Fat Fast Cookbook: 50 Easy Recipes to Jump Start Your Low Carb Weight Loss (6 page)

When discussing the makeup of a very high-fat diet, it’s important to remind people that one gram of dietary fat has nine calories, while carbohydrate and protein each have only four calories per gram. This means you need less than half the volume of fat to get the same calories you would receive from carbohydrate and protein. So it’s really not as much fat as you would think. To help you figure out what to add into your diet to dramatically increase the amount of fat you are consuming, I’ve compiled a list of 12 high-fat foods that are perfect for your nutritional ketosis plan. If you eat these deliciously healthful, fatty (but not fattening) foods while reducing carbohydrate and protein, you can expect to experience the tremendous benefits that come from being in nutritionthe0al ketosis.

1.
   
Avocados
I remember the first time I tried an avocado—people had told me about how incredible they were. It was so hard I could barely get it open without slicing my thumb off. I didn’t know you have to let this fruit ripen until the
alligator
skin gives way to light pressure. Once I had my first taste of a fully-ripened Haas avocado, it was love at first bite! An avocado is cooling when you’re eating spicy foods, and offers a smooth texture change. I eat a whole avocado almost everyday with my eggs and wouldn’t imagine doing nutritional ketosis without it!

2.
   
Butter
This one should be a
well, duh
, as butter is a staple of any good low-carb lifestyle. But when you are attempting to achieve nutritional ketosis, it’s even more important that you deliberately add butter to foods, for both flavor and fat content. My favorite brand of butter is grass-fed, unsalted, Kerrygold (in the silver wrapper). Once you get a taste of this bright gold goodness you’ll never go back to anything else! I usually fry up two or three eggs in two to three tablespoons of butter—it’s an incredibly tasty way to start the day. Why anyone would continue to eat a man-made product like margarine thinking it’s a
healthy
food, when they could be eating butter, is beyond my comprehension.  

3.
   
Whole eggs   
Speaking of eggs, they are one of the world’s most perfect foods. If you care about managing your weight and improving your health, you should be eating them. I buy eggs from a local farmer who allows his chickens to forage in an open pasture, getting plenty of sunshine. The payoff is the rich, dark orange color of the egg yolks—store-bought eggs pale in comparison. If you can buy fresh eggs from a local farmer, do it. Even with the premium price, they are still one of the most economical low-carb foods. Even when money is tight, you can feed your family well. I eat eggs virtually every day because they provide me with the perfect ratio of protein to fat to keep me on the straight and narrow in my pursuit of nutritional ketosis. Please don’t fall for the idea that the yolk is somehow bad for you. Eating just the egg whites is like driving a Mustang on the side streets without ever getting on the interstate. You’ll never experience the full benefits of eating eggs until you eat the whole egg!   

4.
   
Coconut oil  
Other than grass-fed butter, my absolute favorite source of healthful, dietary saturated fat is coconut oil. Contrary to popular belief, adding this quality fat to your diet does not make everything you consume taste like coconuts. My favorite brand is
Nutiva Certified Organic Extra Virgin Coconut Oil
; it imparts a pleasantly sweet aroma with a very mild coconut flavor. I especially enjoy cooking my eggs in coconut oil along with sea salt and parsley; it gives them a nice
buttery
flavor. Because it is highly saturated, coconut oil has long been vilified as a nutritional demon. That misguided opinion is finally beginning to turn around. If you are trying to increase your level of blood ketones, then there’s probably no better way to start than by adding coconut oil to your daily menus.      

5.
   
Bacon
I don’t have to convince anyone reading this to start eating more bacon, do I? Back in August, at the 2012 Ancestral Health Symposium, Harvard organic chemist Mat Lalonde extolled the virtues of consuming bacon. He noted that the fatty acid profile of this much-vilified food is actually pretty darn close to ideal. Of course, if you can get bacon from pastured pigs, that’s even better! My wife Christine loves bacon and eats it almost every day. Healthy fats, perfect amount of protein, and minimal carbohydrates—what more could someone eating a low-carb diet ask? Bacon goes great with…well, everything. So eat up!  

6.
   
Sour cream  
If you are able to tolerate dairy, I can’t imagine why you wouldn’t want to add sour cream to just about everything you eat. It’s such a rich source of fat while providing amazing flavor and luxurious texture to any food. I put sour cream on top of steak, eggs, even vegetables. Just a couple of tablespoons of sour cream will give your fat intake the boost it needs to help you get into that glorious state of nutritional ketosis. I use the full-fat versions of either Breakstone’s or Daisy, depending on which is on sale, on something just about every day. Enjoy!       

7.
   
70% Ground beef    
What low-carb dieter doesn’t like a nice hamburger? The key is to find the fattiest ground beef you can. This can be a challenge in this fat-phobic society. Most of the meats you’ll find in your local grocery store are 85 to 90% lean, meaning they’ve cut most of the best part out of it! Look for 70% ground beef, and choose locally-farmed grass-fed beef whenever possible.
EatWild.com
can help you find a local source of grass-fed beef. The great thing about a burger is you can cook it in butter, add some cheese (see below), and spread some sour cream on it for a mouth-watering, low-carb, high-fat meal that will put you well on your way to reaching nutritional ketosis. WOO HOO!    

8.
   
