3 Top Tips: Surviving keto life as an adult with epilepsy

When I started this blog I thought I’d be able to update it regularly with posts about my ketogenic journey for epilepsy, recipes and resources. BOY WAS I WRONG!!! Blogging slipped down the priority list (but that’s ok because epilepsy management comes first).

This post is for adults with epilepsy embarking on the lifestyle with 3 top tips to bear in mind when embarking on this life changing journey & links to 3 recipes on my Instagram @riagoesketo @ananyariaroy.

The GOOD news is that the ketogenic lifestyle is still working for my overall wellbeing and still controlling my epilepsy – this month I’ll be one year seizure free!. It remains to be seen whether that’s the impact of the lifestyle or the medication.

The BAD news is that life has been a rollercoaster this last year and I’ve been terrible at blogging my ketogenic journey apart from microblogging on my Instagram accounts @riagoesketo (just keto for epilepsy posts) and @ananyariaroy (my personal account with a mix of posts including keto).

There honestly weren’t enough hours in a day to work (the load was the kind where you needed more than 24 hours in a day), eat, spend time with family, sleep, exercise, and I pretty much forgot about having much of a social life let along blogging.

My priority is staying seizure-free and keto is just one (major) part of a holistic lifestyle change. Stress and anxiety management is a constant battle and for me this last year post shoulder surgery along with numerous personal challenges on the relationship and work front has constantly pushed my stress limits – stress being my #1 trigger combined with #2 – lack of sleep. I’m pleased to report though that I’ve survived this last year unscathed although I’ve had a couple of auras and took my emergency pill on a few occasions. The lifestyle has taught me to be more aware of my body and I’m definitely more aware of my brain than EVER before! WIN!

So for those of you adults with epilepsy embarking on a new diet for your epilepsy, here are my 3 Top Tips:

Be patient with yourself and enjoy the process:It can be tempting to feel like you need to research and understand everything straight away, get your macros perfect right off the bat, and so on. But take your time to absorb and learn about the lifestyle in your own time (do your READING, don’t just rely on YouTube).
It is unlikely you’ll learn everything about the lifestyle let alone test the impact of the lifestyle on YOUR body in a month – give yourself time to learn, play and adapt – enjoy the process.

Keto Lemon & Mint FroYo
Listen to your body and the different types of dietary therapies used to treat epilepsy:Although I’ve been on the keto lifestyle for nearly 1.5 years, I have by no means been consistently in ketosis. I do have ‘cheat days’ but this doesn’t mean I load up on sugar, I still opt for the healthier low GI options during cheat days (which also tend to be during my period.)
I’m a strong believer in sustainability and balance and ‘finding what works for you’ at the end of the day and found that for me it was a combination of mostly ketogenic combined with low GI on certain days seems to work.

View the Epilepsy Foundation website for more on Dietary Therapies.

Keto Chocolate Peanut Butter Brownie
Don’t have #FOMO! It’s more than just what you put in your mouth
(I personally think the ketogenic lifestyle works best in tandem with other lifestyle improvements. Factors that could improve outcomes might be e.g. sleep, time with family and friends, work-life-balance, exercise and so on.I strongly recommend taking the time out to assess your seizure triggers, find out what lifestyle factors could minimise them, review and prioritise what’s important, and if necessary, adapt your lifestyle as a whole.

When prioritising it will probably mean something is sacrificed in the quest for better health, and for us millennials there is always a major #FOMO – but the end result will always be worth it – seizure freedom!

FAMILY TIME! Keto Shakshuka for Fathers Day Brunch 🙂

Bonus tip! (And one that I personally struggle with)

It goes without saying that you should be making dietary lifestyle changes for epilepsy under your neurologists supervision and ideally with a ketogenic dietitian, but the reality is that there are probably many who are doing it without either. (I personally had to wait 8 months for an appointment).

Although I am technically under a ketogenic dietitian, follow-up / communication has not been great – largely on my part as it is taxing and a lot of work to submit food diaries, monitor your blood, do routine blood/urine tests etc. A lot of the hard work falls on the patient which is paper based. For an epileptic that can add up to a lot of brainpower and physical energy in addition to daily life and I for one find it quite stressful and draining. Give me an app any day please. (Rant over!)

Nevertheless it IS an absolute necessity if your goal is to manage your epilepsy (or for any medical condition) – please do it under supervision of a health professional as there ARE side effects to the lifestyle.

P.S I write this blog a few days before a milestone “Holidate”! It’s the first holiday I’ve had in a LONG time and the first time in a long time that I’ve gone somewhere without family of some kind as well. I’m completely throwing myself out of my comfort zone. The last time I felt this out of my comfort zone was 9 years ago! Getting my priorities straight and giving myself a break!

I hope to post more frequently and prioritise this blog every fortnight! GOALS!

Keto Protein Cloud Loaf

I love the cloud bread recipes floating around (excuse the pun), but I find them to be a bit frustrating and a bit hit-and-miss sometimes.

