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Folks, I’m excited today. The Keto Reset Instant Pot Cookbook was just released this morning. It’s been a labor of love the same way The Keto Reset Diet book was. I literally threw myself into that project (with my own ongoing keto experiment), and this recipe collection was no different.

With help from co-authors and fellow chefs, Brad Kearns, Lindsay Taylor and Layla McGowen, I wanted to put together the perfect tool for keto eating. In short, a tool that would allow anyone to get all the benefits of a keto diet—with the least amount of time, strain and effort in the kitchen. (I’m all about that.) And now it’s here: 75 low-carb, hassle-free, and delicious recipes to get you started (or reinvigorated) in your keto journey.

To celebrate, I thought I’d serve up a sneak peek with two of my favorite recipes from the collection—along with a giveaway.

Butter Herbed Mushrooms

This dish makes a fantastic accompaniment to a nice juicy steak on any given night, but also think about doubling the recipe and serving it at your next holiday meal. Since it doesn’t require the already crowded stove or oven to prepare, it’s perfect for gatherings. It looks nice on the holiday table, too!

Ingredients

• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter or ghee
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 cups small cremini or white mushrooms (see note), stems removed
• ½ cup loosely packed fresh parsley leaves
• 4 sprigs fresh oregano, leaves picked
• 4 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves picked
• 1 cup bone broth (or vegetable broth)
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
• ¼ teaspoon dried marjoram (optional)

Set the Instant Pot to Sauté. Add the butter and when it starts to foam add the garlic and mushrooms. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes.
Meanwhile, set aside 2 tablespoons of the parsley. Place the remaining parsley, oregano leaves, and thyme leaves on a cutting board. Run a sharp knife several times through the herbs to chop them together. Push them into a pile and roughly chop them once more.

Add the chopped herbs to the mushrooms and stir well. In a small bowl, whisk together the broth, salt, pepper, and marjoram (if using). Pour the broth mixture over the mushrooms. Press Cancel.

Secure the lid and turn the steam release valve to Sealing. Press the Pressure Cook or Manual button and set the cook time to 5 minutes.

When the Instant Pot beeps, carefully switch the steam release valve to Venting to quick-release the pressure. When fully released, open the lid. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the mushrooms to a serving bowl.

Press Cancel and then Sauté. Taste the cooking liquid and adjust the salt and pepper. Bring the liquid to a boil and cook, stirring frequently, for 3 to 5 minutes to slightly thicken the liquid. Press Cancel.

Very carefully pour or ladle the hot liquid over the mushrooms. Garnish with the reserved parsley. Serve hot or at room temperature.

Note : If possible, choose mushrooms that are about the same size. If you can only find bigger mushrooms, cut them in half, or even quarters if they are quite large.

Macronutrients Per Serving:

• Calories 140
• Fat: 12 grams
• Protein: 7 grams
• Carbs: 4 grams

Beef Pho (Pho Bo)

This popular Vietnamese soup is pronounced “fuh,” with an upward inflection. Traditional cooking methods call for a broth that has been simmered for several hours, but cooking under pressure allows for a full-flavored broth in a fraction of the time. The high cartilage content of the oxtails lends a velvety mouthfeel. The heat from the broth cooks the raw beef slices to a perfect medium-rare in the time it takes to add your toppings.

FOR THE BROTH

• 1½ pounds oxtails
• ½ pound beef brisket or chuck roast
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 5 whole cloves
• ¹?8 teaspoon ground coriander
• 2 star anise pods
• ½ medium onion, thickly sliced
• 2-inch piece fresh ginger, thickly sliced and bruised
• 10 cups filtered water
• ½ medium Fuji apple (see Note), peeled and cut into chunks
• 2 teaspoons sea salt
• 2 teaspoons fish sauce, or more to taste
• Keto-friendly sweetener (optional)

TO ASSEMBLE

• 6 ounces sirloin steak
• 2 large zucchini, spiralized into thin noodles
• ¼ red onion, thinly sliced
• 2 scallions, thinly sliced on a diagonal
• Lime wedges, for serving

TOPPINGS (OPTIONAL)

• 1 cup mung bean sprouts or other sprouted greens
• Few sprigs each of fresh Thai basil, cilantro, and/or mint
• Thai chiles or jalapeños, thinly sliced

Instructions:

For the broth: Rinse the oxtails and brisket well under cold running water. Place the oxtails and brisket in a large stockpot and cover with water. Bring the water to a rolling boil over high heat, then reduce to a low boil and cook for 15 minutes. You will see a beige colored raft of foam form on the surface of the water. Remove the pot from the heat, discard the water, and rinse the oxtails and brisket with warm water when they are cool enough to handle. Set the beef aside.

