Author: low-carb-keto-lifestyle

I've been interested in healthy living for a couple of years and have been trying to find ways to do this myself and to share information to the public.

Is it our Genes?

“Our genes only determine 25% of our health outcomes, 75% by our choices.” Dr. Andi Campitelli

Dr. Andi is a leading North American Naturopathic Dr, media expert and educator. She believes that education is the key to empowering individuals to take an active role in our own health and well-being. I firmly believe that we can do this at any time in our lives. I’d love for all of you to not wait til you’re almost 60 before you take control of your health.

Are you one of those that has always said “I come from big stock” or “My whole family is large, it must be in my genes”. Let’s think about this for a minute. According to Dr. Andi that is a big excuse and a lack of education to realize that all of our lives we have choices. The only time we probably don’t have a choice is when we are little and we eat what our mothers put in front of us or we eat junk food instead of what our mothers or fathers prepare for us.

Let’s think about what we need to do. We need to make a conscious effort to set a goal and write it down. Figure out what kind of plan you are going to do – low carb or Keto, and let’s get started.

Moving into the New Year I hope to have a 10 day meal plan and we will always have a 10 day Drink Ketone Challenge going on.

So as we get ready to move into the New Year – let’s see how easy we can make this choice. I want to see all of you successful as we move into 2020. Let’s decide today as Dr. Andi tells us “Stop blaming what’s wrong with you on your genes”. Science backs this and we need to just make choices to be BETTER and to have BETTER HEALTH.

So I challenge you to think about this through the holidays and come join me on this journey to continued BETTER HEALTH.

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Slow Cooker Crack Chicken Chili

Slow Cooker Crack Chicken Chili

  • Servings: 8-10
  • Difficulty: easy
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Addictive to your taste buds


Ingredients

  • 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
  • 1 (15oz) can corn, drained – optional – I can’t eat corn so I leave this out
  • 1 (15oz) can black beans, drained and rinsed
  • 1 (10oz) can diced tomatoes and green chilies, undrained
  • 2 cups chicken broth
  • 1 cup cooked, chopped bacon (I used hormel that is in the salad dressing aisle)
  • 2 Tablespoons Hidden Valley Ranch Original seasoning and salad dressing mix (or 1-1oz packet)
  • 1 teaspoon cumin
  • 1 tablespoon chili powder
  • 1 teaspoon onion powder
  • 1 (8oz) package cream cheese
  • 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Directions

  1. Place chicken at bottom of slow cooker
  2. Add corn, black beans, diced tomatoes and green chilies, chicken broth, cumin, chili powder, onion powder, ranch seasoning and bacon. Stir together. Place cream cheese on top of chicken.
  3. Cover with lid and cook on LOW for 6-8 hours.
  4. Remove chicken from cooker and shred it with 2 forks. Return to slow cooker and stir in the cheddar cheese.

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Goals?!?!?!

We have talked in past weeks about goals. We have discussed the importance of setting goals so we can visually see in our mind where we want to get to.

This week we are going to talk about setting those long term goals and then making short term goals as well.

First thing is to pull out a piece of paper and a pen and start writing things that you would like on your bucket list. Things you want to do in the future. So part of my bucket list when I set my goals was to – go to Greece, lose 25 lbs, put in 10k steps every day, go to Ireland and Scotland, own my own business and lots more. I wrote down 20-25 things that I want to do before I die.

Then I put an order of priority on each of those items. A 1 represented something that I wanted to happen in the next 1 year and a 2 represented anything I wanted before I die. Like on mine it was lose 25lbs. and keep it off was the number one thing and some of the 2 items were Go to Greece and go to Ireland and Scotland.

Once you have that list divided into #1 items and #2 items – you have now created short term goals and long term goals. #1 items being short term and of course #2 items being long term.

Let’s now look at the #1 items on the list and I want you to figure out what is the easiest way to accomplish an item that has a 1 beside it. In my case lose 25lbs and keep it off, so I literally did some homework and found that my cousin was having huge success on a keto diet and drinking exogenous ketones. I decided to give it a shot. In 3 months I lost 27 lbs and for 2 years I have kept it off. Short term goal accomplished.

Long term goals then move up on the list. One of my long term goals was to be able to see my son at least twice a year – since he lives clear across the country. In May I got to spend a week with him at my place and now for Thanksgiving I get to go see him. Sometimes it is the little things in life that help to keep us moving forward and so for this year I am accomplishing one of my long term goals with doing this every year.

Goals are an important part of my life. I was talking to a co-worker the other day about focus and we have days in our lives where our focus is just off. Not sure why, not sure what to do about it, maybe our brain is just fried from working so hard or thinking so hard. So goals help to give us some focus when our brain says “‘I’ve had enough”.

Next step is to write down those goals – both short term and long term and read them every day. That is the focus part of goal setting. Reminding yourself what you want. Some people will actually take lipstick and write them on the bathroom mirror so that they are reminded every day of what they want in life. When they have accomplished an item they take it off the list and add something else to it. Because as you grow and accomplish goals in your life, those goals keep changing. If you still have the same goals today that you had 20 years ago, then you are stagnant and not moving forward in life.