Also, my oven isn’t huge so making a few light pieces of cloud bread isn’t convenient or satisfying, and I can’t wait around to make them in batches as the whipped egg whites are too sensitive so they really need to go in the oven as soon as they’re prepared.

I personally find making a good old loaf of bread to be the simplest thing. This recipe was inspired by the cloud bread recipe and a chiffon cake recipe using whey protein.

I’ve replaced the cream cheese with Greek Yogurt (it’s cheaper and we buy it in bulk), and the texture works PERFECTLY as a bread (it works both savoury or sweet depending on your preference).

FAQ’s

Does the bread taste like cake?

I don’t think it’s cakey as it has no (nut) flour. It’s almost like a super light Keto version of a loaf of brioche.

It’s so good that in my books it beats almond bread, coconut bread, and flax bread. I’m a sucker for light and fluffy bread!

How do you eat it?

Like bread!

Slice, smother in butter/ghee/garlic olive oil, pan fry, (I’ll be honest, I haven’t tried toasting it because it’s quite light and I have a feeling it might get stuck in the toaster), use it in a sandwich, and so on.

(This morning I toasted a slice in ghee and made an open sandwich with creamy scrambled eggs – because I’m addicted to scrambled eggs at the moment – with a side of bacon and greens).

INGREDIENTS

6 eggs separated
1/2 teaspoon Cream of Tartar
170g Greek Yogurt
1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder
50g Whey Protein Isolate (Unflavoured for savoury bread, *Vanilla flavoured for Sweet bread)

OPTION 1 Spicy Savoury Bread: Spices: 1/4-1/2 teaspoon salt of choice, 1/2 – 1 teaspoon Garlic Powder, Onion Powder, Cayenne Pepper, Dried Chilli Flakes (or other savoury spices of choice).

*OPTION 2 Sweet Bread: 2-3 tablespoons sweetener of choice if using unflavoured whey protein OR use a vanilla flavoured whey isolate protein powder.

METHOD

1. Preperation: Pre-heat the oven to 150C and grease a loaf tin.

2. Add the cream of tartar to the egg white and whisk until stiff peaks form.

3. To the egg yolks add the remaining ingredients (greek yogurt, whey protein, baking powder, salt and spices).

4. Mix the yolk mixture well.

5. Add the egg whites to the egg yolk mixture in parts:

Add 1/3 of the white and mix to loosen the batter.
Add 2/3 and FOLD very gently. You want it to be well combined but don’t want to lose any “fluffiness”.

6. Pour it into your greased loaf tin and bake at 150C for approximately 60minutes. (You may have to adjust the temperature and time depending on your oven.)

(NOTE: If you really want buns it might work but I haven’t tried!)

Macros

1 whole loaf (= approximately 10 servings):

Calories: 835.2 kcal
Protein: 85.6g
Net carbs: 17.6g
Fat: 45.6g

1 slice:

Calories: 83.5 kcal
Protein: 8.6g
Net carbs: 1.8g
Fat: 4.6g

Brain Butter (Low Carb | High Fat |Gluten Free )

Keto vs. Epilepsy vs. Life Update

It’s been a LONG LONG time since I’ve posted. Mainly because there’s been so much going on, and not much at the same time, such is the life of an epileptic! For the average Joe a small task doesn’t take alot of effort, but for an epileptic, doing normal things is exhausting. You brain literally feels like butter much of the time.

As I’m working on a number of small projects part-time, instead of focusing on one stable full-time job now, it can get stressful and mentally draining even though physically right now I’m only really in London as opposed to hopping between two continents as I was doing before.

Still, it’s a battle trying to merely get started, complete tasks, and stay functional. I find I often spend as much (if not twice as much) time recovering (catching up on sleep, Netflix and chill, yoga and meditation, me time!) as I do just getting on with things and trying to lead a “normal life”.

However, these last few months I’ve had moments of gratitude repeatedly for my parents (without whom I wouldn’t be seizure free), my partner (who saved my life and for giving me space, time and love in his own way), my sister and her family (for just being around and especially for allowing me to vent, cry, be a cow), and for a handful of friends I know I can count on.

Amongst them, one recently came to London all the way from Mumbai last month, and she opened my eyes to a whole new world of Nichiren Buddhism I hadn’t explored. I’m thankful for the quality time we got to spend together and the exciting project we’ve dreamed up! I love that you and I recognise that we are “Dysfunctionally Functional” and accept it.

It was also my niece’s first birthday and my sister and her fambam came to visit for four days.

So here is my confession – last month – OCTOBER 2017, I SLIPPED UP BIGTIME on a few occasions:

Whilst my friend was around there was one night where she had a dessert with flambéed alcohol on it, I took one bite and pretty much got drunk (who gets high on flambéed apple crumble?) We also went to Ping Pong (Chinese Dim Sum) two nights in a row. And I had dessert!!!
Whilst my sister was down as well I went to the pub with my her and my BIL and had a chip from her plate with my steak, ate some rice and Paratha with my curry, I also had cake, panna cottage and ‘payesh’ (rice pudding) on my niece’s birthday.

