19) Our low carb meal plan + favorite dessert recipes!

I just finished eating our Saturday breakfast and enjoyed a delicious low carb scone that Sasha baked yesterday (the KB was noticeably absent then!).  Some readers have asked me about Sasha's low-carb meal plan- I intentionally want to call it a "meal plan" versus a "diet" because it is not low calorie, it is not intended for weight loss, and it is what we intend to eat forever or until we come up with a better way of eating.  When we kept painstaking track of his food in Myfitnesspal for about one week, he was eating about 1700-1800 calories a day and averaged about 100 grams of carbohydrates per day (plus whatever he snuck without our knowledge!).  This was tracked shortly after we transitioned him from a low fat plan.  To my dismay, we were ill-advised by his doctors to eat "low sugar and low fat" when we learned of his high lipids- instead, we should have been told to eat "low carb and higher fat."  When we were on the low fat diet, we called it the "low fun diet" and it was indeed quite un-fun since we kept him at under 20 grams of fat a day. The food he ended eating to compensate for the low fat allowance was exactly what he should not have been eating- he ate foods low in sugar but high in carbs- rice crackers, starchy veggies, bagels, grains, etc.

Well, for the last two years, we've converted our household to a lower carb, higher fat lifestyle and we are enjoying it!  To give an example of what we typically eat, here are some examples of menus:

Breakfast:
Egg frittata with kale and shredded cheddar cheese
Small serving of fruit or one slice of low carb whole wheat bread
OR
Steel cut oatmeal with peanut butter
Greek yogurt with coconut chips and almond slivers, sweetened with Erythitol sugar substitute

Lunch:
Salad of greens, tomatoes, cucumbers, feta cheese, sunflower seeds, grilled chicken breast
Small piece of fruit
Nuts (almonds or pistachios)
Hummus and celery/carrots

Dinner:
Carnitas (roasted pork)
Cauliflower rice
Green salad
OR
Large mixed salad (spinach, bacon, carrots, balsamic onions/bell peppers, feta cheese)
Grilled chicken

For snacks, Sasha eats Greek yogurt with fruit or nuts.

For dessert, we have found some great recipes online and Sasha would like to share his favorites with you- my apologies to the non-Americans- we are American and still use the old British system and haven't yet converted to the metric system!

Low-carb Berry Scone

Here is the recipe- the only thing we changed is that we doubled the amount of berries!

http://healthylivinghowto.com/1/post/2013/03/healthy-recipe-triple-berry-drop-scones.html

For those of you who want to learn more about erythitol (Swerve), please see this website: https://authoritynutrition.com/erythritol/

Another favorite is the No-bake Chocolate Macaroons- YUMMY!  If you like peanut butter, you can substitute the coconut oil for peanut butter- then it tastes like a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup (with coconut): http://www.tessadomesticdiva.com/2012/01/raw-chocolate-macaroons-hail-merry.html

The only thing we noticed about this recipe is that it may be a little dry so we added more coconut oil (or peanut butter) to allow it to stick together into balls without it crumbling apart.  If you put them into the freezer for a bit, they will harden and be easier to eat!

BON APPÉTIT!