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Animal Crackers

By February 16, 2013December 3rd, 2020Nutrition Education, Vegetarian

 TESTIMONY OF THE DAY

If you need a little encouragement to start the year off right, please read this testimony from a client who travels about 3 weeks out of the month, has a wife and a toddler and still finds time to prepare meals. He lost 35.5 pounds in 45 days just by changing a few things.

“Maria,

Many of those that have posted have struck a chord with my situation before starting with you.  The “dark” side of my story was intentionally left out because I’m not at my goal yet.  For now, I just keep myself focused on results and not how or why–especially since it’s difficult to exist in the “what if I didn’t have a friend that helped me?”

It is humbling to see how much trust you place in your clients and how much hope and faith they have in you!  There were some posters that touched on similar concerns to mine, so I wanted to clarify in the hope that others may see how working with you can simplify, not complicate; can be cheap not expensive.

1.  I did NOT cook for most of my progression.  I suck at cooking.  I had to ask my wife how to hard boil eggs.  Seriously.   So MY weight loss was not dependent on baking or cooking skills.  Your recipes  impacted my enjoyment and spare time, but my weight loss was not dependent on a magic recipe.  And I built up to them.  With that said, I can see how some people would see immediate benefit from substituting your healthified stuff.  But for someone that is on the road, eats out or just can’t cook–don’t worry.  Maria’s plan works incredibly well in that reality that so many of us live in.

2.  When my son and I cook, it’s often easy stuff like fried eggs or my new hard-boiled egg recipe (egg + boiling water).  I thought I’d be late to work, but it literally takes 15 minutes start to finish.  Okay, sometimes longer if we decide to sing.  My waffle maker was $50.  Made that back in one skipped trip to Sunday buffet.  Your pancakes are like $2.50 and were breakfast for 3 days.

3.  My progress and your plan for me was 100% INDEPENDENT of source of food.  Eggs were eggs.  Chicken was chicken.  I did NOT need to find cage-free, organic DHA ratio’d eggs from Chickens that did yoga every morning.

4.  I took the past 1.5 to 2 months to learn WHILE doing.  You have now recommended 4-5 books that I read while exercising.  And youtubes and postings.  But if I waited to learn, I’d still be where I was.  Maybe even more depressed.  I imagine a lot of people are like how I am in many many ways but chose not to be with this.  I would read to find fault or problems.  To blame an industry or a food.  I came to realize that even if all of that is true, so what?  It’s not about them, it’s about me.

5.  I did not try to change anyone but me.  We had meals where son, wife and me all ate different things.  So what?  Is that ideal–no.  But who cares?  You know what–son started asking for what “papa” was eating.  Salsa (Pace) over ketchup.  Then mustard over salsa.  Then eggs over toast.  Now mustard on eggs.   And mustard on waffles.  Eventually that’s where the baking and recipes helped…and that was key for me.

6.  Your plan SAVED me money.  I saved on snack foods not because I chose to not eat them–but because I did not need to snack.  I have a $8 bag of almonds in my pantry that I bought 2 months ago–and am only now down to the bottom.  I used to spend $15/day on snacks throughout the day.

7.  It was far easier for me to use your system of basic meal first, then build.  I didn’t focus on what I couldn’t eat–just on what I could.  I built a meal only from known things–especially helpful when on the road.  “When in doubt, leave it out.”  I was stunned that I would get full and satisfied throughout the day so I didn’t even feel like I missed anything.

8.  Here’s a true story–I started to pass on airline meals.  I’ve had two flight attendants tell me “Good for you” in a very sincere way.  One explained how she fasts while flying.  This WILL happen to anyone that does your plan–you will find camaraderie in the oddest places.

9.  I have an ego and associated my willingness to try any local food with business success and whatever.  That was totally in my head.  There are just as many, if not more, people that I work with that have endeared themselves to me because I opted to jog along the oceanside rather than eat a local potato.