SO SUE ME, I decided to live a little for a few days 😂! No regrets. And it will happen again I’m sure. I’m not going to beat myself up about it.

Here’s the upside though:

Whenever I do slip up, it reminds me that I just can’t stand sugar and carbs, it’s not for me. I can literally feel the sugar slap my brain around. It satisfies me temporarily for a few spoonfuls but in the back of my mind I think “hmmmm how can I ketofy this at home 😂!” What I really enjoyed though was just being around my family and friends.
Unlike previous times during the summer for instance when I had a bad carb-up, practically went into a “food coma”, and also seemed to struggle getting back into the Keto way of eating, every single time I re-started keto after relapsing, THIS time I pretty much bounced straight back into ketosis after a few days, no major struggle or keto flu (although I did battle the real flu twice during this period). I didn’t fast intentionally although it may have happened that I unintentionally Intermittent Fasted a number of days sporadically.

Brain Butter?

Anyway enough of my rambling, as November is the month for #EpilepsyAwareness here is a lovely nut butter recipe especially for my fellow #brainwarriors on Keto – #BrainButter!

The reason it’s called Brain Butter is because it’s made from Walnuts, Pecans, and Fats (olive oil, ghee, coconut oil) which are good for the brain. I used all three, but feel free to use just one or two.

When I was making it I didn’t realise how symbolic it really was. 💜

Walnuts and pecans look like the brain. It’s poetic almost, the whole process of making a nut butter is almost like what it is to be an epileptic – you’re ok one minute and the next your brain feels all mushy and you’ve lost control like liquid nutbutter. BUT homemade BrainButter is of course healing with so many nourishing and restorative properties.

In addition to the countless health benefits of walnuts, they’re also supposed to have numerous properties which make them good for the brain and there are studies that show they have anticonvulsant and neuroprotective effects (albeit on rats).

This recipe also has cinnamon which is supposed to be good for the neurological system including memory – us epileptics suffer greatly on that front!

Other reasons why I LOVE this Brain Butter:

Probably because of the high fat content in walnuts and pecans, it comes together ALOT quicker than almond butter and peanut butter. I think it took me less than 10 minutes to blend a batch of butter. So for tired epileptics, maximum fat for less effort, I think it’s a go-to nut butter!
1 Tablespoon of this would give you a significant amount (0.9g) of your heart healthy Omega 3’s.

Brain Butter Recipe!

INGREDIENTS

1 cup (approx. 100g) pecans
1 cup (approx. 80g) walnuts
2-3 Tbsp Fat of choice (I used 1 Tbsp Olive Oil / 1 Tbsp Coconut Oil /1 Tbsp Ghee)
1-2 Tsp Cinnamon
1/4 Tsp Himalayan Salt

Note: The ghee makes it smell/taste like burnt caramel a little bit, I would only suggest using homemade ghee otherwise use one / a combination of the other two oils, as store-bought ghee might be overpowering.

METHOD

1. Toast your pecans and walnuts in a pan over medium heat for a few minutes to release the oils.

2. Set aside to cool slightly, allow the nuts to come down to room temperature before putting them in the food processor.

3. Place your nuts in a food processor and blend until you get a grainy consistency.

4. Then gradually add your oils in turn every 1-2 minutes. Keep the the processor churning, but check periodically, stir (and push down the sides and scrape the bottom of the processor) and of course taste as you go along if you must and adjust 😊!

5. This is what the finished Brain Butter should look like !

MACROS per serving

This recipe creates approximately 10 Tablespoons of Brain Butter.

1 serving = 1 Tbsp

157.4 kcal
2.1g protein
1.1g net carbs
16.4g fat

Update: How do you eat it?

Like any other nut butter!

By the spoonful 🙂
On your (ahem low carb / keto) bread / toast / bagel / waffle / bun / pancake / donut / world!
On top of a keto granola.
In your smoothie.

Keto Mini Cinnamon Rolls & Chocolate Rolls (Gluten Free|Low Carb)

Keto & Epilepsy Update

I’ve been struggling to get my fats in again and I know my weight has changed since I started this way of eating, and I feel like I need to adjust my macros. But I’m not quite sure.

However I FINALLY GOT AN APPOINTMENT WITH A DIETITIAN ON THE NHS! Although the appointment is all the way in December, I’m over the moon and couldn’t be more excited because I thought it was never going to happen. I don’t think there are that many “ketogenic diet for adults with epilepsy” specialists around.

Anyway it has been over nine months since I found out about the the diet, and around six months of being on it. I can now say the following:

POSITIVES:

My seizures have reduced in severity. Since going keto I did have one grandmal however that was a day after changing my dose which was kind of expected.
Creative outlet: I enjoy cooking and experimenting with keto recipes, especially making more ‘mainstream’ food out of low-carb ingredients.
Be prepared: It’s hard out there and MOST foods have sugar and/or additives. So planning is crucial!
Learning: The Keto WOE isn’t the same for everyone. My dad is doing it for weightloss and his heart but he also doesn’t really care (yet) about inflammatory additives. Whereas I’m doing it for epilepsy and eczema and so additives are important to me.

