Simply Keto: A Practical Approach to Health & Weight Loss with 100+ Easy Low-Carb Recipes

I love, love, love, this cookbook. I've struggled to lose weight since my youngest was born 13 years ago. In spite of cutting out fast food, soda, junk food, and processed food over the years, my weight kept creeping up. I started running, took challenging classes at the gym, and even invested in a personal trainer for a while. I could lose a few pounds at most if I really worked super hard, but it was always too difficult to maintain that level of effort for such small results. When I first heard of the ketogenic diet, I dismissed it. I've always drawn the line at fad diets. However, I know a couple of people who follow a keto diet and love it. It didn't seem too difficult so I decided to give it a shot. There are two resources that make it manageable on a daily basis. The first is a free app called My Fitness Pal that I use to keep track of my carb, fat, and protein intake each day. The second is this cookbook. Not only does the book contain a good description of the keto diet and tips for sticking with it, but it includes a wide range of truly delicious and easy recipes. I have made many of them so far, and they've all been popular with my entire family. Sometimes I will make pasta, rice, or some other side dish for my non-keto husband and kids, but most of the time it isn't necessary and they are perfectly happy with the recipes as they are written. They are easy to double if you'd like leftovers for lunch the next day, and don't call for hard to find ingredients (I ordered Swerve and blanched almond flour online, but everything else is easy to find at my local grocery store). It's been a month in a half since I started the keto diet. I am down 13 pounds and feel great with no plans to stop any time soon. This cookbook has made the keto diet simple to follow in spite of my busy life with a business and three dogs. There's a sample 30 day meal plan included, tips for eating out or traveling, and similar resources.

This is a really great introduction to the ketogenic lifestyle. Ryan's personal story is compelling and her explanation of keto is clear and simply laid out. She makes the reader believe, and rightly so, that keto is doable. I've read so many books on keto that seem intent on making it much more complex than it really needs to be. In contrast, I found Ryan's "practical approach" to be readily usable while at the same time being very thorough. In addition to the what and why's, Ryan's recipes are mostly very easy and mostly wonderful. The 60-Second Mug Biscuits, for just one, are really easy to make and offer a nice change in taste and texture from my usual egg-based breakfasts. The Slow Cooker Loaded Cauliflower Soup is delicious! The Lime Brussels Chips - roasted, lime-flavored Brussels sprouts leaves - are an easy snack and delicious alternative to the ubiquitous kale chips. Next up for me is the Quick and Easy Personal Pizza because that mozzarella crust is not to be ignored. Some of the recipes are so easy that they may seem like filler to some - the roasted Brussels sprouts, the zucchini noddles, things like that - but they are ones that will be appreciated by keto beginners, especially those who do not have a ton of cooking experience. The Kindle version of this book is one of the most well thought out cookbooks on Kindle that I have (among many!) and there are pictures of pretty much every recipe. Bottom line: this book has gotten more use than any of the other keto books I have. Very informative and very nicely done.

I'm still struggling with getting the hang of the macros for my keto diet plan. I think I'm still eating way too many calories and I'm still having cravings for food after a month of being on the plan. But one thing is for sure, I really do like this book. Everything that I've tried so far has been delicious and easy to prepare. I've already made the mug biscuits. They are delicious. I'm from the southeast United States so I really appreciated that. It was kind of comforting to know that Suzanne also grew up partly in South Carolina like me so her palate and a lot of her recipes would suit my tastes. Like me, as she's grown and lived in other places besides the South, her palate has expanded to include other flavors. You can see that in some of her recipes and that appeals to me too. I like that some of her recipes are definitely a throwback to southern comfort food while others reflect fresh, multicultural flavors that were probably influenced by her life in California and other places. I have also made the cauliflower casserole with bacon (which is fairly standard in most keto cookbooks but I found her version even simpler and easier) and I've made the chicken cordon bleu with the crushed pork skins for the coating. I substituted pounded chicken thighs for the chicken breast and cooked them just a little longer (since dark meat tends to take longer) and they too turned out absolutely delicious. I've seen this recipe before in several other keto cookbooks but they tend to call for an almond flour coating whereas this one called for a crushed pork skin and Parmesan coating and it made all the difference. A simple tweak like that lent a really crunchy and smoky flavor to the chicken. I ended up sharing some with my parents who are not on a keto diet plan. Nonetheless, they loved it! I like that the ingredients are simple and easy to find and that the portion sizes and the nutrition facts/macros are right there at the bottom of each recipe. I enjoyed reading the author's personal testimony. I also appreciated that the book is packed full of photos so that you can see what your food will look like. I joined the Simply Keto Facebook group for support. I own several keto cookbooks now and each of them has things that I like. I'll be referring to all of them. But this is one of my favorites so far. I love the author's attention to detail, the high quality publishing, the photos, tips, and the stories. I just think it's very well done and that it seems like a labor of love. She was somebody who struggled with a serious weight condition. She was somebody like me who needs to lose a lot of weight and who struggled with weight most of her life. So the overall vibe of the book comes across as a sincere desire to help people who have tried everything and failed.

