Starting Keto: The Cheesy Life

I like cheese— perhaps because I was born in Wisconsin, the dairy state? When my mother was young there were a lot of small cheese factories near where she lived, and she dated a few cheesemaker’s sons. They tended to have clean hands. 

Cheese is part of some recipes I use regularly, such as a cheese pancake recipe that I use for making small flatbreads. I also use cheese slices as a snack, and prefer my bun-free burgers with cheese on them.  You can add a little shredded cheese to the yolk mixture when making deviled eggs— a low-carb staple. 

What about substitutes for cheese? The only non-dairy cheese I know about that is explicitly allowed on Atkins - keto - lowcarb is tofu, or soy cheese. Tofu/soy cheese does have soy in it, which many of us don’t care to have in our food plan. If you cannot eat dairy cheese but can consume tofu, it may be a right choice for you. (What about other ‘non-dairy’ cheese substitutes? Check the label for carb count— if it is comparable to a real cheese in carb count and doesn’t have any nasty ingredients in it, you might try adding it to your eating plan.)

I used to eat American cheese when American cheese came in a big block rather than in nasty plastic-flavored slices wrapped individually in plastic. I have widened my taste to other cheeses: Colby, smoked Cheddar, Pepper Jack, Mexican blend shredded, Parmesan, Muenster, even blue cheese. I would say that the Kraft slices which are NOT wrapped in plastic might be ‘real-cheese enough,’ but a store-brand substitute I bought tasted exactly like those nasty plastic-wrapped slices even though it wasn’t wrapped in plastic. I have found American cheese in small blocks from actual cheesemakers, as well. 

Grated Parmesan cheese, along with good mayonnaise (like avocado mayonnaise) is great to put on fish of various types you are baking, or shrimp. Great for those of us who haven’t eaten fish or shrimp without breading before going keto. 

Of course, if you really can’t have dairy you have to skip the cheese. But for most of the rest of us, cheese is a good food that adds some variety to our eating plan. Next shopping trip, don’t forget the cheese!

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"Are You Still Fasting?"

I must admit I have not been doing the level of fasting I had been doing before my stroke last February. While in the hospital, a rehab center, and an anti-Catholic homeless shelter (while my plumbing was being fixed) I did a lot of fasting because I was served institutional meals with high-carb elements in them. I ate what little I could and did without.

When I came home my appetite came back and I felt deprived because of the long stint of mostly do-not-eat institutional food. And when I tried morning fasting I tended to have afternoon carb binges. 

I am trying to get back into fasting today, it being a Friday in Lent after all. I am allowing myself 2 coffees-with-MCT oil today and hoping to go for nothing else. If I feel massive temptation for a carb binge, though, I will eat a little something like some canned tuna. 

The problem with fasting is that a lot of people think it is all about skipping ‘calories’ and that we all should be counting and reducing our ‘calories.’ But we on Keto * Low-Carb should know better than that. Studies have shown that a 1000 calorie diet has radically different effects when the calories are from fat or protein mostly instead of from carbohydrates. Calories don’t count. Deprivation and hunger are not good things. 

On Keto * Low-Carb fasting ideally happens because we aren’t experiencing hunger when we are in ketosis. If you are an older person or have long-term insulin resistance problems, lowering carbs alone won’t give you ‘fast weight loss’ or even any weight loss. But ketosis makes it easy to do some fasting and adding a bit of hunger-free fasting to your eating plan can help you lose a few pounds even if you have plateaued on your Keto * Low-Carb eating plan.

I think it was Dr. Jason Fung who said ‘when you fast, fast, when you feast, feast.’ A little fasting in a ketogenic life means that you can feast on your allowed foods without worry. You become in control, not the food. 

But learn to listen to your body. I’ve found that ‘white-knuckle’ fasting-with-hunger just leads me to give in to the temptation of a carb-binge. So if I start feeling hunger, I eat something. Even when I was planning on fasting. Eating a bit of low-or-zero carb food can derail a carb binge before it starts. Many of us make a point of not getting hungry so we are less tempted. Less tempted is good!

