Introduction

Q.  What is the Keto Box about?

A.  A few weeks ago, I started the Ketogenic diet (which I'll explain in a bit more detail in the next question).  In short, this requires me to eat certain things and avoid certain foods.  I've always loved making japanese-style bentos but discovered that a lot of recipes tend to have added starch in them.  So, I'm combining my keto lifestyle and my love of bentos to make the Keto Box, a blog about making keto-friendly bentos. 

Q.  What is the Ketogenic Diet?

A.  Keto in a nutshell is eating few enough carbs that your body goes into ketosis, burning up the fat stored in your body as opposed to storing it.  Whenever you eat, insulin is released and what insulin does is take the sugar from your food and store it as fat.  If insulin is in your bloodstream, you're not burning fat.   People on keto use fat instead of carbohydrates to keep themselves full, meaning we eat more bacon instead of cake.   The idealistic keto ratio is 5% carbohydrates, 35% protein and 60% fat.

Q.  That sounds really dangerous.  Am I going to get a heart attack after 2 years if I eat like this?

A.  There has been lots of research in the last few years that has proven that a ketogenic diet is more effective at helping people lose weight than a low fat high carb diet (which tends to keep a person hungry therefore decreasing their chance of staying on it).  Also, it generally is a bad idea to just eat hydrogenated oils, which are the oils that are used in frying fast food.  The fats that we consume are natural animal fats (eggs, fatty meat, butter) and saturated fats (coconut oil, olive oil, avocado).  These have actually been shown to reduce the risk of heart disease.

Q.  Why are you doing keto?  

A.  Personally, I want to lose weight (50 pounds to be exact).  There's a lot of other advantages to it as well which I am feeling right now after a few weeks of ketoing.  I have an increased focus, don't feel as hungry as often (a 100 calorie protein shake will do it) and **TMI ALERT** have noticed that I don't fart as much.  Plus at the very least, it has really helped me control the amount of bad food I eat.  Even if I end up cheating, I eat 1 cookie instead of 4 or 2 small pieces of pizza instead of 5.  It's also not as restrictive as it may seem at first and I can make and enjoy a wide variety of delicious foods.   

Q.  Ok, so what is a bento box?  

A.  A bento box is essentially fancy tupperware that you put certain foods in for lunch.  You can eat the foods prepared inside at room temperature, but you could heat them up.  They tend to hold a larger amount of food in a small container so they're perfect for when I go to school or work.  I also find that they're great for portion control and I love packing a few different kinds of food without having too much. 

Q.  Will you be only focusing on Japanese cooking?  

A.  No, partially because even I get sick of certain things after a while and because there are lots of delicious western recipes to make for your keto bento.

I'll make sure to elaborate on several different topics later.   But for now, I hope that this blog becomes useful for you and makes your lunchtime more enjoyable.