This is our favorite keto-friendly substitute for mashed potatoes, and it's another quick and easy recipe. It is adapted from an old recipe for twice baked potatoes in the original Fit For Life diet book. Fit for Life is a vegetarian food combining plan. They don't eat proteins and starches together, and the recipe was originally designed to give the potatoes a cheesy flavor without adding any cheese. My version tastes very close to the original and is terrific alone or with gravy. As an aside, for thickening gravy and sauces I use a fiber powder made from a type of yam, called glucomannan (look up how to use it properly to avoid lumps). It adds no taste, calories or carbs. You can get it at the health food store or online.

There are a lot of mashed cauliflower recipes online, which is always a decent low-carb way to replace mashed potatoes, but this recipe adds winter squash which makes it seem more potato-like in texture, and adds a little more nutrition, fiber and flavor. The addition of cumin might sound strange, but don't leave it out because that is what creates the illusion of buttery, cheesy flavor without any dairy.

Cauliflower and Winter Squash Mash

Makes approx. 6 cups, with 4 net carbs per 1/2 cup serving

2 16oz bags of frozen cauliflower (you can use fresh, but at over $10 for a non-organic cauliflower where I live, I always use frozen)

4 cloves of garlic

1 10oz package frozen winter squash, thawed (I use Cascadian Farms Organic which is already mashed, but you can also use frozen cubed or fresh. You want a total of 1 cup mashed of any winter squash, which is what you get in the 10 oz frozen brick. 1-1/2 to 2 cups of the cubes would equal 1 cup mashed depending on what you use.)

2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

2 tsp ground cumin

1-1/2 tsp salt

paprika

Directions: Steam frozen cauliflower and garlic cloves for 10 minutes until soft. Drain and return the cauliflower and garlic to the hot pan to evaporate some of the moisture, then use a stick blender in the pan to puree the mixture. Add the thawed mashed squash, olive oil, salt and cumin, and mix well. Transfer the mixture to a casserole dish (11x7 glass baking dish works well but anything it fits in will do). Sprinkle top with paprika, and cook in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes.

Tips: You can skip the oven-baking step if you are short of time, but it does cook out more of the moisture and produce a better taste and texture so I do recommend the extra step. You can vary the oven temperature if you have other stuff in the oven, just adjust the cooking time accordingly. If you use fresh or frozen cubed squash, rather than pre-mashed, you can steam it along with the cauliflower and garlic, but put it on top so it doesn't disintegrate into the steaming water (the frozen especially has a tendency to break down). If you use the frozen mashed squash and plan to skip the time in the oven, you want to cook the squash before you mix it into the cauliflower mixture, rather than just thaw it. I use the microwave for that.

Enjoy!

Solfeo, I love the one minute muffins!

There are so many variations. For me, the all flax comes out a bit what I would call slimy. I make a mix of my own and keep it stored. Then I measure out 1/2 cup for the muffin. My mix consists of 1 C. Flax meal, 1 C. Almond flour, 1/2 C. Oat Fiber, 1/2 C. Coconut Flour, 2 T. Erythritol, 1/2 t. salt. I also start with 1 Tbsp of butter or coconut oil melted, then mix in the egg and dry ingredients (plus 1/2 t. baking powder).

I have used berries of all kinds and rhubarb is great. Sometimes I sprinkle a little cinnamon/sweetener on top. Another variation is to add cocoa powder for a chocolate muffin.

I find that frozen fruit works especially well.

I usually cook mine for 70 seconds.

Solfeo what a great job you did on your weight loss! I haven't used the coconut flours, almond flours etc much. I just try to avoid them but I wondered if anyone had a good pie crust - just bottom crust recipe that I could use for a cheesecake or pumpkin pie?

I got off my diet and I wish I hadn't because I'm having trouble getting back to that strict. One issue the keto diet seems to solve for me is exercise making me hungry. For many years, when I exercised I just ate more because I was so hungry. So I'm trying to get back in ketosis...

