I had been passively aware of the keto diet for years before I decided to take the plunge and try it for myself. Besides the cognitive dissonance of challenging literally everything I believed to be true about nutrition at the time, I found it a little overwhelming trying to figure out what was allowed and what was off limits on the keto diet. I knew that meat was generally ok, but I was skeptical of whether or not I would be ok with ditching the carb-loaded sides that I had grown accustomed to.