Summer Holidays are Coming!

Okay, so you've been working on your body and your health for a bit now. You've got your basic daily routine sorted out and then BAM! Along comes an entire season, designed to wreck your diet AND includes a skimpy uniform aimed at showing off your failures. Ugh. 

Okay, it's not that bad, but summer can be daunting when you are skipping the beans, chips, potato salad, etc. How the heck are you supposed to enjoy a family barbecue without these things??? 

Well first of all, the best thing to remember is that all sandwiches can be deconstructed. Simply skip the part of the line where you pick up the bun and continue onward to grab your burger, hotdog, chicken (or steak, if you're friends are in a higher tax bracket than mine). Grab two if you want!

If sandwiches are already paired with their bready bits, just take one and move on. You don't have to actually EAT the bread or bun just because it is there. I like to think of the bready bits as a "napkin" holding my food together till I can sit down and throw that part away.

Meat and cheese trays are also popular at summer gatherings and you can just "forget" to grab any crackers. Stack up on the meats and cheese (do remember that many of these processed meats and cheeses will have trace carbs so they aren't exactly zero-carb options).

Fruit is very popular in the summer time, especially melons and berries. Fruit can be enjoyed on a limited basis, and a lot of it does have beneficial vitamins and minerals. If possible, limit your fruit choices to berries. Steer completely clear of dried fruits and only choose fresh options.  Remember, fruit is nature's "candy" and we are limiting our candy to special treats and occasions, right? 

Next up on the buffet is typically salads - leafy green salads and the evil pasta and bean salads.  By now, you know that the pasta salads are off-ticket items to be chosen only if you're planning to go into carb-zone (and hopefully have a recovery method as discussed below).  Bulk up on the leafy greens all you want.  Go lighter on tomatoes, but do enjoy them while summer is here.  Cucumbers, onions, carrots, and other salad veggies may have a few carbs, but are not diet-wreckers.  Omit or pick around the croutons and you should be able to build a wonderfully satisfying salad.  Be sure to add a full fat salad dressing (hopefully without added sugars).


Beans are technically not a part of the Keto diet, but their high fiber content does allow for the occasional bean consumption. You have to be the judge on that one. Some great alternatives, if you are bringing a dish or hosting the meal, are roasted vegetables (either already roasted or skewered on kabobs for the  cook out).  Another fun choice is green bean bundles.  These are small bundles of 6-8 fresh green beans (I like the thin french style ones) wrapped in a slice of bacon and baked (or grilled) until the bacon is crispy.  Top with a sprinkle of parmesan cheese and these are a great sub for other carby choices.

And finally, on the path down the buffet table, we inevitably come to the dessert section.  You and I both know that there is going to be very little allowed from this area of the table.  This is where your will-power, tracking your foods, and knowledge of blood sugar impacts comes into play.  You have to do "you" and that might mean walking away, or it might mean diving in for this one time. Once you've made your decision, enjoy it to the fullest.  If you are going to indulge, indulge without guilt.  But only once. Don't go crazy and eat 7 cookies and 2 twinkies fried inside a brownie, but if you pick a treat, pick just one and enjoy.  And have a recovery plan.

Prepare --> Abstain --> Fast

You can use any one, or combination of the three elements above to avoid the pitfalls of picnics, barbecues, and summer outings.

Prepare - Start by fasting, intermittent fasting, or severe carb reduction in the 2-3 days leading up to the event where you know you will want to eat more carbs than usual.  Whether you actually do or not, there's never any harm in further cutting your carbs!

Abstain - You always have the choice to just not eat, either at all, or a specific food/type.  You can either be so "involved in socializing" that no one notices that you aren't stuffing your face, or you can pick carefully from the selection and nibble what you know is "safe".

Fast - Okay, you were really good and skipped the bun but Aunt Polly's BBQ beans only come once a year and are just not to be missed... and Grandma brought an icebox coconut cake...and okay you blew it.  This is a great time to incorporate a 24-hour fast (or even 16 hours, if you're new to fasting).  Fasting will allow your body to go ahead and use up all those extra carbs and not bother storing any of them.  This minimizes the damage from a day of feasting.  Remember as you fast, hunger is fleeting.  Push through the initial hunger pangs and they *will* subside.

Finally, here are a couple of new recipes that fit the summer motif for family cookouts and gatherings:

Beanless chili - Okay, this isn't a recipe, just a tip: make your favorite chili recipe without the beans.  Adding chopped up hot dogs is an interesting way to add that "bean" quality to the chili.  Top with sour cream, shredded cheese and  Josephs Lavash, cut into thin strips and lightly toasted.

Cheesy Chicken Chowder - Here's a fun recipe for something akin to White Chicken Chili, but purists say that it can't be chili without beans (and on a sublevel, I agree), but this stuff is yummy none the less, and easy to make.

Red, White, and Blueberry Cheesecake - This is totally not a cheesecake, really, but it's delicious, fun, filling, and flavorful. I get requests all the time for some version of this.

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Have a blessed day!

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