Set the Instant Pot to Sauté. Once heated, place the cinnamon, cloves, coriander, and star anise in the bottom of the dry pot insert and toast for 2 to 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Add the onion and ginger and continue to stir for an additional minute or two. The aromatics will begin to smell very fragrant during this time, and it is desirable if they begin to char slightly. Press Cancel.

Carefully pour in the water, then add the oxtails, brisket, apple, and salt. Secure the lid and set the steam release valve to Sealing. Press the Pressure Cook or Manual button and set the cook time to 15 minutes. Meanwhile, place the sirloin in the freezer for 20 to 30 minutes (this makes it easier to slice later). Place the optional toppings in small bowls to prepare for serving later.

When the Instant Pot beeps, allow the pressure to release naturally for 20 minutes, then carefully switch the steam release valve to Venting. When fully released, open the lid. Very carefully strain the hot broth from the pot through a fine-mesh sieve. Set the brisket aside and discard the ginger, onion, apple, and spices. Leftover bones and cartilaginous bone caps from the oxtails can be saved and used again later to make bone broth. Season the strained broth with fish sauce to taste. Adjust the flavor by adding sweetener to taste, if desired.

Remove the sirloin from the freezer and slice thinly across the grain. Likewise slice the cooked brisket. Divide the spiralized zucchini noodles evenly among four large soup bowls. Arrange slices of both raw and cooked beef atop the zucchini noodles, along with slices of red onion and scallion. Gently pour a generous serving of piping hot broth into each bowl directly over top of the raw beef slices and zucchini noodles. Serve immediately with the optional toppings on the side for diners to add themselves, along with lime wedges.

Note: Keto folks might be tempted to omit the apple from this recipe, but don’t! You discard it after cooking, and it adds minimal carbs per serving.

Macronutrients Per Serving (with Mung Bean Sprouts):

• Calories 356
• Fat: 12 grams
• Protein: 46 grams
• Carbs: 11 grams

Now For the Giveaway…

I’m giving away 10 copies of the Keto Reset Instant Pot Cookbook to share my excitement for release day. Just ENTER HERE for a chance to win a copy for yourself (or a friend).

But hurry—this giveaway ends on May 15, 2018 at 11:59 p.m. EDT.

*U.S. residents only. *Must be 18+ to enter.

But Wait…There’s More!

When you order your copy of the The Keto Reset Instant Pot Cookbook, for a limited time, we have an awesome kit of all-digital bonus items:

• $10 gift certificate at PrimalBlueprint.com
• Exclusive video in the kitchen with Dr. Lindsay Taylor, getting you informed and excited about using your Instant Pot
• Free copy of The Paleo Cooking Bootcamp, the centerpiece of our comprehensive online multimedia course on intentional cooking
• PDF recipe sampler from the book, for easy printing and pasting on the fridge door

Just visit the Keto Reset Instant Pot Cookbook homepage to take advantage of the offer, and learn more about the book as well as our online Keto Reset Mastery Course, one of the most comprehensive educational experiences you can obtain anywhere to learn how to go keto the right way.

And to get you going keto the right way, take 20% off your enrollment in the Keto Reset Mastery Course. Just enter this code at checkout: MDA20. This course discount offer expires on May 31st, so take the plunge and get educated on keto—and pick up your Keto Reset Instant Pot Cookbook to make it easier than ever to stay aligned with your keto goals!

Thanks, everybody. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on the book. My team and I had a great time putting it together for you!

The post Recipes From The Keto Reset Instant Pot Cookbook—and a Giveaway! appeared first on Mark’s Daily Apple.

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I was in Copenhagen last week and, when I opened my menu at a highly recommended burger joint, I noticed that the calorie count was printed just after each item’s description. It didn’t matter if it was a main course, a side dish, or even one of the mayo-based dipping sauces for the fries — the calories were all right there in a matching typeface.

For me, those numbers acted as more of a challenge (which, spoiler alert, I rose to meet) than a deterrent. I honestly found those three- and four-digit calorie calculations to be way less off-putting than the prices (another spoiler: Denmark is expensive).

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There is nothing I love more than free stuff. If my neighbors leave last summer’s best sellers in the lobby of my apartment building, I’ll pick them up. If the Y stacks up the snacks left over from its after-school camps, I’ll take them. And if I ever see vinyl records beside the curb on trash day, they’re all coming home with me, even if they’re all in French. (Yes, this has happened.)

But last weekend, when Dunkin’ Donuts was giving away free samples of its cold brew, I wanted nothing to do with it. Zero dollars is still too many dollars for a cup of what tastes like weak coffee and human tears.

I recently took it upon myself to compare the cold brews from both Starbucks and Dunkin’ Donuts — and it wasn’t even close.

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It’s that time again! Those ultra-tart red and green stalks of rhubarb have returned for their springtime stint at the market. Expect them to stick around through June (maybe longer if you’re really lucky), so grab them while you can.

