Southern Keto

by Natasha Newton

  In Appreciation

  Instagram and online communities—Thank you to my wonderful ketofam! I appreciate each of you for sharing this journey with me. Without you, none of this would be possible. You inspire and encourage me daily! Thank you to Dawn for being a wonderful friend and for visiting us in Tennessee!

  Victory Belt Publishing—Thank you to the entire Victory Belt team for your tireless efforts to bring this dream to life. You are like family to me now. Thank you, Erich, for always being available for questions and for your great advice. The cover shoot day was an amazing day. Thank you, Lance, for being the first person to talk to me about this book. Your excitement for a Southern-themed keto cookbook encouraged me, and I enjoyed our talks about our home state of Kentucky! Thank you, Holly and Pam, for your editing and wonderful attention to detail. I learned so much from each of you! Susan, you are an amazing encourager. I’m thankful for you and our talks! Thank you to the talented design team for your beautiful work!

  My husband—My recipe taste-tester. I have so much appreciation for you that it’s hard to know where to start. You are my best friend and biggest supporter in life. You’ve been there for me in sickness and in health. Thank you for loving me unconditionally even when I didn’t love myself. Thank you for believing in me and encouraging me to push on when this process got hard. I love you with all of my heart. Like you used to say back when we were dating, “Let’s grow old together.”

  My daughter and son—Thank you for supporting your mom’s crazy ideas and always being willing to try the recipes and give honest feedback. You two bring me so much joy and are my greatest blessings in life. I’m so incredibly proud of the young adults you are becoming! I’m sorry I didn’t always model the greatest confidence in myself when you were growing up, but I do hope that the work I’ve done to turn things around will help strengthen your belief in yourselves and your resolve to chase your dreams and never give up! I love you, believe in you, and will always support and encourage you.

  Dad and Mom—Thank you for being absolutely amazing parents and grandparents. You gave me such a wonderful and loving childhood. I am so blessed! Thank you for the spiritual role models you’ve been for me all of my life. You both inspire me daily. I could not have done this without your continued emotional support and prayers! I love you!

  Family and friends—When I count my blessings, so many people come to mind—too many to name. I am thankful to each one of you who has touched my life along the way.

  Kim and Machelle—My cousins, but always more like sisters, and my best friends! I love you, and I’m so blessed to have had your encouragement all of my life! Kim, thank you for believing in me and encouraging me to continue sharing my journey publicly and help others even when it became uncomfortable. Machelle, thank you for seeing me in a better light than I could see myself when we were teenagers and I was struggling. You both inspire in the way you live your lives—more than you’ll ever know!

  Cherrish—Thank you so much for allowing me to use your beautiful kitchen for the photo shoot! It was a fun and special day, and I’m thankful for the time we spent together. I love you, and I’m so proud of you!

  Lisa—Although we met later in life, you are one of the best friends I’ve ever had! We love your family. Thank you so much for being there for me so many times when I was sick. You are one of the most humble and thoughtful people I have ever met. Thank you for all of your encouragement and recipe taste-testing while I was writing this book!

  Wendy and Dorinda—Thank you for being my lifelong best friends and always loving me unconditionally. We don’t get to spend nearly enough time together, but you are always in my heart!

  Bill Staley and Hayley Mason—Thank you so much for the beautiful cover shot. You were so thoughtful about the details and bringing my ideas to life. I enjoyed working with you!

  Chloe—I’m so glad that you did my photo shoot! I have never been comfortable getting my picture taken. Thank you for helping me feel at ease and making the process enjoyable!

  Testimonials

  Here are a few testimonials from people I know. The best part is that their success on the ketogenic diet isn’t just about a number on a scale!

  I want to begin by saying how super proud I am of Tasha and her success with the ketogenic diet. Tasha is my cousin but has been more like my sister my entire life! We grew up together. She is one of the most humble people I have ever met. As kids, I knew Tasha struggled with her weight, but her infectious personality and love for others camouflaged that fact. So I never looked at her as being overweight.

  About three years ago, I found out about her keto Instagram page. It’s funny now but definitely wasn’t at the time. We have always told each other everything, and even though I knew she was losing weight and keeping it off this time, I really hadn’t asked her for details about what it was. She just mentioned in a nonchalant way that she had this Instagram page that she hadn’t really told a lot of her family/friends about. When I looked it up, I found that she had 12,000 followers! I could not believe she hadn’t told me about this! We laugh now because I was really mad about it. I mean, how awesome is that, and why in the world would you not share it with everyone you knew, right? Well, the fact is, she was sharing with thousands of people, just not the ones who had been a witness to her struggle or the ones she felt would judge her. But, in fact, these are the ones who are most inspired by her! So this was the beginning of my own keto journey.

  I am 45 years old and a registered nurse. I have always been really good about exercising, and I would say I am a self-motivator, except when it comes to healthy eating. I have needed to lose 10 to 15 pounds for a few years now but would find myself hungry on diets, and then I would cave in and eat. With the ketogenic diet, I was not hungry, and I was losing weight! I didn’t think about my next meal as I was eating my current one. My energy level skyrocketed, and I felt in total control of my diet for the first time in a long time. Tasha has taught me simple recipes that curb my sweet tooth and fill me up. I am so excited about having this cookbook on hand!

