#071 Does Your Body Hate Keto? with Allie Bittner

By March 8, 2019

Does Your Body Hate Keto? #healthfulpursuit #fatfueled #lowcarb #keto #ketogenic #lowcarbpaleo #theketodiet

Steps to support your digestive function without a gallbladder, tips to maintain healthy digestion on keto, foods that don’t work well without a gallbladder, and so much more.

Let’s say you’ve made the switch to keto and you’re loving it … but your body isn’t on board. You might experience pain, bloating, and other symptoms of gastric distress after chowing down on a fatty meal. Maybe you’ve made some adjustments, tried some new things, but you’re still just stuck.

Figuring out what works best for your body is a process, and it’s not always an easy one. When it comes to stomaching the fat, your body might need some extra support, especially if you have a compromised gallbladder, or no gallbladder at all!

In today’s podcast, I chat with our guest, Allie Bittner, who is able to do keto without a gallbladder thanks to the help of a few supplements and some digestive hacks.

This episode is all about how to improve your digestive function and supplement your keto diet with or without a gallbladder, what foods to avoid when you have trouble digesting fat, gallbladder removal recovery, and more.

Let’s get to the interview!

For podcast transcript, scroll down.

Show Notes + Links

Timestamps

  • Signs that your gallbladder is imbalanced (15:53)
  • Regretting gallbladder removal (23:24)
  • How to recover after gallbladder removal (26:31)

Want some quick tips in a short and sweet visual format? Allie made this awesome info graphic to help get your body on board for fat burning!

Share this image on Pinterest to spread the gut-friendly goodness!

How to Supplement for Keto When You Can't Stomach the Fat

Transcript for This Episode

Leanne Vogel: You’re listening to Episode Number 71 of The Keto Diet Podcast. Today we’re chatting about steps to support your digestive function without a gall bladder, signs that your gallbladder is imbalanced on your ketogenic diet, regretting gallbladder removal, and how to recover after you’ve decided to get gallbladder removal, so stay tuned.

Hey, I’m Leanne from HealthfulPursuit.com, and this is The Keto Diet Podcast. Keto is a low-carb, high-fat diet where we’re switching from a sugar-burning state to becoming fat-burning machines. Starting keto and maintaining it long-term can be quite a challenge if you don’t feel supported.

My 60-day program, The Keto Bundle, provides you with clear, step-by-step how-to on successfully adapting to a ketogenic diet, avoiding common ketogenic struggles, and healing your body completely and fully with a ketogenic diet. Go to HealthfulPursuit.com/bundle, and use the coupon code PODCAST all in caps, no spaces to get 10% off your order, exclusive for podcast listeners only. Now, let’s get this party started.

Hey guys. Happy Sunday. The show notes and full transcript for today’s episode can be found at HealthfulPursuit.com/podcast/e71. The transcript is added to the post about three to five days following the initial air date of this episode. And let’s hear from one of our awesome partners.

The podcast is partnered with Wolfe Clinic Royal Flora, my choice in soil-based probiotics. Soil-based probiotics are a fabulously effective approach to repopulating the gut. The soil-based organisms are cultured in declayed plant matter free from pesticides, chemicals, and toxins. Unlike conventional probiotics, which have a shortened shelf life, are vulnerable to stomach acid, weakened by processing methods, and less likely to reconstitute or colonize the GI tract to the level we need it, soil-based probiotics are alive and thriving, meaning they colonize along the entire GI tract, rapidly forming into the bacteria your body needs most as soon as it interacts with saliva.

Soil-based probiotics from Wolfe Clinic, called Royal Flora, is my choice in soil-based probiotic and my gut has never felt less bloated. I’m not reacting to foods in the way that I used to. For example, spaghetti squash, I can eat it no problem. It’s great. US and Canadian listeners receive 20% off when you order from HealthfulPursuit.com/gut. Use the coupon code GUT all in caps, no spaces, for the 20% discount to be applied to your order.

I’ve got an awesome giveaway in store for all of you podcast listeners just to thank you guys for listening every single week. You can enter to win a bone broth bundle from my friends at Kettle & Fire. The bundle includes six boxes of bone broth. You get two of each flavor, chicken, beef, and chicken and mushroom. You’ll be stocked up. Get it? That’s totally a bad joke, but the giveaway is awesome.

