The most important secret to a happy life has got to be gratitude. The happier you are with what you have and all your blessings, the more of those things you will attract. The same applies to your diet! Rather than focusing on what you can’t have, focus on what you can. I love that I can eat higher fat foods, creamy sauces and tasty fat bombs. I love that I feel full after meals rather than being hungry and counting the minutes to the next meal. I love that I now know which foods are nutrient dense. I know that the food I eat is providing me with the vitamins and minerals I need for health and not just providing empty calories. I know that every bite of food that I put into my mouth is decreasing the amount of inflammation in my body and making me healthier. It feels great!
I hope you are enjoying experimenting with low carb foods. I hope you are taking the time to learn new recipes. I hope you are finding some new favorites that not only taste good, but are making you healthier every day. You deserve this level of health!
1. Low Carb Recipe
Although I have gotten used to not eating bread or pasta, every now and then I feel like I want a piece of toast with peanut butter and jam. You can definitely do this low carb style! Check out the 90 Second Keto bread recipe by Kitchn. It is super fast to make. You just mix up the biscuit mix individually and put it in a mug to cook in the microwave. Then you can slice it and toast it in the toaster or in a frying pan. I make some home made jam by mixing a couple of tablespoons of berries with 1/8th of a teaspoon xanthum gum and some zero calorie sweeter like Swerve or Xylitol, and I have an old favorite meal to comfort me on a lazy Saturday morning. Give it a try!
Carbohydrate intolerance causes many common illnesses of our society. It is why we have epidemic levels of obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease and others. Carbohydrates, especially sugar, causes inflammation in the body and insulin resistance. What is super interesting that these conditions can be reversed just by decreasing the amount of carbohydrates we eat daily. These diseases are preventable and reversible!
One of my favorite companies called Virta is doing just that for thousands of patients. Check out their explanation of carbohydrate intolerance to learn what they have to say about common illnesses of our modern day society and the ability to reverse them.
Want to see more research from keto experienced doctors? Follow me on Twitter @LLifenow.
3. Inspiring success story
Why do I spend so much time on this low carb keto stuff? Because I truly believe that it can make a difference in so many people’s lives. It has been transformational for me. I think learning how to flip our body into the natural state of ketosis it is a basic skill that we all should know how to do.
I love it when people share their stories. Share yours on my Facebook Page.
Happy learning! Low Carb and Keto is a way of living, not a short term diet. There is a lot to learn, but it is a journey that just get better and better. Good luck on your journey! Feel free to reach out to me at tiffiny@lowcarblifenow.com if you have any questions.
This month I did an experiment that I would have never done in the past. I didn’t step on the bathroom scale to weigh myself for 7 days. This may not seem like a big deal for most, but in order to keep my weight down, I have literally weighed myself every day. If the numbers started to move up, I would quickly make adjustments so I didn’t gain too much weight. A bit of an obsession I guess. The problem was that I craved food ALL THE TIME. I felt like I was always thinking about the next snack.
During the last 7 days I made a conscious effort to only eat when I was hungry. If I didn’t feel like having breakfast, I would skip it or have a keto coffee instead. If I was hungry I would eat a low carb breakfast of eggs, spinach, cheese and real crumbled bacon. Similar with lunch and supper, I would eat what I felt like eating and not because I felt I had to because it was “meal time”. Sometimes I at a lot until I was stuffed, sometimes I only wanted a little snack. I was actually pretty freaked out when I went to look at the scale at the end of 7 days. But then I remembered…I know how ketosis works and if I gained weight, I know the secret to taking it back off painlessly. No reason to worry! And you know what the scale said at the end of the 7 days? I was 2 pounds lighter than the week before. No stress. No starving. How can you not love this way of eating?
I hope you all are enjoying this journey and are finding your way to low stress weight loss with more energy and health than ever before.
1. Low Carb Recipe
If you Google “low carb” or “keto” + your favorite food, you can find a replacement for nearly every one of your old recipes. At first you will be disappointed that the low carb version doesn’t taste as good as your regular high carb foods. However, after awhile, you will find that once you stay low carb for a few weeks, when you go back to your high carb foods, you will find that you now actually prefer the low carb version of the food! It will become your new normal.
