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Dinner Menu Selections
Great with just a little salt and freshly ground black pepper and we also like a little ground sage sprinkled on them.
Carbs: 0.1g | Fat: 17.3g | Fiber: 0g | Protein: 39g | Calories: 322
When we cook this we do not trim the fat, and we place the giblets into the roasting pan for the last 20 minutes. We baste often, and start cooking the chicken upside down then flip half way.
Carbs: 1g | Fat: 4.2g | Fiber: 0.1g | Protein: 32.1g | Calories: 178.5
To get enough greens into your day, you must double this recipe if you want to serve 4 people.
Carbs: 4.7g | Fat: 3.5g | Fiber: 1.9g | Protein: 1.1g | Calories: 51.7
Steamed Brussels Sprouts with Browned Butter and Lemon Zest
We melt the butter with garlic and add plenty of sea or Himalayan salt, we don’t brown since our pasture-fed butter is so rich in flavor and browning will burn the weight-loss promoting CLA fatty acids. The recipe says 4 servings, but you should really double it to serve 4 people.
Carbs: 7.5g | Fat: 12.2g | Fiber: 3.2g | Protein: 2.2g | Calories: 133
Luke’s spaghetti sauce from scratch
30 minute pasta sauce w/ meat, which I enjoy slathered with cheese and no carb at all, or over toasted Ezekiel bread, or over a few tubes of ziti.
Carbs: 7.6g | Fat: 16.4g | Fiber: 1.7g | Protein: 32.2g | Calories: 318.5
Skip the bullion cube, it’s just salt and fake flavors, add an additional 1-2 tsp salt instead.Any olive oil works. Herbs de Provence is a mix of equal parts savory, fennel, basil, and thyme flowers and optional lavender. If you have beef or chicken stock (bone-based) use 1/2 cup.
Carbs: 11.3g | Fat: 16.9g | Fiber: 2.5g | Protein: 49.2g | Calories: 473.2
Whole spice-rubbed roast chicken and roast veggies
So simple and easy, always moist and delicious!
Carbs: 12.8g | Fat: 29.3g | Fiber: 4.3g | Protein: 50g | Calories: 518.6
Arugula is available at Hannafords, usually prewashed in the organic section. This recipe uses about half of one of those large plastic containers. Any soft, mild cheese will work if you can’t find goat cheese
Carbs: 15.1g | Fat: 41.8g | Fiber: 3.6g | Protein: 12.3g | Calories: 461.3
Take your time eating and making salads, it’s a ritual that celebrates vegetable freshness and your freedom to make salads from stuff that looks pretty
Carbs: 16.7g | Fat: 29.6g | Fiber: 2.1g | Protein: 7g | Calories: 347.1
Braised Chicken Thighs with Mushrooms
Emeril serves this over rice or quinoa, I recommend minimizing the rice if you have any at all.
Carbs: 18.3g | Fat: 15.3g | Fiber: 3.1g | Protein: 28.7g | Calories: 319
Slow Cooker-Braised Chicken Thighs With Carrots and Potatoes
Slow Cooker recipe. Can substitute an extra 1/4 cup chicken broth in place of the wine, if you prefer
Carbs: 18.7g | Fat: 5.3g | Fiber: 3.3g | Protein: 27.8g | Calories: 233.2
says: For dinner, a 10 oz bag of peas serves 2. If you need to serve 4, you will need to double everything to get enough greens into your day.
Carbs: 19.5g | Fat: 23.6g | Fiber: 6g | Protein: 7.6g | Calories: 313
Colors and a big bowl make eating a huge salad fun and easy
Carbs: 19.2g | Fat: 27.3g | Fiber: 4.2g | Protein: 6g | Calories: 322.2
Cooked Shrimp with ketchup-based cocktail
This will be faster than microwaving a pita pocket if you start with precooked shrimp
Carbs: 20.6g | Fat: 2g | Fiber: 0.1g | Protein: 35.6g | Calories: 246.7
Goes well with a simple egg dish
Carbs: 22.5g | Fat: 23.4g | Fiber: 6g | Protein: 5.6g | Calories: 305.5
Sauteed spinach, onion, and pine nuts
Tasty enough to get all your day’s servings of greens in one dish!
