Set Up Your Keto-Green Kitchen For Success

Like you, I’m busy. I have four daughters, a business to run, a heavy lecture schedule, books and blogs to write... Need I say more? Your life may not look like mine, but I bet we’ve got hectic-ness in common!

So when it comes to cooking healthy meals – like dishes from my newly released book Keto-Green™ 16 – you may think they take hours to prepare, right?

Well, absolutely not – as long as you do two things: stock your kitchen with Keto-Green staples and the tools of Keto-Green food prep.

Your kitchen should be a standing invitation to prepare and cook delicious Keto-Green meals. Here’s how to set it up for success so you can start losing up to a pound a day and feeling more vibrant than ever.

The Keto-Green™ 16 

First, your kitchen should be stocked with healthy, lean Keto-Green foods. In Keto-Green™ 16, I offer a 16-day rapid weight loss, fat-burning keto-alkaline diet that is centered around only 16 key food types:

1. Fish (salmon and white fish): Adding fish to your weekly diet is a bona fide fat-burning strategy, reported in various research studies.
   
   
2. Chicken (white and dark meat): These are metabolism-stoking proteins important for boosting weight-loss hormones like growth hormone, testosterone, and glucagon.
3. Beef, grass-fed (including bison): This selection is high in omega-3 fatty acids and has been found to help cut the risk of developing belly fat.
4. Dark leafy greens: These are a must for getting your body into a healthy alkaline state. Great options include spinach, kale, chard, and collard greens.
5. Sprouts, raw. These little powerhouses contain chemicals that support liver detoxification and help eliminate toxic, fat-forming, environmental estrogens from the body. Both actions clear the way for steady fat loss.
6. Cabbage, cooked or raw. This super-healthy Keto-Green food is another detoxifying veggie, which is why it’s on my list.
7. Other cruciferous veggies, cooked or raw. These foods support the body’s natural detoxification system, help haul out metabolic trash, and leave our bodies free to burn fat.
8. Garlic and other alliums. Including onions, leeks, scallions, and chives, alliums are rich sources of quercetin, a type of phytochemical that helps in activating enzymes essential for breaking down fats.
9. MCT oil or coconut oil: Both are fat-burning fats that can support your metabolism in a super-fast way.
10. Olive oil: Here’s one of the best Keto-Green fats you can eat. It has an impressive resume of health perks, especially for women. For example, olive oil balances one of our major hormones, insulin. Olive oil can also help improve your body shape—less body fat and more toned curves.
11. Nuts – Brazil nuts, almonds, hazelnuts, and pili nuts: The fat, fiber, and protein they contain all work together to make us feel fuller and satiated longer. They also stimulate the action of various weight-loss hormones.
12. Avocado: My favorite Keto-Green fat, avocados are loaded with omega-9 fatty acids, known to activate fat-burning. Plus, they’re extremely alkalinizing.
13. Sauerkraut, kimchi, and pickled ginger. All three provide probiotics, which can help improve the health of your gut so that you burn fat more easily.
14. Pineapple, mango, and papaya. All three contain natural enzymes that help your body digest protein and carbohydrates.
15. Bone broth. This is so alkalizing and supportive of balanced hormones and overall health. It helps with digestion, joint function, immunity, and virtually every other function in the body. There’s a recipe for it in my new book.
16. Citrus – lemons and limes. Both are rich in polyphenols—active plant compounds that have anti-obesity, anti-inflammatory, liver-detox, and insulin-controlling benefits.

Not a meat-eater? Don’t worry. Keto-Green™ 16  features a vegan plan. For protein, sub in white beans, black soybeans, garbanzo beans,nonGMO tofu, or tempeh. Try my Keto-Green alkalizing broth in place of bone broth.

These 16 foods are in essence your “shopping list” for my Keto-Green diet. Stock your fridge and pantry with these items and you’re good to go. Get the complete Keto-Green plan, plus recipes, and menus in my latest book, Keto-Green™ 16. And when you order now, you will get a lot of FREE gifts: A Keto-Green Quick Start Guide, an additional 3-day meal plan with recipes, Keto-Green Recipe Videos (watch recipes being made!), and more recipes to help you “feast” healthfully.

The Tools of the Keto-Green Trade

Second, besides a good set of knives, pots and pans, and baking dishes, it’s a good idea to have a few small appliances in your kitchen. I’ve put together a list of what I think are must-haves for a Keto-Green kitchen. Most of the items on this list are fairly inexpensive and will give you the most bang for your buck.

Slow cooker or Instant Pot: I can’t survive without this time-saver, and many of my Keto-Green recipes call for it. It works wonders for cooking meats, poultry, fish, bone broth, and other dishes. You’ll love my slow-cooked Not Your Mama’s Cabbage Soup recipe in the Keto Green 16 book.

Spiralizer: This handy tool turns low-carb veggies into pasta-like noodles that can stand in for high-carb pasta and taste just as delicious. Foods you can spiralize include zucchini, cucumbers, broccoli, and squash. My vegan-friendly Zucchini Noodles with Walnut Romesco Sauce requires a spiralizer. Check out the recipe in the new book. I use a small handheld one.

Blender: I’m big on smoothies for breakfast, as meal replacements, and in-between meals. So you’ve got to have a trusty blender – especially for whipping up any of the new smoothie recipes I’ve got for you.

Food processor: It’s hard to imagine my life without one of these. This gizmo does it all: chop, shred, mix, puree – and more. Lots of my Keto-Green 16 recipes use a food processor: Riced Cauliflower, Cauliflower “Gnocchi” with Pesto and White Beans, Spicy Pumpkin Seed Dip, Cardamom Cashew Fat Bombs, among several others. It is a time saver for bulk food prep.

Indoor or outdoor grill: While not mandatory, the taste of nicely grilled food is just irresistible. I rely on this standard for grilling meat, chicken, fish, and veggies. Grills shorten cooking time too. Crack open the new book, and you’ll find grill recipes like Spiced Halibut with Crunchy Citrus Salad and Mediterranean Burgers. Having a variety of cooking options helps so much with loving cooking and the plan.

I hope I’ve fed your desire to lose pounds fast while cooking up tasty meals that make dropping pounds easy. Get your copy of Keto-Green™ 16 at any bookstore, online bookstore, or my website, drannacabeca.com. 

See you in the kitchen – a whole lot lighter!