Good morning and HAPPY SUNDAY to you all! I could talk more about myself and my keto weight loss progress and why I went vegetarian and then subsequently vegan (blah blah blah), but I think you heard enough about me in my first entry, so I am going to shelve the personal talk (for now) and discuss about what you all REALLY came here to read about... VEGAN KETO! Today's topic is VEGAN FATS. My biggest fear in starting keto was dying of a heart attack instantaneously (okay that might be a slight exaggeration of the fear, but it was my fear nonetheless). As somebody who has watched my fat intake for the last decade or so, increasing fat was absolutely TERRIFYING to me. I'd been actively avoiding it, and now I find I have to actually be SEEKING it out? The thought literally gave me shivers. BUT you can't do keto without FAT, so I knew I had to face my fears head on and find me some FATS. And, of course, I wanted these fats to be from foods that were also low in carbs! (Once I go above the 20g net carbs per day, I might have more vegan fat suggestions for you, but these are all going to be close to 0g net carb fat sources for today!) So, the moment you've all been eagerly awaiting (for the last 30 seconds or so that it took you to read today's introduction...) my favorite TOP 5 VEGAN KETO FAT SOURCES 1. Coconut Oil 2. Avocado 3. Savi Seeds 4. Veganaise 5. Olive Oil Read on for more information about each, including nutritional facts and how I use them! Vegan Fat #1- Coconut OilSince I'm currently drinking my lazy-woman's variation of bulletproof coffee, I will start with COCONUT OIL! I exclusively drink coconut oil in my coffee, though the package lists several other usages for it (including slathering it on your hair and skin!! But I don't think that will help you lose any weight...) And, if you've never heard of bulletproof coffee... well I might have to make a separate entry just for that! But to shorten it down to the simplest of terms... If you add fat to your coffee before you have any food you will have a quick, easy, source of fat to burn (aka energy) that will not make you crash like other stimulants (though you are adding it to caffeine most of the time, so do with that information as you will). Traditionally, it's with butter and MCT oil, but I just use Coconut Oil myself. You can do vegan butter (see #5 below) and MCT oil, or just coconut oil, or whatever you want, really. I'm not your parent. Be VERY CAREFUL if it is your first time with bulletproof coffee or coconut oil, however... my first time (I feel like I'm discussing drugs here...) I added TWO tablespoons of the oil, not really knowing what I was doing, and I legitimately thought I was going to have to call out sick to work because, as I described to a co-worker via text mid "episode": I thought my soul was flying away from my body. Seriously. So I reduced it down and GRADUALLY worked my way up... Side note... this concoction also typically makes you poop before your cup is even done, so until your body is used to it, I wouldn't recommend making it "on the go" in your commuter cup..... If you know what I mean... Anyway, I have 2 different coconut oil favorites, depending if I'm making hot or iced coffee. The first is the Spectrum Organic Virgin Coconut Oil TRAVEL PACKS. To me, the travel packs part is important, because it's already rationed off into a serving size, PLUS I can warm it in my hand a lot faster than if I was trying to get it out of a bigger container (sorry this produces more waste...). BUT I can also throw a few of these in my lunch box for rushed mornings when I don't make coffee at home and add it to Starbucks or office coffee in a pinch. (Then as an ADDED BONUS you get to have fun conversations with your coworkers about why you're dumping straight fat into your coffee in the mornings, haha). This coconut oil is pretty much all fat, fat and nothing but FAT! 14g fat; 120 calories (though I've learned calories are slightly less important than macros... Or super less important, depending who you ask). I use this in my HOT coffee, because it needs to melt. DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT try to use this type of coconut oil in your ICED coffee. Want to know why? It needs to be hot to remain liquid. It will turn chunky and cling to your straw in iced coffee until you get to the bottom of the cup and then you're left with solidified coconut oil you then have to eat like caramel if you want the benefits. Accidentally did it once at a conference and will never make that mistake again! Bleh! BUT if you are an iced coffee fan, like me, you might want a different way to add coconut oil into your coffee without having to eat it at the end (gag). So, I present to you LIQUID coconut oil! The jury is still out if this is the EXACT