When your goal is more than just weight loss... say NO to diabetes and pain!

Today I’m going to share a few of the ladies' favorite recipes for delicious Keto-Green meals as well.

How do these sound?

Sweet Potato Noodles with Cream Spinach in Cashew Sauce…OMG. A gluten-free, easy to make recipe that is absolutely delicious. And what about shrimp and grits! And there are several more… so healthy and creative! See below and we'll be sharing more in the coming weeks.

If you need more info as to what Keto-Green is all about...please read this article about the tremendous benefits of combining an alkaline diet and lifestyle with the fat burning benefits of a ketogenic diet. 

This is all backed by science, if you are willing to read through PubMed and scientific journals...

But if you really want to understand how it can change the trajectory of your life, you just need to talk to Debbie Flurkey.

Meet a Magic Menopause alumni and superstar!

Debbie is a 66 year old Magic Menopause superstar from our last class!

I actually met her several years ago when she came across one of my earlier programs, Women’s Restorative Health, online.

At the time she weighed 205 pounds on her 5’4” frame.

Here's a photo from her back then, before taking the program and enjoying her stunning weight loss.

She felt miserable, just a bit desperate...

...and suffered from a variety of symptoms, one of the worst being inflamed knees. She could barely walk down her home’s flight of stairs and thought it must be arthritis.

But during the course of working through the Women’s Restorative Health bootcamp (the precursor, if you will, to Menopause Magic), Debbie realized that it wasn’t arthritis…but instead, her painful knees were inflamed due to hormone imbalance.

She thought back - way back to her younger years - to her past fertility and other health issues, and realized her issue of hormone imbalance was a longtime issue.

Yes, she wanted the weight loss. But perhaps there were other deeper issues than just losing pounds?

She did lose the weight, some 16 pounds during the initial 3 weeks of the program. And more importantly, she felt much better in so many ways…so when she heard about Magic Menopause, she signed up.

And now there is no going back to those extra pounds, the poor health, or the misery of painful knees.

I was so excited to see her and grateful during the initial week of the course when she shared her story – and successes – with the Magic Menopause community.

And what a fantastic story it is.

She had gotten bloodwork done in November 2016. And after participating in Magic Menopause had had them done again in Jan 2018. So a little over a year. And the difference in results? Let me just share a few statistics with you!

She provided the comparisons for four key health markers: HSCRP, vitamin D, 25 hydroxy, hemoglobin A1c and DHEA-S. These are four tests (and 7 biomarkers) that are measured in my basic key marker panel available through Ulta Labs. 

Her inflammatory marker, HSCRP, went down, from 32.7 to 2!

That is so great as she is now in the “average” risk category and she can keep working on that to get it down below one.

Her Hemoglobin A1c also went down, from 5.7 to 5.4, reducing her risk for diabetes.

Her Vitamin D levels improved as well, going from 31 to 49 although we want to see more improvements there as well.

But we can see the signs of a temporary period of stress: Her DHEA level actually went down during this period of time, but we know that this was do to a stressful family health issue. That's one thing the ladies really notice when doing the Magic Menopause program and measuring all of their Keto-Alkaline lifestyle components! Stress, sleep, toxin exposure, detox/bowel movements...so many lifestyle factors contribute to whether you will test alkaline or not, and also impacts a variety of hormone levels. That's one reason my Keto-Alkaline tracking app measures these lifestyle factors...it isn't enough to just focus on diet!

Said Debbie about her health markers and inflammation improvements:

"It’s not about the weight loss at this point, it’s about my health. I don’t want to become diabetic."

Debbie also experienced substantial weight loss bringing her close to a healthy, ideal weight for her...she lost some 50 pounds between Women’s Restorative Health and Magic Menopause!

And another HUGE win? She is about 99% gluten-free now. AND, she says she doesn’t miss gluten even though she ate bread daily for most of her life. No cravings whatsoever. She said she can even look at pizza and not want it!

The pain is gone: She was surprised to find out she didn’t have arthritis, but instead was dealing with inflammation. And perhaps even more surprised – and overjoyed – that the knee issues have completely resolved themselves on the Keto-Green diet.

Even her hot flashes have dramatically improved. She said she measured them back before Magic Menopause and she was having them every 42-48 minutes at night. Now she has just a few and is continuing to try and fine-tune that so she won’t have any.

What a huge difference in her quality of life, having such improved quantity and quality of sleep!

What does Debbie attribute her success to?

“There’s a reason it is called ‘Magic’ Menopause! The information was so helpful and I felt I could learn at my own pace, also with the support of a great community”.

She also felt that the alumni participants are great and now she wants to be one of them, a supportive alumni for future class participants to leverage.

“I want to tell you that if it doesn’t work for you right away, just keep working on it. We’re all very different and are coming to the program with different issues. The program works. The steps work."

Thanks so much Debbie, and now let’s share a few of those great Keto-Green recipes…

Some of our FAV Keto-Green Recipes

We'll be posting more of these over the coming weeks but here are a few for this post:

1. Sweet Potato Noodles with Creamy Spinach in Cashew Sauce (gluten-free!)
2. Masala Stir Fry
3. Keto-Akaline Shrimp and Grits
4. Breakfast Stir Fry

Sweet Potato Noodles with Creamy Spinach in Cashew Sauce Submitted by Debbie

This is gluten free, adaptable and easy to make.  You can use other alkaline nuts for the sauce, substitute other dark greens, add bold spices to give it more of a punch, AND it is plant-based and vegan.  It is so delicious; you’ll want to make it often.

Serves: 4 to 6
Time: Prep 15 mins; cook 10 mins; total 25 mins.

