Finally, the flax seed recipe I promised. Someone is lazy.

I say I am going to post, and I don't; merely because I'm a lazy puke. Sometimes I wonder how in the world there are people out in internet land that can make a decent living by maintaining a website, but I really don't need to wonder - They have motivation, desire, and a want to be successful. I lack motivation most of all... and a reliable camera. Oh, and a decent sized kitchen with good lighting, which seems to be a problem no matter where I move to...

Who am I kidding? No motivation is a shit poor excuse. I quit smoking almost a month ago, and my  motivation was saving money and getting healthier. It is merely a psychological warfare that I put myself through. I either do it, or I don't!  So I choose to do. (Now if I could psych myself up to pick up the phone and call people. Ha.) I can't guarantee that my posts will be up to par with super bloggers, but I will do my best to entertain.

Now that I'm done with my soliloquy, just a bit of information regarding the flax meal recipe I made. I did make the food, and I have pictures to post, I swear! My phone just won't bloody charge for me to get to them. Once I get it charged, I'll put the pictures up. I need to get a camera...

Well, I found this recipe for faux cinnamon crunch cereal on I Breathe... I'm Hungry (Seriously love that blog). I changed a couple things in the recipe because I didn't have hemp seeds, and apple juice isn't keto friendly. Here's the quick and dirty recipe.

Keto Friendly Cinnamon Crunch Cereal

adapted from I Breathe… I’m Hungry

• 1/2 cup ground flax seed (I used Bob's Red Mill golden flax seed meal)
• 1/2 cup almond meal (Grind your own, saves you money. Almond flour is ridiculously expensive!)
• 2 Tbs. cinnamon
• 1 Tbs. melted coconut oil
• 1/2 cup of water
• 1/4 cup granular natural sweetener (I used stevia, but you can use  xylitol, erythritol)
• Make sure you have parchment paper or a lot of coconut oil!

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Dissolve the sweetener in the water. I like to have very few dishes to wash, so I threw all the ingredients in my blender after measuring it all out with one measure cup. (Remember, I'm lazy.) Blend the crap out of the batter, and quickly! Flax seed thickens up like whoa! Spread the batter super thin on to parchment lined cookie sheet, or make sure the sheet is well oiled with coconut oil.

Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes at 300 degrees. Pull the pan out, and cut the cereal into little squares. Put the sheet back into the oven and lower the heat to 250 degrees. Bake 10 minutes. (I would suggest you bake longer. Probably bake for 15 minutes. Keep an eye on it.) Turn the oven off, and let the cereal sit in the oven until completely dry and cool. Break the cereal apart and store it in the refrigerator in an air tight container. Lasts a week safely in your refrigerator. Enjoy your noms.

What I adapted:

• Substituted the 1/2 cup of hulled hemp seeds for 1/2 almond flour.
• Use 1/2 cup of water to 1/4 cup of sugar substitute instead of apple juice (I use Stevia in the raw, 5lb bag)
• For some people, sugar substitutes will knock them out of ketosis. Be aware before you dive into the different sugar substitutes.
• You may need more water. The batter is very thick and hard to get out of the blender if you let it sit too long. The flax seed gets gelatinous. I think the next time I try this I'll add a little bit more water, probably about 2 tbsp.Might help keep the batter thin, who knows... Yay experimenting!
• Don't follow my mistake- please use parchment paper! I tried to use wax paper (I always do this. I'm so dumb sometimes), and it stuck to the paper. I salvaged some of the batter, and had to start all over. 
• Second time around, I greased the pan I was using with coconut oil. Be very liberal if you have to go this route. My cereal still stuck in some spots. :(
• I really need to invest in parchment paper.
• After all the baking is done, the recipe says to leave the cereal in the oven for an hour with the oven off. I will probably bake the cereal longer next time I make it. It was still fairly moist after following the directions; probably has a lot to do with sugar substitute. I'll update this post when I try it again.

Taste Test - Although the cereal is not the same as cinnamon toast crunch, it definitely holds its own. The cereal actually reminds me of wheat chex with cinnamon and sugar thrown on top. I ate the cereal with a 1/3 cup of unsweetened almond milk. The sweet taste was subtle, but enough to satisfy my sweet tooth.  Definitely will make again!