SAME as regular coconut oil, but for my purposes both seem to be working fine (though maybe I'll do a little research to compare the two and let you know later...) Sorry there is no image for this one; I am still learning how to use this website, but I am coming to the conclusion that there can only be one picture per text section.... wait let me try an experiment here... Coconut Oil Part 2- Liquid coconut oiLNow if my hypothesis is correct, I SHOULD be able to add an image to THIS text box...... Anddd voila! Another image! Look I'm learning along with all of you all this morning :) Coconut Oil #2: Nature's Way LIQUID Coconut Premium Oil. I like this coconut oil because it does NOT turn chunky (solidified) when you add it to a COLD drink, so if you aren't a hot drink fan this might be a better route for you. Plus, I've found it has less of a coconut flavor as the straight coconut oil, so if you aren't a fan of coconut taste, you might prefer this, instead. Just about the same macros as the other: 14g fat; 130 calories. Like I said before, though, the jury is still out if this is as good as "original" coconut oil, so you might want to do some of your own research if a slight difference in MCT % makes a huge difference to you. I'll look into it, but I can't promise how fast I'll get results back to you. Google is pretty fast, though ;) For my purposes, it works pretty well for me! Both of these do. High fat to start my day (ENERGY!) and no carbs. Win-win! And I've found the mornings I DON'T have my coconut oil coffee I get hungry much faster than when I fat load to start the day. So, don't be afraid of bulletproof coffee (minus the whole poop instantly/soul flying out of your body thing... that'll pass, I promise...)! Vegan Fat #2- AVOCADO!I love avocados. I've always loved avocados. But poor avocados have gotten a bad reputation because they are so fatty (avocados have feelings, too, you guys!). Wayyyyyyy back before Keto I was doing a meal plan with my personal trainer (FYI if you're keeping track, that was my "old" trainer, who has since moved on to law enforcement; my "new" trainer [who was actually my ORIGINAL trainer, BEFORE my "old" trainer- are you getting all of this?] is a bit more open to Keto.) who RECOILED when I told her I ate 1/2 of an avocado a day. AGHAST, she told me that was WAY TOO MUCH FAT to be eating in a day from one food source and that I needed to cut down to NO MORE THAN 1/4 of an avocado per day if I didn't want to gain weight. Well IN YOUR FACE old trainer, I eat A WHOLE avocado EVERY SINGLE DAY now and I'm 15% body fat so PPPPFFFFFFFTTTTTT. Sorry, old grudge coming though...So... ahem... moving on... With that being said, let's look at Macros: One WHOLE avocado (though we all know how much size of an avocado can vary...) in its 325 calories has a wonderful whopping 29g of fat, with 20 of those being monounsaturated! CHA-CHING! The WHOLE thing only has 4g of carbs when you take the THIRTEEN GRAMS OF FIBER into consideration. And 4 grams of protein to top it off! Even though avocados can get EXPENSIVE at times, I definitely eat a whole one every day. I usually eat half at lunch and half at dinner, just to keep my fats flowing throughout the day. Avocados are so versatile, I usually put it on the top of whatever I'm eating and it's always delicious (BLT wraps, miracle "rice" sushi bowls, "egg" tofu salad...). So don't be afraid of avocados either! Especially if you need 100g of fat a day, like me, here's 30 of it for you! Add that to the 15 or so you just got from your morning coffee, and you're halfway there! (remember to customize your macros with the keto calculator, though!) Vegan Fat #3- Savi SeedsI know I said I loved coconut oil and I loved avocados, but I. LOVE. SAVI. SEEDS! I found these on a blog looking for snacks to take to my Vegas conference (I'm sorry, I WISH I could find the blog for you again... I'm going to keep looking! In the meantime, here's another blog about them) Some reviews on Amazon for Vega Savi Seeds claim they have an overwhelming fishy/rancid taste, but I never found that to be true... To me, these are like a peanut, a cornnut and some seaweed had a baby. That's the best way I can describe it to you. BUT the most amazing thing about Savi Seeds is.... not only are they full of fat and protein..... They are 0g net carbs! They're like being able to eat all the nuts you want without worrying about going over carbs (but, of course, you can't eat anything all you can eat because of macros, so they are more like all you can eat within reason because you're on a diet still and that means you can have all-you-can-eat NOTHING. Get a hold of yourself!) These bad boys are 13g fat with 9g protein per serving (and 0g net carbs after 5g fiber is subtracted). BE WEARY OF THE