Everything In Moderation is a lie.

I have heard this phrase my whole life, from parents, from teachers, from friends, from the media, from health gurus, from doctors!  I am declaring this lie a dangerous one.

We wouldn't take heroin in moderation right? Not EVERYTHING is okay in moderation. And here's the thing- for some of us, things that really are perfectly fine for others to have in moderation - would set off a domino effect of bad choices. My friend can eat sugary sweet things and never gain an ounce. It's sort of fascinating to watch as she stuffs sweet things in her skinny little face. If I look at a spaghetti noodle, there go my thighs another size up.

So I'm finding elimination means actually eliminating things, permanently. No, I can't "just this once" have a piece of that bread. No I can't "just a special splurge" that pie. No it doesn't matter if it's my birthday, I still shouldn't have that giant piece of cake. No seriously- I can't enjoy just 3 bites of that rice dish. No REALLY, you using splenda doesn't make those cookies any healthier or more appropriate for my way of eating.

I'm strongly suspecting my biggest issue happens to be grains, moreso even than sugar. I have accidently eaten sugar without any huge effects (most recently some cole slaw at an event that I realized too late was way too sweet.) On the other hand, when I've accidentally eaten grains- like in that delicious fried chicken I should have known better about, I end up feeling awful. My allergies return. My gut feels gross again. I stall out in loss for a few days. I feel bloated. I get moody. I feel achy. CLEARLY grains are not okay for me, not even in moderation.

Whenever I find a grain substitute that doesn't taste like cardboard I am super excited. When I get one that's actually BETTER THAN THE REAL THING? I throw a party in my head! No need to eat THIS in moderation.

This recipe? BETTER THAN THE REAL THING. I followed the exact recipe except I also added some full seed good dijon mustard to the sauce.

https://www.ketoconnect.net/recipe/cauliflower-mac-cheese/

The thing about this dish, an call it cheesy bacony heavenly cauliflower, or call it keto mac n cheese, or call it crack and cheese... whatever you like, is it is supremely cheesy. And savory. And buttery. And well, perfect. And it's spot on KETO friendly! Toss the macaroni noodles forever, you never need them, not even in moderation- with this around.

I opted to strip the cauliflower by hand and it was somehow very therapeutic. I think the pieces were better shaped for this task than with a knife. 

The whole family loved this! I'll be making a vegetarian version of this soon for my eldest daughter when she comes to visit because I know she will love it too (am thinking I will fry up some bacon to sprinkle on top of the meat eater portions once plated)

Forget moderation. Stuff your face with healthy fats and veggies. Feel good and keto on.

The I Didn't Menu Plan Or Shop plates

The past few days I have been really unprepared for meals. It's been a busy week between my daughter's end of year events, job related stuff, family obligations.... excuses, excuses!

What I do is survey the kitchen for what I DO have and just jump in. Since my family doesn't eat keto, that means it may nit be food they want in which case they can do their own surveying and jumping. ;-) We call those "Fend for yourself night" around here and I don't think any grown man or 16 year old girl NEED to have wife/mom solve every meal dilemma for them.

These were a few quickies I dreamed up on the fly...

Bacon n eggs, my style. Bacon cooked first, then jalapenos added to crisp it up. Used a canning lid sprayed with Pam, cracked an egg in it and cooked it to almost done, dumped a bunch of cheese on top, bacon, and peppers, covered for a minute with a lid. Topped with sour cream.

"What the heck do I do with this pork?" plate. Browned a package of ground pork (seasoned with salt, pepper, fennel seed) The fam made nachos. I just topped mine with cheddar, avocado, tomato, and sour cream. Very filling!!

Italian salad. Chopped tomato, red and green cherry pepper, baby mozzarella balls, olive oil, salt pepper.

Finally went shopping, have a real meal planned for tonight, but in a pinch you can always be creative and get your fat, protein and minimal carbs in if you keep the fridge stocked with eggs, cheese, and some veggies!

To-go, Go-to

Yesterday was a busy day, and the pantry is somehow empty. The family decided they wanted subs from Wawa. I decided to give the Italian sub in a bowl a shot. All I can say is it is YUGE. I ended up eating half of it, and was totally stuffed.

If you're on the road or having a busy day, sometimes you just will not have the time or means to mix up a bowl of fathead pizza dough, or braise a rack of ribs. Sometimes you need options! A few ideas to keep up your (and my sleeve):