NEGATIVES:

Please note that both of the negatives mentioned below are also side effects of Zonisamide (Zonegran), the anti-epileptic medication that I’m on.

Weight loss. Chubby 16 year-old me on Epilim would have loved to be able to lose the weight so quickly, but 32 year-old me isn’t quite so sure about the drastic weight loss.
Fluctuating energy levels. There are moments where I have sufficient energy and moments where I’m exhausted. I can’t drink caffeine so rely on MCT oil for quick bursts of energy.

FatHead Pastry: The Keto Holy Grail!

My foodprep this Sunday was mini Keto pastries made with a slightly sweetened fathead pastry.

I made bitesized Mini Cinnamon Rolls (0.9g carbs) and Chocolate Rolls / Chocolate Danish Pastries (1.5g carbs) today!

Whoever came up with the idea of the genius fathead dough. I. LOVE. YOU!!! Next time I visit my sister in Paris, I’m taking along a batch of these babies so I’m not tempted (again!)

Ingredients

FatHead Pastry:

200g (1.5 cups) shredded mozzarella
80g (0.75 cup) almond flour
2 tbsp cream cheese
1 egg at room temperature
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp Natvia

Cinnamon Filling:

2 tbsp Natvia (or other low-carb sweetener of choice)
2 tsp cinnamon
Hot water

Cream Cheese Frosting:

1 tbsp cream cheese
1 tbsp greek yoghurt
2 drops liquid stevia
Vanilla

Chocolate Filling:

Cocoa or Cacao powder
1 tsp cinnamon
Sugar-free maple syrup or sweetener of choice
Hot water

Chocolate Drizzle:

Dark Chocolate (I used 2 squares of Lindt 85% Chocolate)

Method

Fathead Pastry

Pre-heat your oven to 180 Celsius/360 Fahrenheit.
Measure out mozzarella and cream cheese, and melt in a non-stick pot over a low flame or in a microwave. It will take approximately 1.5 minutes. NOTE: Stir the mixture half way through!
Crack and stir in the egg into the mixture well.
Then measure and add the almond flour, baking powder, and sweetener of choice, and mix well into a smooth doughball.
Divide the dough into two batches / balls.

Cinnamon Rolls

Place one batch / ball on a parchment paper and place another parchment paper on top of it. Roll it out until it’s as thin as you can get it (but still workable) into a large rectangle.
Prepare the Cinnamon Filling: boiled water, sweetener and cinnamon.
Brush the Cinnamon Filling along the entire flat top of the pastry.
Roll the pastry into a log along the length.
With a sharp knife, cut the pastry into rolls (approximately 10-12 rolls).
Place on a non-stick dish and bake at 180C for 20 minutes (check at 15 minutes).
While the rolls are baking, mix the frosting: cream cheese, yogurt and sweetener,
Once the rolls have baked, drizzle or spread over your WARM CINNAMON ROLLS AND EAT!!!

Chocolate Rolls / Chocolate Danish

Place the second batch / ball on a parchment paper and place another parchment paper on top of it. Roll it out until it’s as thin as you can get it (but still workable) into a large rectangle.
Prepare the Chocolate Fillling: Boiled water, Cacao Powder, Cinnamon (optional), Sugar-Free Maple Syrup or other sweetener of choice.
Pour the chocolate filling on top of the pastry and spread over evenly. NOTE: Don’t go too close to the edges.
Roll the pastry into a log along the length.
With a sharp knife, cut the pasty into rolls, or slightly longer pastries.
Place on a non-stick dish and bake at 180C for 20 minutes (check at 15 minutes).
Whilst the Chocolate Pastries are baking, melt your required amount of Dark Chocolate to drizzle on top!
Once the pastries have baked, drizzle or spread over your WARM CHOCOLATE PASTRIES AND EAT!!!

Let’s just say I think I’ll his my fat macros today :-)! These are BY FAR MY FAVOURITE FAT BOMBS!

Macros

Mini Cinnamon Roll:

70 Kcal
3.5g Protein
1.9g Carbs
1g Fiber
0.9g Net Carbs
5.8g Fat
Calcium: 84.4 mg

Mini Chocolate Roll:

75.7 Kcal
3.7g Protein
2.4g Carbs
0.9g Fiber
1.5g Net Carbs
6.1g Fat
Calcium: 77.9 mg

Keto Croutons (Gluten Free|Dairy Free|Low Carb)

This was one of those spur of the moment things that I’m so pleased with, it’s DEFINITELY going to become a permanent part of my staples in my Keto pantry.

The reason these babies came about was because I was craving a Caesar salad. But you can’t have a Caesar salad without croutons right!!!

As I learnt, Keto Croutons couldn’t be simpler to make. If making microwave Keto Flax Bread was the easiest recipe in the world, this is just one step up.

