The classic low-carb breakfast starts with eggs, in one form or another, and often ends there. Scrambled eggs and fried eggs are my mainstays. Sometimes, for the sake of variety, I might have hard-boiled or poached eggs, but the problem with those is too little fat. Remember, I'm eating a HIGH fat, low carb diet. I want a great fat-busting ratio of fat to carbs plus protein to start my day. (See my post on calculating the Skaldeman fat-burning quotient.) So eggs pan-cooked in butter or coconut oil are typically the core of my classic low-carb breakfast. And as I've written before, the best fruit to add is avocado. It's super delicious and nutritious, and is the only fruit I know of that has more fat than carbohydrate. As for breakfast meat -- yes, please! However, I am aware of the … [Read more ...]
A windy, low-carb weekend in Chicago
This past weekend Anita and I traveled to Chicago by train. I was attending a professional conference, and she came along for the ride. The train is our favorite way to get to the City of Broad Shoulders. It picks us up at a small town in mid-Michigan -- a major hub in the old days but now just a place that the train stops at twice a day, going west in the morning and east at night. A few hours after we get on board, the train deposits us at Union Station, a short cab-ride from the Loop. … [Read more ...]
A basic LCHF breakfast: dairy, berries, and nuts
I don't eat a lot of dairy on my low-carb, high-fat (LCHF) diet, but when I do, it usually takes one of three forms: heavy cream in my coffee, shredded cheese in a recipe or on a salad, or yogurt. Of those forms, cream is the only dairy I ingest on an every day basis. I love freshly brewed coffee with a dollop of rich, organic heavy cream mixed in. (Heavy cream gets almost all of its calories from fat.) As you may have guessed, I'm not lactose-intolerant, and I'm also not a follower of the paleo diet. I would still drink milk if lactose wasn't sugar. But it is sugar, and while I might … [Read more ...]
Berries in heavy cream
For dinner one summer night, I ate a chunk of slow-cooked roast-beef, some raw veggies, and as a treat, a bowl of halved fresh strawberries, whole fresh blueberries, and two table-spoons of heavy whipping cream. Berries are the only kind of fruit I eat anymore. (I count the avocado as a berry, one that brings its own creamy fat.) I calculate that the berry bowl contained 137 calories, 9 grams carbs, 2 grams fiber, and 10 grams fat. All of the fat and the majority of the calories came from the heavy cream. … [Read more ...]
Why I am planning to take fish-oil supplements
Fish Oil Supplement Benefits -- and Risks? Last updated: April 2017 My respect for the health and diet reporting of the main-stream media has fallen so low that I am inclined to do the opposite of whatever they suggest. So when in the same week the New York Times runs a story panning fish oil supplements, and ABC Good Morning follows up with an anti-fish-oil-supplement segment, I'm thinking it is time to give the golden capsules another try. I regularly took fish-oil supplements for several years before I began eating my low-carb, high-fat diet. Starting out, I took one 1000mg … [Read more ...]
Chowing down low-carb style at Red Robin
I try to be a food-snob, I really do, but it seldom works for long. Despite years of education, and my wife's best attempts to refine me, I remain a regular guy with regular guy tastes -- such as, for instance, the Bacon Cheeseburger at our local Red Robin. (For the record, I get nothing from that restaurant chain except the food I pay for.) Red Robin calls this a "Gourmet" burger. I'm not sure what criteria a gourmet burger has to meet, or even if I care. It's a good sandwich -- a hefty low-carb meal you can hold in your hand. However, I recommend the two-handed approach. It's safer that … [Read more ...]
Keto targets for fat, protein & carbs (LCN 60)
Keto-safe targets for fat, protein & carbs Low Carb Nugget 60 To start or restart a ketogenic diet, you need to think about your macro-nutrient targets. Both carbs and protein need to be strictly limited, but dietary fat will be your friend. What are specific macro-nutrient targets? [Update] … [Read more ...]
Presenting The Best of Life after Carbs
Available across the Web! My ebook, The Best of Life after Carbs, is now in wider release. You can find it at multiple online stores: Amazon, Apple, Barnes & Noble, and Kobo. Just click this Universal Book Link, and then select your favorite store. The book is part memoir, part how-to. The 30+ chapters in the book are based on posts from this blog. Yes, you could read them all here for free, in some form. But if you enjoy ebooks, and want to support my efforts, here's your chance to do us both a favor. I'll take it as a sign I'm doing something right! A few of the questions addressed … [Read more ...]
Mice live longer, healthier on ketogenic diet, studies claim
A couple new studies find that a ketogenic diet promotes a longer, healthier lifespan. That's great, but the results have only been confirmed for lab mice. I've written about mouse-based dietary studies a few times over the years. None have impressed me much. Some have seemed quite odd. For instance, way back in 2011, I wrote a post entitled "Eating fish makes mice fat, study claims." Scientists fed some little rodents farmed raised salmon, and some the same diet without salmon, and found the fish-eating mice suffered more insulin resistance, visceral obesity, and glucose intolerance. As the … [Read more ...]
Great foods for a low-carb diet (part 1): almonds, avocados, macadamias
If you're like me (which you probably aren't, but let's pretend), you may find your food tastes expanding as you adapt to a low carb way of eating. Over the last few months, I have added several foods to my dietary repertoire, and I have eaten more of some other great foods than I ever did in the past. In general, I eat more whole foods now than processed/ packaged foods. Nuts, seeds, berries and fish are classes of foods that I always liked, but eat significantly more of on my low-carb plan. Of course, I eat somewhat more meat, cheese and eggs now than in my high-carb days, but that … [Read more ...]
My Ketonix has arrived (updated)
Unboxing of my Ketonix 2015 I opened the mailbox today to find that my Ketonix 2015 Blue had arrived from Sweden. The arrival of a new gadget is always a cause for celebration. In this case, I was also relieved. I ordered the Ketonix via the company's website on April 23, selecting the regular "letter" type shipping, so I figured it would take a while to get here. But as the days, and then the weeks, went by, I started to wonder. It's a long way from Sweden to Michigan (as my great great grandparents discovered). Anything could happen to a little box. But the Ketonix 2015 got here in … [Read more ...]