• Sub in a bowl. Most of the sandwich chains will make these for you.
• Mcdonald's breakfast platter, eggs, sausage, bacon.
• Mcdonald's egg mcmuffin, minus the muffin. Sausage for higher fat. You can now get these all day!
• Fast food burger without the bun. Check for "all beef" and "no fillers" first to make sure they're not sneaking carbs in.
• Some fast food places now offer lettuce wrapped burgers!
• Eating dinner at a sit down place? Just eat like you would at home- meat and above ground veggies. Can anyone ever go wrong with a ribeye and broccoli?
• Protein salads, be sure it's not a breaded protein source like friend chicken/shrimp.
• At a nice Italian restaurant? Look for a charcuterie board/cheese and meat plate on the appetizer list. Meats, cheeses, maybe some olives and marinated peppers, all good for you!
• Mexican? Fajitas without the wraps or the sides.
• Chinese? Just kidding, don't even try. Go somewhere else.
• Sushi? Go for riceless sushi, sashimi. Hibachi options may be okay but watch it, sauces can be tricky too- use caution.
• Pizza place? You may be stuck with wings, if they use a sweet sauce get 'em naked, like you like your cowboys.
• Food truck palooza? Turkey legs, jerk chicken, bunless burgers, sauce sauce sauce watch the damned sauce!
• Emergency gas station stop while on road trip- this is tricky, you know if you don't get a bite to eat you may die. You have no time to get real food and there are no fast food options nearby. BTDT!! RUN for the cooler if they have one- you may find string cheese and/or hard boiled eggs. Check the snack aisle, they may have bags of nuts... peanuts or almonds or pistachios. Look by the protein bars, do they have Quest bars? This part is scary, and the trick of course is preparing ahead of time on road trips by packing snack foods but no one is perfect. Look hard enough and I bet you can find a keto friendly snack at the gnarliest of road side gas stations.

Now you have some to-go, go-tos! Keto on!

I ate fat, and lost fat

I've been following this way of eating for several months now. The novelty of "eat fat, lose fat" should have worn off by now. Sometimes though it just smacks me in the face again with it's astonishing ridiculousness. It's so contrary to EVERYTHING we were ever told in health class, on government pamphlets, by doctors, on the tv news.

Yesterday, I had a cinco de mayo taco meal. The tacos... were made of CHEESE. Full fat cheddar cheese. Stuffed with ground beef and full fat sour cream, and fatty avocados. This morning I hit my 20 lb loss milestone. DOES NOT COMPUTE! I have read the science behind it, but it's hard reversing 45 years of bad information based on a really crappy food pyramid. I eat fat, and I lose fat. I may have a hard time wrapping my brain around the possibilities of it all, but at the end of the day it clearly works.

I have decided with this milestone I am going to try to make a significant (for me) change. I'm going stop daily weigh ins. I think it's time to stop obsessing and relying so much on the scale, and instead enjoy and appreciate all the NSV (non scale victories) in my life. Things like jeans that no longer fit, stairs that no longer feel like a chore to climb, that strange euphoria I experience every afternoon now, the thinner face that's more fun to "make up" in the mirror now, etc. I think I will appreciate these things more, if I stop obsessing so much on scale victories. I'm not tossing it out, but I'm going to take it out of the bathroom and restrain myself to only once weekly weigh ins.

Onto the food now man! Okay in the ketosphere these cheese tacos are all the rage. My opinion was, they were tasty but RIDICULOUSLY filling, and to me the cheese was a little much by the time I finished the first one. I served myself 2, and ended up only eating the "shell" of one, the other I picked out most of the ingredients and ate without the "shell". My non-keto family liked them too but I think they sort of had the same vibe. I think these would be good maybe as tiny mini tacos at a party, or mini muffin taco cups with fillings. I wouldn't say I won't make them ever again, but they won't be a regular part of my dinner line up- tbh I'd rather just eat a taco salad.

For those of you who love lots of cheese though, here you go!

I used this recipe. The process was simple enough. Keep on keto'ing!!

Test taco, was too big.

Drape and let cool, pro-tip, greasy side down so you don't have to hold it.

And ta-da, tacos. With cauliflower rice (taco seasoning and canned tomatoes added)

Babyback ginger stir fry

I wish it could be yesterday again today, so I could eat this all over again.

It started with this package of boneless baby back ribs. I spent too much time and energy trying to decide how to cook them and after realizing it wasn't going to be a lot of meat per person, a stir fry might be perfect. I threw the meat in my Instant Pot with a cup of water, about 1/4 cup of the marinade/sauce Ill share in a minute, and a bit of butter. Cooked for 10 mins on manual high and natural release, wasn't happy with how tender they were so I ended up turning on the slow cook option after that and just letting them simmer for about an hour. Finally perfect! Once done, I chopped and shredded the meat up and put it aside for dinner.

This is the marinade/sauce I tried. It's apple cider vinegar based, sugar free, gluten free and you know what else it is? DELICIOUS! I used it both in the meat pressure cooking stage AND as my stir fry sauce of choice. 

I know you're probably wondering, do I need this in my life? The answer is yes, yes you do. 

By now you all know I am 1. dedicated 2. obsessive 3. passionate 4. stubborn but also 5. LAZY. So of course I find a bag stir fry veggie mix to make my life easier. I saw this and it looked perfect! Brussel sprouts, kale, broccoli, snow peas and carrots. I cook for myself but also for my non-keto spouse and child, I know they like orange sauce so I got this, separated out 1.5C for me and picked out the carrots. The orange sauce comes in a separate package so I was easily able to avoid it. 

http://www.taylorfarms.com/products/stir-fry-kits/orange/#product-view

I weighed out 3 oz of the pork and stir fried it with 1.5 C of the mix, a generous splashing of the sauce, some red pepper flakes to add some fire. (The family got theirs in another pan with the orange sauce.)

