Here's a super easy recipe for making different flavors of keto cream cheese icing. I love using this frosting in whoopie pies and cupcakes. Only takes minutes. Let me know if you have other flavors to add!

Source: Ultimate Guide to Low Carb Keto Cream Cheese Icing (check this out for some more tips and details on the specific kitchen equipment I often use)

KETO CREAM CHEESE ICING (LOW-CARB, GLUTEN FREE, KETO, DIABETIC FRIENDLY)

INGREDIENTS

• 4 oz (113g) Cream Cheese
  
• 1/2 stick (57g or 4 Tablespoons) Unsalted Butter
  
• 1/4 cup (48g) Sweetener of Your Choice (ChipMonk’s AlluMonk Sweetener, Lakanto’s Monk Fruit Sweetener, or Swerve Confectioners Sweetener all work great)
  
• Flavorings of your choice:
  
  • Maple Icing
    
    
    • 1 teaspoon of Maple Extract (McCormick works well)
      
  • Lemon Icing
    
    
    • 1/4 teaspoon Vanilla Extract (McCormick works well)
      
    • 1/4 teaspoon Lemon Extract (McCormick works well)
      
    • 1/2 Tablespoon Lemon Juice (best if squeezed from fresh lemons)
      
  • Chocolate Icing
    
    
    • 1 Tbsp Unsweetened Cocoa Powder (Ghirardelli works well)
      
  • Vanilla Icing
    
    
    • 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract (McCormick works well)
      
  • Raspberry Icing
    
    
    • 1 teaspoon Raspberry Extract (McCormick works well)
      
    • Red food coloring as needed
      
      

      INSTRUCTIONS
      

      
      

1. In a medium-sized bowl, cream the butter and cream cheese together with a mixer until fully combined. It helps if the butter and cream cheese have softened some before doing this (you can zap them in the microwave for 15 seconds to help)
   
2. OPTIONAL: If you are using a granulated sweetener, throw it into a blender or food processor. Blend the sweetener until it is fine, fluffy, and powdered. Powdering your sweetener makes for a smoother frosting.
   
3. Add the sweetener and flavorings to your bowl and beat slowly until the sweetener is incorporated (go slow to avoid it getting blown into the air)
   
4. Once the sweetener is incorporated, beat on high for 2 minute or until fluffy
   
5. Use a piping bag (something like these) to pipe the frosting onto whatever you’d like (including directly into your mouth!).
   
6. Enjoy! Keep any icing in an airtight container in your fridge. If refrigerated, they should be good for about a week. (up to 3 months if kept in the freezer)
   
   ​
   
   Source: Ultimate Guide to Low Carb Keto Cream Cheese Icing (check this out for some more tips and details on the specific kitchen equipment I often use)

Can't you just use glucose? It's like $5/lb on Amazon as either syrup or powder. Or you can get 50 lb for $60.

Edit: There are also options at $3/lb and $2/lb if you know where to look.

Gin + glucose + citric acid + lime oil + mint = southside
Tequila + Fresca + citric acid + grapefruit oil + salt = paloma
Rum (light) + glucose + citric acid + mint + club soda = mojito

Citric acid can be found at the grocery store (or online). Citrus oils can be found in the peel.

take kerry gold with you in your purse. It does not go bad unless you cross contaminated it. get a lil mini tupperware. I also bring my little bottle of [ez sweet] (http://www.amazon.com/EZ-Sweetz-Stevia-Monk-Fruit-1-36oz/dp/B00AQ50DEM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1394498367&sr=8-1&keywords=ez+sweet+monk+fruit). I like being prepared. lol

Keep smiling

Congrats on your progress!

​

I found that Cinnamon in the morning really helped with sugar cravings.

https://www.organicauthority.com/energetic-health/spices-that-naturally-stop-sugar-cravings

​

Also, Monkfruit is an amazing sugar substitute. It's the only non-sugar sweetener that is 100% natural and creates absolutely no insulin response, which makes it great for SCD. I prefer its flavor to all of the alternatives. You just have to be careful that you're getting 100% monkfruit. Drops are better because they don't include fillers, which most powder options do, and they're affordable, which the pure powder is not. This is the one I've used:

https://www.amazon.com/Lakanto-Liquid-Sweetener-Calories-Original/dp/B07G4ST2GL

Sugar craving or sweet tooth craving?