Rhubarb is a natural partner to berries, irresistible when it’s baked or poached until tender, and an unexpected delight at the dinner table. No matter your favorite way to enjoy rhubarb, here are 16 easy recipes to get you there.

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I love Trader Joe’s, but I’ve often found myself a bit perplexed by the nautical theme — and not just because I mixed up Trader Joe’s and Trader Vic’s for years. It’s a little odd to have a nautical-themed grocery store, right? Most grocery stores do not have themes at all. They just have food.

But Trader Joe’s employees are called “crew members” and all wear Hawaiian shirts. The managers are called “captains.” And instead of calling out announcements over the PA system, Trader Joe’s rings nautical bells in a type of Morse code.

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You’ve been making pasta for yourself since college or maybe even high school or earlier, right? You probably have a million (or at least a dozen) pasta dishes in your repertoire that you can make without even thinking about it. What if you’ve been making one big mistake this whole time, though?

I got to go to Italy to meet Giovanni Rana (you might recognize his face from his pasta packaging, which can be found in the refrigerated section at the grocery store) to see how the sausage, er, pasta is made.

I asked him, through a translator, to tell me the biggest mistake Americans make when it comes to cooking pasta at home. The translator wasn’t even finished with the question before he had his response ready.

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I love checking out new grocery store products — especially at places like Aldi and T.J. Maxx because the selection is unpredictable and seemingly random. Here’s a new wine! Here’s a great deal on fancy cookies! Here’s an olive oil that tastes like trail mix!

The special, limited-time finds section of the store is like a mini treasure hunt. Sometimes you find something wonderful, and sometimes you find something awful. And sometimes you find something that makes you go, “Wait, what?”

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The trillions of microbes in our gut play incredibly important and complex roles in our health. I’ve written several articles on the gut microbiome and its connections to:

• skin health 
• allergies
• food cravings
• bone health
• ocular health
• the thyroid
• autoimmune disease
• brain health
• heart health

Because the health of our gut microbiome is so important, I’ve also extensively discussed why we should think twice about taking antibiotics. Thanks to more widespread appreciation of the gut microbiome, more and more patients and doctors understand the potential negative impacts of antibiotics on normal healthy bacteria. But a study published in March of this year suggests that many non-antibiotic drugs can also affect the microbiome. In this article, I’ll break down the findings of this study and discuss whether this is truly cause for concern.

Drug–microbe interactions

The interaction of drugs and the microbiome is not a new concept. It’s been known for quite some time that microbes influence the efficacy and toxicity of drugs, and several studies had previously found that metformin (1), PPIs (2), NSAIDs (3), and atypical antipsychotics (4) can all alter the composition of the microbiota.

Antibiotics can have adverse effects on the gut microbiome, but did you know that nearly a quarter of non-antibiotic drugs can as well? Learn which of your prescriptions might be influencing your gut microbiome – for better or for worse 

However, the effects of many other non-antibiotic drugs on the microbiome had never been assessed, even though many have known gastrointestinal side effects. The goal of this study, therefore, was to systematically profile interactions between drugs and individual gut microbes. It was titled “Extensive impact of non-antibiotic drugs on human gut bacteria” and published in the journal Nature.

For the study, the authors monitored the growth of 40 human gut isolates comprising 38 different bacterial species, which were grown in an anaerobic medium that largely “recapitulates the species relative abundance in human gut microbiomes.” The species were chosen based on their prevalence and abundance in the healthy human gut microbiota and their phylogenetic diversity. Most strains were commensal, or normal, gut flora, but the set also included four potential pathogens, including Clostridium difficile and the probiotic strain Lactobacillus paracasei.

They tested 1,079 pharmaceuticals that are commonly administered to humans, including:

• 835 with targets in human cells
• 156 with antibacterial activity (144 antibiotics and 12 antiseptics)
• 88 with antifungal, antiviral, or antiparasitic activity

Drugs have widespread activity against beneficial microbes

Unsurprisingly, many of the antibacterials tested had broad-spectrum activity, meaning that they inhibited pathogenic bacteria but also inhibited normal commensal bacteria. Of the 156 antibacterials tested, 78 percent were active against at least one commensal species, and most had activity against many potentially beneficial microbes. Additionally, 47 of the 88 antifungals, antivirals, and antiparasitics had anti-commensal activity.

The most novel finding, though, was that 203 out of the 835 human-targeted non-antibiotic drugs showed activity against normal gut microbes. That’s almost a quarter (24 percent) of non-antibiotic drugs having a significant effect on the gut microbiome. Most of these drugs only inhibited the growth of a few strains, but 40 drugs affected at least 10 strains!

