Is The Freese Method Another Keto Diet?

This week we are asking the question, “Is The Freese Method Another Keto Diet?” (and what is keto exactly?)

This is a great question. 

Keto is still so hot right now!

I’m sure you know someone either in your family or your office or in your sphere of influence that has done some type of keto diet?

Or maybe you’ve tried (to varying degrees of success) a keto diet yourself?

Maybe you’ve bought keto-labeled products in an effort to kind of hedge your bets and hope that they are a healthier option to help you lose weight.  

Maybe you’ve heard disparaging things about keto and don’t want to mess around with it.

But what exactly is keto?  What counts as keto?  

Is the Freese Method keto?

So this week, I want to do a little keto 101 and then compare and contrast that with the Freese Method.

Because no. The Freese Method is not keto. But what does that mean and how are they different?

This is good stuff to know even if you don’t eat keto or want to, you can be confident in your eating choices and not overspend on keto products that you're not sure why you're buying, it just that it feels like it might help you lose weight.

We need to answer two important questions:

1. What exactly is keto?
2. How is the Freese Method different?

1. What is keto?

Keto is shorthand for ketogenic.  A keto diet is a ketogenic diet.  This is actually really cool.

Your body can use carbohydrates from bread, or protein from meat and of course fats from butter to burn for energy so you can live, breathe, and move around.

But it also can use these funny little energy credits called ketone bodies.

You don’t find ketones in food.  Your liver makes ketones out of your body fat and then sends them off into your bloodstream to burn.

Your brain actually loves ketones.  That's why certain brain diseases like epilepsy, Alzheimers and such are treated with strict ketogenic diets. Because our brains can run a little different, if not better on ketones rather than glucose.

Now, to get your liver in a place to make these little ketone bodies, you have to have run very very low on the other types of fuel.  Your liver only makes these little guys when your glucose stores are super low and you’re not eating too much protein.

So a real, true ketogenic diet keeps your carbohydrate intake at 20 grams per day.

This is the equivalent of one small potato,1/2 cup of cooked pasta, 1/2 of a hamburger bun, and 1/2 cup of rice.

Other things have carbs too, like the sugar and starch in fruit and vegetables, beans, nuts contain carbs, even dairy.

So it’s not just your white carbs you have to watch, it’s everything else that adds up over the day.  Corn? off limits.  Grapes, no way.  Beans, nada.  Nuts? Yes, but you have to watch the portion size and type of nut you can have.

Eating only 20 grams of carbohydrate a day is hard.  It makes about 75-80% of all your daily calories come from fat and another 10-20% from protein.

2. How is the Freese Method different?

Now let’s move into how the Freese Method differs and is superior to the keto diet.

First of all, you can lower your insulin and burn a ton of fat without having to go into ketosis.  

This is a huge point that keto people don’t like to point out. Remember, you make ketones out of your belly fat.  Well, you can still burn that belly fat for energy without converting it to ketones to burn for body fat.

Bottom line, you can control your insulin very, very well without going to such extreme measures.

For example, The Freese Method has about 100-150 grams of carbs per day in the form of veggies, fruits, beans, nuts, seeds, dairy, and lentils.  It varies a lot day to day, but it’s never close to the 20 grams needed to be in full ketosis.

We eat about 30-35 grams of fiber per day from our healthy carbs and we still burn 3-4 inches of belly fat in 12-weeks which is comparable to the results from keto.

You can still control your insulin very, very well without ever going in and out of ketosis.

Which makes the Freese Method suitable to feed your whole family. From small kids to more mature husbands, everyone eats the same low-inflammatory, insulin controlling diet and gets healthier.  

Your husband's blood pressure will get better.  But everyone eats the same meals.

With the flexibility to eat normal food, you can go out to eat, you can have people over or go to their houses without being the food weirdo.

Keto is mainly used short-term for quick weight loss and weight maintenance is difficult.  You cycle on and off again trying to control your weight.

With The Freese Method, your weight maintenance actually becomes easier over time.  The more healthy and balanced your metabolism, not just your insulin, but your mitochondria, your dopamine, your hunger, the easier it is for your body to maintain your new low body set point like a thermostat.

The Freese Method’s strength is the ability to maintain your weight loss without a bunch of fuss, stress, supplements, or weird stuff.

You don’t need special bread. You don’t need special low-carb this or that. 

Do you see how the Freese Method is different?

Listen, I don’t harp on keto because it does address the insulin problem that most of America is suffering from.

It’s not what I teach because it’s not a long-term solution for most of us.  

We need fiber.

We need flexibility.

We need social eating.

We need to enjoy our food.

We need carbs.

We need a better relationship with food, not a more strict and complicated one.

You can still burn a ton of body fat without ever going into ketosis or eating this extreme, so why would we!?

What you learn in the Freese Method is not a short-term diet. It’s a repair process that turns into a life-long eating pattern that is sustainable, delicious, sociably easy, and flexible. 

That’s what I want for myself, so that’s what I believe you deserve too.

Now, if you’ve tried keto and didn’t see great results, don’t fret.

I know why. If you have tried low-carb or keto and didn’t get great results, we should talk.  The Freese Method contains the missing steps and repair work that diets don’t address.  So if keto or low-carb didn’t work or didn’t work that well, the Freese Method will work.

So that’s great news!

Remember, you absolutely have what it takes to lose weight, you just need to repair your metabolism first!