Full-fat cheddar cheese      
Cheese is one of my favorite foods. Sadly, most people think Velveeta and American
cheese
are cheese. Nope! Not even close. They are highly-processed, cheese-like products that you really don’t want to eat, no matter how low the carb counts might be. Hard cheeses like Cheddar, Monterey Jack, and Swiss are better choices. Find the ones you enjoy, and be sure to buy the full-fat versions. Selecting low-fat cheese defeats the purpose, and won’t help you reach nutritional ketosis. Cheese is so versatile! Put it on just about anything, or eat it all by itself. I’ve found that spreading cream cheese (see below) between two slices of cheddar cheese is an excellent high-fat, moderate protein, low-carb snack. I’ve also found cheese adds the perfect extra ration of protein on days that I lift weights at the gym. Can you tell I love my cheese?        

9.
   
Coconut
Growing up, I couldn’t stand coconut. It wasn’t the delightful, tropical flavor that bothered me, but the waxy, gritty texture. But the first time I ate the mte> I ate eat of a fresh coconut—on Grand Cayman Island during the annual Low-Carb Cruise—oh my gosh! I thought I’d died and gone to heaven. The best part about coconut is that its fatty goodness really jacks up those blood ketone levels. Mix some coconut into a smoothie in the morning and it will keep your hunger satisfied for hours on end. It’s time to get cuckoo for coconuts!       

10.
Dark chocolate        
You might be thinking to yourself,
Say what? Dark chocolate? Are you kidding me?
Nope, I’m not kidding. Lean in really close, because I’ve got a secret to share with you: I eat dark chocolate EVERY SINGLE DAY on my nutritional ketosis plan. Yep, I sure do! Sometimes I’ll even have it with some of that
grass-fed, unsalted, Kerrygold butter I mentioned—truly incredible. I’m not talking about cheap, fake dark chocolate or even the sugar-free ones you can buy in most stores. I have fallen head over heels for a brand of chocolate that is far superior to anything I’ve ever put in my mouth before –
Taza 80% Stone Ground Dark Chocolate
. This stuff contains little chunks of real cacao and even has real sugar in it (GASP!). But I eat a half and sometimes a whole bar of this daily with no negative impact on my blood sugar or blood ketone levels. It’s got to be the cocoa butter that makes it such a perfect addition to my nutritional ketosis plan.

11.
Cream cheese          
I said earlier that sour cream was amazing with virtually any food you could consume. Well, the same could be said about cream cheese! This stuff has an amazing fat profile that will give your meals the boost they need to help you reach nutritional ketosis. If you’ve never put cream cheese in your eggs before, let me tell you that’s an experience you won’t soon forget. It totally changes the texture of eggs; you may never eat them any other way again. I know of no better brand than Philadelphia cream cheese. Again—it bears repeating—beware of the lower-fat version. Read the label to make sure fat is the predominant ingredient and you’ll be good to go.      

12.
Liquid fish oil          
Finally, I couldn’t talk about healthful fats without telling you about fish oil. While you won’t be adding this to your food, it is an important supplement to your diet, and will increase your blood ketones dramatically. I take two tablespoons of
Carlson’s lemon-flavored liquid cod liver oil
(the Vitamin Shoppe brand of this is nearly identical and cheaper) daily to infuse my body with healthy omega-3 fats as part of my heart-healthy regimen. There are fish-oil capsules and tablets available at drug stores, but many of these may be rancid, and therefore counterproductive. That’s why I prefer the liquid fish oil. In case you’re worried about the
fishy
taste of this stuff, it’s actually a delightfully pleasant
lemony
taste. I couldn’t imagine going through my day without taking my liquid fish oil, and the resulting blood ketone levels make it worth it!

Be hyper-aware of the nutritional content of everything you put in your mouth. In p; r mouthour fat-phobic society, many of the foods listed above have lower-fat and
lean
versions. You don’t want to consume those. Your lower-protein, low-carb nutritional ketosis plan requires high-fat levels to be optimally healthful.

by Dana Carpender

All of the Fat Fast ingredients listed in this section can be found at Amazon.com by visiting our
Fat Fast Ingredients for Fat Fast Cookbook
page.

Because it is rich in saturated fats called
medium-chain triglycerides
, coconut oil is particularly ketogenic, making it especially suitable for Fat Fasting. It also stimulates thermogenesis—in other words, it increases body temperature slightly, burning off extra calories. Too, medium chain triglycerides can be used directly by the muscles for fuel, making them a source of quick energy. All of this makes coconut oil valuable to us.

Because it’s highly saturated, coconut oil was mistakenly considered unhealthful for a long time, and was hard to find. (When I started buying it, only my local health food store had it—and they stocked it with the cosmetics, not the other cooking oils.) It is becoming more readily available; I can buy it at my local Kroger.

There are a few options with coconut oil:

Extra Virgin Coconut Oil
: This is the gold standard; and likely the best for you. However, it is also very pricey, and has a distinct coconut aroma, which may or may not go well with a particular recipe.

Coconut Oil
: Just plain
coconut oil
is more refined than extra virgin, but it’s still loaded with the medium-chain triglycerides that fuel ketone production. It also is very bland, making it suitable for recipes where you feel a coconut note would be out of place. Considerably cheaper than extra-virgin, too.