They take less than 10 minutes to prepare, are quite moreish (I finished 3 portions of the 4 I made in one day). It also makes for a satisfying Keto snack-on-the-run. I’ve actually been munching on them with cheese (like flax crackers I suppose). They’re THAT good and guilt-free, and SUPER CRUNCHY 🙂 !

RECIPE

This recipe make approximately 4 servings.

Utensils & Ingredients

1 Microwavable Dish (I used a glass dish that was approximately 5×5 inch)
Butter (or oil) to grease
1 Medium Egg
4 Tbsp Flax Meal (You could also probably make it from Almond Meal)
1/4 Tsp Baking Powder
1/4 Tsp Salt of choice
OPTIONAL Spices / Seasonings of choice: E.g. Pepper, Chilli, Garlic, Onion, Cayenne, Paprika, Turmeric etc.

Method

Grease your dish with the butter or oil.
Crack and beat the egg in the dish.
Add the flax, baking powder, salt, and optional spices and seasonings of choice.
Stir the mixture well until everything is well incorporated.
Microwave for 2 minutes.

(Click here for step-by-step images of how to make microwave keto bread)

Remove the bread from the microwave and slice it into two slices, then cut into crouton sized cubes.

Place the bread cubes on a plate and microwave in 1 minute bursts until hard. (Mine took 2 minutes in total).
Cool, sprinkle on your salad, or eat as it is with a dip or cheese!

Macros

Per serving:

47.2 Kcal
2.9 Protein
2.7g Carbs
2g Fiber
0.7g Net Carbs
2.9g Fat

Death by Keto Chocolate Cake (Gluten Free|Low Carb)

I had a very shit end to last week. Anti-epileptic medication changes led to a seizure on Sunday. Epileptics know how the story goes, and now I’m just just waiting for my body (or brain) to adapt to the changes. (I might do a separate post on that later.)

Anyway, I fasted that day out of sheer exhaustion and because the medicine (Zonegran) causes me to lose my appetite. However, after a few days of resting up, I finally got my ass into gear again.

As a result I needed some major comfort food that was Keto friendly. THIS my friends is how I made damn sure that the rest of the week stayed AMAZING!

KETO CHOCOLATE CAKE!!! With EXTRA chocolate!

I’ve made a few keto chocolate cakes in the past, but I think this one hits the spot. Especially if you’ve been keto for a while and your sweet tooth isn’t what it used to be.

This is the most indulgent, because I’ve used almost twice the amount of dark chocolate of other similar recipes. Initially I set out to make a “flourless” cake, but I decided to add almond flour in the end, so although it isn’t exactly flourless. It’s still very much gluten-free.

Now, before I get the Keto police on me for this post – yes IF you eat the whole cake you’ll probably be thrown out of ketosis. BUT if you use good quality DARK chocolate (Over 75%), then a slice a day won’t hurt if you’re fat adapted and watching your macros.

And dark chocolate is high in potassium, something that a lot of us on this lifestyle struggle with! So why not treat yourself once in a while!

Ingredients

10 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature*
300g dark chocolate (75% and above. I used 3x100g bars of 90% Lindt Dark Chocolate for convenience but recommend 100% cocoa to reduce sugar and carbs.)
5 medium eggs (or 4 large): yolks separated from whites
1/3 cup almond flour (or other flour of choice OR cocoa)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
Sweetener: 3 tablespoons of a powdered sweetener of choice (I used Natvia which is a blend of Erythritol and Stevia)
Optional: 2-3 drops of Liquid sweetener for additional sweetness if required
Optional: 1 teaspoon sugar-free vanilla extract or essence
Optional: 1/4 teaspoon coffee

NOTES:
*Apologies my weighing scale wasn’t behaving so I will update butter measurements in grams the next time I make this!

Method

Pre-heat & prep:
– Pre-heat your oven to 175C and prepare your cake tin of choice (grease and sprinkle some cocoa powder, or line the tin with a grease-proof baking sheet. I used a round 9 inch tin).
– Measure out 300g of DARK chocolate**

– Measure out 10 tablespoons of butter

– Separate the egg yolks from the egg whites into two bowls, ensuring the whites are in a large clean cold bowl for whipping.

Melt the chocolate & Butter until silky smooth:

– Option 1: Double Boil the chopped up chocolate and butter on the stove. (Here’s a how-to melt chocolate using a double boiler).
– Option 2: Melt the chopped up chocolate and butter in 30 second bursts in the microwave. Stirring the mixture in between until the chocolate has completely melted.
Useful Tip: Make sure your utensils are completely dry when melting chocolate to prevent the chocolate from seizing up.
Beat the egg whites:

In a cold clean bowl, beat the separated egg whites on a medium speed until they start to get foamy, then add the cream of tartar and increase the speed until they start to form stiff peaks.

