Craving the carbs? No, keto!

So the ketogentic way of eating — keto for short, and yes, it sounds like a martial art — is going mainstream.

At least, according to a story by Danielle Wiener-Bronner at CNN Money.

“Keto is blowing up” (as obviously opposed to the waistlines of those who follow keto), the story begins. “With the help of social media and word of mouth, demand for keto-friendly products have gone through the roof.”

The ketogenic way of eating involves the restriction of one’s daily eating to a high intake of healthy fats, a moderate protein intake and a very low number of carbohydrates. The body realizes no sugar is coming in, so it depends on the protein and fat for energy; the body then goes into ketosis and loses weight.

Keto is going so mainstream that, Wiener-Bronner reveals, one doesn’t have to explain what the heck it is anymore. According to one man mentioned in the piece, people actually get offended with him for explaining. (Apologies to anyone who got offended by my explanation above.)

I’ve discussed, in this space, my earlier forays into keto. For me, carb-cutting represents the answer to a lifelong struggle with body mass and a way to avoid diabetes and other “black statistic” maladies that run in the family, along with the water retention that carbs cause me.

My problem has been that I tend to veer off the plan until evidence of the return of carbs to my diet starts to show up in a less than flattering way. After my last veer-off, the “you’ve lost weight!” exclamations segued into silence … then into an elderly former co-worker’s baldly spoken observation this summer: “Oh! You’d gotten slender, but looks like you gained it all back.”

The difficulty of sticking to keto is one of the main things the naysayers try to warn us of. Keto is unrealistic at best and, some say, dangerous at worst. But it’s not the keto naysayers who bother me.

It’s the roving, pillaging bands of carbohydrates that show up every time I go back to the keto lifestyle.

It’s bad enough that my body decides that, like The Who, it “Won’t Get Fooled Again” and seems to take longer to allow any good eatin’ behavior to show. But then the Forces of Carb and Sugar Evil are somehow alerted. Treats, always subject to romp through this workplace, start to line up at the newsroom door, an internal email heralding their appearance.

And said treats come mainly in the form of cookies, which I tend to consume by the dozens

during times of Carb Carefreedom. New co-worker’s first day: Cookies. Co-worker returns after absence: Cookies. Co-worker anniversary: Cookies. Co-worker moves to a desk across newsroom: Cookies. Leftovers from a writer’s group meeting: Cookies. Co-worker used recipe that yielded more cookies than expected: Cookies. Co-worker changed departments: Cookies. The 15th

anniversary of the passing of Johnny Cash: Cookies. (I kid you not.) And the holidays are looming.

But it seems that since keto is becoming mainstream, ready-made low-carb products are on the rise. Wiener-Bronner’s story mentions the Fat Snax — “low-carb, high-fat cookies and matcha tea blends.” A photo is shown of the snacks, which are growing exponentially in popularity and whose looks rival any of the devilishly tempting treats at the local bakery. Another outfit, Keto and

Company, produces keto meal shake powders. Sated is a coming meal-replacement shake for keto-ers. And there’s the Fatbar, a keto snack bar hitting Whole Foods shelves early next year.

But … but isn’t the key to successful keto-ing avoiding any prepackaged foods and shopping on the perimeters of the grocery store and making stuff from scratch, even if it means planting ourselves in the kitchen on a Sunday and meal-prepping for that week?

And what if we keto-ers give in to the temptation to sit

and eat a whole grocery-store display of prepackaged keto snacks in one sitting because “hey, it’s OK, they’re low-carb!” What if these foods serve only to constantly remind us of the mainstream versions of these snacks, therefore serving as temptation rather than deterrent?

Guess we’d have to move on to that next big thing — reducing total caloric intake and increasing activity. Oh, wait.