Extra Tidbits and Signs You Need More Fat

Today I didn't have much digestive distress and my head felt a lot better.  My sinus infection is clearing and I have high hopes that it will be completely gone in a few days.  I felt a lot better overall today, and it's the first day this week I did not need Excedrine to get through the day.  My head only hurt mildly in the afternoon.  What I experienced most today was fatigue.  Of course it being snowy and cold outside today, didn't help either.  I was fortunate though that Chloe took a pretty long nap and Lily watched a movie and I was able to take a nap.  My husband stayed home today as well due to the snow.  So I guess the timing worked out well.  It was the day where I was most fatigued and it was also the day I had the least to do! 

Consequently though with feeling better, I did have more cravings for carbohydrates today.  Of course it was for all the junk food that always makes me spin out of control.  But also high up on the list was chocolate.  So tomorrow I'm going to make some chocolate Keto fat bombs.  My powdered erythritol came in the mail today so I can make some delicious Keto treats and I'm looking forward to that.  I may have already mentioned this before but there are several different takes on how to manage "dessert" while on Keto.  Some people say not to do any treats at all, but that is really hard and certainly not simple, and in my opinion not realistic.  Those people also tend to be the no bacon, no dairy, no artificial sweetener people, like super hard core and focused on extreme health.  I'm more focused on how I can successfully change my eating to enhance my life, stop my binges, feel better, have more energy and enjoy life better.  For the rest of the Keto world, Stevia and Erythritol are the two most popular sweeteners.  Swerve is a popular brand many people use which is a mixture of Erythritol and oligosaccharides that is supposed to mix up in recipes nicer than pure Erythritol.  But many of my recipes call for powdered Erythritol so that is what I got at first.  I'm trying really hard not to spend millions of dollars buying every single thing on the market!  Nothing I've bought is required on Keto, but it does make life on Keto easier and I'm all about that.  Plus I like getting new things.  In case you are wondering, these are the things I've bought:

1. Collagen Powder (to add protein to shakes-option in several recipes)
2. Stevia powder (found at Costco although this was probably a label reading fail since the first ingredient is dextrose and the second is stevia, however for one packet there is less than one gram of carbs so I figure meh, close enough.  I'm not usually downing 9 packets in a day (which I figure could equal anywhere between 4.5 carbs- 8.9carbs depending on what their definition of "less than one gram" is)
3. Aloe Vera Juice- used in Keto Lemonade, and I think it makes it taste better. 
4. MCT oil- recommended in a lot of places and added into many fat bombs and shakes
5. Erythritol powder- sweetener for desserts
6. Hulled Hemp Seeds- used in drinks and also in cereals, muffins, and other baked goods
7. Cocoa butter- used in the protein bars I want to make as well as many desserts
8. liquid stevia- for options
9. Ketone Testing strips

I made these Pumpkin spice fat bombs with my home made dairy free cream cheese and liquid stevia yesterday, and they came out pretty good.  They kind of look like little balls of cookie dough.  The kids didn't care for them and Matt wasn't impressed, but I figured for a snack they were pretty good.  Obviously if you were looking at them as a regular dessert and that is what you were expecting, they would fall short.  But I enjoyed them for snacks and I think I will make them again.

So here is something interesting I came across in my Keto book by Leanne Vogel.  It's a section called "Signs your body needs more fat"  There is a huge list here but I will only list the ones that apply to me.

• You experience headaches, weight gain, sluggishness, constipation, and random symptoms that make your day to day challenging.  (Personally I think this one sounded vague as those are all general symptoms and could be caused by anything but the others are great so I give it a pass)
• You need afternoon pick-me-ups to get your brain working again
• You know that your hormones are wonky
• You could eat and eat and then eat some more.  And sometimes you are hungry again just thirty to sixty minutes after eating
• No Matter how hard you try to quit it, sugar just keeps coming back into your life.  (This one might have more to do about the qualities of sugar and how addictive it is rather than eating more fat, but it is an interesting idea that maybe adding more fat to your diet could help with quitting sugar)
• You have moments of extreme emotional highs and lows and have a hard time understanding what sparked the imbalance, or remembering that it occurred
• Your feet, hands, or love handles are freezing most of the time
• You think about food constantly and have a "live to eat" instead of an "eat to live" outlook. 

There are lots more listed in her book, but these are the ones that apply specifically to me.  She also talks in there about memory problems, and skin issues as well.  She does have a blog https://www.healthfulpursuit.com/  which I have been wanting to peruse.  I just started listening to her podcast, but I've only been able to listen to one so far so not much to report on that. 

I did find one of the recipes I've been talking about on her blog, so I'm going to link to it below so you can check it out at your leisure, she has tons of other recipes on her site as well and I will link to them if I find myself making anything on there. 

Rocket Fuel Latte (which I used Chamomile Tea)  https://www.healthfulpursuit.com/2016/07/keto-matcha-rocket-fuel-latte/