Add sweetener:
Add your sweetener of choice to taste and keep beating the egg whites until the stiff peaks are able to stand by themselves. They shouldn’t move even if the bowl is turned upside down.
Add egg yolks, 1/3 cup almond flour, vanilla essence and salt to chocolate:

Once the chocolate has cooled down, whisk the egg yolks into the chocolate along with the salt. Mix in the almond flour (or other flour or additional cocoa well).
Optional: Add 1/2 tsp espresso powder into the mixture.
Fold the whipped egg whites into the chocolate:

– Whisk 1/4 of the whipped egg whites into the chocolate mixture.
– Carefully fold the remaining 3/4 whipped egg whites into the chocolate with a spatula.
Useful Tip: A silicone spatula is easiest for folding egg whites.
Taste and add more sweetener if required:
I added additional stevia drops into mine.

Bake:

Keto Chocolate Cake batter pre-baking

Pour the batter into your prepared cake tin and bake for 30-35 minutes. It will only rise very slightly, and might form a thin crust.

EAT!

This cake is great warm or cold but I it gets quite hard once it has been in the fridge. Personally, my favourite way to eat it is a slice straight out of the oven, or after ten seconds in the microwave with some berries and cream.

Macros

(Based on Lindt 90% Dark Chocolate)

1 cake = 12 servings

1 serving:

Energy 280.3 kcal
Protein: 5.5g
Net Carbs: 6.3g**
Fat: 26.8g

**If you would like to reduce the carb count even further, you could:

Reduce the amount of chocolate used to 200g, but I wouldn’t go lower than that as it would seriously compromise the chocolateyness and it taste too ‘eggy’.
Use a chocolate with a lower carb count e.g. 100% cocoa (I recommend Montezuma’s Black 100% Cocoa which I used for these chocolate covered nuts), and increasing the amount of sweetener used.

‘Cheese’ & Onion Bittergourd and Kale Crisps (Gluten-Free|Vegan|Low-Carb)

I love kale but bittergourd / bittermelon / bittersquash / Balsam-pear / Karela / Goya – call it what you will, my reaction to it would have been the same until very recently. EURGH!!! It’s just so erm, intensely bitter? HOW could anyone with normal tastebuds enjoy it?

This is a recipe to start initiating yourself into the world of bittergourd! It’s actually yummy and moreish.

I don’t know how else to start this post but to say that until I started preparing bittergourd this way, it has been nearly (but not quite at) the top of my hate list of vegetables (or is it a fruit?) . Either way it’s something that until very recently my tastebuds detested.

Being Bengali this is shameful as it’s a staple vegetable in many dishes including my boyfriends beloved “Shukto” or Bengali style mixed vegetable. Bengali’s love exciting the tastebuds, and this mighty vegetable definitely does. I unfortunately cannot make a “Shukto” yet (but I shall soon!).

Amongst other nutritious elements, bittergourd is a high potassium vegetable, which is something that on the keto diet, I’ve been struggling with and have been searching for ways to incorporate it into my every day diet. If it wasn’t already obvious enough, I’m a bittergourd hater, but this simple recipe my friends, I simply cannot get enough of!

Although it’s commonly seen in Asian households, it’s highly underrated in the western world but it’s increasingly available in supermarkets (and readily available in the Asian / Indian markets).

Bittergourd: Reasons why I can’t get enough of it now

I’m older and wiser! I know that it’s good for me. Like kale, bittergourd is a nutritious powerhouse.
The green colour! And how it changes into a brighter green when you season raw bittergourd with salt. It’s magic :-).
It looks weird and dangerous, like a massive green club.
It can be delicious and moorish, when done right (like this recipe)!
These crisps keep well for a few days in the refrigerator.

Ingredients

I’m not listing any quantities for the dressing below because I believe it’s entirely up to your tastebuds and personal preferences as to how flavoursome you’d like your crisps to be! Quantities for the vegetables are also up to you, the 1-2 cups are just a guideline.

1-2 cups sliced bittergourd: Washed, dried and sliced thin.
1-2 cups Kale: Washed, dried and torn into larger than bite-sized pieces (they will shrink when baked).
Olive oil (or any other oil of choice). I personally like to use a garlic olive oil.
Nutritional Yeast (This is where the ‘cheese-ey’ flavour comes from. There isn’t any actual cheese in this recipe.)
Onion Powder.
Himalayan Salt / Sea Salt.
Cayenne Pepper.
Turmeric: Optional

Method

Bittergourd chips:

Heat the oil in a suitable pan. You will you need enough oil to fry the bittergourd until they’re crispy.
Slice the bittergourd into thin round slices and wash thoroughly.
Sprinkle salt onto the bittergourd and massage into it well. Leave for 10 minutes.
Shallow fry the bittergourd in the oil until they’re darker and crispy but watch closely to make sure they don’t burn. The seeds should be crispy. (You could also try baking them, but we haven’t attempted this before).
Once fried, dress the bittergourd with nutritional yeast, onion powder, himalayan salt and cayenne pepper according to your macros and taste.Tip: The bittergourd crisps keeps well in the fridge for a few days so you can make a large batch of this and snack on it (if it lasts)! It’s good cold, room temperature, or can be reheated in the oven or dry-toasted in a pan on the stove top.