FLAVORED VARIETIES!! Flavored anything sends the macros skyrocketing, I've found! But the plain version of these always hit the spot for me so I don't miss flavoring. Now, if you look on the Vega website, they say these are discontinued, but Amazon must have a huge stockpile somewhere because I haven't seen the "Only ____ left in stock! Order soon!" warning yet. Luckily Vega isn't the only company to sell these (but the only one I've tried!) so even if Amazon runs out, I don't think the plant is extinct ;) But, I am second guessing sharing this with you all now in case they ARE running low at Amazon I don't want you all to go and buy them all... haha just kidding (not really). Vegan Fat #4- VeganaiseIf I was trapped on a deserted island and I could only bring one food with me to eat for the rest of my life, Veganaise would be it. I have a disgusting love affair for veganaise. I used to put it on my toast, in my tacos, straight from the jar with a spoon... When I was on other (unsuccessful and miserable) diets, veganaise was a big giant NO-NO because it's pretty much just all fat. BUT LUCKY FOR ME ON VEGAN KETO, FAT IS A YES-YES! I eat the soy-free version of veganaise, just because a majority of my protein is soy based, I figured there was no need to add more soy, even if I don't necessarily believe the hype that soy is all bad.... But the SOY-FREE version of veganaise is (in one 80 calorie tablespoon): 9g fat (7g monounsaturated and 1g polyunsaturated), and 0g carbs, yay! I THINK from what I remember the reduced fat version HAS carbs, but if you're using this for a keto fat source I don't particularly think you would be buying the reduced fat version anyway.... (side note: in Googling Veganaise, I learned it's actually spelled Vegenaise, but that makes no sense to me because it's VEGAN mayonnaise... vegan+mayonnaise in no way= VegENaise... Whatever. I prefer Veganaise but for the sake of accuracy, I will from here forward use vegenaise.) Andddd that's actually all I have to say about vegenaise other than PUT IT ON EVERYTHING BECAUSE IT IS DELICIOUS AND 0 CARB AND NICE AND FATTY AND I WOULD BATHE IN IT IF I COULD. Vegan Fat #5- Olive OilWhew! You're still with me! Thanks for sticking with this post! I will make this last one short and sweet because WHO DOESN'T KNOW AND LOVE OLIVE OIL?! I have TONS of different flavors of olive oil, but the good old regular olive oil does the trick in a pinch! I just prefer the different offering from The Olive Oil Pantry to add different flavors to different foods (my favorites: Garlic Cilantro and Lemon Pepper! YUM!) Like coconut oil, olive oil is ALL FAT- 14 beautiful grams of it (with 10 monounsaturated!) and 0 carbs. Whether I'm frying my bacon or tofu with it, or drizzling it on my salads, Olive Oil is an every-day must have for me (just like coconut oil, veganaise and avocados!). Side note: Olives themselves are also a pretty good source of fat, but since I've found the nutritional facts vary per olive type, brand, stuffing, etc. I didn't want to falsely mislead you. But check out the labels of some to find ones that work for you if you're an olive fan! I was originally going to include vegan butter here, too, but since there are so many different kinds, I decided to save that for a later post. So keep an eye out if you're a butter fiend like me! :) Thanks for REading!Thanks for sticking it out to the very end! For your efforts, I'll sneak in one more trick that has made my vegan keto life infinitely easier... THE LOSE IT APP! I know there's a lot of fans of other apps, but having looked at a number of them, I am a Lose it fan through and through! I think that might be because it's more aesthetically pleasing (prettier), but I find it keeps me on track, especially when I can just scan in my foods! I promise I am in NO WAY affiliated with Lose It (in fact, I don't even subscribe to their premium version haha) I just really love the app! Don't forget if you're doing net carbs to subtract out the fiber carbs from your total carbs, since Lose It will add them all together! Well that's all I have for today, folks! Please leave me comments and let me know if this information is useful and what else you'd like to see in future posts! Thanks for stopping by! :) -Vegan Keto Madi
1 Comment
Janet
3/6/2019 08:19:10 am
I’m finding this very interesting and informative. I’m vegetarian, but I have egg and milk intolerances, so I look for vegan recipes most of the time. The only reason I don’t try a vegan diet is that I’m allergic to vegenaise and most cheese substitutes. I look forward to learning more oftenas I read your blog.
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About MeI have been carb-loving vegan for over a decade, but carbs stopped loving me as I approached 30... Archives |