Here’s how to enter. All you got to do is go to HealthfulPursuit.com/review and leave a review for the podcast. Enter in a star rating and add a couple of words and totally be honest, and then screenshot that review and email it to info(at)ketodietpodcast.com. A winner will be randomly drawn and announced on February 11th, so make sure that you’re following me on Instagram @healthfulpursuit. We’ll also send the winner an email. This giveaway is open to US listeners only. Again, you have until February 11th to enter, so head on over to HealthfulPursuit.com/review to leave your review and then email us at info(at)ketodietpodcast.com to let us know that you did enter and good luck!

I’ve put together a free 26-page recipe booklet on how to prepare carb up meals just for you guys. You can get it at HealthfulPursuit.com/carbup. If you’re intrigued by carb ups, a practice that can help you balance hormones, bust through weight plateaus, and so much more, this free guide will show you which foods are safe for a carb up and how to prepare each item super easily. You can get the free guide with over 50 complete recipes at HealthfulPursuit.com/carbup.

Okay. I’ve just got one announcement today, and that is if you like today’s episode, you may also really like our gut episode that we did way back in Episode 3, so if you want more gut related digestive conversations, head back to Episode 3 of The Keto Diet Podcast.

Today’s guest, her name is Allie Bittner. She’s a full-time graphic designer living just outside of Philadelphia. After having her gallbladder removed at age 16, Allie gained over 100 pounds in less than a year and experienced various health obstacles until finding a whole foods approach to keto at age 22. With the help of supplements, Allie is able to enjoy a keto lifestyle and channel her focus and creativity into building a wholly vibrant and beautifully colorful life.

So today’s episode is going to be really, really great for people that feel like their body hates keto. Maybe you’re running to the toilet every time you eat too much fat, or maybe you’re having pain underneath your right shoulder blade constantly since you’ve been eating keto and you’re wondering what the heck is going on. That is your gallbladder and it’s just telling you that you may not be digesting your fat properly. So today’s episode will give you some tools on how to support your body so that you can do your ketogenic diet successfully. Without further ado, let’s cut over to this interview.

The Keto Diet Podcast, including show notes and links provides information in respect to healthy living, recipes, nutrition, and diet and is intended for informational purposes only. The information provided is not a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment, nor is it to be construed as such. We cannot guarantee that the information provided on The Keto Diet Podcast reflects the most up-to-date medical research. Information is provided without any representations or warranties of any kind. Please consult a qualified physician for medical advice and always seek the advice of a qualified healthcare provider with any questions you may have regarding your health and nutrition program.

Hey Allie. How’s it going?

Allie Bittner: I’m doing great. How are you today?

Leanne Vogel: I’m so good. Thanks for coming on the show.

Allie Bittner: Thank you so much for having me. I’m so excited to be here.

Leanne Vogel: So for listeners that may not be familiar with you, why don’t you start off by telling us a little bit about yourself?

Allie Bittner: Sure. Absolutely. I am a graphic designer living and working just outside of Philadelphia. I’m from a crazy family of all girls. And I love the keto diet. When I’m not working on design, I’m probably playing video games or cooking in the kitchen.

Leanne Vogel: I love it. What kind of video games to you play?

Allie Bittner: I’m a hardcore PC gamer. My dad kind of raised me on PC games, so I’m a bit of a nerd when it comes to stuff like that.

Leanne Vogel: I love it, totally. That’s awesome. My husband was really into PC games until he met me and then I just took up too much of his time and he never gets to play anymore.

Allie Bittner: I have the same fear about a relationship. I think it might take me away from my gaming.

Leanne Vogel: Yeah. It likely will, I’m sorry to say. So how did you find keto? Let’s start there.

Allie Bittner: Oh, that’s such a fun question. I found keto unexpectedly. My older sister has PCOS and she found keto and introduced me to the concept, but the first time I ever heard about keto, I immediately ruled it off because I don’t have a gallbladder. So I heard it’s this high fat diet, and my first thought is, “I don’t have a gallbladder. I can’t do this. It’s not an option for me.” And my second thought was, “You’re eating a diet consisting entirely of fat. You’re crazy.” So that was my first introduction to the keto lifestyle. And I thought she was crazy for a little while longer, and she was really passionate about keto and I didn’t quite understand the diet at the time. But she encouraged me to try it out, and she let me know that it had worked for other people without a gallbladder.

