low-carb – Here's What I Think…

Kelly Does Greece: THE FOOD!

I was blessed enough in 2022 to be able to strike “Visit Greece and eat all the food” off my bucket list. It almost didn’t happen at the 11th hour (Kelly Does Greece: A Dream Come True) but it did, and I shared what we did there in Kelly Does Greece: My Week In Paradise. This final of three posts is dedicated to The Food. It was MORE than I ever thought it would be. Seriously. What follows is a photo essay, where I share photos of the food we enjoyed. Ready? Let’s dig right in!

My Winning Keto Meal!

“Your challenge is to use this fish and come up with a whole meal idea built around the fish. The meal is meant to celebrate something special, a meal for two, you and yours.”

Say less! This was the challenge thrown out by popular media host Miss Kitty one afternoon on her radio programme. I immediately knew I wanted to participate. I knew I’d win too. AND I was going to win with my FULLY KETO meal idea to boot! I immediately called in and miracle of miracles, I was answered and placed in the queue to compete. Bring. It. On.

Spoiler Alert: I won. Of course I did. You’ll see why I was confident of victory in a minute, and why I actually copped the prize. So many people called in requesting my recipes. I also make these dishes regularly, and every time I post a pic, I am asked for the recipes. I decided to simply document the recipes here to make it easy to share whenever I am asked. So ready? Let’s go!

And now for something NEW: Keto in GREEK, the PIE edition!

I started my own keto journey over 4 years ago. During this time, I have also had the honour of working with people who have decided that keto could be their chosen route to wellness as well. We have (re)discovered our livity– that joie de vivre– as we’ve become intentional about our food choices, eschewing sugar and focusing on whole foods, on real food. One of the things I promised myself at the beginning of my journey, was that I would NOT go hungry, nor would I allow myself to feel deprived. I’m happy to say that I have kept my promise to myself. A very important part of my work with clients too, is to show them just how delicious eating low-carb can be. Boredom for those of us who love food (me!) is a death trap, a certain route right back to the foods that made us fat and sick in the first place. I am, therefore, always on the look-out for food options that check all the keto boxes and are also DELICIOUS. So when my friend Roberta from Greek Goes Keto asked me to review her cookbook Greek Goes Keto Pi: It’s all Pie to Me!, without hesitation, I agreed to. And it was everything (and more) that I thought it would be!

Keto Worked for Me, but I’ve Fallen Off & Can’t Get Back On!

I’ve done this. I’ve seen this with a number of persons I’ve had the privilege of coaching. I’ve seen the stories members of our Caribbean Keto Tribe have shared in our Facebook Group. You start off with a fervent desire to lose weight and improve health and your energy matches this desire. Meal prep is done with gusto. You press through the initial uncomfortable days of the “keto flu” and you celebrate with joy & relief with the first 8 pound loss.

Woo-hoo! Your clothes are fitting better and your energy is through the roof, you feel positive and you just KNOW that you’ve found your key to losing weight and feeling good. Then after a few weeks, sometimes it is even a few months, you come off plan for any variety of reasons.

…And then that one cheat meal becomes a cheat weekend, which becomes a cheat week, which becomes a cheat month and before you know it, despite your most fervent desire to return to the heady glory days of your first experience with keto, you remain stuck. You remain unable to consistently eat low-carb even though the weight is creeping back on, even though your energy has dipped, even though you KNOW eating low-carb really and truly worked for you.

First of all, you are not alone!

Food Cravings & Emotional Eating: Practical Approaches for WINNING: Part 2

In my last post “Are Cravings and a Snacking habit getting the better of you?” I explored why we crave the foods we do, why we snack and what giving in to said cravings and a snacking habit could be doing to your health and your livity. If we’re keeping it a buck fifty, the foods we crave all tend to be high-carb, highly processed foods: chips, cookies, ice-cream, bread. And we established that there are valid physiological and psychological reasons at play. You’re not weak neither are you greedy. These hyper-palatable carbohydrate rich foods trigger pathways in our brain that simply make us feel good and when we remain in constant search of that feel-good place we simply repeat the behaviour that led to it in the first place: ergo, dependency or addiction.

