Italian Wedding Soup
 

Doesn't it have pasta in it? *Looking suspiciously at the chip eater*

A number of the epilepsy forums I’m a member of have really good Keto recipes, as well Keto safety tips (technically, unless you’re epileptic, the diet can be incredibly dangerous). I’m trying to decrease my carb intake due to health and I’m not doing so great at it. Gluten Mac and cheese does not cut it!

Absolutely, a keto diet can be unsafe if not done properly but if done properly, it is not unsafe.

The correct ratio of protein, carbohydrates and fats must be followed.

One completed study concluded that a keto diet is safe and effective, particularly for obese folks.

NIH study:

The present study shows the beneficial effects of a long-term ketogenic diet. It significantly reduced the body weight and body mass index of the patients. Furthermore, it decreased the level of triglycerides, LDL cholesterol and blood glucose, and increased the level of HDL cholesterol. Administering a ketogenic diet for a relatively longer period of time did not produce any significant side effects in the patients. Therefore, the present study confirms that it is safe to use a ketogenic diet for a longer period of time than previously demonstrated.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2716748/

More studies in the very early stages:

"The basic premise for using the ketogenic diet is that this therapy may provide neuroprotective effects in a very broad manner," explained Rho .

Results are early and often anecdotal but are impressive in their sheer range of applications. Migraines, thought to be caused in part by an energy deficiency disorder, responded favorably to ketone supplements in a preliminary study.


https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/894041_3

Oh, I probably should have been a bit clearer— I’m epileptic so the Keto diet is instrinic to my community. It’s been in the epileptic community for over a hundred years, although we’ve known about Keto for thousands. It works really well for Dravet and Lennox Gastaut Syndrome.

When done with a doctor, a patient does it with a neurologist and nutritionist. I did gluten free under my doctor a few years ago.

Protein Bars
 

I came across these in Walmart and I really like them.

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon....sL._SX355_.jpg

https://d1gh87f4j52fki.cloudfront.ne...inbarlabel.jpg

I've tried the following flavors:

– Creamy Peanut Butter
– Crunch Peanut Butter
– Brownie Crunch
– Lemon Delight

Most of them have 20g Protein and 2 to 3g Net Carbs and most of them use artificial sweeteners.

I can get them for about $1.10 a bar at Walmart.

They're very handy when I don't want to make something for breakfast or when I have craving for something sweet.

On the most part, they're tasty and filling and I'm losing weight with them in my diet.

I know some low-carb eating folk who will not mess around with sugar alcohols and net carbs, but that's the only way I can maintain a low-carb diet that's effective. It works for me.

I keep having to cut things out, like nuts and peanut butter (slight allergy). Also heavy cream (ibs). And I have never been able to digest sugar alcohols. So it's becoming a fairly Spartan diet. Fortunately I am past the craving stage. Every once in a while I feel like I have to have bread and I make carbquick drop biscuits. They're ok. But the results are good. Good blood glucose without having to take meds and some weight loss too.

I just discovered Zevia soda at my local grocery. $4.99 for a pack of six cans, so not cheap. BUT, it tastes fine, and is sweetened only by stevia. None of those other artificial sweeteners which supposedly stall weight loss and sometimes raise blood glucose levels. Also no sugar alcohols, which sadly I cannot eat without unpleasant consequences. Diet soda really saves me from sweet cravings, IMO. So glad it is back on the menu.

A question re breakfasts
 

Hello!

I'm just starting leaning my diet towards protein and lowering my carbs intake today. The one thing that I'm scratching my head over is this- is there a low-carb breakfast that doesn't involve cooking?

My usual breakfast is a handful of bran flakes with milk, or an equivalent volume of instant porridge made with powdered milk and hot water (I do not add sugar in either case, they're both quite sweet enough for me as they are straight out of the pack).

I know it's mainly my other two meals I need to work on most, just wondering whether there's an easy breakfast that might help. :-}

Good morning!

Well, your usual breakfast is very high carb, so this is going to be quite different. i can only help by saying what works for me.

i think outside of the box for breakfast. i have leftovers like a burger, or cold sausage (they come cooked already) with a piece of cheese around it. There are low carb shakes but i think they are full of alcohol sugars (you can do research not that as everyone has an opinion).

The other thing i do is on Sunday, i cook stuff to store in the fridge for the week, So i am only cooking once....... like bacon wrapped shrimp, sausages or bacon and throw the strips in a ziplock. i buy the low carb wraps and cut them in half, and use it like a taco shell stuffed with whatever..... I boil eggs and make deviled eggs for the week, or have a boiled egg with avocado in a pinch...

stuff like that

Welcome aboard !!!