That happened with me and pasta. I have learned to find vegetable versions of nearly all of my past pasta favorites and I haven’t looked back. I easily avoid pasta now with no regrets and without feeling like I am missing out at all. I feel so good about all the nutrients I am getting from the vegetable version that I don’t miss the empty pasta calories from the high carb version.
Here is a zucchini lasagne recipe from The Kittchen. I just used tomato sauce from the grocery store, being careful to chose the brand with the lowest amount of carbs. Delicious!
When I was first researching low carb diets, I found it overwhelming and confusing. Everyone seemed to have a different opinion. Saturated fat is good! Saturated fat is bad. Salt is good. Salt is bad. Butter is good. Butter is bad. Who do you believe? After months and months of reading it soon became clear that there are different rules eating high carb than eating low carb. And doctors have their favorite approach and they are each passionate about their opinions. I have been able to find a reputable list of doctors and nutritionists that I trust, and those are the ones I listen to. Now that I understand the biology behind it all, I can easily detect an article opposing keto that is playing on people’s fears and old school research and beliefs. The world is changing, and just like society used to think the world was flat, the world will soon realize that ketosis is the secret to keeping our society healthier.
Want to see more research from keto experienced doctors? Follow me on Twitter @LLifenow.
3. Inspiring success story
I am a huge fan of a company called Virta that works with patients to reverse type 2 diabetes. This month I thought I would share one of their many success stories called No More Dangerous Blood Sugar Lows Now That I am On Virta. Find it here.
I love it when people share their stories. Share yours on my Facebook Page.
Happy learning! Low Carb and Keto is a way of living, not a short term diet. There is a lot to learn, but it is a journey that just get better and better. Good luck on your journey! Feel free to reach out to me at tiffiny@lowcarblifenow.com if you have any questions.
I want to give a big shout out to Sandi Sauriol! Since taking my 7 Days to Ketosis Mini Course, she has lost 35 pounds. She is feeling better than ever and only has 10 pounds more to get to her perfect weight.
Two years ago, Sandi was diagnosed with a rare aggressive breast cancer resulting in a double mastectomy and reconstruction surgery. Her doctor recommended chemotherapy, but she chose not to. Instead she sought advice from a Naturopathic Doctor. She learned more about cancer and its causes and learned how to keep her immune system healthy and at its best. She discovered that sugar is very bad for cancer, but Sandi was having a hard time staying away from the poisonous white stuff.
Then Sandi discovered the Low Carb Life Now menu and supports, and it helped her to kick start her keto learning. She had tried to learn keto eating from a book, before discovering the Low Carb Life Now plan, but found the complex recipes and approaches to take too much time. Food and meal prep was exhausting! The Low Carb Life Now plan made eating low carb so easy for her. The approach made it easier for her to stay away from sugar and decrease her carbs! Now, Sandi loves how she no longer feels hungry and is always satisfied with her meals. The weight she looses actually stays off. Without this easy approach, she would have given up on this way of eating and would not have experienced the success that she is now enjoying.
You are an inspiration Sandi! I wish you continued health and energy.
As I have said so many times in my videos, blogs and training materials, I love the new world that this way of eating has opened up to me. I think back to when I was devastated that I couldn’t eat sugar anymore. It seemed nearly impossible! I would go into a grocery store and it seemed like there was hardly anything that I could actually eat!
Fast forward to only a few months from being (mostly) sugar free, it was amazing how wonderful just regular food tasted. A bowl of fresh strawberries was absolutely divine. I could hardly eat a whole peach because it was just too sweet! When I did have sugar every now and then, I only usually had a little taste because it was too much and I would feel a strange “after taste” in my mouth.
It is amazing how we get used to the food we eat. And it is amazing how your body will get used to low carb foods and crave them just like it did sugar. Yep, you will actually crave fat when you need it. The body is so cool. And you are amazing for learning more about how to better fuel your body!