This dependency on high-carb, hyper-palatable foods for many, many of us negatively impacts our health (we gain weight or we have difficulty taking and keeping off weight), we get bloated and live with various gut-issues like acid reflux & general discomfort, and we are simply trapped in a vicious cycle of having to be constantly thinking of what next will we eat in order to avoid “hangry” states throughout our day. Sounds familiar? Ok. So what next? Do we simply cut out these carbs and flourish? Easier said than done, right? If there is an actual factual dependency on these foods at play, HOW do we break the dependency and how do we meet the need that gave rise to this dependency in the first place?

Are Cravings & A Snacking Habit Getting the better of You? Part 1

“I do well all day and then at night I go off the rails!”
“The children’s snacks are my weakness”
“I do well all week and then weekends I just can’t seem to stick to the plan.”
“I need a snack after dinner when we’re watching TV.”
“I get hungry mid-morning and need a snack.”
“At about 4pm I need a little pick-me-upper.”
“I say I’ll just eat 2 cookies and I end up eating the entire pack.”
“If it wasn’t for this sweet tooth I know I could lose some weight.”

Could any of the above statements been made by you? Are any of the above impacting your quality of life? Put differently, are you struggling to lose weight? Are cravings getting the better of you? If not, great! You don’t have to read any further unless you’re simply curious or unless you know someone who is struggling to lose weight and for whom cravings seem to always get the better of and you want to understand what’s going on better. But if you’re like very many of us, trying to lose weight, trying to unshackle yourself from the lure of cravings that you know are unhealthy, read on!

A Tale of Two Keto Cheaters: Weight Loss Stories we can learn from

I am a keto & weight loss coach. It has been my absolute honour to work with people who have decided that a low-carb way of eating is their chosen route to weight-loss and wellness. Many of my clients have lost weight and come off meds for conditions like bursitis, diabetes type 2 and high blood pressure. As much as they say I’ve helped them, I’ve gotta say, they have taught me so much. We are all different, and as I’ve guided and advised them on their own journey, I have had to adopt an open mind and listening ear and heart, in order to make my advice and recommendations meaningful to their specific circumstances. Back in December I had 2 clients who had 2 different approaches to the matter of cheating while keto. What follows are their stories, their choices and the consequences. Read for yourself and extract any learnings applicable.

She Lost 78 Pounds and she’s 68! LaRonda’s story.

I’d like to introduce you to my friend, LaRonda Robinson. We met on Twitter a few years ago. LaRonda is a very interesting woman, and a single blog post will never cover her many facets. The purpose of this particular blog post is to share a part of her story that she’s graciously consented to share. I have been intrigued by this part of her story and have wanted to document it for some time now. So here we are! Let me present the executive summary, and then I invite you to dig in for the details. LaRonda is a 68 year old great grandma who has lost 74 lbs over the last two years. Yes, 78 pounds! What follows is HER story. Are there learnings we can take from LaRonda’s journey? See for yourself!

3 Mindset Traps that are sabotaging your weight-loss journey

I’ve been coaching people looking to lose weight for a few years now, and I quickly realized that simply having a meal plan to follow is NOT the key to success! This is a head game that demands more than mere information. Check it out:

Me: “Oooh that breakfast looks lovely!”
Him: “It’s pretty good! I didn’t think I’d enjoy bacon & eggs without toast, yet here I am!”
Me: “That kale looks so fresh and green!”
Him: “It’s bitter, I’m not enjoying it, but I’m pressing through!”

I think my response stunned him… “Then why are you eating it if you don’t like it?” I sensed his surprise which quickly gave way to defensiveness when he replied: “Well it’s healthy, and I already bought it.”

I quickly reminded him that there are too many other “healthy” foods to allow yourself to suffer with your own food choices! So many of us trying to lose weight seem to feel the need to punish ourselves, to self-flagellate, as if we’re punishing ourselves for getting fat! Stop it.

Creamy Callaloo Coconut Soup: Keto Comfort

It is April 15 2020 and if feels like the entire world is in a state of upheaval. The way we have lived up until now has been upended; schools are out, classes are online, more of us a working from home, we’re wearing masks and joining lines to get into supermarkets. People have lost jobs, businesses have folded, whole sectors are in jeopardy of collapse. And most of all, people are dying…have died. This virus seems to have appeared out of nowhere and with no cure or vaccine in sight, it’s hard to ensvision how this ends and what our world will be like when it does end. This is an unsettling and uncertain time, and many are turning to food for comfort. But now is not the time to binge eat those foods that make us more susceptible to the ravages of COVID-19. Here’s a budget friendly, creamy, low-carb soup that will satisfy that need for warmth and comfort.