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.

All Meat Veggie Chili

All Meat Veggie Chili

  • Servings: 6-8
  • Difficulty: Easy
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A Super Easy and Fun Chili


Ingredients

  • 1-1/2 pounds ground beef
  • 2 cloves garlic, chopped
  • 2 tablespoons (30 ml) oil
  • 1-1/2 cups onion, deiced, about 1 large onion
  • 1/2 cup copped celery, about 1 stalk
  • 1-1/2 cups carrots, peeled and diced, about 4 medium carrots
  • 2 tablespoons chili powder
  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1 teaspoon oregano
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)
  • 4 cups zucchinis, diced, about 2-3 medium zucchinis (I also add butternut squash)
  • 1 15 ounce can tomato puree or tomato sauce
  • 1 15 ounce can diced tomatoes
  • If you have to have beans in your chili – then go ahead and add black beans and kidney beans (this will make it so that it doesn’t conform to keto)

Directions

  1. In your seasoned skillet or 5-6 quart large cast iron pot, brown beef and garlic. Cook over medium heat until beef is thoroughly cooked and browned. Drain off excess fat, set aside.
  2. Add oil, onions, celery, carrots, and seasonings (I use 2 tablespoons of tastefully simple Wahoo! Chili Seasoning instead of the separate spices) to the skillet and cook until translucent over medium high heat, about 5-7 minutes. Once onions are golden and veggies are midway cooked, add zucchini and cook for 2 minutes, making sure you stir everything well.
  3. Add cooked beef, tomato puree/sauce, and tomatoes into the pot and stir well. Bring everything to a boil, stirring frequently, reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes.
  4. Check on the amazing mixture every so often and stir. Serve immediately.


This is a very thick chili recipe. Add up to 1 cup of additional liquid (tomato sauce or water) to thin out the sauce if you prefer.

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Do you Need ENERGY? Do you Want ENERGY?

How a Ketogenic Lifestyle is the Secret to Sustained Energy.

Are you always tired?

Do you have spurts of energy and then you crash – like after you’ve taken an Energy Drink?

Do you always have snacks around so you don’t become the Food Monster?

If you can relate to any of the above, then you need to read further.

SAD (Standard American Diet)
The SAD often consists of high intakes of

Refined flours (white bread, white rice, pasta)

Added sugar

Lots of boxed foods(processed) that contain ingredients cooked up in a lab.

So when we eat a diet consisting of mainly carbohydrates the starches are converted to simple sugar molecules or glucose. Your body then absorbs the glucose and gives you a spurt of energy. Then there comes a crash so we automatically go eat some more carbs and sugars and get that extra burst of energy and then crash. This goes on and goes on and becomes a vicious cycle. And for every time we eat more to get that little burst of energy out bodies are storing all those extra calories as fat.

We are definitely not doing our bodies any favors. This increase in energy and crash affects our bodies in different ways. In most cases, if nothing else, you are left feeling sluggish and craving that energy in the form of carbs and sugar.

Ketogenic Diet  

Step into the world of a Ketogenic Diet. It consists of about 5-10% carbohydrates, 15-25% Protein and the balance in healthy fats. The average person on a SAD eats around 225 grams of carbs every day. A keto diet limits this to less than 50 grams a day.

This forces your body to stop burning glucose and switches to a “fat adapted” state where it is burning fat for fuel – Ketosis. So this helps to eliminate the rise of energy and the crash that follows. It gives you a consistent flow of energy as it burns fat for fuel.

The only thing I recommend is that you don’t go cold turkey on the carbs and sugar, this leads to the keto flu and it isn’t fun. So each day eliminate a few more carbs and sugars so that you don’t run the chance of getting the keto flu.

If you have a sweet tooth like I do, then you will want to buy almond flour, swerve and/or erythritol to bake with.

Part of our blog each week will be recipes for desserts, breakfast ideas, lunch and dinner. There is a lot of good food out there. Organic meats that don’t have all kinds of fillers or antibiotics or hormones given to them is the best way to buy healthy meats. I especially love Butcher Box. Their choice of meats is all organic and you can structure the program to fit your needs and your choice of meats. AND best of all it delivers right to your house. Before I started using Butcher Box the only organic meat that I would eat was wild game once in a while. Once you start eating organic you may never go back to the grocery store for meat. It has amazing flavor that store bought meats don’t seem to have.

If you should have any questions about a Keto Lifestyle, please feel free to contact us or comment on our blog. I love helping people feel BETTER.

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Minute French Toast

Low Carb Minute French Toast

Minute French Toast

  • Servings: 1
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A Super Simple Breakfast


Ingredients

  • 3 tbsp plus 1 heaping tsp almond flour
  • 2 tsp coconut flour
  • 1/4 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon (add half to batter and use the other half on top)
  • 3 tbsp sugar free maple syrup
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 tbsp butter
  • 1 egg

Directions

  1. Crack egg into coffee mug. Mix in all ingredients EXCEPT for the butter
  2. When the batter is smooth and completely mixed, then add your tablespoon of butter right into the center. No need to mix it in or melt it first
  3. Microwave for 1 to 2 minutes, depending on your microwave strength. When it’s done it should still be soft and spongy.
  4. Carefully slice it in half and stick the two halves in the toaster (I pan fry mine since it holds together better that way)
  5. Top with more butter, cinnamon, sweetener or sugar free pancake syrup.

-Recipe Courtesy of Up Late Anyway

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What is a Low Carb Keto Lifestyle

We need to talk about the difference between a Low Carb diet, a Ketogenic Diet and a Keto Lifestyle.

A Low Carb Diet generally allows you to have a diet in which less than 30% of your total daily macronutrient calories come from Carbohydrates.