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Changing My MCT Routine

For some time I have been taking 2 tablespoons (30 ml) of MCT in a bulletproof coffee every morning. MCT oil is ‘medium chain triglyceride’ oil, and it helps you get into ketosis and stay in ketosis. MCT oil is found in coconut oil, and the MCT oil that you buy is made either from coconut oil alone or coconut and palm kernel oil. 

MCT oil is expensive, and when I run out I substitute regular coconut oil. The kind of coconut oil that stays liquid at room temperature is even higher in MCT oil. 

Recently I realized that the way I do my MCT oil dose could stand improvement. I measure my ketosis with my trusty old Ketonix first thing in the morning when I test my blood sugar and blood pressure. Shortly afterward I have my first bulletproof coffee of the day, the one with the MCT oil in it. Time-wise, the time I take the MCT oil and the time I measure my ketosis are about as far apart as they can get!

Plus, it would be good to be in good ketosis throughout the day. So I decided that from now on I will split my MCT dose into two doses of 1 tablespoon (15 ml) each, one taken in the morning and one in the evening. I took an evening dose last night, and did get into good ketosis this morning (yellow, or moderate, on my Ketonix.)  I add also a tablespoon of another good fat— ghee last night (I like it better than plain butter) and I plan on using regular coconut oil or even extra-virgin olive oil in future bullet-proof beverages. (I can’t stand more than 1/2 a tablespoon of EVOO in a bulletproof coffee, even with 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon in the coffee! Maybe if I add 1/8 t. Turmeric it would kill the taste?)

You do not need to buy MCT oil or drink bulletproof coffee or other bullet-proof beverages to do Keto * Low-Carb! Just follow the rules of the Atkins Induction and you will most likely get into good ketosis, especially if you make a point of including enough fat in your meal plan. 

But if you do use MCT oil, you might split your daily dose into 2 smaller doses, to be consumed morning and evening, to help your ketosis stay more steady.

ABBREVIATIONS

MCT - Medium Chain Triglyceride

BPC - Bulletproof coffee

BPCd - bulletproof decaf coffee

BPB - bulletproof beverage

BPT - bulletproof tea or tisane (herb “tea”)

BPco - bulletproof hot cocoa

BPcar - bulletproof hot carob

EVOO - extra-virgin olive oil

Keto - ketogenic “diet” or eating plan

LCHF - low-carbohydrate, high-fat

LENT UPDATE

My Lenten sacrifice, such as it is, is to give up heavy whipping cream, and substitute full-fat canned coconut milk. My BPC in the morning and my BPCd in the evening were not the taste treats that they are with cream, but they were good enough with a bit of coconut milk. (I suppose I lose any spiritual ‘brownie points’ by telling everyone about my Lenten plans, but as weak-willed as I am I highly doubt my ability to make any spiritual effort that God would notice except out of pure mercy, and I am hoping to encourage other Christians to observe Lent even after they go Keto * Low-Carb.)

Do you use MCT oil? How do you incorporate it into your eating plan? Do you ever use it in a bulletproof beverage (BPB)? If so, what kind of BPB do you make? 

Starting Keto: Love those Eggs!

Cuisinart Egg Cooker

When I first started doing Atkins, I would make up a batch of deviled eggs for the first day. I’d keep them in the fridge and whenever I felt hungry or wanted to eat something, I’d have a deviled egg. It got me through those first few days of getting into ketosis, which can be tough for some people. (For me it wasn’t the first time, but each time I went off Atkins and did Induction again I would have a tougher time. But the reward, greater energy, good blood sugars, and weight control, were worth a few bad days.) 

In the original Dr. Atkins Diet Revolution (1972) eggs were an unlimited food, like meats. In Dr. Atkins New Diet (1994,) it is explicitly listed as a ‘free food,’ as meats are. Eggs do have a bit of carbs— 0.4 g— but it’s hard to wolf down enough eggs that the carbs will give you trouble.

Eggs have cholesterol in them, but eating food with cholesterol doesn’t give you blood cholesterol any more than eating beef makes you moo and eat grass. Eggs are full of nutrients, especially egg yolks.

The best eggs to eat are eggs from pastured poultry, which you probably have to buy from a farm or at least a farmer’s market, and pay more for. Pastured eggs have more Omega 3s. We like Omega 3s!  Farm eggs from poultry that are not pastured are the next best thing. They have stronger shells, which make them easier to get home without cracking. 

