Kosher Keto
By Esther Mandella
You have probably seen it! The Keto Diet has swept the world by storm. Talk to a friend, pick up a magazine, or surf YouTube and you will see it everywhere! People worldwide are seeing great results on the ketogenic diet!
The Keto Diet focuses on high-fat food options, encourages you to intake a low amount of protein, and instructs you to say no to high-carb foods. The results can be amazing! Before and after pictures are flooding social media, and your friends look great after only months on this diet!
You want to have emuna, faith, that you will have similar results, but you search the web, and all the meal plans appear with glossy photos of high-fat foods such as bacon, bacon, and more bacon. Not just that, post after post encourages you to add creamy butter to your steak, or better yet, rich, bleu cheese. What should you do? Can this diet, or lifestyle, be for you? Or do you have to put it away as a non-kosher option, that you need to say no to?
Have no fear! In today’s article we are going to discuss awesome ways to make a Keto diet a kosher diet, and in a way that will not break the bank!
To do this properly, we will have to take a look at another diet, the Mediterranean diet, or as I like to think of it, the Torah Inspired Diet.
In Torah times, our people focused on wholesome foods such as fish, with scales and fins, nuts and seeds, and olive oil. Oil was used to anoint our kings. They were not slathering butter on their heads!
Fish can be fairly inexpensive. It is also a food that doesn’t need shchita! Jewish tradition teaches that fish lived in the sea, always closer to their source, so it did not require a kosher slaughter to be fit to eat. This means your local Walmart or Cost savings store will have scores of kosher options to choose from at an very affordable price. Fish like salmon and trout have all those healthy omega 3 fats your brain is craving, and your body can use to burn for energy!
As mentioned earlier, oil was used to anoint kings, kohenim, and used in sacrifices in the Beit HaMikdash, Holy Temple! In our own home, we can make a mini Beit Hamikdash by glorifying Hashem in everything we do! This can include trading the buttery steak, for a pareve food, rich with extra virgin olive oil and aromatic spices!
In Shir Hashirim, Chapter 6 we read:
11I went down into the garden of nuts,
To look at the green plants of the valley,
To see whether the vine budded,
And the pomegranates were in flower.
Nuts are found in positive ways throughout the Tanakh! Let’s follow the chochmah, wisdom, of Schlomo Hamelech and choose the low carb, satisfying fats of nuts. Remember to look for options that are rich in fats yet also super, low-carb. Pecan and macadamia nuts are rich in taste, and extremely low in carbohydrates, weighing in at only about 1 net carb each! Sprinkling nuts on your yogurt for breakfast, or fish for dinner, can taste great and make you look like a gourmet chef!
Remember to do any diet plan under the guidance of a health professional!
Emuna Judaism is all about applying the Torah to your lives!
May you be satisfied with Hashem’s bounty!
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