This diet has not been challenging enough, so Nora’s now going raw food vegan too.
Happy April Fools Day!
I did find a fabulous hummus-substitute for Nora on the raw food vegan website of some of our favorite musicians, Jónsi of Sigur Rós and his partner Alex. Together they make music and art in Reykjavík, Iceland, and shared some of their raw food vegan recipes on their website. Click on the cool hand-drawn cookbook on the right to “flip” through the recipes. They’ve also made videos to demonstrate their “cooking” techniques (remember–this is raw food). I find it touchingly earnest and adorable somehow.
Macadamia nuts are often used in the ketogenic diet because they have a tremendous amount of “good” vegetable fats and low carbs. And they are totally delicious and cost their weight in gold (almost). I keep them in the fridge to be sure to keep them fresh. Nora has not been a huge fan of eating the nuts themselves, but I’ve tried to get them into her diet in other creative ways, like this.
I like the idea of putting Macadamia Monster Mash in half of a small pepper and broiling some cheese over the top (damn, I forgot about that vegan thing. And that raw food thing). But because Nora is only 3, she still isn’t a big fan of mixing her foods. One day she will appreciate a more complex presentation.
Here’s the recipe (I amended it a bit for Nora’s taste) and video for Macadamia Monster Mash:
Macadamia Monster Mash
Nutrition Information for Macadamia Monster Mash. From www.caloriecount.com
200 g macadamia nuts (about 1 cup, but for the diet I weigh it for precision)
1 tsp dried parsley
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1/3 c water
Mix in food processor or blender until creamy.
0.5 g net carbs
0.7 g fiber
0.7 g protein
6.3 g fat
The original recipe adds a clove of garlic and salt, which will slightly alter the nutritional information.
Nutritional information is based on a 12 g serving, about 1 tablespoon, but I weigh it on the scale instead of measuring it with a tablespoon.
Served on a flacker or low-carb tortilla, roll a little ball of Madacamia Monster Mash in some shredded cheddar cheese, spread on a slice of turkey and roll it up, or just eat it with a spoon. I’ve also mixed her coconut oil into it for easy serving.
One little sidelight: when I was making the recipe the first time, I realized that although water does not add any macro-nutrients, I need to specify the amount of water that I use in the recipe to get the correct nutritional information per serving. Why? Because the water adds weight/mass to the serving, in a sense “diluting” the other ingredients. A 12 g serving with water has different values than a 12 g serving without water. Details, details.
Hi Christy, I am from the TC area as well and have temporal lobe epilepsy and my epileptologist just recommended I go on a ketogenic diet as well. Also, vegan and raw foodist! This is going to be near impossible
best of luck to you! I would gladly welcome any advice you have!
Good luck Meg. I think it would be much harder as an adult, but it sounds like you have experience with food discipline. Sometimes I make a dish for Nora and realize that it’s vegan, and/or raw, but I think it would be very hard to feed her without cream or butter.
I would suggest that you ask about MCT (medium chain triglyceride) oil (coconut oil has some MCT, but not exclusively). If you look at the Charlie Foundation website and/or on Facebook, I think they recently had something about an MCT oil available in the US. They use it extensively in Britain (where it is covered by their national health insurance). MCT oil is much easier for the body to convert to ketones, so I think you can get by on a much lower ratio using a lot of it in your diet. I don’t have much experience with it, but remember the discussions at the Charlie Foundation symposium. It might make it easier to stay raw food vegan and do the diet. I don’t know how they make it, so you might want to look into that too.
Macadamia nuts and avocados are also the perfect keto foods, so buy macadamia nuts in bulk at a co-op–we get them in 5-lb bags and get a case discount!
Best of luck!