Cut the carbs for keto
If you cut back or eliminate your consumption of carbohydrates, your metabolism will gradually shift to using fat as its primary fuel source. Even if this could result in weight loss, you can’t run solely on your body fat; that would be called hunger! A healthy approach to the ketogenic diet is loading up on fats from foods such as nuts, cheese, and full-fat yogurt (of course, unsweetened), as well as eggs, meat, and fish, and consuming a large quantity of fiber from leafy greens and other vegetables.
In contrast to the paleo diet and other eating plans that focus on consuming an extremely high amount of protein, the keto diet emphasizes the consumption of an adequate amount of fat. This makes it quite easy to consume a lot of yummy saturated fats and skip on the healthy stuff, which is especially helpful while you’re getting used to a life without bread, pasta, and dessert while you’re trying to adjust to life without these foods. Even while a diet high in saturated fat can be considered “keto-friendly,” it is still not good for your health to consume large amounts of it. To strike a healthy balance, you must consume unsaturated fats, fiber, and protein.
Because of this, seafood is a fantastic option for ketogenic diets. It is naturally keto-friendly due to the fact that it has extremely low (or nil) carbohydrate content across the board. There is very little to no fat in several kinds of seafood, such as crab and shrimp. But others, particularly salmon, mackerel, tuna, oysters, and sardines, have an abundance of heart-healthy unsaturated fats such as omega-3s, but no saturated fat, which is what you get from other animal proteins.
Do a seafood boil
Just about all seafood is keto-friendly. The term “seafood boil” refers to a variety of different kinds of gatherings for friends and family in which shellfish, either from saltwater or freshwater environments, plays a key role. The types of seafood, accompaniments, and side dishes, as well as the cooking methods, are all determined by the region in which they are prepared (boiling, steaming, baking, or raw). A community group may choose to host a boil in order to generate money for their cause or simply to bring people together. A seafood boil can be compared to a fish fry, a barbeque, or even a church potluck meal in this regard. Individuals may also host boils for their friends and family over the course of a weekend get-together, on holidays such as Memorial Day and Independence Day, or on other special occasions. Even though boils and bakes are typically considered in coastal areas of the United States, there are several notable exceptions. Such as seafood boils in Des Moines, Iowa, and Salt Lake City, Utah.
To batter or not to batter?
On the keto diet, it’s better not to fry anything with breading or batter on it. Most batter and breading is made from grain products, which is not what you want in your ketogenic feasting.
Of course, you can always make a batter out of other seafood to coat your fish or shrimp or whatever.
That’s not as crazy as it sounds.
Octopus makes an excellent battering mix. Just blend one can of tinned pulpo (most octopus is canned in Spain, hence the Hispanic name ‘pulpo.) Blend it with some salt and pepper and olive oil, and then slather it over your red flounder and dip it in a deep fryer for a distinctive keto-friendly meal.
The other school of thought here is to go ahead and batter and bread away – and then just remove the crunchy, delicious, oh-so-good crust. If you can stand it. Battering keeps in the flavor and moisture. So if you think you have the self-discipline to batter and throw it away, do it!
For breading seafood, it’s best to use cracker meal. Or panko crumbs. But since you’re going to throw it all away anyway, you might as well use the cheapest breading you can find. Unless you peel off the breading and feed it to the others at your table, giving it some fancy French name like “écailles de Poisson décortiquées.” You might want something with quality at that point. Then you get to eat the good stuff underneath. Don’t pull a face – everybody and their dog saves the best part of a dish for themselves if they can get away with it. Breading with cornflakes works, too – and if you buy the big bags of brand x cereal, it shouldn’t set you back too much.
But, hey, when you’re on the keto diet, eating nothing but meat, you really aren’t going to worry about your budget, are you? You’ll eat steak, chops, and chicken breasts until they dribble out your ears. And love every minute of it.
Lucky you.
