Sometimes folks who are interested in losing weight or getting healthier get so focused on the minutia of ”optimizing” their diet, supplements, exercise, and lifestyle that they gloss over the basics. This is a mistake. No matter your goal, you have to lay a good foundation before worrying about the finishing touches. When starting a keto diet, that means gradually reducing carbs to build a base of metabolic flexibility and get into ketosis. To be clear, you can slam your body into ketosis by dropping from several hundred grams of carbs per day, typical in a modern diet, straight to the very low carb intake required for keto. I don’t recommend it, though. For one thing, jumping from a high-carb diet into keto sets you up for the world of hurt known as keto flu. When you suddenly deprive your body of glucose, you can expect to experience headaches, lethargy, brain fog, and an inability to perform your typical workouts. Gradually reducing carbs gives your body the opportunity to upregulate its ability to burn fat for fuel, a necessary prerequisite of ketosis. Not for nothing, a gradual transition also gives the people in your life time to get on board. You might be excited about your big lifestyle change, but I hear all the time from people who are struggling because their partners, kids, or roommates aren’t exactly supportive of them tossing all the junk food and refusing to go through the drive-thru on the way home. Even if you’re already following a moderate-carb Primal way of eating, I still recommend taking the time to make your transition as seamless as possible. No matter where you’re starting, the best way to reach ketosis is to gradually and systematically reduce your carb intake. This is the same approach that I describe in The Keto Reset Diet, and it’s worked for the thousands of people who have participated in our Keto Month challenges. What Is Ketosis? Ketosis is a metabolic state in which your liver is making ketones, which are molecules that any mitochondria-containing cell can use for energy. Your brain and heart especially thrive on ketones. To get into ketosis, you must deplete liver glycogen (the glucose stored in your liver) and keep insulin levels low. Very-low-carb diets and fasting, or a combo of the two, will get you there. Glycogen-depleting exercise helps, too. Ketogenic (“ketone making”) diets are popular for everything from losing weight to lowering insulin and blood sugar to augmenting traditional cancer treatments. Inflammation is at the root of every chronic illness, and ketones are anti-inflammatory. They are also an efficient fuel source, and athletes across the sport spectrum are experimenting with using low-carb diets to burn fat and ketones during exercise. The Primal Blueprint qualifies as a low-carb eating style, especially in comparison to the high-carb Standard American Diet, simply by virtue of the fact that it eliminates the major sources of carbs in the typical modern diet: grains and sugar. The version of keto I recommend … Continue reading “How to Gradually Reduce Carbs to Reach Ketosis”
Read MoreWhen the keto diet first skyrocketed in popularity in the late 2010s, it quickly gained a reputation as the “bacon and butter” diet. Vegetables might appear on one’s plate as a small side of spinach or, more likely, cauliflower masquerading as everything from rice to pizza crust to wings. By and large, the focus was on limiting consumption to “keto vegetables” while focusing mainly on increasing fat intake. (I’m talking mainstream keto, mind you, not the Primal Keto Reset approach.) This, as you’d expect, led to no end of pearl-clutching from mainstream medical professionals and the popular media, who quickly branded keto as a dangerous fad diet, a heart attack in the making. It was true that many early adopters of keto went hard on butter, cream, cheese, bacon, and other high-fat foods, probably as an understandable backlash against the low-fat diet dogma that dominated the previous four decades. Some people still do, I’m sure. However, I think most keto folks now understand that they cannot (or should not, anyway) live on butter alone. At least in more forward-thinking health circles, contemporary keto looks less bacon-and-butter and more like a lower-carb version of the Primal Blueprint way of eating, complete with bountiful salads and larger servings of protein. Personally, I’m all for keto eaters embracing a wide array of produce (keto-carnivore diets notwithstanding). At some point, though, the carb question comes into play. By definition, keto requires you to limit your carbohydrate intake to keep glucose and insulin low enough to facilitate ketogenesis. All vegetables contain carbohydrates, some more than others. You can’t eat unlimited amounts of vegetables, especially the higher-carb ones, if you want to stay in ketosis all the time. So how do you decide which ones are best? What Vegetables Are Best for Keto? In order to achieve ketosis, most people need to limit carbohydrate intake to a maximum of 30 to 50 grams per day. Hence, the best vegetables to include on a keto diet are the ones that deliver the most nutrients with the fewest carbs. That sounds straightforward, but in practice, it can be hard to know where to draw the line. The internet is rife with lists that sort foods into discrete “allowed on keto” and “not allowed on keto” categories. They mean well—and they do help simplify the often confusing transition from SAD eating to keto—but they lack nuance. No food will knock you out of ketosis in a single bite. There are no “bad” vegetables. There are only serving sizes and carbohydrate content and fiber. Why does fiber matter? Because fiber is not absorbed into the bloodstream and converted into glucose. It’s counted as a carbohydrate, but it does not contribute to the glucose-induced insulin spike you want to minimize on keto. Fiber, especially the soluble type, is mostly just food for your gut microbes. From a ketosis perspective, fiber is neutral. And in vegetables, especially the leafy and above-ground non-starchy varieties, much of their carb content is actually fiber, meaning their glucose/insulin impact … Continue reading “Keto-friendly Vegetables”
Read MoreWhen people think of comfort food there’s a good chance that mac and cheese comes to mind. This creamy, gooey, and cheesy dinner time meal can easily transport you back to childhood days when you wished every meal could be mac and cheese. While we don’t suggest having mac and cheese every night, this keto cauliflower mac and cheese recipe is a great option for when you’re craving that nostalgic taste.