The problem with organic eggs is that organic chicken feed is not available everywhere, and where available often not in bulk. It adds to the cost. Organic chicken people also have the money to comply with state regulations for selling eggs in stores— in Michigan I’d have had to have spent thousands of dollars to build a building for handling the eggs from my 40 or so hens— and also have to pay the monthly fee to their organic organization to be allowed to call their eggs organic. So it’s mainly well-off egg corporations that can afford to produce the organic eggs you find in stores. And, frankly, I think that the pastured eggs from my totally non-government sanctioned chickens are healthier than the average grocery-store organic egg.

Are totally free range chickens producers of better eggs? Well, where I live free ranging chickens tend to become dinner for the local foxes and coyotes, which reduces the total eggs produced by the flock. It’s why I built a movable pen for my chickens during grazing season. Chickens can get fresh grass and bugs daily, but predators can’t get in to eat them. I hope. 

Raising your own chickens is not a way to save money on eggs— you have to feed the little darlings whether they are laying or not. And chicken feed in small-flock quantities costs money—plain, non-organic feed mill feed. But if raising backyard chickens is a substitute for you for having half-a-dozen big dogs, you are probably saving money. Chicken food is cheaper than dog food, and their manure can be composted for garden use.

Is cooking eggs a tough chore for you? It’s actually fairly easy to learn, and since eggs are a traditional Lenten food I will be writing some blog posts giving more details on things like cooking eggs over easy, cooking eggs in a George Foreman grill, and so on.

In the meantime I would like to share about a little gadget that I have. It’s a Cuisinart Egg Cooker, and it cooks hard or soft-boiled eggs without fuss, just by following the directions. (HINT: Read the directions.) It can cook from 1-7 normal sized eggs, fewer if you have older hens or egg-laying breeds of ducks that produce bigger eggs. You measure water into it, depending on how many eggs you have and whether you want them hard-boiled or soft boiled. It sets off a timer when the cooking is done. I immediately plunge the eggs into very cold water— ice water if I have ice in the house— and that makes them easier to peel. It’s a great aid to producing batches of hard-boiled eggs for deviled eggs or just for eating hard-boiled eggs. 

How do you like your eggs? What is the tastiest egg dish you have ever had? What kind of eggs do you normally buy/trade-for/gather from your poultry?

Starting Keto: When in Doubt, Eat Something!

Starting on the Keto * Low-Carb way of life means unlearning a lot of things we have all learned from advocates of the low-calorie, low-fat, Hunger Games diet (LCLFHG.) On low-calorie, there are no such things as allowed calories that you would be better off and a more virtuous dieter if you did not consume in full. That 350 calorie meal you are allowed— wouldn’t you be a better, thinner person if you didn’t finish it? And hunger was a sign that you were a good dieter and not a failure of a fat person.

Keto, ever since the days of Robert Atkins’ first book, has been different. There are ‘free foods’ on Atkins/lowcarb that you will actually want to eat— like bacon, steaks and pork chops. All of those items are zero carb. Atkins also encouraged people to not do things like skip breakfast. And even though I, like many in modern Keto, regularly do Intermittent Fasting, I would not encourage those new to Keto * Low-Carb to start off with skipping meals. That’s low-calorie thinking— the only good calorie is the one you don’t eat. But we don’t count calories on Keto. 

On Keto, we don’t start our Intermittent Fasting until we are already in ketosis. Ketosis is a state in which your body is fueled by fat-burning, not sugar-burning. To get into nutritional ketosis, you need to drop your high-carbohydrate diet and start on low-carb, doing two weeks of what we call ‘Induction—‘ a stricter level of low-carb. Once you are in ketosis, you don’t feel hunger, or at least you don’t feel it often. Many people, once in ketosis, skip meals without planning to do fasting because they are too busy doing things will all that new energy they get from going into ketosis. This leads to doing fasting on purpose, to help lose a bit of weight and to save time from doing that three-meals-a-day home-cooking grind. 

In Dr. Atkins’ first book, he tells case histories of some of his patients who were quite big eaters. Some ate as much as 4000 calories a day, all of low-carb allowed foods, and they still lost weight. In other books Atkins warns to eat when hungry but not to eat until you feel stuffed. Which is a good rule— eating until stuffed makes you feel uncomfortable. You can always eat more food a little later, when you no longer feel stuffed. 

