Tip for Today

Tips to Simply Life With Kids

Here are a few tips for living simply with kids:

  • Homeschool — or, in my case, unschool
  • Use public transportation, walk or ride bikes
  • Ditch the television and play games instead
  • Get a family pet from a local shelter
  • Encourage your kids to journal and draw daily
  • Make community service a weekly activity
  • Shop locally to keep dollars in your community
  • Keep a garden and raise chickens
  • Visit thrift stores instead of buying new
  • Sponsor a child in a third world country
  • Visit the library frequently

— Susan Patterson

Carb Substitutions~

15 Low Carb Substitutes When You’re Cutting Carbs

No matter whether you consume under 20g of carbs a day or go all the way up to 100g a day, these food substitutes will come in handy.

1. Cauliflower Rice Instead of Regular Rice

One cup of white rice contains 45 grams of carbs very little of which is fiber. Because white rice is stripped of its bran and germ, and then processed, it lacks the nutrients and fiber (source).

Essentially, white rice is just empty carbs. As bad as it sounds!Report this ad

A cup of cauliflower rice, on the other hand, contains only 5g of carbs of which 2g is fiber. It’s not a great source of energy. However, works beautifully as a rice substitute. Everything About Healthy Living on Cushy SpaPlay Video

The only problem – you have to make it yourself. Thus, you need a few very essential appliances: a food processor and a steamer.

2. Keto Bread Instead of Regular Wheat Bread

keto bread

While it might seem nearly impossible to give up bread altogether, you might want to learn to cook it. Low carb bread usually doesn’t have the texture regular bread has, it’s more cheesy but with trial and error, you can get pretty close.Report this ad

While it’s time-consuming to cook it all the time, it’s a great option for the days when the cravings kick in. A loaf of a keto bread is usually around 3g in net carbs, so it’s definitely worth trying!

3. Lettuce Leaves Instead of Tortillas

If you love your tortillas and absolutely enjoy eating tacos and burritos, it might seem difficult to get into a low carb diet.

For example, 100g of tortilla contains 39g net carbs, which is double the carb limit for the whole day for some of you! So, it’s definitely NOT keto friendly.

Cannot bother buying any of this stuff? Just use lettuce leaves! They’re healthy, full of fiber and absolutely delicious!

4. Cauliflower Pizza Crust Instead of Regular Crust

Cauliflower crust doesn’t taste quite like regular crust but cauliflower pizzas are becoming ‘’a thing’’. Which means that you can probably order it and stay within your carb limits.

Another great dough to try, if you absolutely love pizza is fathead dough. It’s mostly made out of mozzarella, cream cheese, and coconut flour.

So, if you’re too lazy to cook, order cauliflower crust pizza. Otherwise, make your own pizza with fathead dough.

5. Zucchini Chips Instead of Potato Chips

Love your potato chips? Well, no matter the diet, that’s not exactly the food you should eat.Report this ad

A bag of potato chips contains up to 120g of carbs of which very little is fiber. An equivalent amount of zucchini chips, on the other hand, has around 18g of carbs.

That’s more than 6 times fewer carbs per bag. I think numbers speak for themselves.

6. Almond Flour Instead of Bread Crumbs

keto flour substitute

Since regular bread is no longer an option once you’re on the keto diet, it’s not a surprise bread crumbs fall into the same category. If you’ve been loving your chicken nuggets, it doesn’t mean you completely have to give them up on the low carb diet.

Instead, use almond flour. It’s a nice source of fats, proteins. Also, it’s low in net carbs.

I usually use almond flour instead of breadcrumbs with all of my recipes. That’s mostly because it’s just as good at creating the crust as breadcrumbs are.

7. Zucchini Noodles Instead of Regular Pasta

If you’re a busy person, you know how easy it is to make some pasta and bring it to work. It’s delicious and quick to make.

However, when ketogenic lunch becomes your only option, regular pasta has to go. That’s where making your own zucchini noodles will come in very handy.

The easiest way to make zucchini noodles is to use a spiralizer. Here is good quality, low budget spiralizer just for that.

However, if you don’t have a spiralizer, that’s not a problem. Use a standard vegetable peeler. It’ll take you more time to make the pasta though.

8. Avocado Halves Instead of Hamburger Buns

If you’re a burger fan, you can use low carb bread to make your favorite hamburgers. However, you could just as well use avocados.

Avocados are an amazing source of monosaturated fats which are considered the ‘’healthy fats’’. They also have a lot of fiber which is essential for healthy digestion and gut.

Also, once you start eating keto foods, you might end up consuming significantly smaller amounts of fiber. That, in turn, can cause bloating and other digestion issues.Report this ad

Thus, incorporate avocados into your meals. They’ll help you to keep your carb intake low and instead feed you with very much needed fiber.

9. Mashed Broccoli Instead of Potato Mash

low carb substitute - brocolli mash

Potato mash is surely something most of us have grown up with. It’s just a delicious side to have with a healthy dinner or delicious lunch.

With some butter, salt, and pepper, you can make mashed broccoli. Which, by the way, can be just as delicious. Give it a try.