So I was paleo for a really long time, and through struggling with some weight loss issues, I decided to give it a shot. And once I finally gave it a shot, I failed miserably the first time. And then I tried again, and I noticed an insane amount of mental clarity and focus and emotional stability. And those were really the kinds of feelings that sold me on the diet altogether.

Leanne Vogel: How did you adjust the ketogenic diet to work for your gallbladder? Did you do anything differently? Is that why you failed the first time?

Allie Bittner: I’m honestly not sure why I failed so hard the first time. I had the worst cast of keto flu. I think I maybe went a little too hard too fast. And because I don’t have a gallbladder, maybe it was a little bit more taxing on my body. But once I tried it the second time, I found that including supplements really changed my experience and I was able to digest the fat a lot better.

Leanne Vogel: That’s awesome. And is there anything that you do now on a daily basis kind of keeping gallbladder stuff and fat digestion in mind when you’re eating keto?

Allie Bittner: Absolutely. I think about digestion all the time. I like to call myself a poop whisperer, because you kind of have to be on top of that to tackle the whole digestion issue. I think about my digestion all of the time because I really have to approach my gut health from a well rounded perspective now that I don’t have a gallbladder. I like to think of it as my digestive system is now down a teammate, so all of the other players have to pick up the slack. And because of that, I try to nurture my gut health from a well rounded perspective, so including things like probiotics and not over consuming alcohol, not going crazy with different types of food all at one time.

I try to think about it as much as I can. And now that I am in a routine with keto, I don’t have to think about it as much. But I find myself always learning new things about my body as time goes on.

Leanne Vogel: Love it. And you mentioned a little bit having … Did you say, “poo whisperer”? Is that what you called it?

Allie Bittner: Poop whisperer. Yes.

Leanne Vogel: I love it. What does that mean for you? Are you checking out the consistencies of your bowel movements? I’d love to get into that because I’m a nutritionist and love talking about poo.

Allie Bittner: Absolutely. This is funny because I’m a graphic designer and I work in an office where all of us have really comfortable conversations about it, so it’s really funny to hear that. I’ll have to tell my coworkers.

But I am definitely checking out what’s going on every time I go, but also just paying attention to what my body feels like in the process. A lot of the time, if I have a stomach pain, I know that might not be the best, and I’ll think of what I ate. Keeping a food journal and kind of comparing each bowel movement to what’s going on in my diet every day, that’s really helpful. I would say that’s probably the most helpful thing that I do to try to monitor it.

Leanne Vogel: Amazing. So your daily routine, you’re checking out your poo. You’re making sure that things are in check. You’re eating a lot of probiotics. Are there any other things that you do in a typical day that’s maybe a little bit more unique than just a classic keto person that has their gallbladder?

Allie Bittner: I don’t think that there’s anything really super unique. I think that now I have a really good grasp of what it means to take care of my body without a gallbladder and it comes pretty naturally. It’s not something that I have to be super adamant about all the time. It’s just second nature.

Leanne Vogel: Love it. Do you notice what certain keto foods slow down your digestion more than others? Like, when you are watching your digestion and making sure things are working well, do you find that there’s just certain foods that don’t work well for you?

Allie Bittner: For sure. I was paleo for a really long time, so I wasn’t consuming dairy, but I just recently started to try incorporating dairy again. And I think that tends to slow down my digestion a lot. I was surprised by it. I didn’t expect it to slow down my digestion as much as it did, but dairy definitely slows it down.

Leanne Vogel: Are there any other things, like certain fibers or any sorts of fats? Or is it just specifically dairy? How lucky are you? That’s awesome.

Allie Bittner: It could be more than that. I’m still exploring the possibility, especially with things like flaxseeds or other nuts that might be phytonutrients, kind of trying to experiment and see what my body is like when I cut back on them versus when I’m consuming a lot of it. Still, in that experimentation phase with figuring it all out, and I still keep a food journal. I’ve been keeping a food journal forever, so trying to find all the answers still. I think it will always be an evolving process.

