Hello Lovelies,
Welcome to the fun of cooking and specifically, cooking for keto. We have a fantastic new take on Keto Coffee!
Now, I hate food bloggers who write out this whole long beautiful story and then wait to share the recipe at the very end. I mean, it is cool to read the first time, but when I bookmark that recipe and have to scroll ALL. THE. WAY. down through the cute story and the pretty pictures (and all the ads, I know, they do it for a reason. I’m just not playing that game.)
So here is the recipe
An Angells’ Life Keto Coffee
- 1 tsp MCT oil- You can do up to 1 tbs based on your own tolerance. We use Now Sports Pure MCT Oil. It came highly recommended from GNC.
- 1 tbs grass-fed butter– Just as with Bulletproof coffee, you can do 2 tbs, if you prefer. We use Kerrygold Pure Irish Butter cream from Costco
- 1 scoop Whey Protein– You can do 2 scoops if you like your coffee sweeter. We use Gold Standard Whey Protein because it is the least chalky we’ve used. But all the ones we’ve tried are sweet.
- 8-16 oz of coffee– Any coffee of your choice. I have tried it with Death Wish and with Kirkland’s Colombian Brew. So good. If you are not a fan of coffee but need to up your fats and proteins, try this with almond milk and half and half.
When I make it I stick to the low end of the ingredients in the recipe because I blend it all up in my ninja cup, which has a 16 oz fill capacity. I blend it for 15 seconds or so and it makes the absolutely most amazing frothy happy goodness! One thing we are going to try next is to only fill the cup half full for blending and then add more in my coffee cup because the last two days it keeps exploding when I open it. Then I will add the blended bit to the top of my cup (Kind of like Dalgono coffee) and stir to happy perfection.
Nutrition facts, based on the smaller serving.
You guys, no joke. This is the frothiest, creamiest most delightful drink ever made. It is like a perfect blending of bulletproof coffee, Dalgona coffee, and Keto coffee. I mean, look at that foam!?
Why Keto
So, for those who don’t know, I am new to Keto. I have spent the last year working really hard to lose weight through traditional methods being taught by Weigh to Health, a local progam offered at Intermountain Health. I have loved this 1-year program, I truly have. The dietitian we work with has been absolutely amazing, kind, supportive, understanding, and proactive. However, from September to February, I only lost 25 lbs (which honestly, I really was fine with, despite my sister and mom losing 50 ish lbs each in the same time period doing Keto.) I was focusing on other measurements, not just the scale and I was happy. My body shape was better, my skin was better, my workouts gave me more energy and I felt good.
Then Covid-19 Hit
Like everyone, our lives were disrupted. We were luckier than most in that James was able to continue working, just doing it from home. We scrambled a bit with fear, uncertainty, there was some comfort eating that happened. Our workout routine was completely dropped for a few weeks.
But thanks to Weigh to Health and our amazing dietitian offering weekly support meetings via Webex, I was able to get back on the wagon. I started walking and doing HIIT to replace going to the gym. While we were doing a lot more baking and got an ice cream machine, I was carefully to track my calories and added in little quick walks every hour or so and got back up to 8-10K steps a day. I added self-care to my daily routine to help with the stress because I tend to eat less when I am stressed. I’m weird compared to most obese people, I am prone to undereating in general and that has caused my metabolism to completely tank.
But I Digress
So yeah, got back on track, mostly. There are struggles. I hurt so much because I’m not swimming three days a week. My arthritis hates walking. My knees and back hate HIIT. But I fight through the pain because I am committed to being healthier and happier.
Yet each week I watched the scale creep up.
For all of May I was talking about wanting to try the Keto diet. I only have 4 months left of this Weigh 2 Health program and then I am back in my doctor’s office. The doctor who said that my choices to deal with my constant physical pain are A) Lose Weight B) Have surgeries.
I am so done with surgeries. But we’d done our Monthly Costco trip so we were going to wait and start together once we ate up most of those meals.
As of Sunday, I weighed in at 363.2. That is a weight gain of 6 lbs the week in my cycle that I am usually the lightest! I cannot keep doing this. I started Keto that day.
Monday I tried to make Coffee with Stevia and I couldn’t even finish my coffee. It was awful! Why did no one warn me away from Stevia? I had been talking with people online and IRL about starting the diet, people who had done the diet and had success, no one warned me.
But that’s ok. I was willing to give up coffee rather than quit Keto. (Because I am very particular about coffee. If it is not sweet enough or creamy enough, I just won’t bother. My mom joked that I don’t like coffee, I like coffee flavored sweet milk. She isn’t wrong.) I have seen way too many people have excellent success with it. Despite vowing never to do another fad diet, my dietitian said it is a science-based diet and actually the diet I would do if I had lap band surgery (one of the possible surgeries my doctor was encouraging me to consider.)
Why This Recipe
My family have had a ton of success doing dirty keto, something closer to Atkins than what I am doing. It has worked great for them. But I did Atkins when I was a teenager and I lost 15 lbs in the first month and then nothing else, despite faithfully doing the diet for over a year.
That is the story with every diet I have tried.
But one of the most compelling things I have seen about Keto is that it isn’t just lowering your carb count, it is very much focusing on increasing your fats. My whole life I have been on low fat. I grew up drinking skim milk, eating margarine, and diet-everything. While I changed that in my late 20st when I was diagnosed with fatty liver disease (going to a “clean” diet, eating foods that are natural. No more margarine, no more “diet” type low fat, no more foods with a huge list of ingredients that show it is chemically altered.) I still consume very little fats and oils.
My hope is that this is the secret that will change my weight loss struggles.
My tongue is… not like other people’s tongues. Most people crave fat. They like it. Not mine. I really struggle to get enough fat on a “normal” diet. Trying to get the 190 grams of fat that my keto plan is saying I need based on my height, weight, and BMI?
KILLING ME
But all that butter and MCT oil helps me start the day pushing those fats that I need. I have yet to hit my goal, but compared to pre-keto when I was consuming 30-40, I’m now getting between 165-180. I’m hoping in a week or two, I can up the butter and MCT oil and be ok.
I also add the scoop of whey protein for a similar reason. Pre-Keto I was struggling with hitting my protein goals to build the muscle I was creating and my dietitian advised that going to the gym on an empty stomach in the morning was not good. I struggle to consume food in the first two hours so I have been having a “breakfast” of protein shake and coffee to get 500 cal in the first 2 hours of waking up. Still trying to achieve that early morning breakfast on Keto because I know that routine is the reason that I actually feel hunger pangs for the first time in…. too many years to remember. Honestly.
So that is the reason for this recipe. I think it is better than Keto Coffee. What do you think? I hope you give it a try. If you do, I would love to see a pic! Feel free to tag me, or #anangellslifeofcooking so I can see and hear from you how it works for you.
Until next time,
Stay inspired!