Author: Sevi Rutgrink - Keto Coaching

Edit: translated from Dutch

I hesitated for a bit if I wanted to share my story here, but in the end I decided I wanted to pass on how Sevi has helped me so others can benefit from it as well.

I recently switched to the keto lifestyle after six years of being a very convinced vegan. I gradually started to eat less and less animal products at the time, at first for no apparent reason, later on I became convinced that animal products were simply not good for my health. And for the first few years I felt amazing: I lost weight and kept it off, I had a lot of energy and I felt very ‘fresh’, for lack of a better word.

It felt really good, I also felt like I was doing so much better than other people. But the last couple of years I started to feel not so good: I slept badly, had less energy, my training suffered and I often walked around for days with a very bloated stomach. I also noticed that after eating fruit for example I sometimes got bad stomach aches on top of the bloated feeling.

I never blamed it on my diet, until my personal trainer mentioned he thought I was losing muscle mass. And that scared the hell out of me. We had a good conversation about it and he asked me if I really wanted to stay vegan. Strangely enough, despite six years of veganism, I didn’t even have to think about it for that long: I wanted to be healthy, and apparently I wasn’t anymore while being vegan.

I ended up consulting Sevi on the advice of a friend, I have several friends who also do keto, so the lifestyle wasn’t completely new for me. But I wanted proper guidance, especially because I came from such a different way of eating. I had already set myself up for eating animal products again, I had even started eating eggs prior to the coaching, so it surprised me that Sevi initially indicated that vegan keto was still an option. I considered that for a bit but with vegan keto the question remained if I could properly build up muscle mass so I just went for regular keto.

In six weeks time Sevi helped me to rebuild my health. Remarkably, the bloating was gone after one week, I really didn’t expect that to happen. I also notice that I sleep better and I have a lot more energy for my training.
The daily support and the conversations were exactly what I needed. I have a tendency to want to do everything right from the get go and and that caused me to not take enough time to let my body get used to eating meat and fish. That’s why Sevi’s daily talks were so good, it helped me to understand better that I could AND should take it easy. She also knows a lot, I could already tell at my  intake that she has a lot of experience.

Those six weeks have given me a very good basis to continue keto on my own. I can really recommend keto coaching, not just for specific situations such as mine, but for anyone who wants to do keto properly. And Sevi is the best choice as far as I’m concerned.

Edit: translated from Dutch

Two years ago I moved from Amsterdam to Brussels for my job and in that time I have simply gained a lot of weight. I have a very demanding and busy job which requires me to travel and network quite a bit. I simply can not skip the many lunches, dinners and after work drinks. The spare time I do have I honestly do not spend on healthy cooking at home and I also fail to schedule in time for exercise.

A close friend suggested I try the keto diet. The first thing I did was look up some information online and I joined a few Facebook groups but to be honest, that did not suit me at all. I just wanted to get the correct information for my personal situation and in those groups the information can be quite confusing, to say the least. There was also just too much going on in those groups, I was at times quite taken aback by how people acted.

Keto coaching with Sevi was just what I was looking for: she could schedule me in quickly and she was available at precisely the times when I needed help or had questions. Her help was also very much to the point. The coach calls via FaceTime were very convenient: no travel needed but the contact we had still felt very personal.

I am doing really well right now, it is not just that I lost the extra weight but I also have a much better balance between work and home when it comes to my eating. This type of keto coaching is absolutely worth its money.

I often get approached on social media by people who want to ask me a question about the keto lifestyle. It is great that they have found me and that is why I am always happy to answer.

It also regularly results in even more questions. Especially questions about how they can apply keto to improve their own health. And then it quickly becomes clear that these people actually need something more than just an answer to a question: personal coaching. But the cost of this then suddenly appears to be something of a stumbling block.

The reality

But should the actual cost of keto coaching really be such an issue? Because this is what I hear:

‘I understand all too well well that the cost of keto coaching has to fit into your budget, but what do you spend per month on your hairdresser?’

‘Approximately €100, but that includes colouring’.

‘And do you ever go to the beauty salon, how much does that cost?‘

‘Also every month, I think about €65, depending on the treatment.‘

‘And do you happen to have a subscription to the gym?‘

‘Yes but that only costs €20 per month.‘

‘So all in all you spend almost €200 per month on your looks and sports. But to what extent do these things help you resolve your real issues: the bad health you mentioned earlier for example? And has it helped you lose weight?‘

The answer is always ‘It does not help’.