A Ketogenic Diet, however, consists of about 5-10% Carbohydrates, 15-30% Protein and the remaining as fat.

A Ketogenic Lifestyle basically consists of a Ketogenic Diet or a Low Carb Diet and then supplements with pure therapeutic ketones. Click for more information.

I personally do a Ketogenic Lifestyle. I take a supplement every day that puts my body into ketosis in under an hour and not feel guilty because I know my body will still be in ketosis.

Ketosis is where your body is burning fat for fuel. Our bodies do this as a normal part of life – create Ketones in the liver – and that runners high – well that is when you eliminate all the glucose from your body and start burning natural ketones. By taking a supplement, I burn Ketones every day.

When I first started on this lifestyle – I didn’t change my diet and I just added the pure therapeutic ketones. I put my body into ketosis with just supplementing. (you can test it and prove you’re in ketosis) Then about week two I started to eliminate carbs (keeps you from getting the keto flu) til I got into ketosis naturally and with the supplement. This allows it to be a lifestyle instead of a diet (DIEt) I have always felt deprived when I’ve been on a diet.

I used the supplement to help me lose weight but that isn’t really what it is for – that is just a great side benefit. It helps you have more Energy, better Sleep ( I used to have to take sleeping pills), better Mental Focus, Better Mood. It clears the skin, helps preserve the muscles, acts like an appetite suppressant and so many more things. It overall just makes you feel better.

AND for me the biggest benefit is that I have been able to maintain my weight within 3 lbs for the last two years. That is a first for me. I’ve always been able to DIET, but then as soon as I go off the DIET I gain it all back and then some. This time is different. Ketones for me are the way to go. I love my lifestyle and I don’t ever feel deprived.

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Low Carb Keto Lifestyle Success

On Saturday, we had our Low Carb Keto Lifestyle event in Pooler, GA. It was awesome. We had some fantastic speakers. Peter Brodhead from Brighter Day Health Foods, Dr Tassie Hargrove, Naturopathic Doctor from Savannah, Nicholas Couch who is an Independent Pruver with the company Pruvit and Kerri Dodson who is a Holistic Health Coach.

We also had discussions on whole foods, microbiome, healthy living, exogenous ketones and incorporating exercise into a healthy lifestyle. Lunch was enjoyed by all. Raffle prizes were given out and everyone had a great time.

Our speakers enjoyed themselves as well. Maybe next time they can come and stay the whole time to hear each other’s talks. We will be doing this again in the future. I had a blast organizing it and getting things lined up.

As we move forward over the next couple of weeks we will be highlighting some of the things that our guest speakers talked about. So stay tuned to next week and hear some of the things that Peter had to say.

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8 Ways to Make Sure You Are Losing Fat on a Keto Lifestyle

Have you often wondered if you are losing fat on a keto diet? Here are 8 ways to make sure you are losing fat.

1. Don’t eat too many carbs. Low carb is considered under 50 grams per day. To reach a state of ketosis (metabolic state in which the body burns fat for fuel) your total calories from carbs should only be about 5% of your total caloric intake. You may have some difficulty doing this in the first week so you can gradually decrease over a weeks time to the under 50 grams. If you go cold turkey just expect to feel poorly for a couple of days – headaches, tummy upset, etc. This can be countered by increasing your electrolyte intake. (Lots of smart water or electrolyte water or electrolyte supplements, etc.)

2. You aren’t eating nutritious food. Get rid of processed food from your pantry. Everyone thinks their food budget will increase but it actually goes down because you don’t need as much healthy food to fill you up as you do with processed foods. This actually cut my grocery bill in half.

3. You may be consuming too many calories. It is critical to create a calorie deficit. This can be accomplished by cutting calories or moving more or both. Most people feel more satisfied after eating Keto meals and snacks due to the filling effects of fat and protein.

4. You may have an undiagnosed medical issue. Be sure to rule out any medical issues and find out if any meds you may be on could be causing problems.

5. You have unrealistic weight loss expectations. We all want fast results when we start any plan, but every bodies body is different. To help with this facet – not only weigh when you begin, but more importantly take your measurements. I had faster success losing inches than I did with weight. Also with a keto diet you will be maintaining the muscle or growing muscle so weight loss amounts can be deceptive.

6. You’re constantly snacking on high-calorie foods. We forget to listen to our stomachs and we’ve been so attuned to using food to alleviate stress or boredom that we don’t always pay attention to the fact we aren’t really hungry – we are eating out of habit. Take a minute before just automatically reaching for a snack and maybe see if you’re actually hungry or get up and go for a short walk. If you are hungry – maybe some options would be a small hand full of nuts or celery sticks or cherry tomatoes dipped in ranch dressing or a hard boiled egg.

7. You’re stressed and not getting enough sleep. Research shows that stress, especially chronic stress, and lack of sleep can negatively impact weight loss, Pub med article on Effects of Chronic Social Stress on Obesity. When your body is stressed it produces excess amounts of a hormone called cortisol. Cortisol can encourage your body to store fat. And those who are stressed probably aren’t getting enough sleep, which has also been linked to weight gain.

8. You aren’t getting enough physical activity. Exercise lowers your risk of chronic conditions like heart disease, diabetes, depression, anxiety and obesity. Don’t go run a 5k if you haven’t trained for it. Take your calendar and mark each day with 5 minutes more. So Day 1 you time it and move for 5 minutes – day 2 for 10 minutes – day 3 for 15 minutes, etc. At the end of 30 days you will be up to 50 minutes. Not too shabby for just 5 minutes additional each day.

If you have any questions about doing a keto lifestyle please don’t hesitate to ask and we can help. We will be getting recipes up here one day soon. We are working on the format now. Hang in there with us and learn to love a ketogenic lifestyle just like we do. Have an awesome day.

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