Stevia. Something like this Have a glass of water, squeeze in a bit of lemon juice and a few drops of stevia. Lemonade. Cold brew some tea in a gallon jug, pour in a cup, few drops of stevia, iced tea.

Also as far as comparing fruit to fruit juice. There is a ton of fiber and other stuff in a whole fruit that you miss out on with juice. Juice is pure sugar, whole fruits are way better.

Try this? Stevia is all natural, and there are no chemicals added to the liquid extract like there are in the powdered forms (truvia/purevia).

You can make quest bars really easily:

https://youtu.be/EFm0G3h4m1Q how to

VitaFiber IMO Syrup - Prebiotic Fiber Sugar-Free Sweetener - Alternative Sugar Substitute - 14.9 fl. oz https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07K8YDDQQ/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_Ur00CbCS4T58D fiber syrup ( you can get it cheaper, that’s just the one I use)

You can get pretty creative, my favorite combo is salted Carmel protein and PB2.

They sell the non-baking Truvia in a little tub at most big grocery stores. I think I might just try using Stevia in the Raw for this. It will add about 24 g carbs total but my net for each brownie still ends up at 2.5 if I use Ghirardelli 100% baking cocoa anyway.

What you’re describing sounds a lot like either Orange Blossom Water or Florida Water to me. If not, perhaps this idea might lead you to the right thing. 😊

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B009SL5EBM/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_t1_cR-tDbWYM60WC

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01EVJL0TK/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_t1_2S-tDb18B4SXW

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ZVEYI0I/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_t1_-X-tDbCEP46V0

Following the recipe above, without any toppings, each serving costs me about $1.45 - which for a lunch I do not think is bad at all. With two tablespoons of Peanut Butter as a topping, which is what I have been doing, it ups the cost to about $1.75 a meal. - but yes 75% of that cost is the hemp seeds

​

• $0.10 in coconut milk (for 1/3 a cup of coconut milk)
  
• $1.12 in hemp hearts (1/4 a cup of hemp hearts)
  
• $0.04 in chia seeds (1/2 tablespoon of chia seeds)
  
• $0.06 in Swerve (1 teaspoon of swerve)
  
• $0.07 in Vanilla (1/4 teaspoon of vanilla)
  
  ​
  
  
• $0.29 in peanut butter (two tablespoons)
  
  ​
  
  updated to include specific measurements I use for each serving as opposed to the whole recipe which is how I determined the cost.

couple drops of half-n-half & stevia does the trick for me.

I've tried some store bought low carb barbecue sauces, and they're almost always disgusting. I've been looking for an alternative that I can use on ribs, pork shoulder, chicken, etc. so I decided to just make my own. Most of the carbs come from the reduced sugar ketchup. It's possible to make our own ketchup without sugar and get the carbs to about half of that so its around 3.5g carbs, which I may try next time.

 

BBQ Sauce
2 Cups Reduced Sugar Ketchup - 32g Carbs
1/2 Cup Low Sodium Chicken Broth - 1g Carb
1/2 Cup Water
1/2 Cup Apple Cider Vinegar - 1g Carb
4 Tablespoons Splenda Brown Sugar - 16g Carbs
6 Tablespoons Granulated Splenda - 2g Carb
1/2 Tablespoon Freshly Ground Pepper
1/2 Tablespoon Onion Powder
1/2 Tablespoon Ground Mustard
1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice - 2g Carbs
1 Tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce - 3g Carbs
1 Tablespoon Tabasco Sauce (Optional) - 5g Carbs
1 Teaspoon Ghost Pepper Flakes (Optional)

Total - 12 Ounces / 56g Impact Carbs / 61g Impact Carbs with Tabasco
Serving Size - 1 Ounce / 4.7g Impact Carbs / 5g Impact Carbs with Tabasco

 

Step 1:
Take out your drumsticks, pat them dry with paper towels, then liberally salt with Kosher salt and place back in the refrigerator.