  I have several friends and coworkers who have had great success with this diet as well. I don’t even call it a “diet” anymore. This is my lifestyle most of the time. I have learned that I can eat, be full, and be happy without all of those carbs.

  Good luck on this journey! It’s been great to me.

  —Kim Carter

  I’ve followed a ketogenic way of eating since November 2014. It all started when my daughter, Paige, was 17 and was diagnosed with insulin resistance. Her doctor told her to eat a ketogenic diet to keep it under control and halt its progression into possible diabetes. Neither one of us had ever heard of a ketogenic diet. We listened to the doctor with astonished looks on our faces as he told us everything she could not eat. We felt it was impossible.

  After researching ketosis, it seemed pretty overwhelming and difficult, especially for a teenager! Because of that, I decided to do the diet along with her to support her and help her navigate it. Together, we learned recipes and figured out how to eat in restaurants and what to buy in the grocery store. The beginning was pretty rough for both of us, and I never thought I could make it through the holidays, let alone sustain it long term. Never eat bread or sugar? Pasta or fruit? Because we were doing it together, we supported each other and made it through. It was a terrific bonding experience with such positive results. We both lost weight and felt great. I am forever grateful to Paige’s doctor for introducing this way of eating to us. Because of him, I will always eat a low-carb diet because of the way it makes me look and feel. I never would have believed that!

  I lost the majority of my weight in the first two years and stalled for an entire year before buckling down and reaching goal weight in early 2018. I have lost 93 pounds (235 to 142) and seven clothing sizes (20 to 4/6), but I have also gained so much from this way of eating! After over 20 years of being on oral medication for various health problems (high blood pressure, GERD, PVCs, anemia), I am completel
y off all oral medications! My joints no longer ache from inflammation. My feet don’t tingle. My hips don’t scream in pain. I went through menopause with barely a symptom. Additionally, I began exercising in February 2018 and met my goal of running my first 5K in April. I look years younger, and I have gained the confidence to do things I never dreamed of. All from keto!

  I love the ketogenic way of eating so much that I have ketoed on every vacation I have taken for the past four years. This year, that meant no pasta, pizza, or gelato in Italy. No pastries or fries in France. No bread or rice in Spain. But it also meant I felt my best and had the energy to walk up to 12 miles a day! I would not have it any other way. Eating off plan holds no appeal to me when being in ketosis feels so great!

  I am so passionate about the ketogenic diet. It has helped me regain my health and my confidence, and I’ve made some wonderful friends along the way through Instagram! That has been one of the best resources I have ever found. The warmth of that community was instrumental in keeping me motivated and helped me to not give up. I have met people from all over the world, and they have enriched my life. I will forever be grateful that Tasha was one of them. Tasha and I first met on Instagram years ago, and we bonded over our passion for health and the ketogenic way of eating.

  Let’s all take time to celebrate ourselves for the choices we are making to improve our health. Don’t give up! You got this! Just keep swimming!

  —Dawn Marsala Delaney

  I love food. I am not a picky eater. I sort of wish I was a little picky, but I love most things and will try just about anything that’s put in front of me. That being said, I didn’t grow up having weight issues and ate what I thought was a pretty healthy diet. Like most people, as you age, food choices become even more important for health/weight. Several years ago, I started eating low-carb, not super strict, but I definitely was cutting out typical high-carb items like bread, rice, and pasta. I did it mainly to lose a few pounds, again nothing major—maybe 10 pounds or so. I lost that weight and slowly started to eat some carb-heavy foods again. I don’t weigh myself, but I know my clothes were fitting a little more snugly. My dear friend Tasha had been eating strictly keto for a while, and she would always pass on tips and great recipes. I had been thinking about going really strict and eating only keto; I just needed to commit to it. Since I hadn’t grown up with weight issues, I also hadn’t yo-yo’d with different diets, and I was never into trying the latest and greatest diet fads. One area I struggled with was dessert. I LOVE DESSERT. Tasha mentioned that eating keto actually helped with these cravings because eating keto cuts your sugar intake. I think it was timing. I had been thinking about trying keto, and then, when Tasha mentioned the reduced sugar craving, that sold me. Well, that and all of the amazing and easy meals Tasha would make. I don’t love cooking, and I love choices, so this was perfect.

  I have been eating keto for almost a year and a half straight. I have lost over 20 pounds. The weight loss has been great, but knowing that I am cutting my sugar is my favorite part, because cutting sugar is so hard! My family sometimes eats keto and sometimes doesn’t. It’s a choice I made, and I will find a way to make it work whether I’m at home, on the run, or at my favorite restaurant. It’s really not even a thought at this point. There are just too many delicious, easy, and cheap ways that make eating keto a no-brainer.