10.  Mentally, it was important for me to paint a picture quickly.  After a couple days of seeing the mental shift and energy level, I tried consciously to act as though I was already there.  What you helped me focus on was things like sleep, stress and reading.  I was therefore making decisions from a positive place and not out of victim, sufferer, tired/cranky, etc..

Anyway, Maria thanks for all your help and I’m looking forward to my own home stretch to my goal.  Looking forward to trying even more of the recipes with my son who’s already asking me for your chocolate donuts!  ‘Papa, Nutritious AND Delicious!’   He’s one smart low-carb cookie!”

Click HERE to start your journey to a keto-adapted diet!

animal crackers
“HEALTHIFIED” Animal Crackers

1/4 cup butter or coconut oil
1/4 cup cream cheese
1/2 cup confectioners Swerve (or powdered erythritol and 1/2 tsp stevia glycerite)
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp extract (orange/lemon/vanilla/almond)
1/2 tsp Celtic sea salt
2 cups blanched almond flour

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.
In a large bowl, cream the butter and the cream cheese for 1 minute.
Add the natural sweetener, baking powder, extract and salt and continue mixing until creamy.
Stir in the flour and chill.
Place the chilled dough out onto a greased piece of parchment and top with another piece of greased parchment Roll the dough out to 1 centimeter thick. Uncover the top parchment and use your favorite cookie cutters to cut out cookies.
Place cookies on a baking sheet about 1 inch apart and bake for 12-15 minutes. Makes 12 servings

NUTRITIONAL COMPARISON (per serving)
Traditional Cookies = 159 calories, 10g fat, 2.8g protein, 23.6g carbs, 0.6g fiber
“Healthified” Cookies = 116 calories, 11g fat, 2.2g protein, 2.1g carbs, 1g fiber

(85% fat, 8% protein, 7% carbs)

animal crackers

 

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Click HERE or select “My Books” above to get your copy now!

animal crackers

Maria Emmerich

Maria is a wellness expert who has helped clients follow a Ketogenic lifestyle to heal and lose weight for over 20 years. She has helped thousands of clients get healthy, get off medications and heal their bodies; losing weight is just a bonus. She is the international best selling author of several books including "Keto: The Complete Guide to Success on the Ketogenic Diet.".

13 Comments

  • Alexandra says:

    Brilliant! When I was growing up I loved my animal crackers! Haven’t touched one in over 20 years. I will have to try these. I discovered your blog recently and love it. You are very creative!

    Alexandra

  • Janet t says:

    hi maria,
    I was wondering sometimes you post the net carbs and sometimes you don’t , probably because you have progressed over the years and made changes. no biggie. just want to make sure I am reading things right. I willmake this for my husband today. would I have to take the 1 gram of fiber and subtract it from the 2.1 carbs to get 1.1 carbs per serving?

    so basically if your recipes don’t say net carbs that, then I have to subtract the two, right?
    thanks maria, making garlic protein bread now with the folded yolks recipe and will be making broccoli soup tonight. can’t wait, yum. love your recipes. seeing results and will connect with you one day when I learn more of this stuff for a food plan and such. that’s how I learn… thanks again. I need to learn the recipes cuz my hubby is not on board with this so I want to make him happy with good food. it’s easier that way for us both.. take care.

    “Healthified” Cookies = 116 calories, 11g fat, 2.2g protein, 2.1g carbs, 1g fiber

    • cemmerich says:

      I posted net carbs on older recipes. But I found that too many clients got kicked out of ketosis with too much fiber. So now I always count total carbs.

  • Melissa says:

    Can’t wait to make these! The nutritiously I info “per serving”, is that per cookie? If not, how many cookies are in a serving. Thanks!

  • Kris says:

    Is there no concern in children eating this Swerve stuff?

  • Cynthia says:

    My fiance has a granddaughter who is allergic to nuts. Could you do this with coconut flour?

  • Marissa N. says:

    Is this one teaspoon of all of those flavors or only one teaspoon of ONE of the flavors? If only one flavor.. which do you prefer? Thanks. 🙂

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