Always keep your personal health goals in mind

A nice haircut, a lovely massage and weekly exercise, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. And we tend to spend quite a bit of money on it. But for some reason when it comes to real health improvement our budgets do not stretch enough.

Personal daily coaching gives you all the tools and information you need to work on permanent weight loss and optimal health.

So ask yourself what matters: those recurring monthly costs for things that do not help you achieve your goal? Or a good investment in your health?

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I often get asked this question by people on a standard diet:

Should I always avoid grains, even if I am not experiencing any symptoms of a gluten sensitivity?

Well, yes.

Research shows that gluten negatively impact your gut lining, creating an intestinal permeability also known as leaky gut. This can happen even if you do not have actual celiac disease. Symptoms of leaky gut may also not appear immediately, they build up gradually over a longer period of time. So if you are feeling fine now, that does not mean it will stay that way always.

The lining of your gut is designed to keep food, waste, and microbes safely inside your digestive tract. Gluten however cause the release of an inflammatory protein called zonulin. This zonulin opens up the junctions in the lining of the gut and then causes gaps. These gaps then allow particles to leak into your bloodstream, where they obviously do not belong. Your body will then get an immune response. And this immune response starts off systemic inflammation.

This alone is of course enough reason to stop consuming gluten. But there are other reasons as well:

• there are new forms of hybridized wheat, also known as dwarf wheat, that contain amylopectin, a super starch which is worse than sugar;
• they contain the inflammatory gliadin protein;
• the presence of a weed killer commonly used called glyphosate;
• a preservative often used called calcium propionate, which is linked to mood, behavior and attention problems

The fact of the matter is: we don’t need grains. The human body has evolved through eating animal proteins and fats, with the occasional seasonal vegetables and low carb fruits. Our modern forms of wheat and gluten especially cause inflammation, autoimmune disease, digestive disorders, and obesity.

And always remember: grains increase your blood sugar, especially when they come in the form of flours.

Edit: translated from Dutch

My name is Jos, 52 years old, married for 23 years and father of 3 children. I have always been very much into sports: I played soccer when I was young, went running almost everyday and did a lot of road biking. I have a demanding job and when I wasn’t with my family I really preferred to spend my free time exercising. Good for the mind, but also good for the body. I have always been reasonably slim.

When I turned 49, I suddenly got several injuries, it all happened at the same time: my knees started to bother me while running and my back started to play up while cycling. My GP thought I should take it easy for a bit and also referred me to a physiotherapist. Unfortunately I am very stubborn and, against the advice of the physiotherapist, I started running again too fast. And guess what, those injuries came back and they hit twice as hard this time round. So all of a sudden I was really stuck at home, with no prospect of getting rid of those injuries any time soon.

I’m the first to admit that I made eating my new hobby. I did go for a walk every day, but at home I took up cooking and then of course eating. But I also started eating outside of those meals. Sweet or savoury, I didn’t care as long as I could eat. So I gained quite a bit of weight.

My wife started to make remarks about my weight and she wanted me to have myself checked by the GP. That check-up gave me a bit of a shock: blood pressure on the higher side, high blood sugar and of course very much overweight. ‘More exercise, less food’ that is what the GP told me. That bit of advice was not of much use to me because I still couldn’t exercise because of those injuries. I did try to eat less but I really found that an ordeal. I kept that up for two days at the most and after that I was back to eating everything in sight.

A good friend of my wife then told me that she had switched to the keto lifestyle, also for her health, and that after a few months without results she started coaching with Sevi . She really praised not just the lifestyle itself but also Sevi’s coaching so I signed up a week later for an eight week program. Mind you, I really didn’t know anything about keto but I thought ‘I’ll see how it goes’.

Sevi told me that to get healthy again and lose weight exercise really isn’t necessary: it’s great to get your body moving but if exercise is out of the question following the keto lifestyle is enough. Of course that was at odds with what the GP had told me but after a couple of weeks I noticed that Sevi was right. I had lost a good deal of weight already and not once felt hungry. When I went for a check-up with my GP after four weeks it turned out that my blood pressure and blood sugar were back to normal. That it would happen so fast really came as a surprise. But what surprised me the most: keto is just REALLY good food. I also loved to try out all those new keto recipes.

I couldn’t have done this without Sevi’s help. Because it was all so new to me, and my wife didn’t know anything about it either, I had so many questions every day. So it’s really nice that all you have to do is send a WhatsApp and get an answer straight away. The coach calls were also great. Not just because I could ask even more questions but also because Sevi really listens to you during those conversations and understands when you are having a hard time with something. I definitely learned a lot about nutrition and how my body works. All in all a very valuable experience.