I have found a low carb substitute for nearly every high carb item and I don’t feel deprived at all. I hope you can accomplish the same. And that is why I have created this newsletter.
Cheers to you and wishing you all the success on this journey!
1. Low Carb Recipe
When you are first trying out a low carb diet, you may be unsure of what you can eat. Lots of places will advertise lots of decadent recipes filled with cheese, cream cheese, cream and bacon. That doesn’t sound very healthy does it? Although it is amazing that you can eat those types of foods and still lose weight, you can also decide to make healthier choices and avoid dairy and processed foods with nitrates.
Here is one of those go-to classics that I think nearly every low carb cook out there has a version of in their cookbooks: Keto Egg Roll Bowl (sometimes called “Crack Slaw”).This healthy dish will be a winner for both the high carb and low carb people in your life.
I am so glad that I have a medical background because it helps me to understand how this diet works and what is happening in my body. I realize that not everyone is so lucky so I share some easy to understand information from actual medical doctors who are prescribing this way of eating to their patients and transforming their lives.
One of the concerns I hear people who are new to learning about low carb diets is their concern about the effect of adding more fat in their diet to their liver. If this is your concern as well, check out this video from KenDBerryMD titled What Causes Fatty Liver? (Not What You Think).
Want to see more research from keto experienced doctors? Follow me on Twitter @LLifenow.
3. Inspiring success story
This month I thought I would share my success story. Recently there was an article published stating that the low carb diet could shorten your lifespan. Once you read the article and feedback from doctors, you will see why this information, and the study itself, are completely bogus. I wrote a blog about this, and in it, shared an overview of my journey and the difference it has made in my life and the life of my family. Check it out here: https://www.lowcarblifenow.com/2018/08/19/do-low-fat-high-carb-diets-lead-to-an-early-death/
I love it when people share their stories. Share yours on my Facebook Page.
Happy learning! Low Carb and Keto is a way of living, not a short term diet. There is a lot to learn, but it is a journey that just get better and better. Good luck on your journey! Feel free to reach out to me at tiffiny@lowcarblifenow.com if you have any questions.
Do Low Carb High Fat Diets Lead to an Early Death?
There seems to be quite the uproar in the medical community right now in relation to an article published in the Lancet claiming that “Both high and low percentages of carbohydrate diets were associated with increased mortality, with minimal risk observed at 50–55% carbohydrate intake.” So, if you eat low carb, you will die sooner.
As you can imagine, this caught the attention of the Low Carb High Fat (LCHF) community. Medical experts around the globe are furious that the Lancet, a normally very reputable medical journal, allowed a study to be published that was so flawed in its collection and use of data.
Check out the Tweet by Doctor Aseem Malhotra, explaining that this article is completely false.
The suggestion that low carb diets shorten lifespan is COMPLETELY AND TOTALLY FALSE. To imply they do is A MISCARRIAGE OF SCIENCE! What does the TOTALITY OF EVIDENCE say? My response on BBC World to yesterday’s #FakeNewshttps://t.co/SOkIgwLqq5#obesity#NHSpic.twitter.com/FPk2KMXx39
This video from Doctor Ken D Berry is the most comprehensive review I have seen so far: https://youtu.be/Ce6eHcUOc4s
There seems to be such a war on right now on if you should eat carbs or not. As a low carb eater, I know I have been cautioned many times from well meaning citizens about how carbs are good and we can’t be healthy without them.
Let me clear up a couple of things:
#1. I still eat carbs. I just choose to eat less carbs and I choose foods that contain less carbs. I truly believe that eating too many carbs is harmful, and I have experienced the impacts myself.
#2. I am human. I still have a treat every now and then. But for at least 80% of the time I stick to a way of eating that keeps my carbs low.
#3. You actually don’t need to eat carbs. Carbohydrates are the one macronutrient that your body can produce itself using a process called gluconeogenesis. There is another really good video on this from Dr S arah Hallberg who explains this process and more. She is part of Virta, a company that specializes in reversing Type 2 Diabetes through low carb diets.
#4. I am getting lots of fiber. Vegetables have a lot of fiber and I drink more water than ever. Everything is slipping out quite well thanks.
