Tag: ketogenic lifestyle

What is Ketosis?

Very simply ketosis is where your body burns fat for fuel!!!

Ketosis is a metabolic state that is characterized by elevated blood ketone levels coupled with lower, stable blood sugar levels. When you restrict carbohydrate intake, insulin is low, the body’s main fuel source shifts from glucose to fat, which sends the body into “ketosis”.

Ketones are made in the liver through a process known as ketogenesis. When you restrict carbohydrates, blood glucose and insulin levels decrease, which allows fat stores to break down and provide energy. Our liver then makes ketones. Kind of like the runners high! The runners high is when all glucose is burned and your body has now started to burn ketones. Gives you that extra burst of energy known as the “Runners High”. If you’ve ever experienced this you will know how much of a burst of energy you get.

Nutritional ketosis can take anywhere from 3-10 days to get into ketosis, maintaining a very strict keto diet of less than 25grams of carbs per day. But if you go over that even once and do, let’s say 50-100 grams of carbs, it can kick you out of ketosis and you will then have to start all over again. So anyone relying on a keto diet has to maintain a strict 25 grams of carbs per day.

Our bodies can also utilize a Keto supplement that can put your body into ketosis in under an hour. Amazing that a supplement can do this, but it can be tested using either ketone pee strips or blood tests. One Keto supplement can put you into ketosis for up to 6-8 hours. Add in some intermittent fasting or a modified keto diet and you get the same basic results as a strict keto diet without having to count macros or worry about too many carbohydrates.

I take a keto supplement every day and do a modified keto diet (most days I maintain less than 50 grams of carbs a day) thus a KETO LIFESTYLE. I don’t have to punish myself in my head for cheating once in a while. If temptation is high – 95% of the time I will just have a bite of something and that will allow me to have a taste but not feel deprived.

I’m a firm believer, at this age, that I want a LIFESTYLE not a DIET. So I have added the supplement to my lifestyle and I love it. If I need an extra boost due to late hours or extra workout, I can always add a second supplement. It comes in caffeine and decaffeinated versions so I don’t have to worry about extra caffeine.

I can also say after doing this LIFESTYLE for over two years, my body tells me when I’ve had too many carbohydrates. I can feel the lethargy coming on and my stomach immediately gets that bloated feeling.

This past week I had a diverticulitis attack and have had to eat soft foods, most of which were not keto. I have fought the lethargy every day while trying to get my tummy better. I thought about just doing an extended fast, but you have to eat when you take these antibiotics so I had bland food – mashed potatoes, pasta and some rice. When you have to eat those kinds of foods – they are just that bland. It didn’t matter how much butter I added or even cheese – they are still bland. I’m so glad I can get back to eating my healthy way of life. I’ve been able to add eggs back in and now that 5 days have gone by, I can start adding meat and veggies again. I just have to watch the fiber content so I will start by adding fish in and then by the end of this week I should be able to eat my full keto diet again. Yeah.

If you are still trying to decide if Low Carb/Keto is a way of life for you – don’t hesitate to contact us. We love to help people to understand how it works and how you can feel BETTER as well.

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Keto Chicken Enchilada Casserole with Cauliflower

Chicken Enchilada Casserole with Cauliflower

  • Difficulty: Medium
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Tasty Chicken Enchiladas


Ingredients

  • 8 ounce Chicken Breast – cooked
  • 1-1/2 pounds Cauliflower, cut into florets (about 7 heaping cups of florets)
  • 1 tablespoon Extra-virgin olive oil (I use avocado oil)
  • 1 tablespoon Garlic, minced
  • 1 large Onion, roughly chopped
  • 1 tablespoon taco seasoning
  • 1 10 ounce can Natural Red Enchilada Sauce, gluten free if needed
  • 1 large Egg
  • 1 Egg White
  • 1/2 teaspoon Salt
  • Pepper to taste
  • 1 4 ounce can Diced Green Chiles
  • 1 cup Mexican Cheese

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees and rub an 8×8 or 9×9 pan with olive oil
  2. Cook the cauliflower til fork tender, about 10-15 minutes
  3. Drain the cauliflower and place onto a kitchen towel to cool for 10 minutes, or until cool enough to handle.
  4. While the cauliflower cooks, heat the olive oil in a large, high-sided pan on medium heat. Add the garlic, onion and taco seasoning and cook until lightly golden brown, stirring frequently or about 3-5 minutes.
  5. Add in the can of enchilada sauce and bring to a boil, boiling for 1 minute. Reduce the heat down to medium and simmer until the sauce is reduced and thick, about 7 minutes.
  6. Once the cauliflower is cool enough to handle, wrap it in the kitchen towel and wring out as much of the water as possible. Really put some muscle into this because you don’t want a soggy casserole! I like to do this twice, using 2 towels, to really get out the water.
  7. Place the cauliflower into a large food processor, along with the egg, egg white, salt and a generous pinch of pepper. Add in the enchilada sauce mixture and process until the mixture is smooth. Transfer into a large bowl.
  8. Shred the cooked chicken and add it to the bowl, along with the green chiles, stirring until well mixed.
  9. Transfer into the prepared pan and cover with tinfoil. Cook for 30 minutes, then remove the tinfoil and cook for another 30-40 minutes, or until the casserole feels set and the sides are lightly browned. Sprinkle with cheese and cook an additional couple of minutes, until the cheese is melted.
  10. Cover and let sit for 10 minutes, then slice and serve.
  11. Garnish with cilantro, tomatoes, avocado and sour cream.

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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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