So let’s get going with setting some short term and long term goals. I’d love it if you would share some of those with us in the comments.

Til next week – have a fabulous week!

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Keto Chaffle Breakfast Sandwich

Keto Chaffle Breakfast Sandwich

  • Servings: 1
  • Difficulty: easy
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Enjoy bread again with this easy Keto Chaffle recipe


Ingredients

  • 1 egg
  • 1/2 cup Monterey Jack Cheese
  • 1 tablespoon almond flour
  • 2 tablespoons butter

Directions

  1. In a small bowl mix the egg, almond flour and Monterey Jack Cheese
  2. Pour half of the batter into your mini waffle maker and cook for 3-4 minutes. Then cook the rest of the batter to make a second chaffle.
  3. In a small pan melt 2 tablespoons of butter. Add the chaffles and cook on each side for 2 minutes. Pressing down while they are cooking lightly on the top of them so they crisp up better.
  4. Remove from the pan and let sit for 2 minutes.
  5. Now make your sandwich with egss and bacon or sausage and cheese.

Recipe courtesy of Midgetmomma.com

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Is It Working?

“If the plan doesn’t work, change the plan, but never the goal.” Dr. Ryan Lowery

Have you reached a plateau and you are no longer losing? Dr. Ryan Lowery, a former national champion baseball player, who has a B.S. in Exercise Physiology, and M.S. in Exercise and Nutrition and a PhD in Health and Human Performance says “If the plan doesn’t work, change the plan”.

You still have the same goal – whatever that might be. Sometimes we hit a plateau on any “Diet” or “Lifestyle” Your body reaches a point where it may need a boost of some sort or a change.

There is a thing out there called calorie cycling and carb cycling. When you have reached a plateau and you still have weight to drop it’s ok to make a few changes in what you are eating.

Any time that you are trying to lose weight you must have a calorie deficit to accomplish that. Our body is an amazing muscle. Once it realizes that you are trying to lose weight, it tends to slow our metabolism down, even if you are weight lifting or running or doing massive amounts of exercise. It just does it.

So sometimes you have to fool it, by switching things up a bit by doing low calorie about 4-5 days a week and then 2 days do higher calorie or some people will do a week of low calorie and a week of higher calorie. The idea is to switch it up some so your body doesn’t understand what you are doing. Listen to your body and it will let you know what works best for you.

Carb cycling, on the other hand, is changing the amount of carbs you intake. Very similar to the calorie cycling only changing grams of carbs instead of just counting calories. One of my suggestions for carb cycling is 6 days of eating strict keto and one day of carb loading. If you go overboard on the carbs in one day though, expect to feel lethargic. Don’t allow this to get you off your lifestyle, just incorporate it as part of your lifestyle.

Both calorie cycling and carb cycling take place after you have reached that plateau of a couple of weeks of no loss and aren’t seeing any new results. Then it’s time to mix things up a bit.

Just like Dr Ryan says “If the plan doesn’t work, change the plan, but never the goal.” We are changing things up but our goal is still the same.

If you should have any questions on carb cycling or calorie cycling please don’t hesitate to get hold of us. I, myself, do carb cycling since I live a Keto lifestyle.

Until next week, have a fabulous week!

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Low Carb Deconstructed Pizza Casserole

Low-Carb Deconstructed Pizza Casserole

  • Servings: 6
  • Difficulty: easy
  • Print

Comfort food casserole your whole family will enjoy


Ingredients

  • 1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes
  • 5 links (19.5 oz) uncooked turkey or pork Italian sausage (or I used hamburger)
  • 4 teaspoons olive oil (I use avocado oil) divided
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 8-12 oz fresh mushrooms (I use portobella mushrooms) washed and cut into thick slices
  • 1-1/2 cup grated Mozzarella cheese
  • 15 slices pepperoni, cut in half
  • 1 medium onion

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 400F/200C. Spray an 8″ x 11″ glass casserole dish with non-stick spray or olive oil.
  2. Pour the diced tomatoes into a colander placed in the sink and rinse with cold water. Let tomatoes drain a minute or two, then spread them out on paper towels to dry (or blot dry with another paper towel on top).
  3. While tomatoes dry, heat 2 teaspoons avocado oil in a large non-stick frying pan, put the burger in the pan and cook over medium-high heat until it’s nicely browned, breaking it apart as it cooks.
  4. While meat cooks, wash mushrooms, pat dry and slice into thick slices.
  5. When meat is done, drain grease off, then layer meat in the bottom of the casserole dish and top with the drained tomatoes, spreading them out over the top of the meat. Season with dried oregano, salt and pepper.
  6. Wipe out the pan if needed, then heat the other 2 teaspoons of avocado oil over medium-high heat. When the pan is hot add the onions and let them start to cook. Then add the mushrooms and let them cook, stirring a few times, until all the liquid is released and the mushrooms and onions are starting to brown. Layer the mushroom onion mixture over the meat-tomato mixture.
  7. Cut pepperoni in half. Sprinkle the grated Mozzarella over the top of the casserole and lay the pepperoni pieces on top of the cheese, spacing them evenly so the whole top is covered with pepperoni.
  8. Bake about 25 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and starting to brown. Serve hot.

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