Full Fat, Full Flavor

If you know me, you know that I like to workout pretty regularly but I'm not a fitness buff or anything. But I have learned a few things in my reading on health and nutrition, as well as by personal experience, and I wanted to bust a few myths. Myth #1: Exercise is a good weight loss tool. I used to think this was true, even though I never used exercise as such. However, there is an excellent chapter in Why We Get Fat: And What to Do About It  by Gary Taubes on this very subject. The whole calories in calories out hypothesis is totally flawed, Taubes explains, because weight maintenance has more to do with the hormone insulin and its fat-storing effects. It may be true that you can tone your muscles and look more fit by working out regularly, but it does not actually allow you to lose much, if any, fat. Along with the physiological facts about working out and weight management, I think it really messes with people psychologically to think this way. If you feel like you have to w...

I haven't come up with any new recipes lately, but I've come up with some meal ideas and I thought it might be helpful to show what a full day of eating keto (low carb high fat) looks like. A lot of people, when they hear that I eat low carb, ask me "What do you eat then?" I explained this in general terms in a previous post, but now I'm sharing some visuals and meal descriptions for you all. I could never go on a diet and eat plain grilled chicken breast, or egg whites and spinach. I add fat to everything, eat the whole egg, and my veggie of choice is actually broccoli, although spinach is good too. The keto lifestyle can be full of delicious meals, although it does take a little creativity at first. Hopefully I can give you some ideas with this post. Breakfast: cheesy scrambled eggs topped with a pesto-ricotta cheese mixture (no, I'm not one of those dairy-free keto people), bacon, broccoli with butter, and coffee with a splash of heavy whipping cream. ...

I recently got Leanne Vogel's new book The Keto Diet , and I would highly recommend it to anyone looking to improve health issues or their relationship with food, while reaching and maintaining a healthy weight.  I wrote a little bit about keto in a previous post, but this book will give you a lot more details and help you find the keto profile that works for you and your specific health concerns. Although I have been eating keto for over a year with great success in improving my health, I like to get new ideas and motivation (and recipes!), and I've enjoyed Leanne's YouTube videos and podcasts over the past several months. I was super excited when this book came out and it has lived up to my expectations. This book is probably the best resource for how to do this way of eating that I have read yet! I've read other books to understand the science behind keto, but Leanne makes it so practical. I love how she lays out different eating profiles for people with di...

I'm finally sharing my first recipe! I made this twice and the picture is from the first time I made it, which was as an entry in a recipe contest by KetoConnect ( www.ketoconnect.net ). I took nice photos for the contest, but the second time I made it I didn't bother to photograph it. This creamy sauce features ricotta cheese and crumbled bacon and is super easy to make. I served it over roasted broccoli both times I made it, because broccoli was one of the three required ingredients for the recipe contest (along with ricotta cheese and bacon). I think it would also be great over zucchini noodles or spaghetti squash, or whatever your favorite pasta alternative is, or as a topping for chicken. Bacon Ricotta Alfredo Sauce INGREDIENTS 3 strips of bacon 2 tbsp butter 1/2 cup finely diced yellow onion 1/2 cup ricotta cheese 1 tbsp heavy whipping cream 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese 1 tsp garlic powder Salt and pepper to taste INSTRUCTIONS Cook bacon according...

What makes the ketogenic, or low carb high fat, diet so great and why do I eat this way? I will try to write another food post soon, but I thought that I should explain more about this diet before too long, so here goes. The simplest way to explain keto is to say that I avoid sugar and starch while eating plenty of healthy fats. Sugar includes honey, maple syrup, and agave, as well as the white stuff that people typically think of when you say "sugar". It also includes fruit, although the only fruit that is a firm no for me is bananas. I will enjoy any other fruit from time to time, but I definitely like to keep fruit as a dessert or treat and eat it whole, not juiced or in smoothies. I would also include milk in the sugar category because, while the sugars in milk are natural, it is still very high in sugar. Personally, I do not have a problem with dairy, but I keep it low carb by sticking with cheese, butter, heavy whipping cream, sour cream, and sometimes plain whole-...

Welcome to my new blog, Full Fat, Full Flavor. I hope you will stay and enjoy some ideas on how you can eat healthy whole foods and enjoy the flavors! I recently tried a new recipe from ketoconnect.net for hemp heart overnight "oats". You can find the recipe here: https://www.ketoconnect.net/recipe/keto-oatmeal/.  I made the peanut butter flavor, but I used cinnamon and a few blackberries to sweeten it without using stevia. It was delicious and filling, full of fat and flavor, and low in sugar and carbs. I have a goal to learn to enjoy real, whole foods while avoiding artificial sweeteners and flavors. This is part of my low carb high fat health journey. Food is fuel, but it should be enjoyed as well.   What I hope to do with this blog is to share recipes and meal ideas, as well as articles on health and nutrition from time to time, to promote a ketogenic (low carb high fat), real food way of eating for health and food freedom.