Leanne Vogel: I think it always is. I always thought that there would be this perfect time where I wouldn’t have to care anymore and I would just have it all figured out. And as soon as that sort of happens, something else changes and I have to adjust it. Yeah. It’s constantly evolving, I find. So it’s cool that you are experimenting with your body and just trying to explore different avenues. I think that journaling can be really helpful for people to kind of say, “Flaxseeds did this. Did it do it again? Did it do it again?” And kind of piecing it all together from there, so that’s awesome.

Allie Bittner: Absolutely. It’s been so helpful for me and it’s one of those things that, it doesn’t have to be a constant. It’s something that I can pick up when I really need it the most and come back to time and time again.

Leanne Vogel: More of my interview with Allie Bittner after this message from one of our podcast partners.

I love being Canadian, the home of the true north, strong and free, but gosh am I jealous that y’all in the US get access to Thrive Market. For all of my pals south of the border, my friends at Thrive Market are offering you $20 off your first three boxes of groceries, plus free shipping and a 30-day free trial. That’s a total of $60 in savings, equivalent of over three tubs of collagen, or over four free pounds of cacao butter, or get this, a half years supply of free digestive enzymes, all for switching to Thrive Market for your online grocery needs.

So on top of their everyday wholesale prices, the extra $60 off your first three orders, plus free shipping, you’re going to transform a regular $100 grocery run into an $80 Thrive Market order for three months in a row, for the same amount of things. Go to ThriveMarket.com/keto to get your instant $60 off, free shipping and a free 30-day membership. This offer is available to new Thrive Market customers only, and if you’re unsure of the link, simply check out the show notes for today’s episode to get all of the details.

Do you have any warning signs, like maybe when you were testing around with dairy and figured out it wasn’t good for you? Did you find that there was a specific warning sign, like I don’t know, your liver hurt, or your stomach hurt a whole lot, or you got diarrhea, like warning signs that a food doesn’t work for you because you don’t have a gallbladder?

Allie Bittner: I think it comes back to the poop whispering for me, just seeing how often I’m going, how my stomach is feeling while it’s digesting, if there are any changes in my digestion. For me, digestion is really the best way for me to tell. I’ve never been the most intuitive about the functions of my body, or where my organs are, or anything like that. So having the ability to monitor something a little more tangible has really worked for me.

Leanne Vogel: That’s awesome. Do you now practice a carb up practice with your ketogenic practice? Or do you eat strictly low carb all of the time?

Allie Bittner: I love carb ups. I don’t do them regularly right now, but I was for a really long time. I would say maybe five months I was having weekly carb ups. And I absolutely love them. I will still have carb ups if I feel like I need to just get a fresh start, or there’s a family event that I don’t want to skip out on, I’ll have a carb up. But yeah, I absolutely do practice them.

Leanne Vogel: Awesome. We chatted a little bit about supplements, namely probiotics. Are there other supplements that you take to support your body because one of your teammates is down in your digestive team?

Allie Bittner: Absolutely. I have two MVPs in my squad.

Leanne Vogel: Love it.

Allie Bittner: Ox bile and digestive enzymes, those are my two main supplements for being keto without a gallbladder. So I take ox bile and my digestive enzymes before I eat. It depends on the brand. Sometimes it’s after you eat. Sometimes it’s before. But I take them with every single meal and I really notice that they make a difference.

Leanne Vogel: Awesome. And how did you figure out that this was the right supplement for you? Are there specific brands that you like more than others?

Allie Bittner: I have honestly tried a slew of brands. I just kind of grab whatever is accessible with good reviews at a great price. That’s kind of my thing. Whatever’s on Amazon and is pretty popular with everyone else seems to be a good choice for me. And I’ve been taking them for maybe about six … I was going to say six years, but I’ve been taking them for a lot longer than that. So I’ve swapped between all different kinds of brands. As long as I look at the reviews, everything tends to work out. But I do use the Nutricology brand of ox bile right now. And I’m using Source Naturals digestive enzymes. But I’ve also used Now Foods Super Enzymes and they’ve worked really well for me as well.

