Ever since starting Keto, I overall feel better physically & mentally. It is true what they say, you are what you eat. Being someone who grew up in an Italian household with family businesses with a couple of restaurants and bakeries, ‘bad’ carbs was a given on the table everyday such as pasta, homemade sweets, croissants, cakes, parmigianas, we had it all. Beyond delicious but no boundaries or guilt with intake.

With Keto, I have learned to be in control of what I am eating which then controls what I am feeling. For example, when I would eat a lot of ‘bad’ carbs, I would feel tired, lethargic, bloated, short tempered & overall blah. Now, I find myself having more energy, being more active, sleeping better, more focused and feeling more ‘alive’, if that makes sense. So, since my husband and I have had such great success with this lifestyle change, I wanted to share it with all of you in case you were thinking of trying out Keto!

The Keto Mantra:

First off, I use an app on my phone called My Fitness Pal (a godsend IMO) by Under Armour which helps me plug in my food by meals/snacks and keeps me on track for my daily intake (with calories), water and exercise. It is a free app….don’t pay for anything…unless you want to, but I don’t think it is necessary. FitnessPal will offer you to go premium for like $70 bucks annually but, personally, I don’t think you need that, unless again, you feel like you could benefit more with the premium package. My husband and I have been doing Keto for seven months now and we use the plain old app, without paying for premium, so you can get by without it.  The numbers we plug in for the Keto guidelines are Carbs-10%, Fats-70% and Protein-20% (MACROS).  You can add these percentages when you set up your profile. 

The good thing about the Fitness Pal app is that it will tell you when sodium/carbs/saturated fat levels are getting close to your allowed daily amount so that you can see what you are working with for the rest of your daily food intake. 

I’ll break it down into food groups:

         *Meats/Fish        

ALL Meats with skin on–eg: chicken thighs with the skin etc.

ALL Fish–Salmon and Mackerel are HIGH in good fat & protein that will help you out with your Macros fat/protein percentage.

*Fruits

ONLY berries—strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, goji berries etc.

*Vegetables

ALL green veggies—THE GREENER THE BETTER

Avocado is a KETO essential—I usually eat a whole avocado each day (1 half for any two meals…breakfast, lunch or dinner)

NO veggies grown underground–eg: potatoes, carrots, beets etc.

*Dairy

ALL dairy is ok in moderation…I also like using Almond or Coconut Milk for baking or just to have a glass of it 

*Nuts

 (the best nutritionally in order):

1) Almonds

2) Walnuts

3) Pecans

   4) Cashews

*Oils

Coconut (either solid or liquid form–be careful–measurements are different for each one…if in solid form, you have to melt it done to equal liquid form ratio) and avocado oil are awesome to cook with. And of course, you can’t go wrong with good ole’ EVOO!

And my all time favorites but ……

Be very careful with your sodium intake. For eg: I love dry salami (again, I’m Italian and we love that s***) but it is very high in sodium—its ok to have but in moderation. 

If you have a sweet tooth like I do….(I mean I grew up in a bakery, what did you expect? lol):

Fat Bombs—these are keto friendly and you can find recipes anywhere….some are easier to make and others are a little more complex but they are yummy and totally satisfy that sweet craving!

Almond Keto Bites—ahhhhhhh—the sweet Keto gods have answered my prayers—you can get these @ Costco…there is 4 pieces to a serving and they taste like cake…no really, they do. My all time fav snack.

Dark Chocolate is ok in moderation—70% cacao or higher is good like Lily’s brand that you can find at your local grocery store.

If you like to have a drink, let’s say for holidays or parties etc, you can drink clear alcohol so yayyyyy to Tito’s Vodka….and a glass a wine in moderation is ok too as long as you plug the alcohol in to see how many calories you can work with. Again, I don’t advise doing this everyday but once in a while is ok. 

Walking and exercise is key also to seeing the best results with Keto. Even if it is just around the block for fifteen minutes a day, that will help!

Hope you liked what I shared with you! Any questions, advice, pep talk you need, I am here to help you!! Here’s to that Keto Flow & Glow!! You got this!💪