Step 2:
Mix all barbecue sauce ingredients in a sauce pot. Bring to a boil, once boiling reduce to a simmer and cook for an hour, stirring frequently. We want to reduce it until its thicker like most barbecue sauces. After about an hour, bottle your sauce and place in the refrigerator.

Step 3:
Set your grill to about 350-400. For my Weber Spirit E-310, I had one burner off and two burners on low. If you don't already, invest in a decent digital thermometer so you can set one at the grill grates to read temperature. It will easily pay for itself in terms of less ruined food. Pull your chicken out of the refrigerator while the grill comes to temp.

Step 4:
Season your drumsticks, I used a combination of garlic powder, pepper and cayenne pepper. Do not cover your drumsticks with bbq sauce yet, we will do that at the end of our grilling.

Step 5:
Once your grill is at temperature, put your drumsticks on. Grill the drumsticks for about 20 minutes, flipping occassionaly. Check the internal temperature with a thermometer often.

Step 6:
Once the drumsticks reach 165°, coat them with barbecue sauce. Now turn up the heat to medium high, cook for a couple minutes until they reach 185-190° and pull them. Let the chicken rest for 5-10 minutes and serve.

The suggested serving size is what other barbecue sauces use. I think, realistically, you will end up using more than that depending on the size and quantity of drumsticks you consume. But some of the sugars will end up burning off during the grilling.

Splenda is really just sugar because they bind it with maltodextrin (sugar, pretty much) to give the sweetener more volume. And because the amount of carbs is under 0.5 grams per serving, they're allowed to state that their Splenda sweetener binded with what's-essentially-sugar Maltodextrin is "sugar free".

The same with this brand of Stevia. It is stevia but they also bind Dextrose (aka sugar) to it to give it more volume, and thus, make it cheaper for them. But this is a sneaky practice because if you look at some of the reviews, you'll find that lots of people are finding that this sweetener is spiking their blood sugar, which is bad for the keto folks.


TL;DR: Only buy pure stevia. You can tell if it's pure by looking at the ingredients. If it's just Stevia and maybe "Reb A*", it's safe. If there is maltodextrin or dextrose in the ingredients list, stay the hell away, or you may as well be eating actual sugar.

Osteopenia is definitely a consideration for periodontal risk. One way you can make sure that you're absorbing/retaining calcium systemically is by using xylitol. Xylitol effectively transports calcium through the gut wall, thereby making it more bioavailable. Human studies on this are still preliminary, but the data from animal studies is very strong.

Xylitol is also highly effective at preventing cavities, especially when taken regularly throughout the day. The amount of xylitol you need for calcium facilitation is something like 30-40 grams over the course of a day. One teaspoon is about 4.5 grams, so you're looking at 6 teaspoons over a day (or 2 tablespoons). If you're interesting in trying, I'd recommend having a cup of green tea with 2 teaspoons of xylitol, 3 times a day. Green tea has a good amount of naturally occurring fluoride, so it may help even further with cavity prevention.

The only thing you wanna watch out for w/ this regimen is to start off your xylitol uptake slowly. If you have too much all up front, you may get some nice explosive diarrhea. Your body quickly adapts to it though, usually after a couple of weeks of controlled exposure.

Here's a link to some bulk xylitol: http://amzn.com/B000ORSIJ4

Costs $25, should last you 75 days if you use that recommended amount every day, which costs about 33 cents a day.

I like liquid Stevia in my coffee. Another good option is XyloSweet .

http://www.amazon.com/Truvia-Natures-Calorie-Free-Sweetener/dp/B0044X5RWA/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1348708457&sr=8-4&keywords=Truvia

Personally I use Whole Earth Stevia/Monk Fruit/Erythritol and love it.

https://www.amazon.com/SWEETENER-Erythritol-Sweetener-Substitute-Natural/dp/B07BYTRKK5/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_325_t_1?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=RS3QS52ZS2X2BWRP1RZ9

I sooo want to like stevia. But I don't. Most of it tastes nasty.

