Keto Running Mama

This morning, I was sitting in a meeting. When the business part of what we had to do was over, we started making small chit-chat about family life. Someone brought up the task of making lunches for kids...and all of the parents in the room groaned in unison as though it was on cue. It was hysterical. Lunch packing doesn't take all that much time or effort in my house....but it is one of my most-dreaded tasks. My husband and I jump for joy when we realize on a day that the kids don't have school the next morning that we don't have to pack them at all. My kids lunches are fairly easy to make...and we still don't like to do them. Let's face it...eating against the grain, as we do with keto, means work.  It means putting in a lot of effort and time. So...how do you survive the work week and still manage to eat keto? I have many different lunch plans that I follow...but one that works particularly well is to eat a salmon salad. I prepare everything on Sunday night a

My family was never one that did this...but I distinctly remember my aunt pulling out her jar of lard in the kitchen when she was cooking.  I remember that I thought it was disgusting...and terribly unhealthy...and I wondered how one collected that much lard.  How could they eat like that and not care about their health?!  The horror!!! Fast forward 25 years or more and I am a fat saver.  For some of you, this may be something that you already do.  I, honestly, did not think about it until my sister-in-law, who went to culinary arts school and also eats keto, told me that she always saves her bacon grease.  It does not need to be refrigerated...and can be used for up to 2 weeks.  (Mine never lasts that long.)  I keep a mason jar by my stove...and every time I cook bacon, I drain the fat into this jar. Bacon grease is perfect for frying eggs.  Nothing seems to stick to the pan when I use it.  I even use it to add to a dish when I don't think there is enough fat in it.  Furthermo

My oldest daughter, Grace, turned 10 this weekend.  TEN YEARS OLD!  I don't know how it is possible that I am the mother of a 10 year old...that I have been a mom for a decade now...but it is.  Not to be cliche, but the days have been long and the years incredibly, maddeningly short.  This beautiful, happy, kind, sweet, little girl is celebrating 10 years of life...and I want to celebrate with her.  I HAVE to celebrate with her.  I HAVE to celebrate the day that my life changed completely and fantastically for the better. I am not the type of mom who never lets her kids have a treat.  I am the type of mom who, on typical, regular days, omits things like cupcakes, junk and candy.  I try to come up with healthy, low-carb, clean alternatives if it is just a regular kind of day.  But a 10th birthday calls for a bit of spoiling...and, in my house, that means many of the "regular day rules" don't apply.  I am OK with this.  She knows that these gobs are a very special

I am sure that you have noticed that I like to eat soup.  There are two reasons that I find any kind of soup a desirable entree for my family: 1) You can make a huge pot of soup and it will last for days.  Let's face it.  I have three children.  I work full time.  Those three children are involved in A LOT.  That means, if I care about my family's nutrition...and I do...I have to make things that will help me to not have to cook every. night. of. the. week.  Yes, there are days when we are sick of the soup.  And, because I do not make my children eat exactly as I do, I can give them a side of the soup...with a healthy sandwich of some sort on the side to make things a little more bearable when we are all sick of dining with a spoon.  And, I still have something healthy for me to eat in a pinch....or for me to take to work with me. 2) I love to make soup for my family because it is a GREAT way to sneak my kids vegetables that they would not normally eat.  Would they eat a s

Ok. Today I finished my first week of 1/2 marathon training. I promised to check in...so here it is. It isn't pretty...but it's real. KetoRunningMama

One of the most frustrating things that I heard from medical professionals when I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis was that they did not have any research that showed nutrition had anything to do with the development of MS.  Furthermore, there was no research on an "MS Diet" that would improve my situation.  They did all recognize that it is important to eat healthfully for other parts of your body...in order to prevent other health problems from occurring.  I always left their offices with the thought, if eating healthfully is important for the prevention and treatment of other diseases, why not MS?  I simply did not believe it.  As the years have gone on, I have noticed a significant gap between nutrition research and medical research.  The two areas of science simply do not cross-reference. Luckily, I am someone who questions things.  I do not take everything that my doctor tells me as a fact.  When I talked to friends and family members who had other health problem

Hi, All! It is time to start training for the Pittsburgh Half Marathon! Click on the video link to hear my thoughts on why I do this. Ketorunningmama

Many people have told me that they can't do what I have done...that making so many lifestyle changes would be too hard.  Most of them know that I did it because I felt like I was backed into a corner.  Clean up my nutrition....or continue to watch my health decline.  But, just as I would have done before I got sick, I found myself being placed by others in the unfortunate category of being a "sick person."   I want to scream at them, "I was JUST LIKE YOU!  Just yesterday, I was a 'healthy person,' too!" The problem with this view is that sickness is not black and white.  It is not that clear cut.  You see, now that I am diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, I suppose that I am in the "unhealthy" category.  I have to admit that on the stupid questionnaires at a doctors office where they ask you to rate your health, I really struggle.  "On a scale of 1 to 10, how healthy do you think you are overall."  How in the hell is someone with Mul

If you are interested in starting keto....or even if you are already eating keto....I found this great calculator over at Tasteaholics that will help you to know how many carbs you can eat a day and remain in ketosis.  Everyone's body is different...and one person may be able to have 50 carbs a day and remain in ketosis, while another person's threshold is much lower.  In the beginning, it is very helpful to know how many carbs you can have.  Over time, though, it gets easier....and you will know what you can eat and when you need to stop.  Check it out! KetoRunningMama Click here to figure out your carb limit

As I was driving to work this morning, there was a radio broadcaster talking about how your spouse's clothes are supposed to be a very comforting smell for people. Now, maybe some people don't have a spouse who physically works as hard as my husband, but I can tell you that his clothes do NOT give me a sense of comfort. They remind me that there is laundry to be done...and possibly that I need to buy a bottle of Febreze. I was left to my commute, wondering what my most comforting scent would be. And, hands-down, I thought of my mom's Chicken Dumpling Soup. She made it for two occasions: 1) when it was snowy and cold outside, and 2) when someone in the house was sick. I smell the aroma of this soup, and I am instantly transported to my mom's house, remembering what it was like to anticipate that soup all day long on a cold, snowy day. When I went Keto, for a while, I lost that soup....and the comfort that it brought me. Then I figured out how to get around di

Today, while at my daughter's soccer game, I was talking with a fellow parent about living a ketogenic lifestyle.  Her husband's response to me, "Why in the world would you do keto?  Do you want to waste away to nothing?!" Here are my thoughts on this experience:

I have not mentioned much about my occupation, but I am a high school counselor.  A few weeks back, we had a nutritionist come and speak to our students.  Her topic was the amount of sugar in the drinks that we drink.  While I have had an awareness of this for quite some time because I am a label reader, I was appalled by the activity that she had for our students.  She had measured out the amount of sugar that was in each drink and put it in separate Ziploc bags.  The students were to guess which bags of sugar went with which drinks.  There were drinks with more sugar and carbs in all of these drinks than I have in a week.----And this is what is being marketed TO OUR CHILDREN!  The nutritionist works for Children's Hospital in our area.  She reported that Type II Diabetes used to be a disease that affected mostly adults.  Now, they are seeing more and more young people being diagnosed with Type II Diabetes.  I know that I have seen this reported multiple times on the news in our a