Fat Bombs: Healthy Convenience Food

Posted on June 28, 2018June 28, 2018 by Empowered Eating

I remember about this time last year talking to a friend who was getting into keto and asking him “What do you eat then?” and one of the things that got me excited were fat bombs. Basically a combo of HEALTHY butters, oils and sometimes nuts of dried fruit. They’re super easy to make. You just warm everything to liquid in a saucepan and then put the mixture into a tray and freeze them. I use both an ice cube tray and a mini muffin tray.

They’re really the perfect convenience food. Fat is extremely satiating, it doesn’t support an appetite to overeat, and it’s frikkin delicious. I know many people are still nervous about eating high fat, thinking fat = body fat, but it doesn’t. Body fat storage is typically triggered by the kind of insulin response that excess carbohydrates generate, as well as stress (increased cortisol = increased insulin).

Honestly, try them!! Here are a couple recipe’s you can start with, but I encourage you to play around with it!

Coconut Cup Fat Bombs

Warm equal parts cocoa butter and coconut oil on the stove top (both contain zero carbs)
Fill your tray with unsweetened coconut flakes (about 2 net grams of carbs per tbsp.)
Pour in the melted cocoa butter & coconut oil, place tray in freezer
After about 10 minutes, place a couple of chocolate chips on top, or not! (They would add about 0.3 g carbs)

Chocolate Peanut Butter Square Fat Bombs

Warm 3 parts peanut butter and 1 part 90% dark chocolate
Blend your favorite nuts (I like macadamia & brazil nuts as they’re the lowest in carbs), and mix in with melted nut butter and dark chocolate, creating a ratio of 1:1 blended nuts vs. melted mix.
Fill tray and place in freezer, going back in about 10 minutes to place 1-2 full nuts on top to give it a crunch.

That’s it. So simple. You could also try putting solid nuts throughout instead of blending them, or swapping out the peanut butter for a different nut butter, like almond, which has about half the carbs as peanut butter. Also, sometimes adding mint extract gives them an after-eight taste which I LOVE!

What’s YOUR favorite fat bomb combo?

Delicious Keto-Friendly Almond Bread

Posted on June 11, 2018June 11, 2018 by Empowered Eating

This almond bread makes sandwiches and toast more sustaining for our energy levels as it’s higher in fat and lower in carbs (don’t worry, excess carbs are the cause of weight gain, not healthy fats). It’s gluten free, and keto friendly (2 slices equal 1g carbohydrate). This was a great staple for me when I started exploring keto eating.

This recipe utilizes the power of xanthan gum to hold all of the ingredients together, much like gluten would inside a normal loaf of bread. If you don’t have xanthan gum, you can use any other starch you have on hand 🙂

Cook Time 40 Mins

Almond bread

Prep Time 15 Mins

Servings 8 (16 Slices)

Nutrition Per Serving

Calories 234
Net Carbs 1g
Fats 23g
Protein 7g

INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup Butter melted (or olive oil if you’re avoiding dairy)
2 tablespoons Coconut Oil
7 Eggs
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 Cup Almond Flour
1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
1/2 teaspoon Salt

LET’S START WITH THE EGGS

Make sure your eggs are at room temperature before you begin as this will reduce the likelihood that your bread will taste “eggy”. If you keep your eggs in the fridge, no worries, just pop them into a bowl of hot tap water for 3 mins. This will cool them down. Don’t worry, it won’t cook them! Crack them all into a bowl and mix them together well just by themselves.

BUTTER (OR OLIVE OIL) AND COCONUT OIL

I recommend grass fed butter as it’s high in omega 3 fats which we all struggle to get enough of and has tons of benefits. If you keep your butter in the fridge, warm it in a saucepan just enough for it to melt, then take it off the heat and just let it sit. You don’t want the butter to be hot because this will affect your eggs once you add it to the mixture. Add the coconut oil once the butter has melted.

Once you have your butter and coconut oil melted together, slowly stream the oils in while whisking until all is incorporated. You’ll have a nice, smooth blend and texture.

DRY INGREDIENTS

Combine the almond flour, xanthan gum, baking powder and salt together into a small bowl. Mix all of these ingredients together with a fork until well combined.

Then, little by little, add the dry mix to the eggs, whisking between scoops. It should get quite thick.

BAKING TIPS

Set your fan forced oven to 180C (355F) and wait till its fully heated. If you have a convection oven, drop the temperature by 5C (20 degrees Fahrenheit). If you are using a glass loaf pan, do the same. Glass retains heat longer. You can set your timer for 10 minutes less than the time in the recipe because all ovens are different.

Make sure when you make this recipe, if you are not using a silicone tray, that you place baking paper on the tray whilst baking, otherwise it will stick to the sides.

Once small cracks appear on the top and it goes a golden-brown color, test with a toothpick or clean dry knife right into the center of the bread. If it comes out clean, the bread is done. if not, you can add that extra 10 minutes and check it again.

ONCE THE BREAD IS DONE

Let the almond bread cool before slicing. I usually slice up half for the fridge, then place the unsliced half into the freezer for the following week.

This recipe was discovered at https://www.fatforweightloss.com.au/recipe/keto-bread/

I removed the images and digressions for simplicity, but left in all the little details because they personally helped me 🙂

My Experience so far with Low Carb/Ketogenic Eating

Posted on June 3, 2018June 3, 2018 by Empowered Eating

I’ll be honest, I’d been pretty resistant to learning/accepting ketogenic eating as a sustainable option for myself or my clients. Everything I’d heard sounded so restrictive. This year however I decided to tune into the 2018 Ketogenic Summit; where everyday for 7 days you get 24 hour access to 4-5 different talks with various doctors, scientists and experts who offer their opinion and explain their reasoning.

