A shopping list and menu ideas to get you underway with a keto lifestyle
This series of blogs is not a recommendation. It is a personal blog to provide information about a ketogenic diet. Everyone has unique dietary requirements, and this information cannot address every individual’s needs. The blog aims to show primarily that a ketogenic diet is safe for people with Type 1 diabetes, is healthy, and can be accessed for a low price. It is a personal blog that addresses the day to day issues of managing keto food preparation and planning.
Welcome to Kickstarter Fortnight. Your gateway to a keto lifestyle. What to eat and and how to prepare it. It uses a small number of everyday ingredients. The recipes are based on a weekly shop. Fresh ingredients are used, and for this reason, shopping twice or more might be more suitable. The ingredients chosen will enable you to make a variety of meals throughout the week. The nutritional content is enough for the average UK adult. You will not need to buy more food than this unless you want more variety or have other dietary requirements. Because this fortnight was purchased with a ceiling cost of £30 per week average, it reflects the everyday side of keto eating. The actual price is considerably less than the average weekly spending per person in the UK. At £28.50 per week, it is £10 less than the average weekly spend per person of £38.50. So, if you want to get closer to the average, there is plenty of scope.
Our nutritional needs change throughout life because the life-cycle and life-events happen all the time. We need to have the ability to adapt.
Shakespeare understood life’s arrow of time when writing the so-called Seven Ages of Man speech in the play in ‘As You Like It.’ From the Infant mewing and puking in the nurse’s arms ,through all of life’s stages to the final’ sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything’. Or in modern parlance, The Six Ages; gaga, lager, aga, saga, viagra, gaga. We humans go through many ‘lives’ in a lifetime. We should be adapting our diets to recognise this. With Type 1, our hand is forced by lack of insulin, but if we are lucky, we, too, will go through all of the stages. One thing is for sure; we need to individualise our diets. And in Type 1 diabetes we need to discover how make it perfect for our needs, minus the carbs!
The recipes are an example of ketogenic ingredients, but the food listed here might not suit everyone for all sorts of reasons. It is a start that will suit most people.
All of the food is considered healthy and ethically sourced. Of course, your budget will determine how much you want to spend to achieve this fully. But none of these ingredients need to be consumed with a conscience. The very cheapest versions of these foods were left on the shelf if the author felt that they were produced to poor farming and agricultural practices.
The shopping lists were compiled to meet the UK recommended average of 2000 calories a day. The average body mass index(BMI)falls in the overweight category, people with Type 1 diabetes are no different. The protein in each week’s shop would be suitable for the average adult. There is an article on protein in the Diabetes Management section of the website if you need more information.
Cooking Techniques: The author was trained at the Cooking School of Life. All of the recipes require minimal preparation and plenty of imagination. The blogs should enable the reader to have fun with food choices and the most basic techniques for preparation—with apologies to any cook who has even elementary training.
Similarly, the utensil list is minimal. A Hob, Oven, Frying Pan, Steamer, Saucepan, and Baking Tray. Plus, an ovenproof dish, kitchen knife, and a grater. A microwave oven can replace the steamer if you already have one. The hand-blender was not absolutely essential but made soup preparation easier.
Recipes were all made up by the author throughout the week to ensure that the freshest and most delicate ingredients were consumed first. The presentation was for an everyday setting. A mobile phone was used for photographs with natural or flash lighting as required.
The author considers this fortnight to be a real-world situation that should be manageable by the vast majority of the population.
A ketogenic diet for management of Type 1 diabetes can be highly effective as the results in the blog show. Nutrition is the most important therapeutic tool after insulin. The author believes that cost alone not be a limiting factor to limit the availability of a therapeutic diet. If a person genuinely is unable to meet the financial cost, then the state should consider funding it. It makes medical and economic sense in both the short and long term. Even the savings made by a rough halving of insulin dose would go a long way to topping- up most people’s budgets.
Have fun!