Made with a helping of cauliflower this recipe leans into a variety of spices, such as paprika and mustard powder while also being topped off with our new No-Dairy Cheez Sauce. If you’re looking to switch it up you can also swap out half of the instructed cauliflower for butternut squash, which is perfect for the fall season.
How to make keto cauliflower mac and cheese
First, preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Then, in a bowl, combine the avocado oil, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, black pepper, thyme, mustard powder and salt. Fold in the cauliflower until the spice mixture coats all of the pieces of the cauliflower. Lay the cauliflower out in a single layer on a baking dish or sheet pan. Roast in the oven for about 30-40 minutes, or until the cauliflower is tender and golden. Allow everything to cool slightly.
Place the cauliflower in a bowl and pour the No Dairy Cheez Sauce on top along with the milk. Stir to combine and then stir in the almond flour. Pour the cauliflower mixture into a greased 9×9 baking dish.
Crush up your pork rinds in a bag. Crush them so that about half of the pork rinds form a coarse powder and the rest crushed up a bit less in order to give the mixture texture. Pour the pork rinds into a bowl and combine with the parsley and almond flour. Pour this mixture on top of the cauliflower and spread it all over the top of the cauliflower.
Place the baking dish in the oven and bake for about 15-20 minutes, or until the pork rinds are golden. Allow to cool slightly and serve!
Read MoreThe great thing about making your own snack food at home is that you control what goes into it. This Sweet and Savory Keto Trail Mix combination is no exception. You can have a little sweet and a little salty together without any fear of sending your healthy diet into a nosedive. When you make this recipe in your own kitchen, tailor it to your own preference. Add a little more or less everything but the bagel seasoning. Cut back on the chocolate if you like, or, for that matter don’t add any – the coconut flakes will add plenty of sweetness for some. However you make it, this trail mix is still a fresher, healthier option than most store-bought versions.
The combination of nuts and seeds brings plenty of healthy protein and fat to this snack mix. You can make these separately or toss them together to enjoy a combination of sweet and savory. This is a perfect non-perishable snack to take hiking or camping (it is, after all, trail mix) or, keep an airtight container in your car or at work for snacking during the day.
How to make savory keto trail mix
Briefly baking this combination of nuts and seeds gives it a rich, toasted flavor and slight crunch that’s hard to beat. First preheat your oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Then place all ingredients in a bowl and toss to combine. Lay them out on a sheet pan in a single layer. Bake the mix for 7-10 minutes, tossing them once while cooking. Keep an eye on them to ensure nothing burns while cooking. Give the trail mix another toss and allow it to cool before eating.
How to make sweet keto trail mix
For this recipe combine all ingredients together in a bowl and enjoy! For another variation, you can melt the chocolate with a small dollop of coconut oil and toss the nuts in this mixture, then lay the trail mix out on a pan in a single layer and refrigerate until a hard bark forms.
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With only a few ingredients, our sausage and egg casserole is the perfect leisurely brunch dish, or grab-and-go nibble for a busy morning. The baked eggs are firm enough to be sliced into finger food, which is a great hack for adults rushing to work, teenagers off to school, or for little ones who prefer eating with their hands to using a fork. Plus, with about 4g of carbs per serving, this recipe makes for a simple, keto breakfast or ideal low-carb mid-day bite.