That’s a hard one for me, Esme. i’ll have a protein bar, but like dee and Breathless, I sometimes prepare food ahead of time or think outside the box. Yesterday for breakfast I had a spring salad (mostly green lettuce), added leftover chicken from the night before with a balsamic salad dressing. I also like boiling eggs and keeping those handy.

I’ll also stop at a fast food joint and get a side order of bacon or sausage and side order of eggs.

Thanks for posting this link, dee. I bought the kindle version of “Journey to Health: A Journey Worth Taking: Cooking Keto with Kristie” and I really like it. Some of the recipes in the kindle book have links to her website or to her videos on YouTube showing you how to prepare the meals. Some of her meals have too much fat for me, but I just make adjustments.

A lot of people do various forms of keto smoothies. I am not a lover of smoothies, but they can be filling.

Some do this butter enriched coffee. Sounds awful but they say it is good. I haven't tried it.

I am kind of like Dee in this. I eat leftovers usually. Regular food. I got really really sick of bacon and eggs the first month. I do not eat them, I do not eat green eggs and ham. Seriously, not on the menu anymore. I had chicken salad this morning.

These bars are delicious!

Before I bought them, I had looked at the total carb count and put them back on the shelf. Then I remembered about deducting the sugar alcohols and the fiber.

I don't eat them all the time but keep a few on my shelf, just for those hungry times.

Anything that works to keep me on track is OK with me but I do keep anything that tastes sweet to a minimum. Sugar in any form is a trigger for me. I am pretty much using Swerve sweetener now if I need to add the granulated to my coffee, the brown "sugar" if I treat myself to some oatmeal (quarter cup, eaten super slowly) and they even have powdered sugar. From the Swerve website:

"Swerve is a delicious natural sweetener that measures cup-for-cup just like sugar! Swerve is made from ingredients found in select fruits and starchy root vegetables, and contains no artificial ingredients, preservatives or flavors. It’s zero-calorie, non-glycemic and safe for those living with diabetes, since it has no effect on blood glucose or insulin levels. The secret to Swerve’s zero-calorie sweetness is a combination of erythritol and oligosaccharides."

Erythritol does not cause me any digestive upset but I know it does for some people. I can't eat malitol. Those low carb dark chocolate bars at Trader Joe's? Oh my lord! Even two small pieces, let's just say: laxative!

Breakfast is very difficult for me, too.

Some easy things I do: I get a container of egg whites from Trader Joe's (they are pasteurized). I measure one serving and pour it in my blender, coco powder (I eyeball it if not chocolately enough, I use more) a Swerve packet, water, ice, some heavy cream, maybe a tablespoon of Halo Top chocolate and blend. It is really good.

I know this is cooking of sorts but only takes about 2.5 minutes total in the microwave. I break a couple of eggs in a bowl, use a little more egg whites, tear up a slice of cheddar chese and microwave it. I also use pre-cooked bacon (yes, expensive but I hate making bacon) and keep a little extra on hand. I tear up two pieces and throw it in. Pepper to taste. Cook for 1 minute, stir, cook for another minute or so. It will puff up.

Quick and delicious.

Thanks so much for posting this! It is much appreciated!

In general, my problem is getting enough fat. I have seen a ton of keto fat bombs and they all look delicious, I just have to find the easiest recipe. I gagged when I tried butter coffee (yuck!). I use a couple of teaspoons of heavy cream. It is 1 gram or less of carbs & I only have one cup of coffee a day.

I have used the Jimmy Dean bacon & don't remember what else besides egg whites, frittata's, in a pinch. They are very low in carbs and taste pretty good.

I really appreciate this thread. All the different ideas (and struggles) are very helpful for me. Last year, when I fell off the low carb wagon for about 6 months, my cholesterol rose. My doctor said, " You better get back on a low carb diet!"

So I did and my cholesterol dropped again.

I happened to find these bars on sale at my favorite grocery store last week and bought an month's supply of about four or five flavors. I like the Peanut butter chocolate crunch bar, the most. And the fact that the bars are free of sugar, is great!

Thanks so much for the post about Think Thin Bars, Orema. :rrose:

The Magic Pill
 

The title is misleading.

It isn't about pills at all but outlines the damage high carbohydrate/low fat diets have done to our health. It does discuss the benefits of a ketogenic diet.

Good documentary on Netflix.

I tried a recipe tonight for Keto Banana walnut bread.

It was easy to make and very good. There are other recipes on the website I will try soon. I would like to try some pumpkin muffins some time.