Leanne Vogel: Okay. I will include links to all of those things in the show notes today if people are curious. I know of all those brands, so ace. You said that you started this supplementation quite a while ago. Were there certain ones that you had to ease yourself into, like ox bile, or did you kind of just go all in and hope for the best?

Allie Bittner: Sometimes I still have to go easy with them. It is a balancing act for sure. I definitely had to ease in when I was first starting. So for anyone who is interested in starting them, I would recommend starting with a lower dose and working your way into it. I take maybe one of each with a lighter meal and two of each with a heavier meal. Like Thanksgiving, it was prime time to take two of each, so I absolutely did.

Leanne Vogel: That’s a good tip and something I actually forgot to do myself for years. I used to do that about seven years ago and just totally forgot until you said that, so brilliant. I totally forgot I used to do that with my digestive enzymes and it worked like ace, so that’s a great tip. For ox bile, some people say that their blood pressure changes with ox bile supplementation. Have you ever experienced this?

Allie Bittner: Honestly, I haven’t. My blood pressure tends to run low on its own. So if it made any dent in my blood pressure, it might not have been too noticeable. I haven’t noticed it myself.

Leanne Vogel: In your enzymes, do you know if you have hydrochloric acid or HCL in them? Have you ever supplemented with it separately?

Allie Bittner: I have never supplemented with HCL separately. I don’t think I have it in my current brand of enzymes, but I do recall seeing it in enzymes in the past, so I’m not sure. It’s something that I should definitely look into. I’m interested to learn more.

Leanne Vogel: Yeah. I used to take it a long time ago, but the one that I took had fenugreek in it and I’m anaphylactic to peanuts, and I didn’t know that fenugreek and peanuts are cross relative allergies. So anyone listening, if you are allergic to legumes, peanuts included, and you find and HCL with fenugreek in it, please don’t try it. You could probably kill yourself. I did almost three times, and I was in the hospital three separate times in anaphylactic shock, so I wouldn’t recommend that for people, so definitely check out your HCL supplements. I wish somebody would’ve told me this because it cost me a lot of money to go to the hospital three times and not know what it was. It was horrible.

Okay. So you’ve tried a lot of different types of supplements. You mentioned just jumping on Amazon and finding the best reviewed ones, and that many of them worked. Was there ever a supplement that didn’t work? And kind of what was the symptom of that if that was the case?

Allie Bittner: I’m trying to think back to times where supplements may not have worked, and I’ve been through so much distress with my stomach, but nothing comes up front of mind for me. I’m sure that I have had experiences, but it’s kind of all a wash in my memories between all the different medical things and all the supplements I’ve tried out.

Leanne Vogel: Dumping syndrome, gallbladder. Have you ever had that?

Allie Bittner: I haven’t had dumping syndrome myself. I have had a few friends how have experienced dumping syndrome. I very well could have and I just don’t remember. I know that my friends who have experienced dumping syndrome have found success with bile salts. That seems to be a common thread, but I can’t speak to it from my personal experience.

Leanne Vogel: That’s totally fine. Okay. So let’s dig a little bit deeper into kind of your keto experience and overall, especially the case that you don’t have a gallbladder. Is there anything that you wish you knew before you started keto, looking back? Like, “Oh man, I wish I would’ve known these three things.”

Allie Bittner: Not so much before starting keto, but there’s definitely things that I wish I knew before I had my gallbladder removed. But my older sister was such a wealth of information when I transitioned to keto. She got me The Keto Diet book and that became my Bible when I was transitioning, so I had all the resources there at that time in my life. But the time in my life where I was looking into gallbladder surgery, I had hardly any resources.

Leanne Vogel: Okay. I’m going to bite and ask you. What do you wish you would’ve known before you had your gallbladder removed? Would you have gone through with the surgery knowing what you know now? Or how would you approached it differently?

Allie Bittner: Interestingly enough, I don’t think I would’ve gone through with the surgery knowing what I know now. After I had my gallbladder removed, I still experienced a lot of the same trouble that I had before the surgery, and that was really disheartening. But mostly around the time where I was considering having my gallbladder removed, I wasn’t given a lot of information and I don’t think I took the time to find a doctor who I trusted. And I think those two things would’ve made a huge difference, because once I got my gallbladder removed, I started to do the research I should’ve done before.