  —Lisa Presnell

  My husband and I had some success with the Atkins Diet in 2002. We both lost quite a bit of weight. We were in our thirties then. Of course, we failed to stay committed due to busy lives and limited dietary options.

  Fast-forward to 2017. We both decided it was time to get healthy. It wasn’t just about weight loss or diet. Becoming healthy meant not only getting active again, but also changing our eating habits to help us lose weight and feel good. Having had some previous success with low-carb, we decided this would be our choice. Dr. Chris Newton, our chiropractor, told us about Tasha’s Instagram page. Her recipes and ideas have truly changed our lives!

  Tasha made it easy to stick to the keto diet. She gave great advice not only about snacking and eating out (including how to order keto at specific restaurants), but also how to make our favorite foods keto-friendly. We have eaten pizza, tacos, cakes, cookies, etc., and with Tasha’s guidance, these were all keto-friendly!

  This sweet lady has made the difference in our lives and our health. Through exercise and the keto diet, my husband lost 95 pounds and I lost 25. But more importantly, we are active again. We feel better. And our health is much improved. We can’t thank Tasha enough for her contribution to our success. I am so glad to have so many wonderful keto-friendly recipes in one place with this new book!

  Fans for life!

  —Rebecca Foster

  Measurement and Cooking Conversion Tables

  For those who live outside the United States and use metric measurements.

  Resources

  A few of my favorite products

  It’s exciting to see a growing number of companies offering convenience foods that make the keto life easier. Due to the popularity of low-carb diets, I expect this number to keep increasing. Here are just a few of the products that I use. You should always research new products and the ingredients they contain to make sure that they are right for you. I have listed the company websites so that you can read more about their offerings, but I recommend doing a Google search to find the best prices.

  ALTERNASWEETS

  www.alternasweets.com

  Stevia-sweetened ketchup and barbecue sauce.

  CHOSEN FOODS

  chosenfoods.com

  Mayonnaise made with avocado oil.

  GOOD DEE’S

  www.gooddees.com

  Yummy low-carb and gluten-free baking mixes for brownies, cakes, cookies, and pancakes.

  KERRYGOLD

  www.kerrygoldusa.com

  Delicious grass-fed butter. You do not have to use grass-fed butter on keto, but I recommend this brand because it tastes better than any other store-bought butter I’ve tried. Kerrygold also makes a variety of cheeses; the Dubliner is my favorite.

  LAKANTO

  www.lakanto.com

  A variety of monk fruit–sweetened products. I sometimes use their granular sweetener, which is a blend of monk fruit and erythritol. Lakanto also makes sugar-free maple-flavored syrup.

  LILY’S

  lilyssweets.com

  I use Lily’s stevia-sweetened chocolate chips for baking and enjoy their chocolate bars for snacking—they’re delicious!

  MOON CHEESE

  mooncheese.com

  Crunchy cheese snacks. My favorite flavors are Pepper Jack and Cheddar, but I’m also enjoying the newest flavor, Sriracha.

  PERFECT KETO

  www.perfectketo.com

  A variety of supplements. I often use their collagen peptides and MCT oil. They make a great MCT oil powder, which is my favorite form of MCT oil because of how well it blends and digests. It also comes in a variety of flavors.

  PRIMAL PALATE

  www.primalpalate.com

  Organic spices and spice blends, with lots of no-sugar-added options. The taco seasoning is amazing. Primal Palate also offers seasoning packets in flavors such as French Onion and Garden Ranch.

  SUKRIN GOLD

  sukrinusa.com

  I like Sukrin’s brown sugar alternative and use it in any recipe that calls for brown sugar.

  WHISPS

  www.whisps.com

  Parmesan cheese crisps that come in a variety of flavors. They are great for snacking, but I also like using them as a salad topper.

  ZEVIA

  www.zevia.com

  Stevia-sweetened sodas. They come in a wide variety of flavors and can be found at most health food stores.

  Books and websites

  Here are just a few good resources to get you started. I encourage you to do your own online search because there are many more books, websites, and other resources that wonderfully represent the ketogenic lifestyl
e.

  BOOKS

  The Art and Science of Low Carb Living, by Stephen D. Phinney and Jeff S. Volek

  The Case Against Sugar, by Gary Taubes

  The Complete Guide to Fasting, by Jason Fung, MD, and Jimmy Moore

  Keto Clarity, by Jimmy Moore and Eric C. Westman, MD

  WEBSITES

  alldayidreamaboutfood.com

  dietdoctor.com

  grassfedgirl.com

  healthfulpursuit.com

  ketogenicgirl.com

  mariamindbodyhealth.com

  peaceloveandlowcarb.com

  sugarfreemom.com

  thecastawaykitchen.com

  Recipe Quick Reference

  Recipe Index

  Breakfast & Breads

  Smoked Sausage and Mushroom Breakfast Skillet

  Cowboy Breakfast Skillet

  Grain-Free Granola

  Skillet Pancake Puff

  Waffles

  Egg Muffins

  Home-Fried Bacon Radishes

  Sausage Gravy