MacDowell - Plant-Forward Keto: Flexible Recipes and Meal Plans to Add Variety, Stay Healthy & Eat the Rainbow

Food and Drug Administration, and it is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Full medical clearance from a licensed physician should be obtained before beginning or modifying any diet, exercise, or lifestyle program, and physicians should be informed of all nutritional changes. The author/owner claims no responsibility to any person or entity for any liability, loss, or damage caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly as a result of the use, application, or interpretation of the information presented herein.
Cover design by Justin-Aaron Velasco Interior design by Kat Lannom and Eli San Juan Illustrations by Eli San Juan Meat protein topper recipes on by Launie Kettler Meat protein topper recipe photos by Tatiana Briceag Printed in Canada TC 0122

Instead of clear skin, boundless energy, perfect digestion, and rapid weight loss, I experienced constant extreme fatigue, insatiable hunger, the chills, a lot of what I am going to gently refer to as moodiness, and (much to my dismay) weight gain. As embarrassed as I am to admit it, I often think that if it wasnt for the 10 pounds I gained during that six-week period, I would have kept going despite the other awful side effects. Anyone who has been desperate to fix their health and/or lose weight can probably relate to that feeling. Thankfully, the weight gain forced me to re-evaluate how my current diet was impacting my well-being, and I started looking for alternatives. Because I tend to exist in extremes, my natural response to a high-carb diet failure was to look into low-carb diets. I had played around with Atkins (also plant-based, which meant my meals consisted of a lot of peanut butter, cheese, and eggs and not much else) in the late 1990s and experienced moderate success, so that diet became my launching-off point. At the risk of sounding overly dramatic, keto changed my life. At the risk of sounding overly dramatic, keto changed my life.

I lost the extra weight that plagued me, the pain and swelling in my joints vanished, I felt more clear-headed than ever, and I finally understood what people meant when they said they were regular. If you also have IBS, youll likely relate there. I also experienced a balancing of my once-volatile blood sugar levels and a bunch of other smaller effects that are too boring to list here. Keto really helped me understand what it is like to feel (I assume) normal. So, despite it being a little out-there, I stuck with a plant-based, very-low-carb way of eating. Im not sharing this story to talk about how great keto is and how terrible high-carb vegan diets are.

In fact, many studies show that high-carb vegan diets can be incredibly beneficial for improving blood sugar control, metabolic markers, and cardiovascular healththe very same improvements people notice on ketogenic diets! Clearly, high-carb plant-based diets have their place in the nutrition world. I just happen to be one of the people for whom a high-carb diet is not the right approach. In this same vein, I dont think ketogenic diets are right for everyone. I know people who never felt well while in ketosis despite doing everything right. Some of them started to notice benefits when they increased their carbohydrate intake to the point of eating a low-carb, but not ketogenic, diet. Others started thriving when they took a more medium-carb approach.

The point is, we are all different, and its impossible to know what will work for your body without doing a little experimentation. My own experience with trying to dial in what works best for me has taken many different forms. While I currently eat a predominantly keto-friendly and entirely plant-based diet, there are days when my body seems to function better with some additional carbohydrates. (More on that later!) I have also increased my baseline intake of carbs over the years as my fitness goals and lifestyle have changed. While my first book reflected where I was when I started keto (pretty strict with my net carbs, with little wiggle room and a lot of tracking), the recipes in this book mirror the way I eat todayincreased flexibility in meals with a larger variety of vegetables and modifications to adjust the carbohydrate content. This book also recognizes that while many of us follow a completely plant-based diet, not everyone does.

Many people live in mixed-diet households where many accommodations must be made at mealtime for different ways of eating. Many more incorporate some form of animal product in at least one meal per day. With this in mind, this book contains suggestions for using a broader variety of proteins for those who eat eggs or dairy, and even a section of animal protein recipes developed by a super talented recipe developer. So, if you happen to be plant-based but your spouse and kids are not, you can make one entre and two proteins instead of two completely different entres. However, if you eat a totally plant-based diet, you can still make every single main recipe in this book. I just want everyone to feel as good as possible!