And I learned things like, your gallbladder serves function in the body. I didn’t even know that. I thought it’s just this organ that we don’t need. Our body doesn’t use it. It just kind of sits there. No doctor ever told me it wasn’t the case. So there’s just a lot of missing links, a lot of misinformation. I was about 16 years old, so I wasn’t the most proactive in my health. And in hindsight, I think that the doctors didn’t inform me as well as they should have before I proceeded with the operation.

Leanne Vogel: That’s really scary that they didn’t explain that. I mean, I’ve met lots of people where they get a hysterectomy and they thought it was no big deal. And the doctor’s like, “No big deal, totally fine,” and they don’t even talk about what they’re doing and what they’re taking out and how that’s going to affect them, so that’s pretty scary.

More of my interview with Allie Bittner after this message from one of our podcast partners.

This show is partnered up with paleovalley, the makers of the only 100% grass fed and finished fermented beef stick. Each stick contains one billion probiotic CFUs, and we all know how important fermented foods are to the health of our gut and the strength of our immune system, as well as boosting overall energy. Chowing down on paleovalley’s fermented beef sticks provides your body with all of the beneficial bacteria it loves in one convenient little stick. Their gut friendly sticks are gluten free, soy free, dairy free, GMO free, freaky chemical, additive, dye, and preservative free, as well as being 100% free from carbs and sugar, and made with the highest quality ingredients.

Exclusive to listeners of the show, you can receive an instant savings of 20% off paleovalley fermented beef stick snacks by going to paleovalley.com/keto, and if your jaw is tired just thinking about beef jerky, I gotta tell you that these tasty treats are not tough at all, but moist, with a little snap. Again, that’s paleovalley.com/keto, for an instant 20% off savings, and if you’re unsure of the link, simply check out the show notes of today’s episode to get all of the details.

Now if anyone is listening right now to our conversation and they’ve recently had gallbladder surgery, is there anything that you would say to them about the recovery process, or how to overcome anything, or tips and tools that you learned that you wish you would’ve known sooner?

Allie Bittner: Absolutely. The most difficult thing I experienced after I had my gallbladder removed was weight gain. There are tons of other things that happen when you get your gallbladder taken out too, but as a woman and as a 16 year old at the time, that was definitely top of my mind. So I was gaining a lot of weight and I wasn’t being very forgiving of myself. So my biggest advice to somebody who has just gone through gallbladder surgery is to give yourself time to not be so hard on yourself if you experience any symptoms that you weren’t expecting afterward. And then once you feel empowered in your body without the gallbladder, to take the appropriate steps to really nurture your gut health so you can be in the best shape possible moving forward.

Leanne Vogel: Amazing. I love that. And I’ll include links, too, to some gut health episodes that we’ve done in the past, and videos and things like that, if people are curious and they want more information. You also put together a little gallbladder guide, is that right? For like a little infographic?

Allie Bittner: That’s right. I’ve created a little infographic all about supplementing without a gallbladder and supplementing when you can’t stomach the fat.

Leanne Vogel: That’s awesome. Where can people get it? Because that’s cool.

Allie Bittner: Absolutely. People can get it on my website at www.kisscreative.co/blog/keto. So super easy, it’ll be right there.

Leanne Vogel: Okay. We’ll include a link in the show notes so you guys can check that out. I can’t wait because you’re an awesome designer and that’ll be great. I can’t wait to see it.

Allie Bittner: Thanks so much.

Leanne Vogel: Okay. My next question for you has to do with your mental health and digestive health, because I know that you really care about your digestive health. Have you found that your mental health and your digestive health are tied together? Do you find your digestion is a little bit off when you’re having a bad day, or vice versa?

Allie Bittner: Big time. Big time. I never really appreciated the link between my mental health and my digestive health when I was growing up. And I think that’s a big part of what landed me on the operating table. I didn’t have gall stones. I didn’t have any of the more apparent gallbladder issues when I had my gallbladder removed. I was told that it was diseased, that I had a diseased gallbladder at the time. But when I look back on my childhood, I did not have the best diet. I remember that my mom used to give me ice cream every day before bed because she was worried I wasn’t getting enough calcium. So she was trying, but her means to an end wasn’t the most conventional.

