You can do a lot of things with "cabbage flower" on a low-carb, high-fat (LCHF) diet: steam it, roast it, mash it, rice it, or just eat it raw. Of course, one drawback to raw veggies, including cauliflower, is that they're harder to fatten up that way. But a good, fatty dip will do the trick. I've never had cauliflower deep-fried or baked, but I suppose those are possibilities, too. I'm not sure what you'd bread it in, though -- crumbled pork rinds, perhaps? Oh -- you can also eat cauliflower pickled. (I don't, but you can.) … [Read more ...]
First, cut the carbs
Early weight loss I'm five days in to my Keto Diet Reboot, and feeling fine. The pounds are melting away -- two of them, so far. At my weigh-in this morning, I tipped the scales at 225.6 pounds. That's about what I weighed in May of this year, so I'm not too excited. In fact, for the next 20 pounds, I'm just going to be losing fat pounds that I've already lost one or two times over my years of LCHF living. That's how it is in the real world. But I've never come close to regaining ALL the weight I lost, and my waist circumference today is five or six inches less than in early 2011. Protein … [Read more ...]
Great foods for a low-carb diet (part 2): seeds
Maybe it's a stretch to call seeds "great food." Also, a reader new to low-carbing might get the impression that low-carb is a diet for the birds. That impression would be wrong unless we're talking about birds of prey! Seeds are at least a useful food, packing plenty of nutrition into a tiny space, and I have added a couple of seed products to my diet since going low-carb: sunflower kernels and flax seed meal. As you can see from the above, neither photographs well. Roasted sunflower kernels taste better than they look; flax seed meal, not so much. (Update -- also see "Chia: yet … [Read more ...]
Sardines: low-carb, high-fat lunch in a tin
A tin of sardines makes a quick, easy, nutritious and portable low-carb lunch or snack. It's another food item that I seldom, or never, ate before going low-carb, a hard-to-explain list that includes salmon, almonds, macadamia nuts, and fresh avocado. Lately, I've been buying Season Brand Sardines in five-tin packs at Costco. (For the record, I receive no consideration from either of those companies, but may from Amazon.com, which sells several brands of sardines, including the Season Skinless and Boneless Sardines in Olive Oil, 3.75-Ounce Tins.) Aside from reliable quality and a decent price … [Read more ...]
Cooking top sirloin on the grill
Summer is a great time to be low-carbing. Nothing says low-carb like a big hunk of red meat on an open grill. That's what we ate for dinner last night, and here's how I prepared it. 1. Get yourself a good fire going. The one pictured here was started 15 minutes before; it wouldn't hurt to wait another ten minutes, but I rarely have that much patience. 2. Plunk down a couple juicy steaks. This is top sirloin, about a pound and a half, nicely marbled. The cow it came from wasn't grass-fed, though, which is something to consider when eating large amounts of meat. … [Read more ...]
Mice live longer, healthier on ketogenic diet, studies claim
A couple new studies find that a ketogenic diet promotes a longer, healthier lifespan. That's great, but the results have only been confirmed for lab mice. I've written about mouse-based dietary studies a few times over the years. None have impressed me much. Some have seemed quite odd. For instance, way back in 2011, I wrote a post entitled "Eating fish makes mice fat, study claims." Scientists fed some little rodents farmed raised salmon, and some the same diet without salmon, and found the fish-eating mice suffered more insulin resistance, visceral obesity, and glucose intolerance. As the … [Read more ...]
No-filler salmon patties
Before I started eating low-carb, salmon was a minor part of my diet. If I ate salmon at all, it was in the form of a grilled or broiled salmon steak, usually in a restaurant. I never purchased or prepared canned salmon. But that has changed. Now I look for sales on canned salmon, and try to always have a few cans in the pantry. Canned salmon is usually wild-caught fish, which has a better reputation for purity than farm-raised fish. It's typically sold in 14.75 ounce cans, each of which provide 630 calories, 84 grams of protein, and significant calcium and Omega-3 fat. Salmon is … [Read more ...]
Super simple low-carb pancakes
The need for super simple low-carb pancakes People new to the LCHF diet and life-style often miss their customary carb-laden comfort food. Personally, I think the best approach is to move on, embrace your new way of eating, and not try to recreate in low-carb form all the breads, pastas, and baked goods you used to enjoy. But a few exceptions may be good for your morale, and not hurt your carb count much or at all. … [Read more ...]
Chia: yet another low-carb seed
The stereotypical low-carb diet is heavy on meat, eggs, butter and cream. To be sure, I've eaten my share of such animal-based fare, but the most notable newcomers to my diet have been plant-based foods such as nuts and seeds. I've always eaten peanuts (which technically are not a nut), pistachios and the occasional cashew. But on my low-carb diet, I've become a big fan of almonds, walnuts, sunflower kernels and flax seed meal. Now I have added chia seeds, the Aztec staple. … [Read more ...]
Why we snack
Do we eat more because we eat more often? Yes, says a study that claims Americans eat 570 more calories per day now than they did 30 years ago because they are eating all of the time. The study's lead author, Professor Barry Popkin of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, told CNN Health that "the real reason we seem to be eating more (calories) is we're eating often." But is eating frequency all there is to it, or does what a person eats make a difference? To say we are eating more because we eat more often simply raises the question of why we indulge between meals. Is it just … [Read more ...]
Keto targets for fat, protein & carbs (LCN 60)
Keto-safe targets for fat, protein & carbs Low Carb Nugget 60 To start or restart a ketogenic diet, you need to think about your macro-nutrient targets. Both carbs and protein need to be strictly limited, but dietary fat will be your friend. What are specific macro-nutrient targets? [Update] … [Read more ...]