Carbs: 21.7g | Fat: 21.6g | Fiber: 3.6g | Protein: 3.7g | Calories: 381.5
Eggplant Parmesan With Homemade Pasta Sauce
Filling and rich, and it’s got the veggies right in it
Carbs: 35.6g | Fat: 36.2g | Fiber: 7.3g | Protein: 36.2g | Calories: 598.1
Savory Simple Sauteed Red Cabbage and Mushroom
25 g effective carb per serving
Carbs: 35.4g | Fat: 17.7g | Fiber: 10g | Protein: 8.2g | Calories: 312.6
Chilled Cucumber Soup-Smoothy with Shrimp (filling variation)
No Cooking Required: This Savory Soup-Smoothie (or Green Smoothie) works equally well as a low-carb cocktail or a side dish for a sit down dinner.
Carbs: 16.2g | Fat: 21.2g | Fiber: 1.9g | Protein: 27.9g | Calories: 402.7
Egg, Spinach, & Canadian Bacon “muffin puffs”
Makes great breakfast too, just pop in the microwave to reaheat
Carbs: 4.9g | Fat: 8.1g | Fiber: 1.3g | Protein: 14g | Calories: 142.7
Who doesn’t like bacon? These bacon muffins are easier than hamburgers and free you from the tyranny of the bun; why stop at just one? Anyone want a little cheese? Whatever you’ve got in your fridge will probably work great.
Carbs: 2.7g | Fat: 15.8g | Fiber: 0.4g | Protein: 10.2g | Calories: 190.8
Zucchini’s taking over your kitchen? Fight back with this easy and yummy egg dish.
Carbs: 19.3g | Fat: 58.1g | Fiber: 5g | Protein: 37.1g | Calories: 747.5
Easy Low-Carb Zucchini Lasagna
You’ll love this way to blow through 2.5 lbs of zucchini per dish. This lasagna is rich enough to use as a stand alone dinner for two very hungry adults, or as a side dish for 4-6.
Carbs: 16.3g | Fat: 23.5g | Fiber: 2.5g | Protein: 20.9g | Calories: 354.2
Hello! I have a question about bone broth. Could there be any side effects to drinking it (detox like)? I been on a primal diet for about four months but just recently read your book and started eating bone broths but every time I drink it it seems to make me feel tired and sleepy. Is this normal? Thanks a lot!
Yes, that’s totally normal. The broth increases blood flow to the intestine itself and also draws fluid into the lumen of the intestine, which makes your tummy feel very full, too I would guess. So less blood to go to your brain. This is why you should listen to your body and rest; it’s the perfect way to digest and assimilate those nutrients and it’s why I recommend bone broths for dinner not breakfast or lunch. Results may vary, however, and not everyone has the same blood flow reactions and even time of day can change how it affects you so if a breakfast or lunch broth does not make you tired, then you don’t need to rest!
I think I already know the answer to this. Is store bought bone broth of any value? I know that homemade would be much better but time is a problem.. I guess what I am asking is will it do more harm than good.
Hurd
Check the ingredients list. If it contains actual food (or mostly actual food), then it’s still a decent source of trace minerals and a few vitamins. If it has lots of those long chemically words, then it’s no better than bullion cubes and skip it. Most stores carry at least one decent brand. Wolfgang puck makes an organic broth that is basically just a rehydrated and vastly overpriced bullion cube, so I avoid his brand.
What it won’t have is the miraculous glycosaminoglycan/collagen family of molecules because those can only be derived from bones. You’ll know instantly if you’ve found a brand that does have bones because it will be too gelatinous to pour.
Happy
Hi Dr. Cate, I wanted to ask you a question about bone broth/chicken stock too. I’ve been making my own at home and it’s not gelling. I’ve heard that this could be from too much water, too much cooking time or too much heat. If my collagen is breaking down from a too-long cooking time, does that mean I lose out on the benefits? The stock tastes rich and wonderful, just wondering about the gelling and the benefits. Thank you!
It only gels when you chill it, normally. Is that what’s going on?
No, even in the fridge it’s liquidy fluidy.
Elsie
If it’s too much water, you’ll still get the benefits. This is my guess as your likely culprit, too, because we it takes hours and hours with the top off simmering it down and down.
I’ve known chefs who cook the bones till they’re soft, but I never did ask if theirs gelled. Still, my guess is that too much time is not too likely to be the issue. We’ve cooked ours for 3-4 days.
Too much heat is impossible, thanks to the boiling point of water.
Let me know if you find a ‘fix’, not that I think you need to.
thank you, that is good, reassuring news. 3-4 days! wow. making a new batch as I type. using less water…we shall see. also, it turns out the last batch thickened when it was refrigerated, gel-ish? so I take that as a boon. I really appreciate your help!
Elsie: Perfect. Congrats!