Thanks, GG. I do love coconut and I think it would be fabulous with cheesecake. I'll also try the parchment paper trick for pumpkin pie. I don't so much require the crust for that one.

I reached another milestone today. 29.8 BMI - officially out of the obese range and into merely overweight! It has been 16 years since I have been at this weight. Total loss of 106 lbs (88 of it on keto since diagnosis).

Leva, I go by urinary ketones (check only occasionally now because I know what I can eat), blood glucose level, how I feel (having food cravings is a good indicator of falling out of ketosis), and whether I'm losing weight or not. As long as I show some level of urinary ketones and my blood sugar stays at or near baseline, I don't worry about the exact level of ketones in my urine. I spend enough money on food, don't need the added expense of blood ketone testing.

You have probably done enough reading to know that the urine dip sticks don't necessarily give you an accurate representation, especially if you drink a lot of water. Just because the color is light that doesn't mean you're not in ketosis. Try drinking less water for one day, and if you're solidly in ketosis the stick should get quite a bit darker. If your blood sugar is fluctuating a lot before and after meals, that's another indicator that you're not maintaining. Mine stays around 75 at all times. It was up in the 80s last month but it has come back down. My weight loss had also slowed down and I realized it was because I was eating too many macadamia nuts. My body can't tolerate them over a certain amount, even when I stay within my carb limit (20-30 per day for me, usually closer to 20).

If you really think you are not able to stay in ketosis there are a few common culprits to examine - possible hidden carbs, specific foods that you are personally sensitive to (test blood glucose before and after meals and experiment to identify), too much protein, not enough calories (you might have to add healthy fat in that case), or too many. You can delve more into how to avoid these pitfalls online.

Good luck!

Thanks Orgal and back at ya! I have 42 lbs to go, for a total weight loss of 148 lbs. When I first started losing this weight before diagnosis, on a low carb but not quite keto plan, that goal seemed so unattainable. Now I just feel like I eat for health and the weight loss has become more of a side effect at this point. I yoyo dieted my entire adult life, creeping up higher and higher into morbid obesity every time I failed at another diet. I have tried absolutely everything, and the one thing that stands out about this particular diet is that as long as I stick to the plan I never feel deprived or hungry and cravings are non-existent. It's not that I don't miss a good bagel and cream cheese, but I don't have that uncontrollable urge to shovel one down that always led to diet failure in the past.

It's no wonder most people fail at achieving and maintaining weight loss. There is a real addiction process going on in the brain, that is difficult for anyone to overcome without completely eliminating the foods that are causing it. From the research I have done, I believe the biggest offenders are sugar and grains. There is an actual protein in wheat that has an opiate-like effect in the brain, called gliadin. Most people accept that sugar isn't good for them, but try telling someone that "healthy whole grains" are what is sabotaging their attempts at weight loss and their eyes glaze over.

I've recommended this book before but for new people who stumble onto this thread, please check out Wheat Belly Total Health: The Ultimate Grain-Free Health and Weight-Loss Life Plan by cardiologist Dr. William Davis. That's what started me on this road to health, and his diet, while it can be easily adapted to keto (which is what I did after the first 18 lbs.), is somewhat less restrictive for those who aren't ready to go full keto. He also has a blog with a lot of free info if you don't want to buy the book.

I guess I understand how hard it would be to continue a medical practice when you are writing and promoting books, and therefore helping more people than you ever could from 9-5, and I don't really see a problem with charging for his other websites. No one likes to work for free and his companies need to support themselves, but the blog I linked to is free and everything one needs to know about the diet is available there without having to buy the books or spend a dime. I have seen people criticize his ideas because he has a little extra weight on him. I have to sympathize because no one would have wanted to take nutritional advice from me at 288 lbs., but even in my own failure I had an entire library of nutrition and health info in my head and could have helped just about anyone's problems but my own. It took a cancer diagnosis to force me to apply what I knew to myself.

