Vivica Menegaz - Keto Cooking for Healing and Weight Loss: 80 Delicious Low-Carb, Grain- and Dairy-Free Recipes

Copyright 2021 Vivica Menegaz

First published in 2021 by

Page Street Publishing Co.

27 Congress Street, Suite 105

Salem, MA 01970

www.pagestreetpublishing.com

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eISBN 978-1-64567-262-3

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2020942956

Cover and book design by Kylie Alexander for Page Street Publishing Co.

Photography by Yasmin Alishav

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THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED TO ALL THE PEOPLE WHO BELIEVE IN THE BODYS INTELLIGENCE AND ABILITY TO HEAL ITSELF.

If you do not take time for your health today, you will have to take time for your illness tomorrow.

DR. BRUCE BOND

Born into an Italian restaurateur family and having spent my first twenty years immersed in Italys food culture, it was only natural that I developed a passion for food from an early age.

Outside of Italy, Italians are famous for two things: their love of football and their love of food. On this basis, I am wholeheartedly an Italian because of the latter.

Years ago, I expressed my passion for food through my love of food photography. As I began to question the food I was photographing, this passion evolved and deepened as I came to understand more about how my personal food choices were impacting my health.

As someone who has always been holistically minded, I turn to natural health solutions first. Eventually this led me to my true hearts vocation: nutrition and helping people heal using food as a tool.

I made my first connection to nutrition thanks to the help of my first mentor, Dr. Deborah Penner. She actively pushed me to pursue my interest in nutrition, recommended courses of study and eventually employed me as her patient advocate.

It was during the years I worked for her that I had my first encounter with the ketogenic diet. Back in 2014, few people were talking about the ketogenic diet outside of the realm of epileptic seizure control. Tracing back to the 1920s and 30s, the ketogenic diets first therapeutic application was in controlling what were considered at the time to be untreatable seizures. In the 1990s, the ketogenic diet was brought back to the publics attention by bodybuilders who utilized it to maximize fat loss while sparing lean muscle mass.

When I started recommending the ketogenic diet for weight loss and health in Dr. Penners nutrition practice, only a handful of people, such as Jimmy Moore and Maria Emmerich, were writing and talking about it. There were few resources I could refer to for recipes, information and personal life experiences with this approach.

Much to my shock and disbelief, I had just been diagnosed as a prediabetic. It was at this point I flipped the mirror and used my personal challenge as fuel for my research into the ketogenic diet. Slowly my focus changed from the local, sustainable Paleo diet I was recommending, and I started to incorporate more of the ketogenic ratios that helped me control my blood sugar and hormonal issues. Paleo is the ideal foundation for a healthy diet, and I found that the proper macronutrient ratios take it to the next level.

I realized that this way of eating could be the solution for all the serious metabolic issues I saw in my patients, and myself, and that it could be the most valuable tool not just for weight loss, but for healing. The metabolic system is deeply connected to the endocrine system, and one of the biggest mistakes of most weight-loss diets is that they completely ignore the health of both, in the quest to shed pounds.

A very common misconception I come across every day with my readers and prospective clients is that they think losing weight will lead them to better health. It is actually the opposite. Forcing the body to lose weight indiscriminately, without first addressing underlying issues of why the weight gain occurred in the first place, will just cause further damage. Sometimes the damage done to the metabolism by years of low-fat, low-calorie and yo-yo dieting takes concerted effort to correct, and even then, the damage may be beyond repair!

The good news is, there is a solution, and not just for your stubborn weight problem! We arent talking about another quick-fix diet that comes at the price of your health and well-being. This is a long-term lifestyle change that will provide you with plenty of delectable food options, give you freedom from hunger and unchain you from your sugar cravings. Its a lifestyle that supports your vibrant health (mental and physical!) and your quality of life. Welcome to a therapeutic ketogenic diet!

IS THIS YOU?

Your morning alarm rings. Youve had another restless seven hours of sleep. Ignoring the beeping alarm, you turn over for just five more minutes. Those five minutes turn into half an hour and suddenly, youre running late. In the frenzy of getting ready, you have no time to eat breakfast. Thank goodness for coffee.

The day passes in a frenzy of sugar highs and lows. You spend your morning in scattered bouts of productivity. Your willpower has gone out the door by lunchtime, and an unfocused mind leads you to spend your lunch break chowing down a sandwich at your desk. In a desperate attempt to regain your energy, you reach for more caffeine and sugar.

Then comes the mid-afternoon slump. You feel your energy tanking and the sugar cravings hit hard. Thankfully you keep those candy bars in your bottom drawer!

After another long day, you return home and find yourself too tired to cook. You had grand plans of going to the gym, but instead, you find yourself parked on the couch with some takeout in hand, pizza being the food of choice this particular night. Soon enough, the whole box is empty and you dont even remember eating the last piece. Those sneaky food gremlins! Youre too tired to even clean up, and with drippings of guilt weighing on you, eventually you find yourself drifting to sleep with the promise lingering on your mind that tomorrow will be better.

Only to rinse and repeat the next day.

Reflecting on your past, youve noticed the same patterns crop up. Diet after diet, you always trend toward low-fat and low-calorie because isnt that the way youre supposed to lose weight? Youve been told this your whole life!