Keto and me.

Hello, my name is Olivia and I'm a carbaholic, or at least I used to be. 12 months ago I had seen enough unflattering pictures of myself, bought too many jeans in a size I was ashamed off, and was generally fed up with the ever increasing number on the scale. That Christmas I had my last hurrah, I gave myself until I got back to Uni to enjoy carbs, then it was the Dukan diet for me.

For those of you unfamiliar with the Dukan diet, it is complete madness and I think that even more now that I'm doing keto, I don't even know why I picked it. It is a no carb, low fat, high protein diet, you can essentially eat all the meat you want, 4 eggs a week, and oatbran once a day. It was exactly what I needed at the time- I needed no temptation, I have never been able to have one slice of bread, I start with one then look up and half the loaf has disappeared a long with a heafty helping of nutella. I survived Dukan because it worked, I lost two stone between January and March, then my exams hit and there is nothing in Dukan to convince you to stay on track when you have been stalling for a month, you are stressed with everything in your life, and all you want is chocolate and bagels. Off the wagon I fell and stayed firmly off until this October, when I discovered Keto.

So when I got back to London, and university life (are you seeing a pattern here?) I knew I could diet properly, my way without any judgement. I had spent the summer half living at home, and half staying with my boyfriends parents until I found a new flat to rent. If you are trying to diet and you are not in control of the cooking I have the deepest sympathy for you, my Mum swung between telling me how I needed to lose weight, and force feeding me if she thought I wasn't eating enough. There was no way I could have started Keto until I could control my cupboards.

I found Keto on Reddit a forum like site which my bf got me into over the summer, ironically I found it when I was searching for ways to get back into the Dukan diet. So I started reading, I read the progress reports, I read the questions, I read the FAQ, I read the meal plan, I read science articles until I was blue in the face one benefit of being a Chem student, I can actually access all the articles and after all that reading I knew it was for me, I was a complete Keto convert.

Fast forward 3 months, I've lost another 2 stone, converted my boyfriend to Keto, and cannot tell you the last time I had pasta, rice or noodles as a base for my food. I survived going home for three weeks at Christmas and stuck to Keto rigidly enough for the holidays which I haven't been able to do with any other diet.

This blog is an answer to constant ranting from the boy that I make new dishes that he likes and then don't tell him the recipe for whatever reason, it is also a result of the fact everywhere I look recipes for Keto are in cups not grams or ounces. Not being a fan of a cup as my main measurement I'm constantly trying new recipes and rewriting them in grams so I get exactly the same thing next time. Most of the ingredients I use will be from Sainsburys/Tesco or Holland and Barrett, I'll let you know if I have had to order something off the interweb or I've gone to a different shop.

So enjoy, and tell me if you have any requests and I will see what I can do.

My Keto Diet in a Nutshell

A Ketogenic Diet is a high fat, adequate-protein, low -carbohydrate diet that is traditionally used to treat children with epilepsy. Yes I did just copy that from the  wikipedia page on Ketogenic diets, but I will rewrite it again in my own words. On Keto, your carbohydrates are limited to 20-25g a day, they will ideally come from green leafy vegetables like broccoli, kale, spinach, pak choi, cabbage, lettuce, cucumber, Brussels sprouts, you will eat a moderate amount of protein probably no more than you do already, and the rest of your calories will come from fat, butter, mayonaise, olive oil, coconut oil, nuts, and higher fat percentage portions of meat. Oh and cheese, this time last year I didn't eat cheese unless it was thoroughly melted, now I'm lucky if a block lasts me a week. The ratio of carbs/fat/protein should be 5/65/30 or there abouts.

How I do it

I track absolutely everything I eat on the my fitness pal app or website, it is fully set up for UK users and the barcode function is fantastic if you can't be bothered to manually search for everything you eat in a day.

Try to eat breakfast, although I invariably fail some days. I have yet to find a breakfast I don't get sick off which doesn't require cooking. I will continue hunting for that illusive breakfast I can grab out of the packet and eat on the way to uni the way I once did toast, until then I will make bacon and eggs, or a flaxseed pancake every day (oh the horror!).

Cook everything from scratch, through trial and error I have found I use up my carb allowance way too quickly if I am constantly eating prepackaged meats and cheeses in snack form, and given my current love affair with cabbage that is a very bad thing.

Experiment, experiment, experiment. I rarely have two weeks I make the same meals twice, variety is what makes this diet great, and with so many foods to try it is hard to get bored.

Plan everything, if you are going out with friends, look at the menu online before and search on MFP to see what is the best keto meal for you that day, don't be tempted by looking at the menu when you get there. If you are going to be out of the house for 16 hours take snacks (almonds, cheese "crisps", chorizo "crisps"), temptation is easier to resist if you aren't hungry.

Water and sleep. The two things I have found to trip me up, not drinking enough water, and spending a week getting 5 hours sleep on consecutive nights. 

Hopefully I will post a weekly shopping list of what I'm cooking, but we shall see if I ever get organised enough to do that!

Chocolate milkshake my saviour!

I would like to introduce you to my "I NEED CHOCOLATE NOW OR I'M GOING TO KILL SOMEONE" super saver chocolate milkshake. Unsurprisingly enough, there is one time of the month that nothing but actual chocolate will satisfy my cravings, over the last few months this has caused me to cheat, once a month for a day with a massive bar of dairy milk. 

But no more, Sainsburys has finally started stocking unsweetened almond milk and thus this milkshake was born:

To Make One Large Glass

300 ml Apro Unsweetened Almond milk

10g Sainsburys Cocoa Powder for drinking and baking

2 tsp Liquid Sweetener (online only for the UK, if you find it in a shop please let me know!)

1/2 tsp Vanilla essence (optional)

Pour all these ingredients in a bowl/jug and mix together with a hand blender, or mix together in a blender.

Nutritional Information

Calories: 75 kcal

Carbs: 1g

Fat: 5g

Protein: 3g

Fiber: 4g

Pro Tips

For a thicker milkshake: substitute some of the almond milk for extra thick double cream just watch the carbs! or add some ice cubes before you blend.

If you need it to be super chocolaty omit the vanilla essence and reduce the amount of sweetener.