When I started this healthy lifestyle, I had to mentally prepare to give up on some of my favorite high carb, soft drinks, and junk food. It was very frustrating thinking about all that. But to be honest, I thought this process was going to be harder. I could reduce them little by little to the point where I don’t feel the need to have them. In this post, you will find my ultimate low carb keto and diet shopping list for beginners.
Starter habits
The first change was starting drinking my coffee without sugar and no milk. I never thought this was going to be possible. I tried drinking my coffee with several different sweeteners (Stevia, Splenda, Swerve, and Lakanto). In my opinion, these are great sweeteners, but my coffee tasted terrible with these. Besides, I also give it a try to almond milk with my coffee, I’m sorry to say this, but this was the most disgusting thing I’ve ever tried. So I decided to enjoy my black American coffee as it is. To me, this was my biggest challenge because coffee is the only beverage I would drink every day (several times a day), that I would need milk or sugar, but now I’m super comfortable drinking it without these.
I do use a lot of Lakanto sweetener and almond milk, but generally for smoothies or baking. It tastes so good that you can barely tell the difference, just not with my coffee. This is my personal opinion, I’m sure there’s a lot of people out there that probably loves their coffee with almond milk and erythritol, well not me, and that’s fine. Please let me know in the comments below your coffee preferences after adopting this lifestyle??
What did I give up to?
- Sugar
- Whole milk
- Cereal
- Some fruits
- All-purpose flour
- Processed food
- Juices
- Soda (I do drink Coke Zero from time to time)
- Fried stuff (I do fry sweet potatoes In the air fryer from time to time)
Basic low carb Keto shopping list?:
- Erythritol Sweeteners: These are great options for baking, smoothie, and even when cooking, and a little bit of sweet is needed. I used this brand a lot, Swerve. However, I find this one has a cold type of mint aftertastes not so pleasant. Recently I’ve been using Lakanto, and I must say I love it! It also has an aftertaste but is way milder than other brands, and this is because this sweetener is a blend of erythritol and monk fruit, making it more natural in taste. Here you can find, its powder version, perfect for glazing or for garnishing some desserts. The golden Lakanto is really good as well.
- Almond Milk: I must admit that I was not a huge fan of almond milk, but I finally found the only brand I do like because it is not that tasteful. What I mean is that almond milk itself has a strong taste, which makes it harder to combine with other strong flavors (like coffee or low carb cereal, etc.). Califia almond milk, to me, is the best one out there. Do your research and let me know what you think, trust me you won’t regret getting this one. It is fantastic for baking, for Low carb almond flour pancakes, milkshakes, and even with low carb cereal.
- Almond Flour: I fell in love with this staple from day one! Almond flour is so versatile that I use it literally for anything. For sweets, for salty foods, for snacks, you name it, and you will probably be able to use it. This has become my number one staple in my household. To the point that during these Covid-19 unprecedented times, it was challenging to get it on my local stores, I guess everybody was stocking their pantry with these. I had to order my last couple of bags through amazon. For the past two years, I have been using Bob’s Red Mill blanched almond flour and Anthony’s blanched almond flour; delicious! I have also tried Aldi’s exclusive Baker’s Corner, and it is amazing because it is cheap and has excellent quality and taste. I have on my list to try: Kirland’s almond flour because I have seen excellent reviews.
- Xanthan Gum: This product will be your best friend! For a couple of reasons: First of all, it is perfect for thickening sauces and binding some recipes—for example, low carb flourless pancakes, low carb Mexican tortillas, Keto low carb bagels. As you get used to the almond flour, you will notice you will need this product to make sure some of your favorite recipes hold together. I’m using Bob’s Red Mill xanthan gum, it works pretty well for me, and this lasts like forever because even if you use it a lot, you only need a tiny amount.
- Baking Powder: I use this ingredient essentially to raise the volume of baked goods. You will need this during your new low carb lifestyle because you will be baking a lot of yummy meals! Almond and Coconut flour, do not raise a lot; hence we also need to add a bit of baking powder. This is the brand I use Rumford-reduce sodium.
- Breadcrumbs: We all know this staple is totally forbidden on a low carb diet, however, you can use pork rinds, instead of breadcrumbs. This is a great option when cooking meatball, meatloaf, “fry chicken”, and anything that requires that panko texture. I found this brand Pork Panko on Amazon and is really good.
So tell me from this low carb and keto diet shopping list, which staple was totally new for you?