Dr. Atkins encourages us to be ‘shockingly unafraid of fat.’ Yes, fat is not an evil substance that makes you fat and shortens your life. A scientific study in 1957 by Kekwick and Pawan showed that a 1000 calorie diet high in fat let people lose weight, while a 1000 calorie diet high in carbohydrates did not produce weight loss. And with a high-fat, moderate-protein, you don’t even need to count those darn calories. Just eat something (lowcarb.)

Lent for those on the Keto * Low-Carb Way

Lent is a common Christian observance in preparation for the most sacred of Christian holy days, Easter. Though some people associate Lent only with Catholics, Protestants also may observe Lent. It is particularly a common observance among Lutherans and Episcopalians. But how to you observe Lent if you are Keto * Low-Carb?

Militant vegetarians demand that people try out the vegetarian diet for Lent, and then, if they ‘like’ it, adopt that diet for life. ‘Like’ it? Of course people like it! What’s not to like when you get to feed that carb-monkey on your back with plenty of ‘plant-based’ high carb deadly foods? Remember, famous vegetarian Adolf Hitler loved to eat rich pastries (and kill people.) And near the end of his life he was certainly not the picture of health, either physically or spiritually. 

When we give up meat and poultry for Lent to eat fish, eggs and cheese, we are not giving up bad things. Meats and poultry are lawful pleasures and healthy foods. We give them up for a time to show God that we are sorry for the wrong things we have done that displease Him. It’s like the ancient Hebrews putting on rough sackcloth garments as a sign of mourning for sin. There is no evidence that anyone thought smooth linen garments were somehow unhealthy or less spiritual. 

The rules for Lent, in the Catholic church, have gotten less strict over time. (Protestant mostly do as they like for Lenten observance.) It used to be they had to actually fast, or eat only one meal a day, or give up dairy products and fish as well as meat. The rules today is that people over 14 years are to abstain from meat on Ash Wednesday and all the Fridays during Lent, and people who are 18 or over but not yet 60 must eat only one full meal on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. 

But if you are doing Keto * Low-Carb and giving up a lot of the common foods people eat all the time, and if you are doing Intermittent Fasting or longer fasting on a regular basis, doing the common Lenten observances don’t seem like doing much. Many of us do only one meal a day every day, not just twice a year on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday!

Eating more fish during Lent— not just on Fridays— is a healthy Lenten observance that doesn’t conflict with Keto * Low-Carb. The hard part is affording it! I buy frozen salmon at my local market (Gary’s in Stephenson MI) and it’s not so expensive for a meal, and salmon is quite healthy. I buy low-cost canned tuna, but I read the labels because some cheap canned tuna now has carbs in it! I buy tuna in water when I can’t get to a store that carries tuna in olive oil. You can always put a bit of EVOO (extra-virgin olive oil) in your canned tuna once you drain the water.

To make Lent more of a sacrifice of something lawful, you may choose to pick a food allowed on Keto * Low-Carb that you often eat and give it up. I am planning to give up heavy whipping cream for Lent, substituting canned coconut milk in its place. I like real cream in my bulletproof morning coffee, but I can do without and I will see how canned coconut milk works as a substitute. You might choose to give up low-carb chocolates or Atkins drinks or some other food you use regularly, enjoy, but one that is not the mainstay of your Keto * Low-Carb life. 

Sundays during Lent are not considered part of the Lenten fast and you can certainly eat meat for Sunday dinners without breaking your Lenten observance. If you can’t go without chocolate for all of Lent, you can make a point of buying a bit for your Sunday. For practical reasons, I’m not planning to buy heavy whipping cream for my Lenten Sundays, since it won’t get used up in one day and it doesn’t stay good forever. (I suppose I could freeze some cream in ice cube trays and use it on Sundays, but I don’t really plan to.)

