Pitre - Keto fat bombs, sweets & treats: over 100 recipes and ideas for low-carb breads, cakes, cookies and more

ISBN 978-0-358-07430-4 (pbk) ISBN 978-0-358-07433-5 (ebk) Book design by Jennifer K. Beal Davis Author photo by John Kasinger v1.0219 To my mother, Veena Pitre. Even though I complained, Im really glad you voluntold me to cook nightly.

My agent, Stacey Glick, thank you so much for your continuing support. My editor, Justin Schwartz, with whom I hope to do more books that are not crashes. To our continued partnership and success! Ghazalle Badiozamani and her team of accomplished stylists and helpers make my food look prettynot just tasty. Thank you to Monica Pieroni, Leila Clifford, Jenna Tedesco, and Bridget Kenny for your great work. Thanks also to the whole army at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, which helped without my even realizing it, to make this book a reality.

You can speak six languages and dance backward in high heels. But if youre overweight, chances are, thats the first thing people notice about you. For many people, thats the last thing theyll notice about you as well. Its so easy to be dismissed as less than when youre carrying extra weight. I think this is due to the prevalent belief in our society that people are overweight because they lack self-control or discipline. I assure you, I do not lack self-control.

I am extremely disciplined. I rose to the top of my career as chief marketing information officer for a large advertising agency by dint of great discipline and a work ethic that had me working 16- to 18-hour days, in addition to trying to be a good mother. But I am quite sure that when I first walked into a room, what people probably noticed about me was the 80 extra pounds I was carrying. The idea that those who weigh more got that way because they eat more is also well-entrenched in our belief system. So much so that people will discount the evidence before them and continue to believe the myth that overweight = overeater, and thats why they got to be overweight. My colleagues loved going out with me for meals.

Many would ask what I planned to have and order something different. They did this because they knew they would finish their food, and then theyd eat half of mine since I never finished my portion. These same people spent days on end with me on business trips, where we all spent hours together and ate together. They saw what I ate. It was less than what most of them ate. Yet I was overweight, and they were not.

What do you want to bet that some of them thought I secretly ate late at night, in my hotel room? (For the record, I did not.) Be honest, wouldnt you have believed that? I was never someone who ate an entire large pizza by myself. I have never polished off a cake without sharing. I have never even eaten a whole pint of ice cream by myself. I was not a binge eater. I did not eat in secret. I didnt exceed normal portions.

In a society where we firmly believe in the All calories are equal and Expend more calories as you ingest theories of weight loss, people will discount your behavior, and continue to believe that if you are overweight, youre eating more than those who are not overweight. There are many other explanations for why people become overweight. In my case, the explanations were simplebut it took me years to identify them. During those years, I followed every eating style dictated by experts. I tried vegetarian, paleo, starvation, vegan diets. I tried eating five small meals.

I ate less than 800 calories a day, and during a few horrible months, I tried eating 2,500 calories a day because I was told I needed to fuel my metabolism. I tried it all. But the weight did not come off. There was one thing I never triedand that was a ketogenic diet. Part of this was my natural inclination to eat a vegetarian diet over a carnivorous diet. There is nothing wrong with a delicious vegetarian dietunless, like me, you are extremely carbohydrate sensitive and insulin resistant.

Then, eating brown rice and beans is probably not the best for you. It certainly wasnt the best thing for me. The other part of it was, I didnt believe it would work for me, since I had failed with so many other things. My inability to lose weightmy failure to, as I saw itweighed on me. I hate failing; I mean, we all do, but I HATE failing! I take it very personally and I get obsessed with it, and its... well, lets just say its not pretty.

In desperation, I decided to have weight loss surgery. I felt I had exhausted every other avenue. But before I did that, I had to understand that the surgery by itself would accomplish little. By dint of enforcing fasting, it might help me in the early days after surgery. But over time, it is entirely possible to put back on the weight if you dont change your eating habits. I heard many stories from people who had put back on allif not more ofthe weight, even after surgery.