For the last few weeks I have been in experimental mode when it comes to changing up my eating habits. Let's get things straight... I don't believe in 'diets' in the traditional understanding of the word BUT I do believe in being as informed as possible when it comes to knowing what is optimal for your body. My method for this is experimentation.

We are all unique and there is no one size fits all approach to dietary habits. Obviously I write a vegan food blog, but many (most) of my health coaching clients are not vegan or even vegetarian, that's absolutely fine by me since my coaching method is to empower you to find what is right for your heath and your life. Of course there are some factors I feel hold true for everyone and I encourage in our sessions... pack in as many veggies as you can and get rid of as many refined foods as possible.

Even following a vegan diet there is plenty of room for experimentation and its something i've been playing with for the best part of year now, tweaking things to see how my body feels. I've mentioned before I often suffer from digestive issues such as gas and bloating so by eliminating certain foods or eating in a certain way I hope to determine the root causes and find the balance that best suits me. Digestive issues also have emotional connections so this is something I'm learning to heal also.

I have documented a few of my nutritional experiments in previous posts, maybe I'll document them more formally on the blog. So far i've tried... a candida diet, grain free diet, intermittent fasting and now a ketogenic diet.

Nutritional ketosis is where the body is fuelled by fat instead of carbs... you literally switch the source of energy.

This in effect means a high fat and low carb approach to eating. Low carb in this context means super looooow carbs- under 50g net carbs (once fibre has been accounted for). I decided to do a months experiment (I still have a week or so to go) and then review things.

I initially bought Leanne's book having been a long time reader of her blog, and would highly recommend it as a great introduction and guide to this style of eating. I will talk about it all in a bit more detail at the end of the experiment!

Before I started 'properly', I spend a couple of weeks or so gearing up with a selection of recipes in my arsenal, as well as reducing my carbs in the lead up (to be honest I was already fairly low carb to begin with). The cookie recipe I'm sharing today is a fab low carb recipe and one of my transitional recipes, but not strictly keto. It's pack with protein and good fats to sustain you and contains minimal sweeteners (you could add a touch more if you need to when you've tasted the dough).

I gave my mum a cookie and she loved them, so these are definitely family friendly too! They have a great crisp an crumbly cookie texture even without granulated sugar due to the higher fat content.

Recipe: Almond choc-chunk cookies (low carb)

Makes approx 12 cookies

Ingredients:

2 cups almond meal
¼ cup white hemp powder
¼ tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1-2 tsp vanilla powder
1/3 cup cacoa liquor chunks (or dark chocolate if preferred)
¼ cup coconut oil- softened
1 tbs syrup of choice* plus ¼ tsp pure stevia
2 tbs water (to bind)

Method:

Mix dry ingredients together in a medium bowl, in a small bowl mix the coconut oil and stevia and mix until very soft and lump free. Mix into cookie batter using hands if needed. Add a drizzle of water so the mixture holds together nicely.

Form walnut sized balls and flatten onto a lined baking sheet. Bake for approx 15 mins on a fairly low heat approx 160C until golden at the edges. Allow to cool fully before eating/storing as these cookies are quite delicate and a little ore crumbly than regular.

* I used yacon syrup which is a really thick low carb syrup, but any syrup would work here, you could also increase to 2-3 tbs if strict carb control is not necessary.