You must never forget that the purpose of Lenten dietary observances is spiritual, not for health improvement. You are doing for your health when you go Keto * Low-Carb, Lent is about doing for your soul. Almsgiving— giving to the poor— is an essential part of Lenten observance. One is supposed to be giving the food you give up during Lent to the poor. (But as a poor person, what about my Lent? I wouldn’t mind having the steaks someone else gave up for Lent, but if I’m doing Lent too, I won’t be eating them except perhaps on Sunday. I could always freeze them I guess. But of course food banks won’t accept your lovely grass-fed steaks— they only want non-perishable food. Perhaps you could give some canned tuna and EVOO to the food bank? Mine never has much canned tuna, and only nasty vegetable oil.)

It is also possible to observe Lent without doing dietary observances (unless you are Catholic and have to give up meat on Ash Wednesday and the Fridays of course.) You can pray more— perhaps do novenas for the intention that God will move people to help the poor. You can pray this way even if you personally are poor (though maybe it’s a bit self-serving? But God will understand.)

It is also possible for people of non-Christian religions to follow whatever fasting or dietary restrictions your own faith encourages without breaking your Keto * Low-Carb life. If it helps your spiritual life, it need not conflict with your healthy low-carb life. Sometimes you can get permission to modify traditions for health reasons. I understand that Muslims, if they get a note from their doctor, can be allowed to consume water during the Ramadan fast when this is normally forbidden. Since the dehydration this might cause when this is observed is not good for anyone’s health, most Muslims can get a doctor’s OK for doing this. 

"Roasted" Garlic in a George Foreman grill

Finished Garlic in Storage Jar

Garlic is great for both culinary and medicinal purposes. I was using Kyolic Garlic capsules for my high blood pressure, and recently ran out of the pills and couldn’t afford more. So I just ate some of the “roasted” garlic I had on hand. It’s not as unpleasant as eating garlic cloves raw, in fact they are fine-tasting. And I think they are working for my blood pressure. (I also take 2 drugs for my blood pressure, but the garlic must have been helping because my readings went up when I ran out of the Kyolic Garlic.)

“Roasted” Garlic in a George Foreman contact grill

Step one: break your heads of garlic into individual cloves of garlic. Leave the papery stuff on the garlic cloves. Cut a bit off each garlic clove at the base or bottom (in the direction of the roots, not the top.)  Put the cloves in a plastic ziplock bag or a glass canning jar. Measure out 1/4 cup of EVOO (extra-virgin olive oil.) You CAN add 1 tsp (teaspoon) of kelp or basil or oregano or thyme— or two or three of the above— if you want to flavor your garlic cloves, but this is optional. Marinate for a while or overnight.

Garlic, marinating

Step two: Prepare your George Foreman grill by setting the positioning lever to the back, or level, position. Put a Baking Plate on the bottom and the Steak Plate on the top. Spray some olive oil cooking spray on to the plates, and add a bit of EVOO to the Baking Plate. 

Set the temperature to Medium and preheat the grill. When the green light goes out, indicating it is preheated, put the marinated garlic cloves onto the grill in a single layer, and grill for 7 to 9 minutes (set a timer!)

Step three: When the time is up, remove your garlic cloves from the grill and place into a glass canning jar. Put a label with the contents and date on the jar. You may store the roasted garlic briefly in the refrigerator or for a few months in the freezer. 

To use: pop the garlic out of the papery ‘shell.’ You may place it in a garlic crusher to get crushed roasted garlic for culinary use. For medicinal use, I take one largish clove three times a day. Chew it well— garlic needs to be crushed or chewed to have a medicinal effect or even a culinary flavoring effect.

Just "roasted' garlic

Anatomy of a Bulletproof Beverage

Bulletproof coffee is a thing now. I had a family member who briefly tried ‘keto’ who made some (and didn’t like it.) When I was in a rehab center after my stroke, I used the pitiful bits of butter I could get in my coffee, since I didn’t want to waste them on the often-lukewarm food. 

The purpose of a bulletproof beverage is to get healthy fats into your body. Note that in Keto * Low-Carb we go by science when we think about what fats are healthy, not by what big national organizations claim are healthy fats— they’d have us using CANOLA oil! Remember there are people trying to sell us on the idea that sugary Honey-Nut Cheerios are ‘heart-healthy’ just because they have oat ingredients in among all the sugar and carbs.

Because ‘keto’ is trendy right now, you have to beware of trying random advice about what is allowed on Keto * Low-Carb. You can’t use ‘creamers’ in your coffee— not only are they processed food, but they have sugars and starches and probably very little HEALTHY fat. 