#5. I know how to get all the vitamins and minerals I need. I find it quite fascinating that there is currently a billion dollar industry of vitamin and mineral supplements that are “so important” for “optimal health”, yet people caution that low carb diets will require you to take supplements. Ummm…I thought we had to take them on a high carb diet too? There are many doctors out there who don’t actually believe you have to take them on either diet if you pay attention to what you eat and get proper nutrients through food. Well except for Vitamin D. Nearly all of us have to take that.
Now that we have those things out of the way, I think it is important for people to know that I am really not one of those crazy people that just jumps on the latest band wagon. I spend a lot of time doing my own research. I have a medical background (trained as a medical laboratory technician) and I have been interested in fitness and nutrition most of my life.
I truly believe that both high carb diets and low carb diets can be healthy.
For years I lived on a high carb diet, probably around 60% carbohydrates and I was ridiculously healthy. I had experimented with the Paleo diet first, but I found that it really wasn’t for me so I moved more into a way of eating that would be considered a Mediterranean style diet. I would say that I used guidance similar to that provided in this article on Best and Worst Carbs to Add to your Diet. I ate lean meat, tons of fruits and vegetables and about a thumb size of fats (olive oils, cheese, nuts) each day. If I did eat sugar, I used honey.
The reason I know that I was ridiculously healthy is because of the lab test results my husband and I received after applying for medical insurance. When the tests came back, my husband received a more expensive insurance rate, and I came back with a “super preferred” rate. My blood tests, blood pressure, weight, everything were all better than normal, which was excellent considering I was in my early 40’s.
This shocked my husband so he decided to do something about it. He began jogging and eating my diet. In only 3 months, he was able to re-take the tests and get his results down to a normal range for his age. What you put into your body matters folks! There is absolutely no doubt about that.
You have to do what works for you.
You may ask then, if I was so healthy, why I would switch to this seemingly crazy, low carb way of eating. Well, what I didn’t add to the explanation above, is how incredibly hard I had to work to keep my weight within the normal range. Although the tests came back all rosy, in order to stay within my target weight for my height, I would have to go through cycles of starving myself and exercising a lot to keep my weight down, only to gain it back gradually and start the process all over again. I would cycle within 10-15 pounds all the time, carefully monitoring and adjusting all the time. Doesn’t that sound fun?!?!??
I feel so bad for people who don’t like eating vegetables and don’t like exercise. How can they possibly lose weight? I love vegetables and I love exercise and I still struggled to lose weight and had to focus on being careful everyday!
What I didn’t realize at the time was how my relationship with sugar, even that found naturally in honey and fruits, was causing my challenges and how it could be solved by eating a low carb diet.
My past regular cycle would go something like this:
I would start my day with a piece or two of whole wheat toast with cheese or else peanut butter and jam, or fruit and yogurt, or a smoothie, or a quick breakfast bar. By about 10:00 I would get hangry (so hungry I was angry). I would eat veggies and cottage cheese or some other protein. Lunch would be a healthly wrap with meat, cheese and lettuce, more veggies, some fruit and sometimes a cookie or one of those “100 calorie” snack packs. I would always crave food in the afternoon so would satisfy myself with healthy energy balls filled with peanut butter, dates, seeds and natural honey. Then I would be aching for food once I was home so would snack on some whole wheat crackers or some other tasty snack while I made a healthy supper of lean meat and grilled vegetables. If I was ambitious and felt like doing something special I would whip up a yummy dessert.
That doesn’t seem too bad does it? I ate mostly whole real foods. Definitely much healthier than a lot of people I know. Even though the food looks healthy, I was eating too frequently, causing insulin to constantly be in my blood stream to regulate the sugar levels and storing it as fat. The insulin (and its friend ghrelin) were there to tell me to eat more. The hormone leptin was supposed to be there to tell me to stop eating, but it must have been taking a nap. Speaking of nap, I would have a mental fog nearly every afternoon and would feel so sleepy.
Then I discovered the low carb way of eating and everything changed.