More carnivorous folks can enjoy this gluten-free breakfast casserole with just sausage and eggs, but you can sneak in a veggie, too. Eggs are a great vehicle for sautéed greens. We use arugula in this recipe, but you can easily substitute or add kale or swiss chard. For extra flavor you can even toss in some mushrooms, onions, or bell peppers.
However you make it, this sausage and egg casserole is simple, healthy, and delicious. What more can you ask for from your breakfast?
How to make a sausage and egg casserole
The ingredients for our sausage and egg casserole are fairly simple. You’ll want to gather together eggs, milk (or milk alternative), Primal Kitchen Avocado Oil, ground chicken sausage, arugula, cauliflower rice, and shredded cheese (we used goat cheese).
Then, in a bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, 1 tablespoon of avocado oil and a good pinch of salt and pepper.
In a skillet, heat a tablespoon of avocado oil over medium heat. Once hot, add your sausage and brown the meat, stirring occasionally. Once fully cooked through, add the cauliflower rice and cook until tender, then mix in the arugula. Remove the skillet from the heat and allow the heat from the skillet and meat to wilt the arugula. Allow the mixture to cool for a few minutes.
Once the sausage mixture has cooled slightly, whisk it into the egg mixture a little at a time to prevent the eggs from scrambling. Sprinkle on about 2/3 of the cheese mixture. Then use avocado oil spray or butter to grease a 12×8 baking dish. Pour the egg mixture in and top with the remaining cheese.
Bake at 375ºF for 40-45 minutes, or until the top and edges of the bake are browned and the casserole feels firm to the touch. Consider reducing the time 5-10 minutes if baking in a 13×9 pan. Allow the bake to cool, then cut into 6 or 8 pieces and top with chopped parsley or green onion.
Can you freeze this sausage and egg casserole?
Yes, you can freeze this breakfast casserole! The casserole can go directly into the oven from the freezer. For ease, you can even freeze this casserole after it’s been cut up into individual serving sizes.
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Today I’m sharing Amber’s story of making her way from vegan to pescatarian to keto—and, ultimately, to health! Have you improved your health, tackled a fitness goal, or overcome obstacles with the help of the Primal Blueprint? Inspire others by sharing your success story with the MDA community. Contact me here. Hi, Mark! I wanted to share how putting the steps provided in your book into practice has changed my life. Thanks for reading. I was already 20 pounds overweight when I gave birth to my son in 2016. During pregnancy I put on another 40 pounds, which put me in the obese category. I let myself indulge in every craving (mainly strawberry shortcake) and paid no attention to the scale. I was overly confident the weight would fall off after delivery, but when it didn’t, I started to think this was just my new normal. Six months later I joined a gym. On day one I stepped on the scale, and when the number was displayed I was completely mortified. I had zero muscles in my abdomen, and they often had to create different exercises specifically for me as I could not participate in their regular classes. I was embarrassed but determined, and after 11 months I was down 30 pounds and feeling proud. However, I was hungry most of the day. In an effort to drop the weight, I had “tinkered” with diets. At the time, I was on a vegan diet that quickly turned into a pescatarian diet. One day, my gym announced they were moving locations and could no longer provide daycare for my son. Just like that, my gym days were over. I tried to “will” myself to the gym at 5 a.m. but it NEVER went well. I could barely keep my eyes open let alone do a proper workout. I let the membership expire and quickly noticed the weight coming back. I could not understand how this was happening. I thought I was making healthy meals. A normal day went like this: One piece of sourdough toast with avocado and some juice. For lunch I would make vegan nachos comprised of a starch-like substance to substitute for cheese along with black beans, rice, lettuce, and tomato served over chips. For dinner I would make yet another dish with beans or fish with gnocchi. It went on like this for the next two years, and abruptly white wine enters the picture. Wine became a constant in my life and—surprise!—I started gaining even more weight. I was tired all the time; I went to bed at 8 and yet woke up exhausted. At age 32 I thought for the first time that this was not any way to live life. I decided to address this extreme exhaustion with my doctor. She ordered labs, and when the results came back (sparing you the details) everything was elevated to “red” in EVERY category. I was shocked and ashamed. My doctor explained a “new” diet she heard remarkable … Continue reading “Amber’s Keto Success Story”
Read MoreI’ve long espoused a fairly low-carb lifestyle for optimal health, but “low-carb” means different things to different people.