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Hi Dr. Cate
I have had a fatigue problem since i was about 11. It has made life very difficult, especially since for many years i though i was just ‘lazy’ and it didn’t occur to me to try treating it as a medical problem until i was in my 30′s. When i was younger i just pushed through it and still underachieved. I knew i was eating too much sugar, too much caffeine, and just generally way too much junk, but i needed the brief rushes to get through my day, and then i was too tired to cook (and kinda depressed, too).
I have tried all kinds of things – anti-candida diets, countless vitamins and supplements, naturopathy, psychotherapy, meditation (which was extremely helpful, but not for fatigue). I eliminated foods i seemed sensitive too, until there wasn’t much left. I fasted. One-day fasts would leave me feeling much better for a few days, and then i would be back to square one. Tweaking what foods i ate, and when, also helped, but i was still in the hole, not managing to even clean the house. I realized i was on a caffeine yo-yo, brief energy spike followed by a crash, so i quit, and that caused me 2 months of continual exhaustion before i perked up a bit. I started taking a lot of extra fiber, and that helped for a while, and then seemed to make no difference. I take modafinil daily, 100mg, and it also helps but only if my diet is carefully watched, otherwise i’m just as sleepy as ever. Taking more will make no difference if something i ate has wiped me out, and if it does make a difference, it is a sort of wired-yet-tired feeling – i don’t really have more energy, but my mind is racing, like when you have insomnia. Oh – and a few years ago, i started getting urinary tract infections with increasing frequency, until i was getting one every 2 or 3 months.
(Drum-roll:) Until i started your diet.
I first found some other stuff online about fermenting foods, and that was clearly helping. Then i got Deep Nutrition and added raw milk, butter, bone broths, organ meats, and cut out vegetable oil. I was already pretty careful about sugar, but now i watch fruit juice more carefully, too. I really feel a lot better. Much, much better. It has only been about 2 months, so i won’t say i’m out of the woods yet (because i’ve made that mistake before), but i’m hopeful i’ve turned the corner. Most days i take only 50mg of modafinil now, sometimes i even skip it, and still feel pretty good. I actually *want* to exercise sometimes – i haven’t felt like that since i was first taking modafinil, before i developed tolerance. Especially revealing to me – i haven’t had a UTI since i switched, and although it hasn’t been long, that is despite the fact that i stopped taking (ahem) precautions that interfere with, you know, the mood. And we went to the ocean, which usually guarantees me an infection, but not this time!
So thanks for your great work, and your commitment. I look forward to The T.R.I.M. Solution coming out.
One comment – about 8 months ago i started not eating anything at all until after 5 pm. I just noticed that eating in the evening didn’t make me sleepy, but eating earlier in the day would make an hour nap almost compulsory, and leave me feeling even duller all day. I tried moving the 5pm cut-off point to 3pm since i have been feeling better on your diet, but it is still necessary. So, i was reflecting on how you say too much sugar and bad fats cause subtle damage to blood vessels, and i wondered – could the 18 or 19 hours a day i don’t eat be giving my body a chance to clean up some of that damage? It sure seems to like me keeping to that schedule. I assume something about my hormonal setup causes me to not be sleepy after eating in the evening. Even if i continue to improve and can take up regular exercise and more activities, i think i am going to try to stick to the 5pm rule.
Ciaio, Kim
Kim, a long period of not eating forces you to burn fat and also enables your body to clean up some of the glycation that needs to go. Keep up the good work!
That’s good news, Dr. Cate.
Before i saw your reply, i sent in a question for your show with Jimmy Moore on Thursday, about the same after 5 thing i mention here. It seemed to me it must be hormonally related, so i thought it would be topical. He likes the question and says he’ll ask you – hope it is a useful topic for your talk. Looking forward to Thursday.
A chef I recently spoke with suggested that I roast the bones for about 45 minutes, and then begin the stock. This will give it a stronger flavor and a darker color. Will this increase the health benefits too?
A book that may interest you is, “Magnetism and Its Effects on the Living System”, by Davis and Rawls. They discovered that magnetism can change the genetics of plants, animals and humans. The vitamin A deprived pigs experiment (and Dr. John Ott’s work) makes me think light can too.
Roasting generates more complex molecules that enhance flavor, but can also generate unhealthy compounds. Adding antioxidants (fresh veggies/herbs) helps your body deal with those unhealthy compounds. Most recipes call for veggies and herbs that accomplish this.
Hello Dr. Cate,
I often use the mircrowave to heat up dinner leftovers. What is your opinion of the microwave? Should I be concerned about radiation or what it does to food? thanks…
Microwave reheating in the appropriate kind of container should not be significantly different from radiant heat reheating.