I clearly remember the first day I didn’t have a snack in the morning. I had a busy day at work and the next time I looked at the clock it was 12:00 and I had not eaten anything since breakfast. That had never happened before. I never understood how people could forget to eat, until that very moment.
Then I started to lose weight. I had my usual 15 pound target to make, so I kept with the plan until I had reached my goal. I was so excited! And then the strangest thing happened. I hopped on the scale one morning and had lost an additional 2 pounds! I had never, ever, “accidentally” lost weight before. Losing weight was always a challenge. Losing those pounds accidentally actually scared me so I started eating more on purpose until I went back up to my original target.
Then I noticed my constant level of energy. No more highs and lows. No more afternoon mental fog and sleepiness. I was just always the same. All day. I didn’t even realize how bad it was before.
Then I started to read more about Type 2 Diabetes after I did an online survey to detect my risk of developing Type 2 Diabetes. My risk was high. Even though the food I was eating was considered healthy, I was eating in a way that would lead my cells to become insulin resistant. That was the clincher and that will probably keep me eating this way for most of my life.
So will a low carb diet cause me to die early?
I am not a fortuneteller, so I guess I can’t say for sure, but I know that based on the warning signs, my family history, and my observations of people my age, that my high carb diet was definitely taking me down a dangerous path. If a low carb diet is going to prevent me from getting Type 2 Diabetes, and Type 2 Diabetes is proven to decrease your life span, then I can say that a low carb diet will give me some additional years. Are there other factors in the low carb way of eating that will cause a decrease lifespan? I haven’t found a single credible study proving so as of yet. But I will keep looking.
So what is the healthiest way to eat?
Although I am not a doctor and would never give you medical advice, from the reading and research that I have done, I would say a healthy diet is one that:
provides you with all the nutrients you need to feel healthy
keeps your waist size and visceral fat at a healthy level
is customized to work with your lifestyle
What more can you want than that? I hope you stay open to the options out there, take a good look at how you feel and where you want your health to be and know that you are in control of your choices.
My First Newsletter on the Low Carb Ketogenic Lifestyle!
Does anyone even do newsletters any more? Well I am!
I am committed to sharing my low carb passion with anyone who is curious. This way of eating takes so much of what we have learned about what is healthy and turns it on its head!
There is a lot to learn, but I will help you through it in easy, but sized pieces.
Here is how it will be set up:
1. A new delicious low carb recipe.
There are a lot of really creative people out there cooking up tasty meals and treats that fit well within the low carb lifestyle.
2. An article from doctors who specialize in the low carb ketogenic diet.
This is not a fad diet, it is a movement. I will post articles from doctors who are working every day to prove it and have some great results to support it.
3. An inspiring success story.
Those who have committed to making long term changes have experienced amazing results. Not just weight loss but also health improvements that they previously thought would mean being on medication forever. Throwing out the pills?? Amazing.
I hope you enjoy it! Here we go…
1. Low Carb Recipe
Ideally when you are on a low carb keto diet you want to learn to live without bread. However, sometimes you need to treat yourself or just add some more variety. That is when I whip up a batch of these yummy waffles made work almond flour. I top then with a few berries and then whip up some cream with just a bit of vanilla and liquid stevia. Heavenly! Get it here.
There are so many health benefits of the low carb ketogenic diet. There has been some great research around how it can improve arterial flexibility and better blood flow in less than two weeks.
Want to see more research from keto experienced doctors? Follow me on Twitter @LLifenow.
3. Inspiring success story
Once people realize that weight loss is not a calorie thing, but a hormone thing, the successes are amazing!
I love this story from Ruled.Me. It is definitely possible (and easy once you figure it out) to adapt your menu to work with both low carb and high carb diets at the same time, but it is so much more fun to do it with your spouse. Learn about a couple’s story here.
I love it when people share their stories. Share yours on my Facebook Page.
Happy learning! Low Carb and Keto is a way of living, not a short term diet. There is a lot to learn, but it is a journey that just get better and better. Good luck on your journey! Feel free to reach out to me at tiffiny@lowcarblifenow.com if you have any questions.