Once done I topped with 1 oz of chopped macadamia nuts.

It was a flavor sensation. A party in my mouth. A peek into heaven. All that and it was perfectly keto!

I also had avocado, bacon, and sour cream for lunch yesterday. Yeah that OMAD thing? Not working on a daily basis. I think I'll be one of those every few days people. I also had some red wine, and of course coffee with heavy cream several times during the day. 

The scale is so slow this week. Down .2 Yawn. I have to remind myself 1-2 lbs a week is healthy and optimal for long term success. And hey I'm wearing a maxi dress I always refused to wear before because I looked pregnant in it so my body is changing.

Keto'ing on.

When Irish eyes are smiling

My husband's favorite meal is corned beef and veggies. Every year I dread St Patrick's day because I make it as a labor of love for him- even though I don't actually like corned beef and veggies. With my new way of eating, I of course scope out the fattiest cuts of meat I can find so when I saw a fatty corned beef brisket at the market I had to consider it. I decided I would kill 2 birds with one stone, make my husband happy and get in my fatty meat, and it would be worth it even if I didn't care for it.

Then I tried this recipe. And either my taste buds have changed or its just that good- because this was fantastic.

This is NOT a keto diet friendly recipe to be honest. Some people eat a modified diet they call "Dirty Keto" which allows for non-keto ingredients in meals as long as they're staying below their net carb limit. I actually don't do that, I stay as strict as possible. But I'm not a complete purist and I'm okay with the very occasional mis-ingredient. In this case it's a bottle of Guinness. This also calls for 1/4 C brown sugar, which I cut down to 2 tablespoons. I don't have any carby after effects this morning so as I suspected it seems to have been of minimal effect.

Oh.... and it's an Instant Pot recipe. My favorite kitchen gadget!

http://www.thekitchenwhisperer.net/2017/03/15/pressure-cooker-guinness-corned-beef-with-cabbage-potatoes-carrots/

I used the most beautiful extra seedy dijon mustard... ahhhhh....

Obviously I chose the fattiest pieces and only ate cabbage because root veggies are a big no-no on a keto diet!

The rest of the day, I ended up skipping the fast. That wine sugar hangover from the night before just kicked my arse. I had a hard boiled egg, some avocado, jalapeno and bacon for lunch, cheese and macadamia nuts for dessert. Stayed well under macros. 2 days in a row with no scale movement. Feeling great though!

Chugga chugga chugga keto choo choo.

I'm no longer obese.

At least according to the World Health Org and American Heart Assoc. My BMI index has fallen from 32 on my start date (2/20) or 33 from my highest over the holidays, to a mere "overweight" 28. Now there are lot's of flaws (in my opinion) to the whole BMI chart system. But it's a victory I'll take anyway.

My scale didn't move today. I wasn't surprised, more on that in a moment. I decided it had been awhile, since before vacation, that I measured. Now the ONLY measurement I track is around my middle at the belly button. It just seems like a pain to track elsewhere and I remember from years past I could never measure the exact right spot the second time. Results around the middle today, - almost 6 inches. I knew I'd trimmed down, but that was surprising to me. And exciting!

Okay now let's talk about yesterday. Yesterday was a pretty intense yard work day. In the hot sun. I mowed, raked, weeded, etc. I definitely burned a lot of calories. I posted last night's dinner already. Consequently I wasn't overly surprised when I felt hungry last night after dinner. I decided to just go with it- when you're feeling hungry you have 3 choices. Be miserable and hungry and go to bed hangry. Push it off as long as possible and then go crazy and eat everything in sight. Or make a smart keto snack choice, and postpone the intermittent fast. I chose the last.

Quick n easy keto microwave cheesecake

1 oz cream cheese softened

1 packet truvia

1 egg white

Dash of cocoa powder

Mix well. Nuke it for about 1 min. Allow to cool. (I used the freezer to speed it up, because... hungry.)

It wasn't bad, like a spongy cheesecake. A nice little treat. I also had some macadamia nuts. All good stuff.

And then.... I opened the wine.

My big calorie burn earlier made me a little reckless. I felt like I had so much to compensate for. So I had a glass. Not a restaurant 5 oz pour, but like... a whole wine glass full of a red blend. Then I had a second glass. 

The problem with wine is it has natural sugars. It's fine in moderation if the rest of your macros are balanced. I simply drank too much. I tracked it as 2 glasses, but went back and edited it to 3 because my pours were just too generous.

This led to these macros.... keep in mind I keep my carbs under 20 a day.

Calories- 1400

Carbs- 25 net

Protein- 59g

Fat- 79g

This morning I woke up, and I felt a mild hunger. I never wake up with a mild hunger.... except on those occasions in the past I have overdone my carbs the day before. The carbs spike your insulin, and it starts the whole "feed me more" process. Unlike last night, I am ignoring this hunger because I'm getting good at isolating "No seriously, I'm hungry!" from "I think I want food, but if I wait a bit it will pass." feelings.

Every day brings a new lesson in this WOE (way of eating) or lifestyle. Next time I indulge in wine it'll be in smaller quantities.

Keep calm and keto on!