I began the Keto lifestyle a month ago and thanks to everyone here and their reviews I found 1 amazing book to start with. As often is the case with any recipe book, I became bored with the recipes and wanted to try something new. This book is a great education resource for anyone interested in Keto and it has some interesting recipes. What sets this book apart are the single serving recipes. Most cookbook recipes have at least 4 servings per meal, and if the rest of your family isn't on board with Keto you can end up with more food than you can eat. That's pretty much where I was, lots of leftovers and lots of eating the same foods over and over again because of it. I like the easy microwave mug recipes and while I haven't made any of them I like having the option to quickly whip something up for myself with very little preparation. I'm not a planner, that is the sort of person who plans out a month of meals or even a week of meals. I might plan my vacation a month ahead or just a week ahead. Generally I plan my meals up to 3 days ahead or I take things on a daily basis. This book gives me the flexibility to eat the way I want to instead of being tied down with having to plan out too far ahead.

REVIEW: This is the best Keto book I’ve read. All the recipes I tried turned out (no duds). The best, part my family loved them all. These recipes took little time to prepare and make. That’s a huge bonus. The yummy recipes I tried were:60 – Second Mug Biscuits, Blueberry Mug Muffin, Broccoli, Bacon, and Cheese Egg Muffins, Biscuits and Gravy, Keto Crackers, Creamy Pesto Chicken, and Brownies. I watched my family smile as they ate everything and asked for seconds. I was beaming to see them pleasantly satisfied and I was too! This author is honest and transparent about why she started the Ketogenic diet in 2015 and freely talked about her struggles along the way to wellness. Basically, Suzanne had weight issues for years; tried every diet nothing worked for long. She was highly motived to change her life style after had a baby and had her gallbladder removed and was told to go on a fat free diet, which made her gain even more weight. When she saw the scale tipping 300 pounds, she was willing to do whatever it took to turn her life around. Suzanne didn’t wait to pay to lose weight, buy a packaged anything, or invest in prepared meals, she wanted to eat clean foods and make a permanent change. She started to blog about her experience and made monthly youtube videos to encourage others and herself. She was so surprised at how many people reached out to her. The author has a blog www.ketokarma.com It took one year but Suzanne lost 100 pounds. In the book she talks about her wellness journey and answers questions readers have sent her. She does this in the beginning of her book. She goes on to explain how the Keto plan works in the chapter titled Keto 101. A fun fact I discovered there are two affective ways to determine if you are in ketones or not. One way is to use the breath analyzer and the second is to use the blood glucose and ketone monitor. I found this information very helpful because the ketone strips never worked for me. I learned several other helpful tips that make this something I can stick with as my family and I head to get healthier and lose weight. I’ve tried several other keto books, they were complicated, did not include many pictures of recipes and my family didn’t like the recipes I tried. Suzanne’s approach is like she says, “Simple” to understand, use and make. A bonus for me was my family favorites were in this book. Now Suzanne has made easy to make and keto friendly. I’m super excited about the fact that the author includes a 30 day mean plan. I highly recommend this book for those on the Keto diet and for those that just want amazing, wonderful, yummy recipes that are gluten free friendly (most are) I can’t say enough about this book.

