INTRODUCTION
I’ve always been passionate about cooking, health, and nutrition: in fact, I’ve been collecting recipes and articles since I was a teenager. When I was younger, like lots of girls my age, I followed what I perceived to be a balanced diet to manage my weight and stay healthy. I watched my calorie intake and chose low-fat and whole-grain products. I avoided foods high in saturated fats and cholesterol, and I exercised up to six times a week to keep extra pounds off. Like so many other people, I was convinced that eating less and exercising more was the best approach to staying healthy and slim.
Then, in 2011, I started having fatigue issues, and I frequently felt unwell. Although I still watched what I ate and exercised regularly, my weight began to climb. After several tests, I was finally diagnosed with Hashimoto’s hypothyroidism. I felt terrible. I couldn’t understand what I had done wrong: I was eating healthy foods, and I was exercising almost every day—yet I got sick. I knew that Hashimoto’s, as well as other autoimmune disorders, could be triggered by lifestyle and diet factors—but that didn’t make any sense to me, either, since I thought I had done everything I possibly could to stay healthy. So, I became determined to find out how to actively improve my condition rather than just relying on medication to manage it.
I soon realized that I wouldn’t be able to maintain a healthy weight unless I changed my eating habits. From the day of my diagnosis, I researched different diets and food philosophies to try to figure out what might work best for me. After some trial and error, I discovered low-carb eating. At first, I was skeptical about this approach. All I’d heard about low-carb diets up to that point was that they were an unhealthy fad. But after months of reading books and medical articles, I realized I was wrong. Low-carb eating isn’t just a diet; it’s a lifestyle approach that can offer great health benefits. Calorie-counting is a thing of the past, my energy levels are back to normal, and I don’t exercise more than three times a week. And I’ve never felt better.
Following a low-carb, paleo/primal diet plan helps me maintain a healthy weight while eating real food, and it inspires the dishes I create. My recipes are all grain-free, sugar-free, and gluten-free, and many of them include a dairy-free alternative. I always opt for grass-fed beef and butter; raw, hormone-free dairy; and healthy fats like coconut oil.
This book will walk you through the guidelines and benefits of the ketogenic diet, and it’ll show you how to make more than 150 delicious low-carb recipes for everything from breakfast to dessert—plus some low-carb staples that are easy to make at home.
Simply put, low-carb eating has changed my life. I hope The KetoDiet Cookbook will do the same for you!