Tag / diet

by Kaboom Kelly

Drinking on Keto

One of the best parts of eating a ketogenic diet is that it’s flexible and allows you to get crunk sometimes. The best alcohols for people on keto are dry wine and liquors (mixed with low-carb mixers, like water or diet soda). My favorite low-carb drinks are whiskey & diet ginger ale, vodka & water with Mio water enhancers, and my version of a Moscow Mule:

Low Carb Moscow Mule
4 oz diet ginger beer
1.5 oz vodka
1/4 lime, juiced

If you like spice, try making your own pepper-infused vodka. Just slice up your spicy pepper of choice (I like cherry peppers the best, but habanero and jalapeno are also delightful), put them in a jar with your vodka and place in the fridge. The spice will increase as the days past, so beware! I think  36-48 hours is prime spice time.

For a really useful, comprehensive guide on carb content of alcohol, visit Diet Doctor’s page on Keto Alcohol.

My personal experience with drinking on the keto diet is thus: I don’t really like it. I definitely still do drink, but the occasions are few and far between, and here’s why.

  1. I get hella drunk really quickly. I approximate that for every one drink I have now, I could have had 3-4 drinks as a carb-eater to feel the same effect.
  2. I’m not right for a few days after. I’ll have a low-level hangover for at least 3 days after drinking. Bloating, constipation, headache, irritability, excessive thirst, and lethargy are all legit.
  3. It messes with my weight loss. I swear to god, the texture of my body fat stores feels different for like a week after I drink. I’m sure that has to do with water retention, but I will gain a few pounds after I drink, and I don’t feel slim again for at least a week. Drinking (even just a glass or two of wine) sets me backwards.
  4. I want to skip the gym. Who wants to work out when they don’t feel good? If I don’t skip the gym, my workout tends to be shitty.

If I could have a glass of wine with no repercussions, I totally would do that. Often. I love wine! ❤ But even with a tiny glass, I get unpleasant side effects, so it’s better that I just skip it… or if I do partake, I make it count. #ketocrunk

by Kaboom Kelly

5 Tips for a Keto Christmas

Happy Christmas Eve Eve! If you’re not trying to shove cookies and chocolates into your face every 5 minutes, Christmas gatherings with family and friends can be tough to navigate. The key to being successful is planning ahead. I know that’s boring, but making a good plan of attack while you’re in a motivated state of mind can help prevent us from falling off the wagon and eating every candy cane on the way down. Here’s some tips to help get you through.

1. Don’t apologize for eating keto. Just as you don’t expect everyone to accommodate your dietary restrictions, you don’t have to accommodate anyone else. If you are hosting and cooking, make delicious keto-friendly foods that everyone will enjoy. Your guests can bring carby side dishes to contribute if “it’s just not Christmas without mashed potatoes.” When I hosted Christmas Eve brunch for my family this year, I fried up a ton of bacon and sausages, asked my mom to bring a veggie and egg casserole, and my sister brought her infamous Tater Tot Casserole. No one had a single complaint about the food – plus, they nommed a bunch of pies and cakes later on in the day.

2. It’s not cheating if you planned it. I really like the idea of not even using the word “cheat” or saying that you’re “being good.” I think it’s way more beneficial to say that you’re either on-plan or off-plan. No only do “cheats” put a weird sneaky guilt around food, but it’s better to be really aware and intentional of your diet and how that plays into your social calendar. You can still get sloshed at a Santa pub crawl and have a slice of your niece’s first birthday cake. Just plan for it. Try to break the habit of impulsiveness by being really intentional about what you’re consuming and planning your fun foods in advance.

3. Bring a little keto wherever you go. This applies to all times of year, but especially Christmas time. If you go to a gathering, bring a side dish or two that is hearty, keto-friendly, and something you love. That way, it doesn’t matter what the rest of the spread looks like, because you’ve got you covered. And don’t worry about looking weird. Some of the keto sides I have brought to parties have been the most raved-about dishes at the gathering! The host’s teenage son snuck the dish of roasted broccoli remnants up to his room as the party was dying down, returning it when he thought no one was looking. Carbs & sugar aren’t the only delicious things in the world, and you might actually be helping your friends change their thinking if you’re always bringing super yummy foods to your get-togethers.

4. Practice your clap-backs. It was like 6 months before people stopped shreiking “YOU DON’T EAT SUGAR?! YOU’RE CRAZY!” To which I respond, “Oh really? Because I thought being so addicted to sugar that you freak out when other people don’t eat it was crazy.” JK I didn’t say that. But here’s some things I did (and do) say:

  • So what the hell DO you eat?? Lots of stuff! Just not grains or sugar!
  • I could never do that. It’s not for everyone, that’s for sure!
  • Eating bacon and butter everyday can’t be good for you. As long as you’re not eating carbs, fat is totally good for you.
  • I tried that and it didn’t work for me. Some people adjust more easily than others, for sure.
  • My mom did Atkins and lost weight but she gained it all back. Weight loss is the same no matter how you do it. You can’t go back to eating like crap or you’ll gain all your weight back.
  • How do you have any kind of social life? Literally nothing’s changed except what I eat. I still go on dates and happy hours and brunches with my lady friends, same as before.
  • I bet you never eat out anymore. It’s never hard to find something keto-friendly! Burger without the bun and a side of veggies. Boom.

I have found that the key to navigating these conversations are to keep it short and sweet. A lot of people have tried keto or low carb, and when they got a bit of keto flu, they thought they were going to die and they stopped. So not only is eating keto going against everything we were taught about the idiotic food pyramid, but your friends might have their own vendetta against the diet. The best thing we can do is lead by example without being judgey.

5. Have a naughty food available if you’re drinking. I don’t know about you, but when I drink, I don’t always make the best choices. My mom brought a tub of seasoned pecans that she made just for me (that woman is a friggin’ saint), that taste like the crunchy stuff on the top if a cinnamon bagel from Panera. My plan for the family Christmas party didn’t include pumpkin pie or eclair cake, but it included a shit ton of wine, and without those sweet pecans, I would have felt quite deprived of a nice drunken munch fest. Here’s the recipe my mom used:

Crock Pot Cinnamon Spicy Pecans
16 oz Pecans
1 stick melted butter
1/8 tsp All Spice
2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 cup erythritol

Combine all ingredients into a crock pot and cook on low for 3 hours. Spread out to cool.

Every social gathering and holiday gets easier to handle as I become further removed from my carby prior life. What are some of your tips and tricks to navigate the holidays?

by Kaboom Kelly

I’m Kelly and I eat Keto

I started this blog to share my progress, journey, and advice for anyone trying (or thinking about trying) a ketogenic diet approach to weight management. I’m by no means an expert, but I’ve lost over 70 pounds, and I’ve found a sustainable way to lose fat and keep it off with very little effort. I want to share what I know with others, because I know how defeating it is to try to the same bullshit over and over and fail over and over. I’m still learning and still losing, but I’ve got some great experience with the keto diet, intermittent fasting, prolonged fasting, and dry fasting. This approach to nutrition isn’t for everyone and removing carbs from your life can be crazy hard at first. But for me, it’s been well worth it.

2 year time span