and more of those leafy greens.
Make sure you're staying hydrated and moving. And then maybe some additional fiber and digest ketones usually come in a powder. Not everyone can tolerate the flavor. They tend to taste very, very sweet. But if you can just take a little shot of them when you are craving something sweet, it can kind of neutralize that craving and get you up over that hump.
Keto Foods, Recipes, and Practical Tips 30:20
So having something Sergeant ketones on hand is really, really helpful and will push you quicker. Endocytosis I also use a greens powder. This is just maybe me being lazy, but it's great to just put a scoop of that in a glass of water in the morning and then I don't have to think like, oh, did I get enough greens today? It's a way to make sure that every day, consistently, I'm getting there. So I wanted to share with you. Marana is the residential care facility for the elderly that I created in 2020, and so we're pretty new still, but this year.
And you're welcome. Take out your your camera and maybe get this on your phone so you can look back to it for inspiration. When you go to set up your menu. Planning at home for care, for getting into ketosis. So these are some fun, ideas. And I'm going to share a few recipes with you as well. So you'll notice, like it says, oatmeal here. This is an oatmeal made with chia and flax seeds. And a few other things. I think some nuts, all kinds of heavy stuff. So it's an oatmeal granola blend that is grain free so it will keep you in ketosis.
We had one of the daughters call and say, wait, you're feeding my mom oatmeal? That's not right. I thought she was going to be in ketosis. Don't worry, these are all ketogenic recipes. And so let's jump into some of them. Oh, that's why I do that. Keto snack ideas. So especially in those first couple of days when you have those hankering for something sweet, it's great if you can have a quick, easy alternative of a bunch of deviled eggs. Whenever I walk into Marana, there's always something in the in the fridge.
If I open it, there's always something in the fridge. It's ready to go for the resident. So somebody says, I'm hungry. There's a protein bar or some extra cheese, some meatballs, some smoothies. It's made, a quick, nuts that have been seasoned veggie trays with Q-tips. So these are just some ideas of things to have around. And have ready. Maybe make in advance like fat bombs. I'll share a fat bomb recipe in a minute here. That are so, so good and easy to do. Have on hand so that whenever you do get a little hungry, you're not reaching for maybe the cookie or the cake or something that you used to previously.
That is not on the keto diet. So fat bombs. Please share your favorites in the comments. I would love to see what everyone comes up with because this is this is the brownie fat bomb. I love this one, but these are, there's a there's a basic formula for it. And then you can put all kinds of other stuff in it. So like this one has cream cheese which will get a give it a certain flavor. And then I use the keto powder powdered keto sweetener that I use as monk fruit. Typically, and then cocoa powder.
But they have citrusy flavored ones that usually has cream cheese, too. Coconut oil. I mean, these are so good. And if there's a, chocolate chip, cookie dough when there are so many out there, and I love seeing the creativity that everybody gets into at home, what we do is a and I've started doing this at home to is get a big mason jar. So once these are made they go into the refrigerator or the freezer until they are firm. So you need to chill them. And then once they're in there and they're, they're firm usually on a, on a baking tray on parchment paper, we put them on there and then I take them out and, put them into a big mason jar.
So and it's not perfect because they're round in the Mason drives. But if you have plenty of storage space, this is probably the easiest way. It's the easiest way I've found to do it. And then you can just reach in there and grab one whenever you want. One mean, so we just store them in the freezer and then again, they're ready. Whenever you have a hankering for something sweet that won't raise your blood sugar. So meal planning, I want to just make a point to say that this is challenging. This is not easy to change your diet.
It gets easier and easier and easier with time. So at the beginning though, you want to choose recipes and allocate time for this process. I love it because I the stores I go to anyways, there's always a keto magazine at the checkout counter and so I'll flip through that when I'm waiting in line. Sometimes I'll buy them and bring them home because there's something particularly inspiring in there. There are also tons of recipes online, so that Keto Mojo site has plenty there, lots of blog posts, lots of people that are excited about the ketogenic diet because they've gotten such great results and so lean on them for inspiration and for more direction, and then create that shopping list, get into the store and make me time if you need to go to multiple places.
If there, if there's something new that you want to get, it's at Costco, but not at your local local grocer, then make the time so that you're setting yourself up for something for success. And then do you need new supplies? Sometimes that happens when you start cooking in a different way. Not that you have to know you don't have to, but maybe an instapot makes a lot of sense now. Because you do want to steam artichokes and they're they're definitely good healthy liver food and they can keep you in ketosis.
And they're are good butter or olive oil delivery system. So if you want to invest in some new supplies make sure you get all that stuff ahead, prep ahead and then of course enjoy it can be so much fun to share this with friends, family, and and become that that person who's like sharing your passion for, the diet you're on and how good you feel and hopefully inspire those around you. It's been a pleasure being with you today. I hope you've learned tons that you're able to implement at home right away.
Let us know what struggles you run into. Let us know what amazing recipes you are cooking up at home. We all are inspired by each other, and the most exciting thing for me about this summit is the community that we're creating. So please put your, questions and comments in the comment section and also your recipes, if you will. I will love to see them. Thank you so much for being here with us today. It's been a pleasure, and I will see you tomorrow on day five of the Reverse Alzheimer's Summit.
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