I was already on board with the position that sugar & inflammation is at the root of so many illnesses we face today, so understanding that reducing your carbohydrate intake can be incredibly beneficial was an easy sell. I’ve also long believed that sufficient amounts of healthy fats are missing in many of our diets today. What was most exciting about this summit was learning the benefits of your body running off ketones instead of glucose.

Luckily I had already done the work of cutting out processed foods and increasing my movement (thanks to my Fitbit), so I looked for a bread substitute, made some cauliflower rice and I was off to the races!

Week 1: I did well 6 out of 7 days. I noticed that I woke up feeling awake, instead of my usual groggy I-don’t-want-to-get-out-of-bed usual feeling. I felt lighter and had more energy, but seemed to be getting afternoon headaches. My mood felt more stable and my stomach didn’t hurt (aside from feeling nauseous twice after eating package-bought spinach dip). I wasn’t hungry all the time.

Week 2: This week was a struggle. It started off by going to a friend’s place for a BBQ. I put some ribs and coleslaw on my plate but then my host added a baked potato to my plate and i decided to eat it instead of refusing it. I also had some red wine over the course of the afternoon/evening. I was surprised the next morning to see trace ketones on my test strip and thought all was well, but what followed was increased carb cravings, more falling off track and feeling tired, unmotivated & emotional. I tried to push though it with increased exercise & better food choices. I had a couple mini meltdowns, but after readjusting my expectations & reminding myself that not all progress in linear, I got myself back on track.

Week 3: This week was my best week. Everyday I kept my carbs at about 10%-15% of total intake (which is higher than what most keto experts recommend) but I felt great all week and my ketone levels were strong. I also found that snacking doesn’t make me feel so good so I started having larger meals and cutting out snacking (mostly). I also lost some weight; 6lbs total since the beginning. Most of it in the 3rd week.

This journey will be an ongoing learning experience for me as I come to understand why I can be in ketosis at higher carb levels than recommended, if this will be true for others, and how this shakes out long term. My intentions are to stay low carb indefinitely, but to continue exploring ketosis for the short term and periodically for health maintenance. I’m pleasantly surprised at how much flexibility it provides. 2 nights in week 3 I enjoyed a couple glasses for red wine, and another day I had some jackfruit that I found fresh for the first time since trying it in Africa in 2008; it was so worth it and didn’t seem to throw me off too much.

If you’re curious about low crab eating or ketogenic eating, send me a message and I’d be happy to offer some basic tips for starting out that can make your first few days/weeks a lot more enjoyable 🙂

Ketosis & Intermittent Fasting

Posted on May 25, 2018June 28, 2018 by Empowered Eating

Ketosis (which can be induced by eating a ketogenic diet or intermittent fasting) bring many benefits to our health:

Ketones help modulate inflammation
Ketones improve mitochondrial function
Reducing carbohydrate gives your body a chance to modulate it’s insulin response
Ketosis reduces hunger, increases energy & improves cognitive function (making intermittent fasting easier)
Ketosis preserves lean body tissues
Having more balanced blood sugar creates more stability (emotionally & physically)
Ketosis & intermittent fasting help break sugar & alcohol addictions
Almond bread

It also helps with weight loss. A lot of people gain weight due to overeating carbs, especially processed ones, so ditching those carbs will help prevent further weight gain. In addition, being in a state of ketosis means your body will be burning through more body fat so eventually you will start to see the weight coming off.

Remember though, it takes time for your body to adapt to change, so the trick is to ease into it. For example, week one cut out all processed foods including soda, pastries etc. Week two remove added sugars (in your coffee, oatmeal, smoothies etc.). Week three make some almond bread and cauliflower rice and start reducing bread, rice and other grains etc. etc. As exciting as it is to start something new, there is nothing more discouraging than feeling shitty – and you will if you make dramatic shifts.

Cauliflower Rice Goes well with everything

While you are making these small & steady shifts, try and reduce your window of eating. If your first meal is typically 7am and your last intake of food is 10pm, try to shave an hour off each end, a week at a time. That being said, if you’re hungry, please eat, but slowly your body will adapt to this (especially as you increase daily fat intake and reduce carbohydrate intake).

Exercise also helps create ketones & improve brain function, so increasing your daily activity can help your body adapt to this shift. But don’t go crazy on the exercise, especially at first, as you don’t want to add more stress to your body as it is working to adapt to this change.

If you have a serious medical condition, talk to your doctor and have them support you in making this shift (hint: if they don’t want to, your should find a new doctor).

Lastly, be patient, enjoy the process, and remember that not all progress is linear. If you have a high-carb day, reflect on why, let go, and keep moving forward. Your good days will build momentum overtime and you will notice a huge difference.

I’ve been eating low carb and exploring keto eating since early May and I’ve experienced reduced hunger, increased energy and overall more emotional and physical stability. I’ve also lost 5 lbs, which is not what this is about for me, and I’m sure a big portion of it is water weight but it’s nice to look overall less puffy/inflamed.

If you have any questions or curiosity about the above info – send me a message! I’d love to hear your thoughts & help you solve any questions you may have!