A bulletproof beverage consists of three parts— the basic beverage (coffee, tea, cocoa/carob and hot water, bone broth), a healthy fat (butter, coconut oil, MCT oil, extra-virgin olive oil, home-made ghee, perhaps heavy whipping cream or coconut milk/cream as a lightener) and, possibly, additions. Like cinnamon— healthy for diabetics— a pinch of sea salt or a bit of kelp powder, or any other thing that is healthy in small amounts and tastes well in your bulletproof beverage.

I have never been a big coffee drinker, but I started using some instant coffee when I read about the oxalate problem with tea. I still drink some tea, but not as much and I don’t care for additives in it. I currently have three brands of instant coffee in my house, one of them imported from Germany. 

On the few occasions I have been able to afford Kerrygold butter, I reserved it all for bulletproof beverages so the goodness wouldn’t be wasted. I use MCT oil when I can, because it’s helpful in getting into ketosis or staying in ketosis. Since I can’t afford a lot of MCT oil, I use coconut oil as well— it CONTAINS some MCT. I used to use butter as well, but ever since I first made ghee, I prefer the taste of that. 

When I was in the rehab center I got some extra-virgin olive oil to put in my coffee, but that tasted just too dire. Butter in my coffee was a treat, EVOO in coffee just wrecked a good cup of coffee. Since coming home, I found that if I put in 1/2 Tablespoon to 1 Tablespoon of EVOO in my coffee and have 1 Tablespoon of MCT oil, butter, ghee or some other tasty fat source, I can’t taste the EVOO. 

SWEETENERS are not normally used in bulletproof beverages, but when I do a hot cocoa/carob BP beverages, I use a few drops of liquid Stevia (Sweetleaf.) On Fridays on other penitential occasions I use as few drops as possible and can handle a hot cocoa with only 2 drops of stevia. Carob doesn’t even need a sweetener really. If you are really ‘hooked’ on sweetened beverages, so that you needed a couple of Tablespoons of sugar in your coffee or tea back when you ate carbs, you can use whatever amount of liquid stevia you need, but try to taper off, and also sometimes take a break from the sweetener. We need to break our addiction to constant sweet things!

Have you ever made a bulletproof coffee, bulletproof tea or other bulletproof beverage? Did you like it? Is it a regular part of your Keto * Low-Carb life right now? Please share your experiences in a com

Must Moms force Kids & Husband to finish Junk-Carb Dinner?

Television food-related commercials exist to make the bad eating habits that enrich the food processors socially acceptable. In addition to that vile ‘potato-pay’ commercial which has popped up again, there is that frozen-pizza commercial in which a mom is proud that she has compelled her husband and children to finish their frozen-pizza junk-carbs dinner.

OK, the whole idea behind finishing one’s dinner was that traditionally dinners were composed of decent food. Or, at least, as decent as the family could afford. Poor people have historically used bread and potatoes to fill the gap where the meat they couldn’t afford would be. 

But when dinner is junk-carbs, what is the point of finishing dinner? Maybe the snack food you might eat instead might be less deadly. 

Since the death of the home-cooked meal and its replacement by processed food and fast food, all heavy in carbs, finishing dinner is more of a health hazard than a benefit. It doesn’t even solve the hunger problem if there are enough carbs involved— you will just be hungry before the next meal rolls around. 

And the family dynamic thing is skewed all to heck in that commercial. Moms are traditionally wives who are traditionally women, who don’t suffer from the toxic masculinity their male husbands allegedly have. But that doesn’t mean women are so wonderful that a man will put up with being treated like a child who needs to be compelled to finish a junk-carbs dinner. Adult persons normally expect to be able to eat what they like— even to going on a healthy low-carb regimen if they want to.

As for frozen pizza for children, they are not only being robbed of a healthy meal with real meats and real veggies, but they are missing out on a learning experience. Children aren’t born knowing how to eat a steak or a pork chop or a salad. If they are fed on an all-junk-carbs and processed-foods diet, how will they cope when they become overweight and are advised to change their diet for the better? Better to let them have real food that will build their health and not destroy it.