Nutritional information - Six 1/2 cup servings. Calories: 113, Total fat: 9 g, Total carbs: 8 g, Dietary fiber: 5 g, Net carbs: 3 g, Protein: 4 g, Potassium: 11 mg.

I added the nutritional information on both SparkRecipes, and on MyFitnessPal. The data is almost spot on with each other. Enjoy!

Don't forget! DID YOU DRINK A BUTTLOAD OF WATER TODAY!?

Super Short Guide to the Ketogenic Diet

This is a very, very basic guide to starting the ketogenic diet. The reason I do not go into more detail is due to the fact that there are people in this world who can explain the science better than I ever could; especially Joseph Arcita and his Guide to Ketosis. Joseph is a fellow blogger whose amazing break down of the ketogenic diet makes my humble explanation look like child’s play.

Who should try the ketogenic diet?

Anyone can do this diet, but it is recommended for people with epilepsy, and women with fertility issues. Over the past eight months, I have seen people with a variety of health issues who would try the diet and have better managed health including issues such as:

·         Type 2 diabetes

·         Crohn’s disease

·         High cholesterol/blood pressure (these usually go hand in hand)

·         Anxiety and depression (also can go hand in hand)

·         Fertility issues – Lack of menses and PCOS

  I am a combination of both the fertility issues, and the anxiety and depression. My anxiety has lessened, and my depression is gone. PCOS is managed, and my cycles have returned.

Basics of the diet

Consume less than 25 g of carbs per day. That will ensure that you're in a constant state of ketosis. My husband consumes 35 g of carbohydrates because that is the amount he can consume and stay in ketosis. I consume between 19-25 g. (Read about my change in carb consumption in the macros section)

Cut out all sugar, sugar alcohols, starches, and 95% of your carbohydrates. No more bread, cookies, cake, beer, soda, milk, root vegetables, and fruit (I know, I’m sorry about the fruit). You will still get carbohydrates from the food you are allowed to eat on the diet. We aren't completely strangling carbs from our diets.

Here's a list of keto friend foods and their carb count. Very useful google document! Print it out!

Also try Linda's Keto Recipes - I use this every day. Love this website!

WATER IS YOUR FRIEND.

I cannot stress this enough. You must drink 2 or 3 liters of water every day, or deal with kidney issues. It is no joke!

Keto flu

You will experience something called the keto flu within the first two weeks of the diet; usually a bad headache and fatigue. It is just a result of your body being starved of carbohydrates. The best way to fix this is to get your electrolytes back in balance. Purchase and use lite salt (found at any grocery store), and magnesium supplements, and drink chicken or beef broth. Good sources of potassium include lite salt, coffee, spinach, kale, salmon, avocados, almonds, pistachios… to name a few.

Please read more into the keto flu and potassium and magnesium deficiency here: “Keto-flu” and Sufficient Intake of Electrolytes

Hitting your macros

Macros are your ever day nutritional goals. You should eat 65% fat, 30% protein, and 5% carbohydrates. To figure out your macros use the Keto Calculator created by a Redditor named Martinus.

I just now redid my macros, and it looks like I have to lower my carbohydrate intake. My personal macros are: 1600 kcal, 85g of fat, 90 g of protein and 15g of carbohydrates. That is what I have to eat every day to ensure weight loss is happening, which it has not since my pregnancy in February. Time to fix that!

Best way to ensure you’re staying under your macros of fat/protein/carbs is to have and use a food journal. I have a food journal on MyFitnessPal.com, and customized it to ensure I am following my macros. I have made it a habit to use my journal every day. You’d be surprised at how easy it is to blow over your goal, even if you’re eating only keto food. Food scales and measuring cups are also pretty freaking awesome to have, and thank God for nutritional labels. Always read labels!

Tonight, after I'm done babysitting, I will set up a variety of links that will help you in your journey on the keto diet. reddit.com/r/keto has been the most helpful with information to this diet. I love that community so much! Go and visit!

Salek