Editor’s Note: Aside from researching slavery which has always been my hobby horse, low-carb and Keto diets are currently my other great passion in life.
This is what I had for supper last night.
If you are interested in trying out a low-carb or Keto diet in order to lose weight this summer, you will ideally want to eat as your main course at some point during the day a fatty meat with a generous side of green vegetables. I can assure you that you can do this while eating traditional Southern foods. In my experience, it only takes a few slight modifications to our diet.
Pork has always been the staple meat of the Southern diet. Southerners also love to fire up the grill or the smoker in the summer. The easiest way to lose weight as a Southerner during the summer on a low-carb or Keto diet is use your grill, smoker and oven to cook lots of fatty pork: bacon, smoked country ham, sausage, pork chops, ribs, pulled pork, etc. Then it is only a matter of tracking how much of it you need to eat to achieve your fitness goals while pairing it with a side of green vegetables whether it is cabbage, broccoli, asparagus, turnips, collards, bell peppers, salads, brussels sprouts, green beans, etc.
Growing up, I hated brussels sprouts and green beans because I always had them served boiled in my youth. It was only much later in life that I discovered how much tastier that both can be roasted in olive oil, salt and various spices and dipped into various sauces like french fries. Ditching the french fries in favor of roasted veggies alone will save you a tremendous amount of calories. It will also cut all the awful seed oil out of your diet which is one of the primary causes of heart attacks.
I had this for supper. I had the Arkansas Cracked Black Pepper Bacon, Scrambled Eggs and Broccoli for breakfast. As for snacks and drinks, I went with Grape Powerade Zeros, Oven Roasted Turkey and Chipotle Cheddar Cheese Sticks. Although I didn’t have any yesterday, pecans are also the best fatty Southern nut to eat. I would recommend buying them in bulk and grazing on them instead of potato chips.
I believe you had mentioned Texas brisket in another post. Please do a brisket recipe! Just thinking about it almost gets me to slobber like Homer Simpson does over donuts.
Okra lightly covered with olive oil and seasoned with onion powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper, and then grilled, is a good substitute for fried okra.
Not to be a health nut hipster but doesn’t roasting vegetables deminish vitamins and minerals just like when you boil them? I’m sure some of it still retains like boiled but steaming might be more beneficial to your keto raws the best of course but i can understand not wanting to eat your food like a rabbit
I like green beans in almost any form tho but i usually steam them, lightly brush them with olive oil and sea salt
Sure, you can also steam your green vegetables and it will have the same effect and will likely even be better for you. The most important thing is to get people to start eating them as their go to side dish in the first place rather than going with bread, potatoes, rice due to taste.
I will stress here that this totally depends upon your fitness goals
The vast majority of people who have eating disorders simply have bad habits and don’t put any thought at all into what they are eating. As far as this has become a major problem in the South, it is due mainly to the enervating heat, the fried foods, the high carb sides, soda, sugar and alcohol.
I don’t want to turn this into Food Network, either, Thom, but I think Hunter has a point about bringing up nutrition. As busy as most people are, it’s hard to eat well, and a bad diet is a major cause of illness. If you care about your people, you want them to be healthy, and too many people ignore diet and exercise, and rely on cheap food and overprescribed pharmaceuticals to keep going, whicj is a recipe for disaster.
I don’t know about keto, but I do think that a diet with lots of lean meat and green vegetables is a good diet. I think oils like olive oil are probably better for the body than butter, and olives are grown in the South. As far as grilling vegetables goes, I’m not sure if getting a light char destroys vitamins like a hard boil, but grilling is a good substitute for frying for foods like okra.
As much as I like traditional southern foods, much of it isn’t very healthy, and isn’t really suitable for a hot climate.
The sheer number of fat people in the South, the explosion of interest in low-carb and Keto diets and the death toll that obesity related diabetes, strokes and heart attacks is taking on our people show the need for it. As with suicide and deracination, it is a far bigger problem than black crime.
Try some low sodium stewed tomatoes with those grilled or steamed green beans.
I hate green beans. I always end up with the ones that squeak on your teeth.