The effects weren’t limited by drug class, either. Almost every type of drug tested showed some activity against normal gut flora. I’ve listed the categories below, along with the specific names of drugs that affected more than 10 microbial strains:

• Cancer therapies: 8-azaguanine, 5-fluorouracil, floxuridine, tamoxifen citrate, amethopterin, etoposide, doxorubicin hydrochloride, streptozotocin, aprepitant
• Anti-inflammatories: diacerein, anthralin, auranofin, methotrexate, zafirlukast
• Antihistamines: loratadine (Claritin), terfenadine, clemizole, astemizole
• Antidiabetic drugs: troglitazone
• GI disorder drugs: pinaverium bromide, oxethazaine
• NSAIDs: tolfenamic acid
• Antipsychotics: methiothepin maleate, thioridazine hydrochloride
• Antihypertensives: felodipine
• Antiarrhythmics: amiodarone hydrochloride
• Anticoagulants: dicumarol
• Hormones or hormone modulators: estradiol valerate, diethylstilbestrol, diestrol, tiratricol (thyroid hormone analogue), clomiphene citrate

The microbes affected

Microbial responses varied by drug, but the abundance of key commensals Roseburia intestinalis, Eubacterium rectale, and Bacteroides vulgatus were among the most sensitive. R. intestinalis and E. rectale are known producers of the beneficial microbial metabolite butyrate, a key promoter of gut barrier integrity, while B. vulgatus is an important producer of the metabolite propionate, which stimulates the release of gut satiety peptides and has been shown to help prevent weight gain (5). The authors write:

Overall, species with higher relative abundance across healthy individuals were significantly more susceptible to human-targeted drugs. This suggests that human-targeted drugs have an even larger impact on the gut microbiome, with key species related to healthy status […] being relatively more affected. (6) 

They also stressed that the doses used in the study to probe drug–microbe interactions were well within physiologically relevant concentrations and that their data are likely to underestimate the impact of human-targeted drugs on gut bacteria.

Lastly, there was a strong overlap between resistance against antibiotics and resistant against non-antibiotic drugs, suggesting that consuming non-antibiotic drugs could potentially increase the risk of acquiring antibiotic resistance.

On-target or off-target effects?

I want to stress that there is still much we don’t understand here. For instance, is an altered gut microbiome an on-target or off-target effect of the drug? As the lead author on the study, Dr. Peer Bork, pointed out in a press release, “This shift in the composition of our gut bacteria contributes to drug side-effects, but might also be part of the drugs’ beneficial action” (7).

In other words, your prescription might only be working because it is changing your gut microbiome. For example, metformin, a drug commonly used to treat diabetes, has been shown to alter the gut microbiome, increasing abundance of the beneficial microbes Akkermansia muciniphila, Butyrivibrio, and Bifidobacterium bifidum (8). Transplanting fecal material from humans receiving metformin into germ-free mice has been shown to improve glucose intolerance, suggesting that the microbiome is responsible for the therapeutic effects (9).

All that being said, metformin seems to be the exception, not the rule—it’s clear that many of these drugs are negatively impacting microbial composition. These off-target effects on the microbiome suggest that treating one disease with a pill could potentially be causing another disease down the road. In other words, taking a proton pump inhibitor might help control your acid reflux in the short term, but it will also cause a shift in your gut microbiome that predisposes you to irritable bowel syndrome (10), gut infections (11), liver disease (12), and other conditions.

While pharmaceuticals can be a valuable tool in the management of disease, this study further supports the notion that if we can address the root cause of disease and support a healthy gut microbiome, we’re much more likely to achieve lasting, long-term health.

Now I’d like to hear from you. Did you know about the effects of non-antibiotic drugs on the gut microbiome? Start the discussion in the comments below!

The post The Effects of Non-Antibiotic Drugs on the Microbiome appeared first on Chris Kresser.

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I’ve written a lot about meal planning and meal prep on Kitchn. In fact, I had (what I thought was) an efficient, tried-and-true system. I even thought of myself as somewhat of an expert on the subject, helping friends and family adopt a system that worked for them.

Then last year I wrote a cookbook on one-bowl meals called Buddha Bowls, and it changed everything. At first it totally turned my beloved meal prep routine upside down, but now — after working out the kinks — my system is better than ever.

These are the best meal prep lessons I learned from developing over 100 recipes and writing a cookbook all about one-bowl meals.

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The shelves of bread at my local grocery store are a dazzling display of nut, seed, and grain diversity. Just a handful of producers offer more than 20 kinds of wheat breads in flavors like Honey Chia, Oatnut, and Quinoa. Some are thin-sliced and some are “long loaf,” and they can sport anywhere from just a few grains to a whopping 24.

It’s a lot to take in.

Of course, at the core of this seemingly endless array is the standby that pleases both health-minded adults and picky toddlers alike: plain ol’ wheat bread.

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