Kale chips:

Wash and dry the kale well.
Pre-heat an oven to 150-160C (it depends on your oven but I find that a lower temperature works better).
Massage the kale with olive oil, nutritional yeast, onion powder, salt and cayenne pepper according to your macros and taste. Set aside for 5 minutes.
Bake your kale chips in the oven for about 12-15 mins, and then give them a toss, then bake them again for another 10-12 mins (or until crispy but not burnt).

I don’t think kale crisps keep as well as bittergourd crisps, so eat the same day if possible.

Eat separately or mix BOTH the bittergourd and kale crisps up for the best of both worlds and enjoy getting your greens and nutrition in!

Tahini Buns (Gluten-Free|Vegan|Low-Carb)

This is a beautiful recipe for Gluten Free Vegan Keto Bagels by The Herbivore Post, adapted to make buns and with added spices.

I cannot tell you how amazing these little buns are! In fact, the day I tested them out, an aunt and uncle popped by unannounced, and they were astounded at the ingredients, and at how it smelled and looked like actual bread! They’re not Keto but they tried it and quite liked it as well – Score!

The original recipe for bagels can be found on The Herbivore Post website, however I tweaked it to make buns and added paprika, cayenne pepper and Himalayan salt to the mixture as well. And a few pumpkin and sunflower seeds on top.

This is going to become a staple I feel!

Ingredients

For the Tahini

3/4-1 cup sesame seeds
Optional: 1-3 tbsp olive oil (or any neutral oil)

For the buns

Dry Ingredients:

3 tbsp flax meal
1/4 cup psyllium husk powder
1/4 cup almond flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
Spices to taste: I used Paprika and Cayenne Pepper (approximately 1tsp each)
Optional: Seeds e.g. pumpkin, sunflower, sesame, chia.

Wet ingredients:

1/2 cup Tahini
1 cup water

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 190C (375F) and prepare a baking tray with greaseproof paper. I added some extra coconut butter to the paper.

2. Measure out 3/4-1 cup Sesame Seeds for your Tahini (ignore the measurement in the picture!!!). This will give you more than the required 1/2 cup of Tahini required for the recipe, and you can have some extra to create delicious keto salad dressings!

3. Dry toast the sesame seeds in a pan to release the oils. Keep stirring as they burn easily, once they get a bit of colour and you get a toasty smell, take them off the heat and cool.

4. Blend the cooled sesame seeds in a grinder or food processor. Once it gets towards the end, add the oil (1-3 tbsp) to get the smooth consistency if required.

5. Take 1/2 cup of the Tahini and add 1 cup of water: Mix well. (If there’s oil in Tahini it might separate and that’s fine).

6. Take a large bowl and add the dry ingredients: Flax, almond meal, psyllium husk powder, baking powder, and salt.

7. Mix the wet ingredients (Tahini and water mixture) to the dry ingredients in step 6.

8. Add any spices if you like. As mentioned I added paprika and cayenne pepper. And mix well.

9. The dough will quickly come together and you will get a dough ball that looks like this:

10. Cut the dought into 4 pieces.

11. Roll the dough between your hands into bun shaped balls and decorate the top if you like with seeds of choice. I used pumpkin and sunflower seeds.

12. Bake for 45 minutes at 190C (375F) and wash up while you wait! You will get these at the end!

13. This is what the insides look like.

14. And this is how I ate mine!!!

Macros

(The macros I calculated per serving are slightly different to that in herbivorepost but they’re great)!

Energy: 254.7 kcal
Net Carbs: 3.2g
Fat: 23.7g
Protein: 5.4g
Magnesium: 96mg
Zinc: 2.1mg
Calcium: 123mg

Crumbly Coconut Granola (Low Carb | Keto | Gluten Free)

Mornings are not an epileptic’s friend!

It’s when many of us are vulnerable to seizures. Mine normally occur when I’m incredibly tired and sleepy, so first thing in the morning is primetime for the seizure gremlins to attack.

It’s therefore vital that my mornings are peaceful and stress-free. Most people don’t like being disturbed in the AM, but I should probably come with a DND warning sign before 8 am and a matcha latte.

I’ve really missed grabbing a quick cereal, yogurt and fruit-to-go

It does seem like Keto breakfasts are ‘mostly’ soft and/or warm and generally take a lot of time and effort to prepare. There seems to be a lot of ‘cooking’ involved to get those macros in. Precious time which most people don’t have.

This Low-Carb Crumbly Coconut Granola recipe came about on my quest for a cold, crunchy ‘Keto Cereal’! I just couldn’t deal with the cravings anymore, and there was nothing in the shops that catered to my needs.

Granola in the shops tend to have sugar or honey, or gluten. This is a homemade solution to my dilemma, bearing in mind that I also needed a high fat intake in addition to low-carb – hence the coconut oil.

Granted, it kind of looks like sand, but it TASTES like a Keto breakfast from heaven! Especially if you’ve been eating bacon and eggs everyday!

A great meal-prep recipe for the working week

It might take some time the first time round, but once you get the hang of making granola, and if you have the ingredients lying around, it shouldn’t take too long the next few times.