Finally, trying to force any human being to eat a food they don’t want to finish is a losing game. It just makes the person more bullheaded and more willing to sit at the table forever to avoid the broccoli.  And if you finally train the person into being a member of the ‘Clean Plate Club’, how will you feel when the person becomes a dying 500 pounder with a compulsion to finish all food regardless of hunger level?

Do you ever feel guilty about refusing a carb-filled food that you are served at a meal? Do you feel a compulsion to ‘clean your plate?’ Do you feel that throwing a bit of uneaten mac & cheese in the garbage will somehow make third world children starve? What other attitudes about food are standing in the way of your health?

Starting Keto? Meet the Meats!

The starring food in the Keto * Low-Carb way of life has been a staple food of the human diet like since FOREVER. When humans were hunter-gatherers, they hunted. And meat, poultry & fish are the perfect low-carb foods, because nearly all of them (except scallops and the like) are zero-carb foods. See, we low-carbers DO SO have ‘free foods,’ and they are not lettuce.

You can eat the following types of meat-poultry-fish: beef, bison, venison, pork, lamb, mutton, veal, chicken, duck, goose, turkey, pheasant, guinea fowl, Cornish game hen, cod, salmon, tuna, tilapia, crab, lobster, shrimp, trout, perch…. any kind of meat from an animal, bird or fish.

You can eat any cuts of meat— steaks, chops, roasts, ground meat, chicken legs, wings or thighs, ribs, neckbones, or any other cut of meat you can get from your local farmer, fisherman or grocery store. 

FAKE MEATS, as manufactured for the vegetarian population, do not count as meats because they contain carbs. They may also be heavily processed foods. The carbs in fake meat count as carbs. Some fake meats probably should not be eaten by any ketonian. 

PROCESSED MEATS are not a major part of our eating plan. Lunchmeats of various sorts may have carb-containing fillers and even sugar added. We do not eat that stuff. Read the labels on purchased meatballs and meatloaf— these foods usually have carb-containing additives we should not have. Bacon and ham, however, though processed, are generally considered a permissible food. Meat in little cans, often found next to the canned tuna in the store, may have carbs— even budget brands of canned tuna may have a carb or two, because they add a bit of ‘vegetable broth’ or even ‘modified food starch.’ Boycott those foods wherever possible. If you are very low-income, and you get given some of these canned meats, or Spam, the carbs are low enough that you can eat them, but it is better to stick to the zero-carb meats from the meat department when you can. (The advantage of the canned meats and Spam is that they don’t need refrigeration or, in many cases, cooking. Compare the labels when you buy to get the lowest carbs you can get, though.)

KOSHER and HALAL MEATS are fully permitted on Keto * Low-Carb. It’s not a dietary sin to keep kosher!  If you are Jewish but haven’t been religious before, it is perfectly ‘kosher’ to start keeping kosher when doing Keto * Low-Carb. If it makes you more aware of what kinds of things you are putting in your body, that’s a good thing. However, if you are not even Jewish or Muslim, and are considering going kosher just because you know other people from your church who are doing it, consider whether you can actually obtain the kosher foods you need. If there is a pastured-pork producer living in your county, and you have always loved pork, maybe you need to reconsider the kosher thing.

AFRAID OF SCARY-UNHEALTHY MEAT?

Read Good Calories, Bad Calories by Gary Taubes. This author reviews a lot of scientific research on diet, and shows how the low-fat theory got going in spite of the lack of evidence. You may find that a lot of what you have been told about meat is not true.

If you have been vegetarian, especially if you are in poor health as a result, read Ketotarian by Dr. Will Cole. It is full of meat-free Keto * Low-Carb recipes, along with a few fish recipes (for pescatarians.) 

MY KETO-RELATED TWITTER:

https://twitter.com/nissaamaskatoj

If you are a Twitter user, please consider following me on Twitter. I follow (most) back.

Recipes: Supersalad Seasoning (Salad Supreme) & Blue Cheese Dressing

Recently I wanted to try a new salad dressing recipe— I bought blue cheese and everything— and I found it called for an ingredient called ‘Salad Supreme’ which I hadn’t heard of. Evidently it was a blend of spices and seasonings from Schilling corporation. I did a search on ‘Duck Duck Go’ and found a recipe for the stuff, which I adapted a bit for Supersalad seasoning.