KETO BANANA WALNUT BREAD
Ingredients

3 Medium Bananas
2 Cups Almond Flour
3 Large Eggs
1/2 Cup Walnuts
1/4 Cup Olive Oil
1 Tsp Baking Soda
Instructions

Preheat oven to 350
Grease loaf pan using coconut oil
Cut up bananas
Add all ingredients in a mixing bowl and mix on high until well combined
Pour mix into loaf pan and bake for 50-60 minutes

I had thrown out my loaf pan as it was peeling and had forgotten to get a new one so I used an 8x8 cake pan instead. It required about 40 minutes of baking

The following nutrition info is for the loaf pan and I will use my best judgment on my proportions for the 8x8.

Keto Banana Walnut Bread Recipe: Nutrition
For one serving (makes 10 servings)

Calories: 269

Total Fat: 22g
Cholesterol: 63mg
Sodium: 147mg
Potassium: 46mg
Carbohydrates: 15g – 4g Fiber = 11 Net Carbs
Dietary Fiber 4g
Sugars: 7g ( from the bananas)
Protein: 8g

Website: https://ketosizeme.com/keto-banana-walnut-bread/

I guess I trusted the recipe instead of figuring it out for myself but your post got me thinking!

A banana has 24 net carbs each if I would sit and eat one but the 3 bananas in this recipe, total of 72 net carbs, divided by 10 servings, came out (and I am bad at math!) to 7.2 net carbs . I didn't figure out where her other 4 carbs came from, I'll go with her total.

The recipe has 11.2 net carbs per serving (when cut into 10 pieces).

I don't stick to 20 net carbs a day. That is too hard for me. 30-40 is what I aim for within my total macros.

I am not in the induction phase which is much more rigid about total net carbs.

Yum, yum, Anya, thanks for the Keto Banana Bread recipe!! I often come by Jesse's thread to read back on favorite recipes and ideas. Happy Sunday to everyone here! :)

Splenda
 

I have read quite a bit online about the dangers of Splenda, there are too many links online about possibilities of Cancer, etc. for me to post them. If you must use a sweetener, try Stevia or Truvia, or even cane sugar.

Sugar is Toxic (Medical study report in TIME magazine)
 

I don't have an proverbial horse in the race concerning sugar, but here's what I know:

Sugar, that is sugar produced from cane or beets, is highly toxic. The only sugar I'm allowed to have, per my doctor and registered dietician (r.d.), is raw stevia --- which is an plant based sugar, with low glycemic index impact.

Not only is sugar the proverbial devil, but foods that break down into sugar in your bloodstream is toxic too. Foods like certain breads, rices, dairy products, etc.

I get my bread fix by having Sesame Tahini sticks.

I can't have dairy products, so I use nut based milks or plant milk, or Cashewgurt. None of the aforementioned taste like dairy products, but when you're in an all out war on foods that convert to sugar in your bloodstream, taste becomes a tiny factor you can set aside, when choosing not to succumb to diabetes.

I'm not diabetic, but I could easily become diabetic by not staying away from dairy products, breads, pasta, rice or even meat. I get my protein from plants and nuts and supplements recommended by my doctor and r.d./nutritionist.

I can have one third of an banana sliced up on my salad, once a week. Twice is pushing it.

But, seeking your doctor's advice and following an dietary menu created by your own medical staff consultant (in my case, she is both an registered dietician and nutritionist ) is often the best way to find out what will work best for you.

Anyhooo.... here's an article I found about sugar, published fairly recently (2015), in TIME magazine.

LINK: http://time.com/4087775/sugar-is-def...ew-study-says/

Also, eta, here's an well written article by an Ph.D. who is an Diabetic 1 and his blog article which talks about the difference between refined sugar and naturally occurring sugars in fruits. There's also an fantastic 100+ page PDF, toward the end of his article which is an terrific guide and resource

LINK: https://www.diabetesdaily.com/blog/2...ig-difference/

How many carbs a day do you all shoot for? I make 50 the ceiling, and most days i am around 30. I've just been doing this for about four months. There have been maybe three days when i went above 50.

I am a recently diagnosed type 2 diabetic, and eating low carb has meant i don't have to take meds for the diabetes. That makes me pretty faithful. I tried the med (a pill), and it made me sick as a dog. So low carb it is. I am also losing weight.

I can't say I've had many of the other purported benefits of low carb. I do feel less fuzzy, more clear headed. But i don't have loads of extra energy. That is probably because of other health conditions i have.

20! ........i usually stay at around 20

Wow. 20. I admire people who can do 20. I see them on YouTube. I can't. I don't think i ever will be able to. I am happy with my 30 carb days. 20 to me means no fruit. I eat an apple or some berries almost every day. If i eat a low carb tortilla with cheese and sour cream or something like that and things just start adding up, I'll skip the fruit. But i don't want to live without it.