That is an awesome achievement! Congrats!

Thanks SerenitySTAT! When I started the diet needing to lose that much weight it seemed so impossible. I had tried absolutely everything prior to keto and failed miserably. I can hardly believe I have finally succeeded and honestly it hasn't been that hard because this diet literally freed me of my food cravings and compulsion to overeat. I had been obese for 17 years and morbidly so for the last 5. I can't stress enough that if I can do it anyone can.

Solfeo- WOW.  Congrats to you and thank you for sharing your journey and lessons learned!

I've been keto for a year, and veggies aren't considered toxic. It's important to eat cruciferous veggies, which have tons of nutrition, low carbs, are alkaline ph, etc, etc. I've lost 74 LB during the past 2 yrs. There's also some great studies with keto and cancer treatment, as the very low carb intake supposedly starves cancer stem cells. Time will tell...

BTW, I'm now down to 28% BMI, which is down from 40% at my start! My goal is to lose another 20-25 LB for cancer control, and then hopefully maintain. I've been on Arimidex for the past month, and have been terrified that i'll gain weight on it. Have not so far; lost 2 LB this week.

Fabulous work Solfeo and Kay. Keep up the good work!

Kay I have been on tamoxifen for two years, and now on the AI for 3. While I have done a few cycles of keto and fasting, I haven't stayed keto and I've maintained weight well. I'm paleo with carbs around 50 grams a day. When I get off that plan, like I did in August, I gain weight, when I don't, I maintain. The key for me is to adjust right away. When I gain 3 lbs, I'm back to very low carb, lose the weight, and then can add back some more carbs.

Lily,

What is a Ketogenic Porridge? What is in it?

I guess I should respond to this so no one new is needlessly scared away from a ketogenic diet. First of all his name is properly spelled Dr. Nicholas Gonzalez, for anyone who wants to look it up and read what he had to say and/or watch a video of him talking about the subject.

It's been long enough that I can't remember every detail, but I have read what he wrote and saw the video, and found it to be far from a "dismantling" of keto for cancer. In part he bases his opinion on anecdotal stories from an employee of Dr. Atkins, whose experiment with low carb diets and cancer didn't turn out how he had expected. We don't know what version of a low carb diet he used. Atkins was quite different back in the day, and also it wasn't truly ketogenic in the sense of limiting protein, and grains were allowed after induction. What were these people actually eating?

A therapeutic ketogenic diet for cancer is more than just low carb, and you're probably not going to do as well if you're eating a lot of cheese and bacon every day, or other processed low carb foods of any kind, even if they are technically keto. Keto for cancer is very low carb, protein on the lower end of moderate, whole food, with as many low carb vegetables as you can fit within your carb limit. The rest is healthy fat. Also with some level of calorie restriction and blood glucose control.

Dr. Gonzalez (he is no longer living) and others have had some good experiences with patients on high carb diets, but all I really got from that was that there is probably more than one "right" nutritional approach to cancer, and it might be different for different people under different circumstances. I was 136 lbs. this morning, one pound away from reaching my goal weight after 153 lbs of weight loss. If I went back on a high carb diet I would be back up to 288 within a year or so. What's better for breast cancer? Morbid obesity, or a diet that works?

But anyway, I don't understand the need to pop into a diet thread to attempt to "dismantle" a program that for whatever reason you decided not to follow yourself, but others are having great success with. We are not debating keto here. We have done our research and we are supporting each other toward achieving our goals.

Thanks pipers_dream! I wish I could say it was hard work, but it really wasn't that hard once I was keto-adapted and no longer having food cravings. I eat until I'm full and the weight melts off. The hardest part was getting started, as it is for anyone wanting to lose weight, but the cancer provided the motivation I had been formerly lacking over many years of trying. I won't be saying this if the BC ever comes back, but yes, I am thankful for the wake up call.