How KetoDick Got Its Name
July 2017 — day 34
There was no plan. There was a guy lying in bed, filming himself.
Filming from bed
On July 16 I recorded a short clip about a question I kept seeing in the groups: is this food keto? I opened by saying what I wasn't. I'm not a medical professional. I didn't write a book. I didn't even have a YouTube channel. I joked that filming myself in my bed was apparently as close as I was going to get to fame and legitimacy (live FEBV6401).
And then I answered the question, which was about cheese.
My answer: a ketogenic diet is whatever combination of foods you eat, over a period of time, that keeps you in ketosis. So is cheese keto? Lots of people eat cheese and stay in ketosis, and it's really low in carbs, so yes. Cheese is keto (live FEBV6401).
That's not the same as saying cheese is a good idea. I said that too. Is it smart to eat a lot of dairy? No idea. Could it cause other problems for some people? Sure, it might. But "is it keto" is really asking "can I eat this and still stay in ketosis," and for cheese the answer is yes (live FEBV6401).
That was the whole show. A guy in bed defending cheese.
The name
A few days before, I'd made a joke that I was "keto-dick." I kept teasing my girlfriend with it, and she started calling me keto-dick back (live 10000000_637424646467238_6646023133880909824_n).
So on the July 17 live I said, more or less, maybe I should just run with it (live 10000000_637424646467238_6646023133880909824_n).
In another early video I tried the name out on camera at the sign-off and then took it right back, "no I'm just kidding" (auto-caption), followed by my usual list: I don't promote anything, I don't sell anything, I'm not qualified, feel free to ignore everything I say (video uXzscHudgt0). It took me a minute to commit.
But it stuck.
Practice that turned into a show
Here's the other half. I didn't start these videos to start anything. I did it to practice talking (live 10000000_637424646467238_6646023133880909824_n).
And then the comments came in. There was so much positivity and support around these videos that my girlfriend and I were honestly laughing about it. People were telling me I had to do this regularly. Start a radio show, or a podcast, or a channel, or something. I didn't know about all that (live 10000000_637424646467238_6646023133880909824_n).
What I did know was this. I've struggled with diet and health a lot in my own life. And people were telling me that whatever I was doing was helping them. And look, I talk all the time for no good reason anyway. So why not put 10 or 15 or 20 minutes into talking to you guys pretty regularly?
So I'd been trying to do these videos daily. I said the next one would probably be about keto and exercise. I also started reposting the videos on my personal Facebook page and setting them public, because the share buttons didn't work in the closed group, and people wanted to send them to friends or post them in other groups (live 10000000_637424646467238_6646023133880909824_n).
And I kept the same invitation open that I always do: message me, post to me, tell me how it's going for you.
That's really the lesson. I started this as practice for something else. It turned into the thing people actually wanted from me. If you're doing something just to get better at it and people keep asking for more, maybe pay attention to that.
What I'd tell you now
The definition I gave from bed is the one I kept. A year and a half later, picking apart a magazine article, I said it again almost word for word: a ketogenic diet is any combination of foods that leads you into ketosis (video 1JbK1_ClDmY). It lines up with how the biology is described, too. The NIH's textbook entry on ketogenesis describes ketosis as something your liver does, making acetoacetate, BHB and acetone, with insulin and glucagon controlling it (StatPearls: Ketogenesis). That's a body state, not a list of approved foods. I still think "is it keto" and "is it good for you" are two separate questions, and the cheese answer holds: yes it's keto, and how much dairy suits you is your call. As for the name, it's still a joke. I just stopped taking it back.
More on this: what a ketogenic diet is, the dose-not-ban food list, is dairy keto, and one of the first lives, uXzscHudgt0.
Earlier: Gassing Out Against Younger Fighters · Later: A Fifty Percent Chance