And when I look back on the way that my diet could’ve influenced my gut health, I start to make some connections there. I was diagnosed with ADHD and depression at a really young age, and now that I’m on the keto diet and I feel such a strong sense of emotional stability, I can see where maybe my diet influenced my health as I was growing up, and how all of that kind of created, between mental health issues, gallbladder issues, everything else going on, just this swirl that didn’t lead to the best physical health.

And in hindsight, I think that if my diet had been better, my gallbladder issues wouldn’t have been so severe. So I see the connection and I feel such a strong sense of emotional stability in my diet now. If I feel like I upset my gut or upset that balance, it’s very noticeable. And if I’m struggling with something like depression and I change a few things in my diet, sometimes it can lead to dramatic results. So it’s something that I’ve only gotten to experience now that I have that perspective. I don’t think I could quite appreciate it if I didn’t have the experience of getting my gallbladder taken out.

Leanne Vogel: Yeah. It’s so true. When you look back on those things you’re like, “Shoot, maybe it would’ve been different if it would’ve been this way or that way.” But then you also look and say, “This is the way I see the world now because of these not so awesome things that happened to me,” so it’s really challenging to decide whether or not you’d want that in your life still because it kind of made the person you are today.

Allie Bittner: Absolutely. That’s how I feel about it. As much as I regret the surgery itself, the experience has made me who I am today because it was pretty traumatic at the time. I was a teenage girl and I didn’t want anything to do with the doctor’s office.

Leanne Vogel: Yeah. Way more important things to do at 16 then be at the doctors.

Allie Bittner: Yeah! Boys and …

Leanne Vogel: Totally amazing. My last question for you is, I like to ask all of our guest this. What do you feel is missing in the keto space for women today?

Allie Bittner: I don’t think that it’s necessarily missing from the keto space right now, but I think it’s just starting to become a part of the conversation, and that is the mental health component and the connection between what we feel and what we think and what we eat, and what we put into our body and how that affects our mental emotional state. I think that’s finally coming into the conversation and I think it’s really important for women.

And speaking of women, I think that’s another thing that’s starting to come in the conversation that is so important, and it’s how to be keto when you’re a woman, because in my experience, the experience that I’ve had being keto as a woman has been so drastically different to the experience of men.

Leanne Vogel: Yeah. Mega. We’re totally different, different, different, on every level, so that’s really cool. And where can people find you, Allie, if they want to learn more about you, see what you’re up to?

Allie Bittner: Absolutely. People can find me at kisscreative.co everywhere, all kinds of social media. And that’s where I do my business and I also have a personal Instagram where I share some of my keto meals. And it’s called @thedesigndoll.

Leanne Vogel: I love it. And the show notes and full transcript for today’s episode can be found at HealthfulPursuit.com/podcast/e71. And thanks so much for coming on the show, Allie. I really appreciate it.

Allie Bittner: Thank you so much for having me. I had such a great time.

Leanne Vogel: That does it for another episode of The Keto Diet Podcast. Thanks for listening in. You can follow me on Instagram by searching Healthful Pursuit where you’ll find daily keto eats and other fun things. Check out all of my keto supportive programs, bundles, guides and other cool things over at HealthfulPursuit.com/shop. I’ll see you next Sunday. Bye.

Healthful Pursuit Partner Guarantee

I work on finding the best products that have quality ingredients, care about their customers, and have integrity. The brand(s) I’ve shared here are awesome, and I stand behind them 100%. Opinions in this blog post are never ever influenced by the partner. Like, never!

This entry was tagged: eating high-fat, eating keto, eating low-carb, fat-adapted, health, holistic nutrition, keto, keto basics, keto diet, keto for women, keto life, ketogenic, low-carb, low-carb paleo, paleo, what is keto


Happy Keto Body Promotion - 12 Week Video Program

Hi! I’m Leanne (RHN FBCS)

a Keto Nutritionist, host of The Keto Diet Podcast, and best-selling author of The Keto Diet & Keto for Women. I want to live in a world where every woman has access to knowledge to better her health.

Read more about me...

Weekly Meal Plans