In general, I try not to use sweetners at all, but when I do, I use this:
http://www.amazon.com/EZ-Sweetz-2oz-Liquid-Sweetener-Servings/dp/B002MO765O/ref=sr_1_3?s=grocery&ie=UTF8&qid=1404834454&sr=1-3&keywords=sucralose

Or, sometimes, because I really want to like stevia:
http://www.amazon.com/EZ-Sweetz-Stevia-Monk-Fruit-1-36oz/dp/B00AQ50DEM/ref=sr_1_1?s=grocery&ie=UTF8&qid=1404834542&sr=1-1&keywords=stevia+monk+fruit

For stuff with a strong natural taste, I can get away with the Stevia/Monk fruit combo. For things that are not that naturally strong flavored, or require quite a bit of sweetening, I just break down and use the sucralose.

On a related note, this year I'm growing a stevia plant in our garden. First time trying it. Those leaves are like candy! Just pop one in and chew. For some reason, a straight, raw leaf tastes fine. Maybe its just the novelty factor.

It can.

http://www.amazon.com/Splenda-Calorie-Sweetener-Granulated-1-2-Pound/dp/B001GVIRYS

You'll still have calories from the butter, eggs, and flour, but not from sugar.

Granulated, as in grains. Think beach sand or table sugar.

You can get sweeteners in different forms, like powdered, syrup, liquid or granulated.

In keto, popular granulated sweeteners include Erythitol, Swerve, and Stevia. You can get granulated Splenda, but it's got maltodextrin mixed in with it which is loaded with carbs.

I don't suggest really ever using Xylitol for keto. It's harmful to dogs and has a high glycemic index as compared to better alternatives like Erythitol or Stevia. Xylitol is available in liquid and granulated forms.

Erythitol and Swerve are great for baking. Stevia (the best keto one is called SweetLeaf) is great for adding to cofffee.

Not all stevia tastes the same. I personally like this one: https://www.amazon.com/SweetLeaf-Sweetener-70-Count-Packets-2-5-Ounce/dp/B003WO0I6C

For your chocolate protien shakes: definitely PB2 and Stevia!

I suggest getting this PB2 pack to start. It gives you a normal peanut butter one, and a chocolate - peanut butter one. It's only slightly more expensive than the pack that gives you way fewer ounces.
PB2 is dehydrated peanutbutter. It's got a great flavor, but a fraction of the calories and fats. You can also mix it with water if you want to use it as normal peanutbutter. It does have a little different consistency when you use it that way, however. Less greasy than peanut butter. More "fluffy".

As for the Stevia, you can try this one. If you're not familiar, it's an all natural sweetener that has 0 calories. Not only is it sweet and calorieless, but it's actually healthy for you and helps strengthen teeth!

For a fast protien boost, plop together some ice, water or almond milk, half of a banana, a scoop of chocolate protien powder and a Tablespoon of PB2. You can also add a dash of salt (to bring out the flavor of PB), some cocoa powder or sugar free chocolate jello pudding mix (to make it chocolatier, and thicker in the case of the pudding mix), and stevia and/or splenda or honey. Mix it up and yum yum!! You can also mix protien powder (chocolate, cookies and cream, or vanilla) with peanut butter or PB2, and add a few chocolate chips (if you want), with some sweetener, and BOOM! You have what my hubby and I call "peanutbutter stuff". It's like a healthy peanutbutter ball.

Hope all that helps!!

(And yes, I have doggie things on my list) ;)

I've had good luck with this, it's monkfruit and measures out the same as sugar. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003DVMYUW/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 It's sweet, has no aftertaste, and has no calories or carbs.

This is really cool, thanks for posting the guide. A second option, which I've used is to back sweeten with a sugar subtitute that doesn't ferment. I've used Xylitol with good results.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000ORXYYS/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s04?ie=UTF8&psc=1

My medication gives me really bad dry mouth so my dentist told me to get XyloSweet. I put a bit in a water bottle and just sip that all day. I noticed a difference in just a couple of days. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000ORSIJ4/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Well I usually use mine for baking occasionally and to put in protein shakes etc. I've had mine for about six months and the bottle is over 3/4 full. Obviously will depend on your usage. The one I bought didn't specifically have a dropper but the opening in it only lets you use a drop at a time if that makes sense. This is the one I bought http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00C0TJU46/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

'Twas a joke.