If that’s not something you fancy eating, cauliflower mash is another potato mash substitute that is probably worth a try.Report this ad

10. Turnip Fries Instead of French Fries

Finding turnip fries has been a pleasant surprise for me. Plus, using the right spices and herbs can truly make them taste delicious.

Give them a try whenever you’re craving for French fries. Get a low carb ketchup sauce and treat yourself without risking getting out of ketosis.

11. Pork Rinds Instead of Bread Crumbs

pork rinds

If you’ve been doing research on keto recipes and been trying to figure out what are the potential low carb meals you can eat, you might have noticed that some of them use pork rinds.

What’s so great about them? They contain 0g of carbs. Yes, you’ve read it right!

That’s the reason why some of the keto meals that are very low in carbs (like these ones here), use them instead of almond flour!

Give them a try. Pork rinds can be a delicious ketogenic snack too.

12. Erythritol Instead of Sugar

Multiple studies show that erythritol is one of the healthiest sweeteners out there (source). It’s been a test for its toxicity levels and various effects on metabolism (source).

It doesn’t have a negative on the gut lining and thus has very low chances of negatively affecting your digestion.

So, use it instead of sugar with your favorite low carb desserts and ‘’cheat’’ without actually cheating.

 You can get good quality erythritol here.

13. Almond Milk Instead of Regular Milk

A cup of skimmed milk contains around 12g of carbs. All of which is sugar.

Almond milk, while very different in consistency and taste, is much lower in carbs. A cup of it contains only 2g of carbs, which is great news when you’re on the keto diet.

14. Mushrooms Instead of Burger Buns

Grilled Portobello mushrooms can do for amazing burger buns. That’s, of course, if you like mushrooms in general.

Two Portobello heads contain only around 4.4g of net carbs. That’s approximately 10 times less than what you’d get from a regular burger bun.

15. Cheese Chips Instead of Potato/Tortilla Chips

Cheese chips are not only delicious but also great when you’re on the keto diet. Eat them with your favorite low carb dip and you’re ready to celebrate.Report this ad

These are great for family occasions because nobody will even notice that they’re low carb. Yes, they’re that delicious!

Conclusion

Beginning your keto diet or just low carb journey can be scary. While you want to make healthy life choices, cutting out your favorite foods can be both sad and stressful.

At the end of the day, food is a big part of our lives, and one of those luxuries most of us can afford. Thus, it’s natural to want to eat what you love, be healthy and lose some weight all at the same time.

The truth is, it’s possible! Try these low carb food swaps and continue eating what you love.

Cleaning Tip

Slide 8 of 31: A slip of the knife here, an overzealous fork there, and suddenly you’ve got a stack of unsightly scratched plates in your kitchen. Fortunately, it’s easy to make your plates look brand new again with some baking soda. Simply make a paste of baking soda and water, buff it into the scratches, and in no time, your dishes will look as good as new.

Un-scratch your plates with baking soda.

A slip of the knife here, an overzealous fork there, and suddenly you’ve got a stack of unsightly scratched plates in your kitchen. Fortunately, it’s easy to make your plates look brand new again with some baking soda. Simply make a paste of baking soda and water, buff it into the scratches, and in no time, your dishes will look as good as new.

Cleaning TIP

Eliminate upholstery stains with shaving cream.

There’s no need to hire an expensive professional to get those stains out of your upholstery. Instead, rub a little bit of shaving cream (anything but the gel kind) into the stain, let it sit for 30 minutes or overnight, and then blot it dry. Just make sure that you test this method out on a hidden area of your couch before actually putting it to use, as there is always the small chance of damaging the fabric.

Slide 2 of 31: There’s no need to hire an expensive professional to get those stains out of your upholstery. Instead, rub a little bit of shaving cream (anything but the gel kind) into the stain, let it sit for 30 minutes or overnight, and then blot it dry. Just make sure that you test this method out on a hidden area of your couch before actually putting it to use, as there is always the small chance of damaging the fabric.

TIPS~ Cleaning Air Filter For Car

If you want a clean car air filter, there are simple tips to follow. Doing your own maintenance on your air filter will save you time and money and you don’t have to worry about replacing it. After you clean your air filter it will be as good as new.

1. Degreaser

Make sure you soak the air filter in a mixture of degreaser and water. Don’t use pure degreaser. It’s important that the degreaser is thoroughly mixed with water or it can eat through the paper in the air filter.

When you clean your air filter give the mixture plenty of time to work. The filter needs to soak for at least 15 minutes in order to remove all the dirt and grease.

2. Drying

A red car on the road.

As you clean the car air filter, leave it to dry completely before replacing it in your vehicle. If you put it in and start up the engine before the filter is absolutely dry you can end up damaging your engine.

3. Replacing

You can’t keep cleaning the same cheap filter forever. Be aware that periodically you will need to replace your filter. When you clean your car air filter you should also clean out the air filter box. Use degreaser and paper towels for this. Do this every time you clean the air filter for the best results.

Computer Tip of the Week

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