Normally I hate doing a recipe for which you have to make another recipe first, but this one is a good seasoning mix that I’d want in the house anyway, whether or not I was making blue cheese dressing. (I’ve never even tasted blue cheese before I made this dressing. It was good! Not great, like Dana Carpender’s Hoisin Sauce which I used as salad dressing as well as a meat sauce, but good.)

SUPERSALAD SEASONING

1 1/2 tsp (teaspoon) toasted sesame seeds

1 tsp paprika (smoked paprika?)

1/2 tsp poppy seed

1/2 tsp celery seed

1/4 tsp black pepper (white pepper?)

1/8 tsp cayenne powder

Put ingredients in a clean 1/2 pint canning jar, close lid and shake to blend. Use to season salads, meat or anything else. You can make a double batch if you like. 

BLUE CHEESE DRESSING

This is adapted from Roquefort Dressing #2 in Dr. Atkins Diet Revolution.

1/2 cup EVOO (extra-virgin olive oil)

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar (Bragg’s)

1 clove roasted garlic, crushed

1/4 cup crumbled blue cheese (or Roquefort?)

1 1/2 tsp Supersalad seasoning (see above)

1/4 tsp Worchestershire sauce

1 Tbsp (Tablespoon) water

Put ingredients in a wide-mouth canning jar, use a stick blender to blend for 1 minute. Store in refrigerator, use promptly. NOTE: You can replace part of the EVOO with MCT oil to make it more ketogenic. And more expensive, alas. OTHER NOTE: Like all salad dressings, you can use it to flavor your meat as well. Why not top a burger with a 1/2 Tablespoon?

Hypertension/High Blood Pressure and Keto * Low-Carb

I was diagnosed with hypertension (high blood pressure) a long time ago— even before I started doing low-carb. But I was low-to-no income, and not yet on SSI disability and Medicaid, and so couldn’t keep up with doctor visits to be able to keep taking hypertension pills.

I think when I first started doing low-carb (in the 1990s) that it brought down my blood pressure. After all, doing Keto * Low=Carb is a reliable way to get your blood sugar down— so much so that doctors warn people to go to their own doctor to get their blood pressure and blood sugar pills’ doses cut down when they start Keto * Low-Carb. It’s a reliable effect.

But not enough of a reliable effect to overcome my years of carb-eating and vegetarianism. I developed Type 2 diabetes, and not too long after I began to have bad kidney tests. My blood pressure was high— not super-high or scary-high as long as I was doing low-carb most of the time, but still, high. My ‘PCP’ (the non-doctor who is my government-approved health care provider) threatened that I would be put in ‘a home’ because of my Asperger Syndrome if I refused to go to a nephrologist (kidney doctor) in the city of Iron Mountain, even though that’s more of a drive than I could handle. [My therapist at the time confirmed that they don’t put people with Asperger Syndrome and high IQs into ‘homes’ for disobeying a non-doctor.]

One nephrologist was from India, and though a conventional low-fat advocate who tried to push the ‘DASH diet’ on me, had some medical smarts and ordered tests to see if I had some underlying kidney problem. They fired her though, and the nephrologist I had to go to next was a woman from the Philippines who told me that my diet could not affect my kidney disease (I knew there was at least one peer-reviewed study to the contrary) and she also demanded that I take home a DVD about dialysis— even after I told her I had no working DVD player! Maybe I was supposed to sleep with the DVD under my pillow and the info would leak into my head that way? Anyway, I quit going back to her after that. My ‘PCP’ didn’t try to have me put in a home after all (and now denies she ever said it) but the bad thing was that I went off my hypertension pill.

When I had a small stroke in Feb. of 2019, I ended up on two hypertension pills, and my PCP recently increased the dose of one of them. I am now getting better blood pressure readings every morning. My Keto * Low-Carb lifestyle has not brought down my blood pressure by itself, nor has it healed my kidney disease. But I do believe it is helping heal my body. I just need pills as well now.

RESEARCH:

A 2011 study in the scientific journal PLOS One showed that a ketogenic diet reversed diabetic kidney damage in diabetic mice in two months.

A 2013 study of a small human trial published in The Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology showed improvement of kidney function in diabetics on a ketogenic diet for 12 weeks.