The best thing about making any type of granola is you could make a large batch and keep it in an air-tight container for a few weeks (if it lasts that long! I’d give it a few days).

Other benefits of this Granola

The texture of this granola also means that it’s great as a crumbly topping on other desserts (I had it on top of my panna cotta yesterday!).
An average portion (5 tbsp) has just 3.1g net carbs and 27.5g fat.
An average serving also has 114.3 mg Magnesium and 299.7 mg Potassium – two minerals that Keto-ers often find challenging incorporating into our lifestyle.

So without further ado, here we go:

Ingredients

Makes 45 tablespoons (average serving = 5 tablespoon)

You will need:

Flax Meal: 1 cup
Coconut Flour: 0.5 cup
Almond Flour: 0.5 cup
Coconut Oil: 0.5 cup
Vanilla stevia liquid: 3-5 drops (OR other sweetener of choice and vanilla essence or vanilla bean powder).
Pumpkin seeds: 0.25 cup
Sunflower seeds: 0.25 cup
Dried coconut flakes/chips: 0.25 cup
Walnuts: 8
Cinnamon powder: 0.5 tsp (optional)

Method:

Preheat the oven to 160C (320F) and prepare a baking tray by lining it with parchment paper for your granola.
In a large mixing bowl, add the flax meal, coconut flour and almond flour.

3. Measure out 0.5 cup of Coconut oil.

4. Melt the coconut oil in the microwave or over a low heat.

5. Add the melted coconut oil into the flax-coconut-almond mixture.

6. Add Vanilla stevia drops to taste (approximately 3-5 drops). Alternatively, add vanilla essence or powder and sweetener or choice.

7. Stir the mixture well until it starts the come to together – it should start to look like slightly damp sand.

8. Measure out nuts and seeds of choice. I used pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, chopped walnuts and dried coconut.

9 (optional). Add cinnamon.

10. Mix the nuts, seeds and cinnamon into the granola mixture well.

11. Grab the baking tray you prepared in the beginning. Add a tiny bit of coconut oil to it (you can never be too careful!) and pour the granola mixture onto the parchment paper, spreading it out and flattening it down.

12. Bake in the oven at 160C (320F) for 15-20 minutes, or until the mixture has toasted and is golden-brown in colour. Take it out of the oven every 5-10 minutes to give it a good stir. (Note: You could increase the temperature up to 176C / 350F but keep a close eye on the granola mixture as it is finer than usual, so I like to keep the temperature lower and just increase it at the end for a final toast!).

13. Remove from the oven, cool and store in an air-tight container!

Granola. Yogurt. Berries – Enough said!

Macros:

1 serving = 1 tablespoon

Energy: 61.03 kcal
Protein: 1.34 g
Total Carbs: 2.1g
Fiber: 1.48g
Net Carbs: 0.62 g
Fat: 5.5 g
Magnesium: 22.86mg
Potassium: 59.94mg
Selenium: 1.81ug
Zinc: 0.32mg

An average portion = 5 tablespoon

Energy: 305.15 kcal
Protein: 6.7g
Total Carbs: 10.5g
Fiber: 7.4g
Net Carbs: 3.1 g
Fat: 27.5 g
Magnesium: 114.3 mg
Potassium: 299.7mg
Selenium: 9.05ug

Zinc: 1.6mg

MatchaMonday – Keto Bullet Matcha Milk / Latte!

This recipe came about as I was looking for an alternative to the Bulletproof Coffee and my version of the Bulletproof Chai Latte. I’m sensitive to caffeine and should avoid (high doses of) it, but I needed something which had a bit more of a kick to start the day, without the jitteriness from coffee.

Tea, caffeine & epilepsy

Before I start, note that caffeine and epilepsy aren’t exactly the best of friends, and all teas do contain some amount of caffeine so epileptics do need to drink it with caution.

However, tea is my weakness and I’m from a part of India where we love our tea but I try and limit myself to 1-2 cups a day.

Depending on the serving, a serving of Matcha contains approximately 35mg caffeine. This normally isn’t enough to make you feel “wired” like coffee does. Bearing in mind that an average cup of filter coffee has 145mg of caffeine, and a cup of instant coffee can have up to 170mg per cup.

The caffeine in Matcha is also absorbed differently due to ‘catechins’ which are antioxidants and known to have many beneficial health properties. Caffeine molecules in Matcha bind to catechins and are absorbed slowly over time. Whereas caffeine molecules in coffee go straight to the bloodstream leading to a high followed by a crash within a few hours. With Matcha however, the caffeine is absorbed over the course of up to six hours.

This is a literature review of the beneficial effects of green tea – many of which are related to catechins, particularly epigallocatechin-3-gallat content. Recently it has been suggested that Matcha has greater benefits than other green teas as indicated in this study. This is due to the concentration of epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) available from drinking matcha which is seen to be 137 times greater than the amount of EGCG available from China Green Tips green tea, and at least 3 times higher than the largest literature value for other green teas.

So overall, I think the nutritional health benefits are worth it!