The Wicked Good Ketogenic Diet Cookbook: Easy, Whole Food Keto Recipes for Any Budget

I’ve read a lot about keto in the past 4 years. This author writes the science of it with authority but in a very interesting and understandable manner. So I bought it. If you like this particular lifestyle I am thinking you will enjoy this book

My dear husband bought this book for me for my birthday because I began my keto journey in the early spring of this year. I've been steadily gaining weight since an injury I received when I was 15, and no matter what I did I couldn't lose the weight. Until I went keto. The first month of keto I dropped 10lbs alone, which is the most progress I have ever seen since I gained weight. However, I was hitting a slump when it came to creative keto meals, so I wasn't eating the same 4 meals all day every single day. Hence this gift. I really wish my husband didn't spend his hard earned money on it.Let me preface this with the fact that many of the recipes sound delicious. Also, on page 13 and 14 of the book, it accurately discusses the macros involved in a keto diet, which can be found anywhere using a simple google search for free. The general consensus is some range of 5-10% carbs, 15-20 proteins, and 70-80% fats. I personally use 5, 25, 70 since I need a little more protein in my diet to account for other dietary needs.However, all the book does from there on out is focuses entirely on carb counts - it never once brings up balancing the amount of proteins and fats again. If you eat too much protein, your body will break down those proteins instead of fats (you want to burn fats) into amino acids, and any excess amino acids gets broken down into glucose. Which basically means you might as well just splurge on eating an entire box of Kraft Mac n Cheese because you ruined your ketogenic state, and defeated the entire purpose of the diet.What I thought would be handy, which turned out to be the absolute worst part of the book, was the 4-Week Meal Plan included in the back. When someone sees a meal plan, especially when they are brand new to a different eating lifestyle, is they follow those meal plans to the exact letter. They don't get creative with adding sides or taking the time to find out what snacks would best be paired with that day's macros. They just do what they are told. I checked every single day's meal plan for the first week, and not a single day of those meal plans balanced up to keto-safe macros, nor do all of the day's meals have enough calories in them to sustain even a perfectly weighted human being throughout the course of the day.I will list what I calculated each day's macros to be along with total calories for the day to show the huge discrepancy. Disclaimer: due to the quirks of rounding, the percentages will not always add up to exactly 100%, especially since I rounded them to the nearest .5% for simplicity. But even the 1-2% discrepancy in totals does not make up for the HUGE gap in macros these meals contain.Day 1: 48.5% Fat, 45.5% Protein, 6% Carb, 1178 CaloriesDay 2: 62.5% Fat, 33.5% Protein, 5% Carb, 1543 Calories (this day is as close to keto-safe macros as it gets)Day 3: 45.5% Fat, 47% Protein, 7% Carb, 975 Calories (!!!)Day 4: 38.5% Fat, 51.5% Protein, 10% Carb, 777 Calories (!!!!!!!! This is by far the WORST day! Of course my %s don't include the almond milk for the breakfast, but it wouldn't make up for the GLARING deficit here.)Day 5: 38.5% Fat, 53% Protein, 10% Carb, 881 Calories (!!!)Day 7: 34.5% Fat, 60% Protein, 5% Carb, 1376 CaloriesIn order to meet keto-safe macros, you would need to find some way to, at the most, double your fat intake for the entire day, and that doesn't include the big caloric gap in 3 of those days. Maybe if you just slather everything in a pound of butter (oh, sorry, "ghee")??? But I mean, beyond taking the time to figure out which snacks might balance the macros, or how you could adjust the serving sizes of each of the day's meals to meet macros and caloric requirements, I would venture to say the entire 4-Week Meal Plan is not only utterly useless, but blatantly dangerous for newcomers to the diet that do not know any better, or don't want to take the time/don't know how to macro-check each plan.So yes, while each meal in the book sounds absolutely delicious, many of them are way too protein heavy, and not fat heavy enough, to constitute calling this a keto cookbook. It is simply a low carb Atkins style cookbook with zero regard to the macros required to sustain ketosis without significant amounts of planning. In my opinion The amount of work required to make keto work with this book makes it completely unable as a tool, and SHOULD be titled as a low/carb/diabetic friendly/Atkins inspired cookbook instead of keto to avoid the feeling of being cheated through false advertising.TL:DR - Don't use the Meal Plan in the back of the book, remember that you need to restrict your proteins in addition to your carbs as there are MANY protein heavy meals in this book, and use an app or some other tool to help keep track of your macros so you remain in ketosis.

I'm new to ketogenic cooking and this is my first keto book. I've really enjoyed it so far. The dinners have been great and I've enjoyed some of the smoothies. There are some tips I'd like to see such as: when she says however many cups of pork rinds, I wish she indicated that amount is BEFORE you grind them. I ended up using an entire bag just to get 2 cups of ground pork rinds, because I thought she actually meant I needed two cups AFTER they were ground. Now I know she means 2 cups BEFORE grinding.The other point is for things that you REALLY have to watch when cooking, it would be nice if that was mentioned. I tried twice to make the Meyer Lemon Custard with no success. The first time I accidentally let the mixture start boiling, which is a huge no-no and it ended up basically curdling and I had to throw it away. The second time I made it I turned the temperature down and stirred it the entire time for 15 minutes. This seemed to help but when I put it in the fridge, it never set (even after waiting overnight). Amanda - if you're out there (I know you've responded to other posts before) - can you please tell me how to make this custard?! The flavor seems good but if it won't set then it's not good!I also wish there were product recommendations. I could not find low carb chocolate whey so ended up getting something with the lowest carb count I could find, and it ended up being cookies and cream. It's really good, but it would be nice if there were specific product recommendations.I'm looking forward to more recipes in her book.

I have tried the keto lifestyle off and on for a couple of years and this is one of the better books about this subject that I have read. This book is easy to understand and very informative about going keto. The author understands that sometimes keto can be expensive to maintain and she helpfully marked each recipe with money bags ranging from 1 bag=less than $5 for the whole meal, up to 4 bags for expensive ingredients.There is a handy chart listing the good keto or bad keto food items and at the end of the book there is a very nice meal planning chart for the 4 weeks of keto induction.The recipes are easy to prepare such as the family friendly Lemon Parmesan-Crusted Fish Stick on page 109 listed under Fish & Shellfish to the more company is coming to dinner Rosemary-Chile-Crusted New York Strip on page 139 in the Beef & Lamb section. There are lots of recipes from which to choose: snacks, desserts and drinks. The one negative was I felt that she was trying to fill out the Drinks, Shakes & Smoothies category by including Lemon-Mint Ice Cubes and Strawberry Lime Water: Ice cubes and water with fruit are not what I consider recipes that people pay money to read.All in all, this was a good book for people who are interested in trying the keto lifestyle.I received this product for free in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

Ok book

Great recipes.

Fab recipes

thanks lot the item is good

Smooth transition 🤘🏼