I had been screwing around with keto for almost two years.

I was on it strictly when I first started and was lazy keto around 30 carbs or less a day and lost weight very painlesslessly. Then I fell off the wagon.

I ate bread one day and that was it. I started craving it again and ate carbs for a while. It used to be sweets that would start a craving but I can't even eat them any longer- they are too sweet!

Anyway, when I first got really sick, probably in January, I just could not eat. I had to force myself to eat (new experience!).

I usually had 2 Atkins shakes a day (2 net carbs each) and one Sargentos balanced breaks with 12 grams of carbs.

Weight flowing off. No hunger.

I don't recommend this as an eating plan! I had a tumor that made me very, very sick.

After surgery, my appetite has come back somewhat and I am strictly keto (except for that banana bread Breathless ;) )

I have not been counting carbs with everything that I eat. I stick to meat, low carb veggies, salads, avocados, eggs, and still drink my Atkins shakes when I don't feel like eating. I do keto sticks so that helps reinforce that I am the right track.

Keto is now almost in my DNA. I really can't imagine going back to my old way of eating.

I just got my labs back and my blood work has never been better. My doctor called me and was delighted. She took me off the statin that I had been on for a long time. My total cholesterol dropped from 200 to 156 and my triglycerides dropped from 136 to 95. The rest was great too.

In a lot of blogs and articles online, people talk about what an unhealthy diet low carb/keto is. I have not found it to be true in any way.

Well i am losing weight at staying under 50 carbs. I have lost 32 pounds, but it hasn't been fast. I assume that's cause I'm sedentary. I was put on statins but didn't fill the script. It was at the beginning of my low carb eating, and i wanted to see what food would do. Four months later, i no longer qualified for statins although my numbers weren't perfect. I also was diagnosed with diabetes five or so months ago, which is what caused me to begin this, and because of low carb, i do not have to take any diabetes medications. I think i said that before.

I don't think 30 grams is lazy keto. I saw a guy on YouTube who said the craze for 20 came about mostly through people getting competitive about it and that those people were not experts -- although i saw one Duke doctor on YouTube who has his patients do it. The point is if you're in ketosis, you're in ketosis. You don't get more in ketosis for eating fewer carbs. Now you might lose more weight if eating fewer carbs puts you in calorie deficit, but usually that is not the case. For low carbers the calories are in the fat.

I still haven't started tinkering with percentage of protein vs percentage of fat. I may not. I am losing weight. I am not hungry. Most of the food i eat is food food, meaning meat or fresh veg and a small amount of fruit. I do eat the occasional low carb tortilla. I love sour cream and eat some cheese. And i eat some almond butter. But most of my carbs come from fresh veg and fruit. And I'm losing. So i have no intention of cutting back on the healthiest foods on Earth.

My next effort to improve health is exercise. I have some health issues that make it harder, but I'm doing it. This was my first week, and i exercised three times. Twice i swam, and once i went to the gym.

When i see these people on YouTube eating 20 or under, they're not eating foods. They are pouring oils and supplements into a blender and calling it a meal. I will never be one of those folks.

I don't aim for 20 carbs a day either. When I posted that I was doing lazy keto before, I just wasn't more careful with how I ate. My cholesterol dropped but not as much as it did now.

As long as we are in ketosis, we are using fat for energy instead of carbohydrates. As I said, I use keto sticks instead of strictly counting carbs now. I pretty much know when I have eaten more than I should.

I eat a piece of cheese, I eat sour cream and creme cheese too. Sour cream has 0.3 grams of carbs and for example, cheddar cheese has 0.4 grams a slice. If I did not include these each day, I would never get enough fat in my diet. My cholesterol was worse on a low fat diet than it is now.

When I say that I am strict now, that means no sugar, no processed carbohydrates, all "real" food.

That's awesome. Sorry if i sounded defensive. It wasn't you. It's cause i watch these YouTube videos with self-righteous skinny folk, usually young guys, preaching at me about the right way to do keto. I'd love to kick one of them in a tender area.

I imagine my low carb tortillas are processed carbohydrates, but i sure do love them. I don't eat them that often. I also eat the breaded chicken sold at my neighborhood Publix. I've tested and tested, and eating it barely budges my blood glucose. And it's such a yummy treat. I tried KFC extra crispy and that did not go well. Live and learn.

I think i get most of my fats from Olive oil in salad dressings, from meat, and from the butter i so liberally apply to my vegetables. Oh some olive oil mayo too. That's processed. I love Cole slaw.

What I wanted to include in my post but didn't, is that we all do eating low carb our (own) way!

:)