The Keto Diet: Nobody should have to pay this much attention to food.
That should be the official tagline for Keto!
I’ve done multiple rounds of Whole30, no problem. I’ve done Paleo with my kids and husband for 30 days, no problem. I’ve quit sugar, wheat, you name it on a whim for x days (or months!) cold turkey, no problem. I quit Keto after 6 days. That’s how much of a pain in the neck Keto is. Literally: I currently have a pain in my neck that I blame Keto for.
I’ll complain about the Keto diet and my Keto results in Part 2 this post, but first here’s a Keto tip I wish I had learned before I started, because it probably would have made all the difference in my experience:
If you’re a woman doing Keto,
Eat All The Avocados!
Here are the macros for avocados based on 1 cup of cubed avocado (that is much easier to quantify than “medium avocado”!):
1 Cup Avocado (cut into cubes):
- Calories: 240
- Fat: 22 g
- Carbs: 13 g
- Fiber: 10 g
- Net Carbs (Carbs minus Fiber): 3 g!
- Protein: 3 g
Fat calories (x9): 198, Net carbs calories (x4): 12, Protein calories (x4): 12
That totals up to 222 calories, not the 240 calories I started with, but it’s the Net Carbs thing. I guess fiber cancels carbs, but I don’t understand how that cancels calories. I also don’t know if percentage for each macro should be based on real calories or “as net carbs” calories, so I’ll do both, even though they’re basically the same:
Avocado macros at 240 calories:
- Fat: 82.5%
- Net carbs: 5%
- Protein: 5%
Avocado macros at 222 calories (accounting for net carbs):
- Fat: 89%
- Net carbs: 5%
- Protein: 5%
Avocado has tons of healthy fat and 5% net carbs so it’s the best food for the Keto diet!
Read on for a simple weekly Keto Shopping List and finally, why I quit Keto after just 6 days:
Easy Keto Menu in a Nutshell:
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Eat at least 3 cups of avocado a day.
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Add a little grass fed and/or pastured meat for protein.
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Juice a lime or lemon to mix with the avocado for a few more carbs.
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Eat a few cups of some assortment of broccoli, spinach, kale (yuck), collard greens (yum), and cabbage.
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Add olive oil, ghee, or butter to any item if you need a little more fat.
Here’s a simple weekly Keto Shopping List with endless possibilities!
Per person:
- 2–3 pounds of grass fed beef or pastured pork or 1 whole organic/pastured/magical chicken (going for 4–6 oz per day for protein).
- 35 avocados (going for about 5 medium avocados per day to make 3 cups avocado).
- 7 limes or lemons.
- 7 pounds/bunches assorted:
- broccoli
- spinach
- collard greens
- cabbage
- Tasty fat of some sort: butter/olive oil/ghee/bacon grease or lard from a happy, healthy pig.
- Himalayan pink salt (very cheap in the bulk section at Winco!) and pepper, plus any herbs and spices you like.
Now, I live in Phoenix, and avocados are regularly on sale here for $0.25 to $0.50 each. Even at the expensive grocery store, small-to-medium avocados are usually $0.79 each. If you live in a state like Pennsylvania, where my sister has to pay $2 each for avocados, you can do a few things to save money on your grocery budget when you want to buy avocados.
Grocery Budget Tips: How To Save Money on Avocados!
- Look for packaged avocado at Costco, or buckets of deli guacamole, Wholly Guacamole, etc. at the grocery store. They won’t taste exactly like fresh avocado, but they don’t usually have many added ingredients. A great benefit to buying packaged avocado is that all of your guac is good—there’s no risk of having to throw out any avocados that are grey inside!
- Since you’re buying so many avocados, ask your produce manager for two things:
- Cut open one or two avocados so you know it’s a good batch.
- A bulk discount—I’d ask for 50% off if buying 30 or more avocados.
- Count up your recent purchases of “healthy” junk foods like Paleo/Keto/gluten free snacks, Starbucks, or jerky. If you’ve been on the Standard American Diet, count up what you paid last week for fast food, chips, cookies, crackers, mac n cheese…. Since you’re not buying junk food anymore, you have more room in your budget for avocados!
- Try these Upgrade to Organic tricks and make your own foods that you normally buy pre-packaged or pre-cut:
- Eat fewer avocados and more broccoli with some tasty fat mixed in. Broccoli is cheap everywhere.
- Make my Amazing Avocado Sauce to stretch your avocados! One cup of tomatillos has 5 net carbs. Of course, if you live in a state where avocados cost a lot, you’ll probably pay more for tomatillos too! If you can’t find fresh tomatillos, look for Herdez Salsa Verde (green salsa in a jar). It has 8 net carbs per cup. You can sub green salsa for the tomatillos in the recipe, but green salsa has onions, so the flavor will be different from the original recipe.
If you’re starting Keto, stick to this plan—I wish I had, and if I try Keto again I definitely will! Next post: Why I Quit Keto Part 2
