At 35 years old Roslyn Cure weighed 300lbs.

Her weight put so much stress on her joints that doctors predicted she would need knee and hip replacements before she hit 40.

“I remember it took me 20 minutes to climb a flight of 13 stairs to my door and I was in pain when I got there,” she said.

At 36, she had gastric bypass surgery and lost 100lbs over eight months but then got stuck in a cycle, repeatedly gaining and losing 25lbs.

“My weight plateaued but I still had 60lbs left to lose,” the 52-year-old said. “In January 2019, I saw an associate of mine and was intrigued because she had lost a lot of weight. I asked her what she had done and she said the keto diet."

The idea of eating low-carb, high-fat meals did not appeal to her at all but eventually she gave in because she was “sick and tired of being sick and tired”.

“To my amazement, it worked,” said Ms Cure, who had been warned she might suffer flu-like symptoms while her body adjusted to the change. “I felt fantastic. My motto is healing from the inside out. That is exactly what happened.

“For the first month your body is just trying to adjust. I never experienced the keto flu. I was really happy about that. I just jumped in cold turkey and had no symptoms. I was losing inches drastically.”

She plunged to a size 12, the smallest she has ever been in her adult life.

People starting asking her what she had done to lose the weight; Ms Cure happily told anyone who would listen until a family member advised her to start charging for her advice. A lightbulb went off.

She signed up for a six-month keto coach certification course and completed it in three weeks.

“I was just very determined to get it done,” she said, explaining how the certification enabled her to launch her coaching business, Ketogenic Optimal Life, three-and-a-half years ago.

“What I find fascinating about the keto lifestyle is that it is not just about weight loss,” she said. “It is about getting healthy. It is a high-fat diet, but it is about the type of fat that you use.”

Fats such as canola, vegetable and grapeseed oil get the red light but olive, avocado and coconut oil as well as butter, ghee, lard and tallow are all said to be OK because they lower your cholesterol and promote satiation so you eat less.

Most of her clients did not know any of this when they come to her for help getting started.

“A lot of them don’t know how to read labels,” Ms Cure said. “They don’t know how certain sugars or certain fibres or carbohydrates interplay with fruit and vegetables.

“When it comes to carbohydrates you have to have fibre. Instead of looking at total carbohydrates, you look at the net carbohydrates. You subtract your fibre from your carbohydrates and that becomes your net carbs. On a typical keto day you eat between 20 and 25 net carbs."

On a typical day she starts out at 5.30am with a cup of coffee, often adding heavy whipping cream and MCT oil, a supplement made from a man-made fat.

“That helps you to go into ketosis,” she said. “I will not eat until 10am or 11am and I am fine.”

Lunch might be chilli with no beans, but lots of meat, peppers and scallions or a crustless quiche.

“If someone wants a cheeseburger they can have that but they have to wrap it in lettuce instead of the roll,” she said.

She makes keto rolls using almond flour and psyllium husks, a type of fibrous low-carb wheat. They weigh in at two net carbs compared with the 26 net carbs found in the average hamburger roll.

“A typical dinner would be any type of meat – the fatter the better – with a vegetable medley,” Ms Cure said. “Greens, peppers, yellow squash, zucchini, egg plants, radishes, scallions, broccoli and cauliflower are my go-to. I have a vertical garden so right now I'm harvesting some of my produce.”

Keto followers frown on orange vegetables except for spaghetti squash, because they are high in sugar.

“I love to use bacon grease with my vegetables as it gives them great flavour,” she said.

As so many of her clients were asking to taste her food, Ms Cure started a catering arm.

The Keto Yum Kitchen offers desserts and cakes and other keto-friendly foods.

It has been so well received that she spends more time cooking than coaching.

“I am trying to expand it more, so that I can help other people,” she said.

Ms Cure charges $75 for a 45-minute consultation. She also offers a six-week workshop for $525.

For more information see Ketogenic Optimal Life on Facebook; RoslynCure@gmail.com; 747-3692