But just fyi, mixers usually use the following to sweeten juices:

• Liquid Stevia
  
• EZ-Sweets
  
• Ethyl Maltol
  
  I'm sure there are others, but those are the only ones I know of, as my juice mixing knowledge isn't very extensive.
  
  And I'm sure all of these 'caramelize' to varying degrees.

Is this okay for xylitol packets? Or this one?

I already am supposed to not drink anything else/rinse after using my toothpaste at night so I don't know if using that MI Paste would be right or not according to my dentist. What is it, anyway?

I already like cheese.... but I will buy sunflower seeds! Thanks for the help.

Non-mobile:

• this PB2 pack
  
• this one
  
  ^That's ^why ^I'm ^here, ^I ^don't ^judge ^you. ^PM ^/u/xl0 ^if ^I'm ^causing ^any ^trouble. ^WUT?

The sweetener in Huel powders is Sucralose. That's a very common flavoring used in many products, so your wife probably knows for sure if she can abide it. People who get a bitter after-taste from Sucralose are a small minority but she could be one of the lucky ones.

To sweeten the U/U powder you can as /u/ptrichardson says, just add some sugar. Add sugar "to taste" (to her taste) but measure so you know how many calories you are adding.

Another option is Monkfruit. This is used in a couple of other meal replacement products than Huel. It's different chemically from Sucralose, but like it, is a very powerful sweetener. (Believe them when they say "just a few drops".) Possibly your wife would not perceive it as unpleasant.

I apologize for not getting back to you sooner.

I got the recipe from the video (added link below) and made some modifications. For example, reduced by half the amount of the vital wheat gluten and for the other half I used almond flour. I added two teaspoons of anise seed, two tablespoons of orange blossom water, and used 1/2 cup of erythritol as sweetener instead of the 4 tablespoons he calls out in the recipe.. I noticed that the dough comes out nicer if you keep it warm while working on it.

I hope this info is helpful and your bread comes out nicer than mine!!

keto buns

Here is the info of the orange blossom water I used. Note that I got it from a local supermarket in Austin, TX, it was cheaper than Amazon.

orange blossom water

I recommend liquid stevia extract. It's the only sweetener I've found to rival the taste of real sugar. http://www.amazon.com/Pure-Stevia-Liquid-Extract/dp/B000W0G62E

I've used this in the past with decent results. I haven't used it too much after switching to paleo (things tend to seem uber sweet on their own). Never had a problem with chemical tastes.

What I do now is by perrier or other carbonated waters with flavours (in particular Perrier grapefruit) and add in a little Truvia:

https://www.amazon.com/Truvia-Spoonable-Natural-Sweetener-9-8/dp/B0044X5RWA/ref=pd_sim_325_5?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B0044X5RWA&pd_rd_r=BXFCBQKWK9A455Z60VB2&pd_rd_w=kE9Yu&pd_rd_wg=bOI84&refRID=BXFCBQKWK9A455Z60VB2&th=1

Hmm I like I little lemon or lime or tangerine squeezed in my water on occasion but not sure if that's low enough sugar.

I've had these before and they're pretty good, no sugar, and 0 calories :)

https://www.amazon.com/SweetLeaf-Liquid-Sweetener-2-Ounce-Bottles/dp/B001E5E3MQ

Trying this one:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Now-Foods-Better-Glycerite-Alcohol/dp/B00C0TJU46/ref=sr_1_2?s=drugstore&ie=UTF8&qid=1398779659&sr=1-2&keywords=liquid+stevia

which claims no alcohol, which I guess is okay. As for the rest, I have no clue. My mind is going sideways trying to analyze which things added to sweeteners make them bad or okay.

Baking Soda and Xilitol (this one looks like it comes from abroad. You could also check out the park n shop in DIP, I think thats where I purchased my Xilitol a few years ago when I was doing keto and they probably also have baking soda.

As for the bentonite clay, I cant find any that isn't for topical uses or in kitty litter...