I stared on the Keto diet last summer with this book. I am now 6 months in and 40 pounds down (about half-way to where I want to be). I've bought several other keto cookbooks, but I keep coming back to this one for tried-and-true recipes. What makes this book better? For beginners to the diet, this book has shopping lists for particular grocery stores, which makes it easier to find some of the keto-particular ingredients. Ms. Ryan's story is also compelling and inspiring for people like me who have a lot of weight to lose and who have failed at other diets. She also makes the diet approachable. She breaks the diet down into understandable parts, which lessens the intimidating aspect of such a radically different way of eating. I understood the ideas behind macros and net carbs after reading her concise section on this. Second, the recipes are easy and superb. Unlike many Keto cookbooks, the ingredients used in Ryan's recipes are easy-to-find. The recipes themselves are also easy to make, and the pictures are wonderful. I've literally had no failures using this book. All the recipes I've tried (and I've tried many) are delicious. My particular favorite is her Twice-Baked Cauliflower Casserole. This is not true of other Keto cookbooks I have used. My only complaint is that the non-picture index is not always organized for easily finding a recipe. For example, if you are looking for the cracker recipe, you won't find it under "crackers." You have to know that it is called "Keto crackers," and/or that it is made out of cheese. But this is a minor nit-pick. I bought this book for my Mom and have recommended it to many others.

I have been doing keto since Feb 2018. I bought a keto cookbook that was GREAT, but i had made everything and I’ve been searching for something with more ideas. I spent a few hours, literally, going through the reviews for cookbooks here as well as googling them. I tend to read the 1-2 star reviews first as a majority of the reviews are fake. If a cookbook promotes using non- keto food, I crossesnit off my list. I read reviews for this book and it had quite a few negative points so I skipped it. I had to take a break because it seemed the ‘real’ keto cookbooks that were reliable were few and far between. I am on a keto FB page and this cookbook was HIGHLY recommended. On a whim I bought it. I AM SO GLAD I DID!!! Not only is this a BEYOND AMAZING book for beginners, I feel as an intermediate experienced ‘ketoer’ I have learned so much. The quick glance information in the back has been wonderful, her story is great, but honestly, the recipes are the best. She also gives a guide what to order while eating out- for every type of food. Mexican, Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Italian, etc. This book uses dairy, but she gives options to reduce or make a recipe diary free. There were a lot of comments saying they were unfamiliar with items and needed to buy ‘extra’ stuff. Those people could not have been full keto. If you’re REALLY doing a keto WOE, than you’ll have most everything already. Almond flour, HWC, sea salt, salted butter, pure olive oil, bacon are all things we keep regularly stocked. The only thing I had to buy is a goat cheese. I wanted to try something new and I could have easily used a different kind. Ive made about 25 of the recipes so far; all of them have fir easily into my daily macros. I wanted to give it some time to really see how I felt about the book before reviewing it. Food is realistic, isn’t going to make you max out macros with one meal and easy enough that I, a horrible cook, was able to make people compliment my cooking! If you’re looking for a new cookbook I highly recommend this one. Read poor reviews with a grain of salt...

Love this cookbook! There is a picture for every recipe and every recipe is not only delicious but super easy. All the recipes are something you’d actually want to eat. Usually when I buy a diet cookbook it’s full of recipes like “goat with an anchovy sauce and some vegetable I’ve never heard of and can’t buy at my grocery store slaw”...which leaves me feeling like...super, but who wants to eat that? NOT this book, this book is full of delicious, normal stuff you’ve heard of and want to eat. I started this diet on my own, and the author included some recipes to make one muffin in a cup in the microwave in 60 seconds, which is genius for 3 reasons..1) if there’s extras I will eat them 2) When doing it alone there’s no waste 3) It’s quick and easy, even on busy mornings. But, some recipes I doubled to have leftovers for less cooking to make life easier. My husband noticed how delicious everything was and joined me on this diet! He loved it and lost 8 lbs in the 1st week. All the recipes we tried were delicious! There is a suggested meal plan in the back if you want to follow it. We traveled, went out to eat with friends, celebrated holidays, and drank on this diet (there is tips for all of this in the book) and still lost weight! I have zero complaints about this book! Loved everything about it! I was lucky and got it on sale, but knowing now how much we loved it, I would’ve paid full price. I have a cupboard full of diet cookbooks I don’t use. This is not your average diet cookbook! This book is useful and delicious and effective!