Tag: Low Carb Keto Lifestyle

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
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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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Taking Control of our Lives

“When we take control of our lives, the habits we adopt, and the choices we make on a daily basis, we can achieve whatever we dream and think possible.” Josh Perry

Josh Perry (check at bottom for a link about Josh) is a former Pro BMX Rider who has survived numerous brain tumors to become a public speaker on brain health, eating healthy and taking control of our own lives.

You’ve made the choice to do a low carb or a keto lifestyle. LIFESTYLE being the appropriate word here. For many of us we beat ourselves up a lot if we cheat a little or get knocked off our “DIET” by life events or stress or sickness. This is where taking control of your life comes in. It all comes back to mindset and not allowing life to change our mindset and our goals of where we want to get to.

When it comes to food that means sticking to your meal plan. But if you can’t for some reason, you start over again the next day or one of the things that I have done is meal prep. If I make two different meals on Sunday afternoon for the week, then I have something different each day for lunch and something different for dinner. This helps eliminate temptation for me because I’m prepared and not bored with my food. When my meals are already planned then I can go to the refrigerator and get my lunch instead of being tempted to go to the cafeteria and buy something that may or may not be on my eating plan and I don’t have to think twice about it.

I struggle sometimes as well with what to eat, how much to eat, being bored with my food, etc. I will say though, that one of the things that I have realized is that if I take control and have planned the rest of my day and week, I need to plan what to eat as well. This saves me a whole lot of heartache later on and I’m not as nasty to myself when I cheat a little.

We, especially us women, are extremely hard on ourselves about cheating at meal time. We know what we want as far as our goal, then we know what we are supposed to eat, but if you’re stressed or had a fight with the spouse or kids or your mom responsibilities seem like they never go away, we tend to cave and one little bite won’t hurt and then afterwards when one little bite wasn’t enough – we beat ourselves up for days sometimes. Been there done that. I can hear the old words in my head “You can’t stick to anything, you’re weak, you can’t do anything right”. STOP with this cycle and realize that tomorrow is another day or meal two of your day is another meal and go right back to your new lifestyle. Don’t spend days hating yourself and giving yourself the excuse to go back to your old habits. Be a big person and accept what you did and move on immediately.

I’m great at planning everything else in my life and sticking to it, but when it comes to food I am tempted. Even still today. But the big difference for me today is I no longer beat myself up which gives me a much healthier outlook on life and when stress comes along and I can’t say no to that one little piece of sugar free candy that turns into three pieces (LOL) I can legitimately say that tomorrow is a new day and forget about the three pieces of candy and move on.

This is when you start getting a healthy mindset toward food instead of using it as a crutch or excuse. I know I’m a stress eater, so during stressful times I have to stop and be really conscious on what I’m doing instead of just moving in a fog. And I no longer beat myself up internally for what I have eaten. When you live a keto lifestyle, if you pay attention to your body and only eat when you’re hungry, you’ll realize that most of the time when we eat – we eat out of habit, because it’s that time of day, or a I don’t want to be rude because someone brought in a special desert, or your mom made your favorite food. If you choose to take control of your life – then choose that you will allow yourself some cheat time without beating yourself up.

Yes it may take an extra day or two to get back into ketosis – unless you’re taking a supplement, but STOP with the self critique and self hate and self loathing. YOU ARE IN CONTROL!

Check out Facebook video on Josh Perry. https://www.facebook.com/JoshPerryBMX/videos/207887376676897/?v=207887376676897

So until next week, take control of your life and have a fabulous week!

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Super Tender and Moist Keto Pumpkin Cupcakes

Super Tender and Moist Keto Pumpkin Cupcakes

  • Servings: 12
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These are my new favorite and easy desert


Ingredients

    Pumpkin Cupcakes:
  • 2/3 cup almond flour
  • 3 Tablespoons coconut flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1-1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
  • 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
  • 2 eggs lightly beaten
  • 2-3 tablespoons Swerve
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
  • 2 Tablespoons coconut oil melted
  • 1/2 cup canned pumpkin puree
  • 1/4 cup almond milk
  • 2 tablespoons chopped pecans
    • Frosting:
  • 5 ounces grass-fed butter at room temperature
  • 5 ounces cream cheese at room temperature
  • pinch sea salt
  • 1/4-1/2 cup powdered Swerve
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 2-3 tablespoons cocoa powder *for chocolate version

Directions

    Pumpkin Cupcakes
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
  2. Put cupcake papers in muffin tins. Set aside.
  3. Whisk together in a medium bowl almond four, coconut flour, xanthan gum, baking powder, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice and salt. Set aside.
  4. Add eggs and Swerve to a large bowl. Beat with an electric mixer until pale and fluffy, 2 minutes. Add in vanilla extract, vinegar, coconut oil and pumpkin puree and beat until just incorporated. Gradually add in the dry flour mixture, alternating with almond milk. Once fully incorporated, fold in pecans.
  5. Distribute batter evenly into pan. I don’t overfill them so I get 12 cupcakes. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes (covering with aluminum foil at 15) until deep golden and a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
  6. Allow to cool for 15 minutes in the pan before removing, and cool completely on a rack before frosting.
  7. Make your cream cheese buttercream frosting while your cupcakes are cooling.
    8. Cream Cheese Buttercream Frosting
  8. Add the butter and cream cheese to a large bowl. Beat the mixture with an electric mixer until evenly combined, about 2 minutes.
  9. Add the salt and Swerve, one tablespoon at a time, and continue to beat until pale and fluffy (8-10 minutes). Feel free to scrape the bowl as needed and adjust sweetness to taste. Add vanilla extract and beat until fully incorporated.
  10. If making a chocolate version, sift the cocoa in one tablespoon at a time and beat until fully incorporated.
  11. One batch of frosting is enough for roughly 12 cupcakes.
Modified a little from the version that gnom-gnom.com posted.

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