For some, it means eating the fewest carbs possible, as in a strict carnivore diet or something more like carniflex, a meat-centric approach that strategically includes some plants.
For others, it means a keto or Atkins-style diet that restricts carb intake.
Some people don’t count carbs at all but still consider themselves “low-carb” because they eat mostly meat, eggs, and vegetables, and they limit things like grains, fruit, legumes, and added sugars. Sound familiar? That’s the classic Primal or paleo approach.
What all these low-carb folks have in common is that they need to decide what to eat day in and day out. Thinking about food all the time can become tedious, especially when you’re trying out a new way of eating and don’t know what’s “allowed.” It’s tempting to sort foods into discrete categories based on macronutrients (carbs, fat, protein) and quality (“good” versus “bad” foods) to reduce decision fatigue.
Read MoreWhen you first start following a keto diet, overthinking is pretty much part of the package. For better or worse, keto newbies spend a lot of time learning what they can and can’t eat, meticulously weighing and measuring food, and tracking everything that goes in their mouths. Weighing, tracking, and restricting become understandably tedious after a while. I do know some people who are happy to maintain this level of dietary vigilance for months or even years, but most people fizzle out. Those who don’t want to return to a more relaxed way of eating like Primal look for a compromise position—a keto diet without all the fuss. This raises the question: is monitoring and careful control of your food intake simply part and parcel of keto, or is it possible to follow a keto diet intuitively? What Does Intuitive Keto Even Mean? There’s an apparent contradiction between eating intuitively and keto dieting. Eating intuitively means listening to your body, honoring the signals it sends you, and not controlling or restricting your food intake based on external rules. Keto diets come with an inherent set of rules and restrictions. At the very least, keto diets have to be low-carb by definition. In practice, this means there are many high-carb foods that you can’t eat in any appreciable amount. Even a small serving could interfere with ketosis. Many folks also set parameters around their keto diets, like they have to be gluten-free or sugar-free. As I have explained previously, that’s not technically true, but those are common values in the keto community. If your inner voice urges you to eat a couple candy bars, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on white bread, or even a large bowl of mango, you can’t comply and still be ketogenic. You can’t listen to your intuition. Thus, if such a thing as an intuitive keto exists, it has to involve some sort of compromise. That said, I believe when people say “intuitive keto diet,” they mean keto without all the fuss and micromanaging. That is possible. Lots of people do it by: Eating mostly animal products, vegetables, nuts and seeds, and fats (all low-carb foods) Eating when they are hungry, not rigidly adhering to a set eating window Allowing hunger to guide how much and how often they eat in any given day Not tracking macros That’s how I would define an intuitive keto diet, anyway, and the definition I’ll use for the rest of this post. One could argue, though, that that’s neither keto nor intuitive, not really. Eating Intuitively Versus Intuitive Eating It’s impossible to talk about intuitive keto without clarifying the difference between eating intuitively and Intuitive Eating (with a capital I-E for clarity). The former is loosely defined as eating according to your body’s hunger cues and desires for different foods. The latter is a specific eating philosophy developed in the mid-1990s by two registered dietitians, Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch, that is still popular today. Any kind of purposeful … Continue reading “Can You Eat an Intuitive Keto Diet?”
Read MoreWe’re all about easy meals here at Mark’s Daily Apple, but sometimes you want to step it up and make something a little special. Who says you can’t serve an impressive meal that’s also simple? Here, we made air fryer cornish hens over mashed root veggies with a side of roasted Brussels sprouts. It’s easy to prepare and is a step up from your typical weekday fare.
Here’s how to make it.
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You’ve heard about all of the benefits of going low-carb, but for transparency, you may want to know about keto bloating and gas. The good news is, it’s temporary, and not everyone experiences it.
You know I’m a big fan of self-experimentation, but here’s the rub. Whenever you try something new— be it a new diet, sleep hack, exercise program, whatever—you hope the results will be favorable. Unfortunately, though, you can’t guarantee a good result. Or at least, you can’t guarantee a good result immediately. Sometimes there’s an adjustment period before you get the outcome you want.
That’s certainly true with a keto diet. For most people, especially folks who aren’t already eating Primally, going keto means significant dietary changes. All of a sudden, they’re eating many more healthy fats, animal products, and vegetables; few or no grains or legumes; and limited root vegetables and fruits.
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