Ingredients

• 1 cup (128 grams) cashews with enough water to cover
• ¾ cup (approx. 175 ml) water
• ½ tsp (2.5 grams) salt
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 4-5 sweet potatoes, large
• 2 cups baby spinach (or 2 handfuls)
• 1 handful basil, chopped (fresh leaves if possible, use ⅔ less is using dried basil)
• ½ tsp (2.5 gm) cumin (optional)
• pepper to taste
• 1 Tbs (approx. 15 ml) oil to cook the sweet potatoes  (I use avocado oil, but you can choose any oil with a high smoke point.  Olive oil won’t work well because of the high heat needed to cook the sweet potatoes.)
• Olive oil to drizzle after cooking

Instructions:

1. Place cashews in enough water to cover them and let soak for a couple of hours.  Drain and rinse well.  Place in a blender or food processor and add the ¾ c. water, salt, and garlic.  Puree until very smooth.  (I have a Vita Mix blender, and it makes the cashews into a wonderfully smooth sauce.)
2. Peel the sweet potatoes. Use a spiralizer or zoodle maker to make sweet potato “noodles.”  If you don’t have a spiralizer, cut the sweet potatoes into very small French fries.  The smaller the “fries”, the faster they will cook.
3. Heat oil in a large pan or skillet over high heat. (Avocado oil does well with high heat; never use high heat with olive oil because it has a low smoke point.)  Add sweet potato noodles, stirring frequently with tongs until tender and crisp (about 7 minutes). (I use tongs because I can lift the “noodles” easily while stirring.  You can use whatever utensil works for you.)  Remove from heat.
4. Add spinach to the pan (it will wilt quickly).
5. Add half of the sauce and half of the basil (chopped) to the pan, stirring with tongs to combine.  Add a bit of water if the sauce gets too thick.
6. Place on a serving plate. Drizzle olive oil on top, sprinkle remaining chopped basil on top, and add as much of the remaining sauce to each serving as you like.  You may even have some left over for another dish!

Other yummy additions:  roasted garlic, caramelized onion, hot peppers like chipotles, sriracha sauce, other herbs to make it bold and spicy.

And of course, don't forget your Mighty Maca® Plus shake!

Masala Stir Fry by Madeleine

Ingredients:

• Cubed organic beef @1 lb, but you can pick lamb or chicken, etc.
• 1 1/2 large chopped onion
• 14 oz unsweetened coconut milk
• Indian spices: turmeric, cumin, curry, garam masala, coriander, and red chili pepper

Instructions:

1. In a deep pan you simmer the onions with coconut oil and keep adding a cup of water here and there to keep it from drying out. Stir to keep it from sticking to the pan. After about 20 minutes it looks more like coarse applesauce mush. When it gets to that point add 2 tbsp of all of your spices EXCEPT the chili pepper ... only use about 1 tsp or to taste later. Set it aside, and keep adding water as needed to keep the applesauce consistency.
2. In a separate pan sear the meat with black pepper and sea salt.
3. Combine the meat with the onion mush... then pour the can of coconut milk over everything and let simmer for 10 more minutes, stirring every so often to make sure it’s not sticking to the pan.

Serves: 2
Total prep time about 45 min at most.

I served over chopped veggies instead of rice. I was pleasantly surprised to find a pH of almost 8 this morning after being acidic all week. And that was despite the beef!

Keto-Green Shrimp and Grits by Maria

Blackened Shrimp:

• 1/2 lb peeled/ cleaned raw, wild shrimp
• 1 tbsp ghee
• Juice of 1/2 lemon
• 1/2 tsp Iberian sea salt
• 1 tbsp blackened seasoning

1. Mix all ingredients (except for butter) into a bowl and let shrimp marinate for 15 minutes
2. Heat butter in a pan, add shrimp, and cook for 2 minutes on each side Keep warm butter left in pan to drizzle on top of shrimp and grits!

"Cali- grits":

• 1/2 head of cauliflower
• 2 peeled garlic cloves
• 2 tbsp ghee
• Salt to taste
• Blackened seasoning (optional)

1. Chop cauliflower into florets
2. Steam cauliflower and whole garlic cloves for 15-20 minutes on medium heat. You'll know it's ready when you can easily put a fork through cauliflower stems.
3. Put steamed cauliflower and garlic into a mixing bowl, while hot add ghee, salt and seasoning. Mix with a fork.
4. Use a hand blender to lightly purée until desired consistency.

Sautéed Garlic Kale;

• 2 garlic cloves
• 2 medium kale leaves
• 1 tbsp ghee
• Salt and blackened seasoning to taste

1. Wash, and chop kale into bite sized pieces. Slice garlic cloves.
2. Heat butter in a pan on medium heat, add garlic slices and sauté for 30 seconds.
3. Add kale, salt, and blackened seasoning.
4. Stir, and sauté until tender.

Plate everything together, or enjoy separately!

Breakfast Stir Fry by Julie

 Ingredients:

• 2–4 rashers of bacon, use scissors to cut into very small pieces
• 1 green capsicum, cut into small cubes
• 2–4 eggs
• 4-6 large kale leaves, chopped finely

Instructions:

1. Dry fry the bacon and capsicum in a hot non-stick pan. If the bacon is particularly lean you may need to add a small amount of your preferred healthy oil.
2. While the bacon and capsicum is cooking prepare a pan for poaching eggs.
3. When the pan is ready put the eggs in to poach and add the chopped kale to the frying pan.
4. Serve the eggs on top of the stir fry.
5. Season to your liking with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Serves: 2

Just really delicious!

And thanks to Debbie for sharing her story! 

Remember, it's about a lot more than weight loss...it's all about a healthier YOU.

Join us in our Magic Menopause class! 

Until then, why not get YOUR key to health markers tested? (I've negotiated a significant discounted price for my community!) Remember what I always say, "Test, don't guess"! Every one of you should know your numbers on these important biomarkers! Do you?