• Mostly plant-based · Always low-carb

Pescatarian Keto Lifestyle

Recipes, reviews, and real-life tips for a mostly-vegetarian keto diet that includes delicious, high-fat fish.

Start with the basics → Meal plan

ENLIGHTENED vs. Halo Top for Keto: Which Is Lower in Net Carbs?

Posted on by Laura
ENLIGHTENED vs. Halo Top for Keto: Which Is Lower in Net Carbs?

UPDATE 5/28/20: ENLIGHTENED has released a new line of keto-friendly ice creams that advertise the net carb counts on the pint. While the keto line is not as low in calories as the regular flavors, it is significantly easier to fit into your macros. I recommend the Red Velvet! Halo Top has also released a keto-specific line, and the pints are lower calorie than the ENLIGHTENED keto pints although they are higher calorie than regular Halo Top. Other brands that are intended to be keto-friendly rather than low calorie like Rebel Ice Cream have also emerged since I wrote this article, so I suggest looking beyond ENLIGHTENED and Halo Top for low carb ice cream options!

UPDATE 7/28/19: ENLIGHTENED has changed their packaging as well as some of their nutrition facts since I wrote this post. Flavors like vanilla and cold brew coffee that previously advertised 60 calories per serving now have 70 calories per serving. The differences are minor, but the reddit post that I embedded is no longer completely accurate, so I will need to revisit this most. Before buying any products, make sure you check the labels to confirm that you can fit them into your diet! Continue reading “ENLIGHTENED vs. Halo Top for Keto: Which Is Lower in Net Carbs?”

Keto Breadsticks Recipe – Low Carb Cheesy Cauliflower Breadsticks

Posted on by Laura
Keto Breadsticks Recipe – Low Carb Cheesy Cauliflower Breadsticks

Missing breadsticks on the keto diet? With some mozzarella cheese and cauliflower (and a few other simple ingredients), you can make a tasty replacement that is way better than any bread! I’m not totally sure what I should call these. Are they cheesy keto breadsticks? Keto cauliflower sticks? Mozzarella sticks? Technically, they are sticks made with mozzarella, but I typically associate that term with breaded mozzarella.

The first time I made keto cheesy cauliflower breadsticks, I did it the lazy way after consulting a couple of recipes for inspiration and then totally winging it in the kitchen.

Here are the recipes that inspired me:

I’ve since perfected my recipe, though I occasionally change up the cheeses and spices.

Continue reading “Keto Breadsticks Recipe – Low Carb Cheesy Cauliflower Breadsticks”

Keto Bars Review: Quest Bar Alternative for the Keto Diet

Posted on by Laura
Keto Bars Review: Quest Bar Alternative for the Keto Diet

Update 2/17/19: Keto Bars has changed the recipe of their Dark Chocolate Coconut Flavor to Dark Chocolate Coconut Almond since I wrote this review. There have also been small changes in the prices since this review, and the bars are now available on Amazon. See my review of the new flavor to learn more. My original review is below, but keep in mind that some information is now outdated.

Before I started the ketogenic diet, I was all about my energy bars. Clif Bars were my obsession, but they are full of sugar and have no place in my current keto lifestyle. Finding a keto replacement was vital. Like many before me, I first stumbled upon Quest Bars, which are readily available in pretty much every store. However, for a variety of reasons I’ll explore, Quest Bars are not ideal for keto, so I was excited to find Keto Bars. I was also excited because I’m admittedly obsessed with sampling and reviewing keto products, but I digress.

There are three flavors of Keto Bars, Dark Chocolate Coconut, Chocolate Mint, and Chocolate Peanut Butter. When I received my first ever box of Keto Bars, I was delighted to see that the company gave me two stickers, one that read “Keto Warrior” and another saying “Keto Does It Butter.”

That was a nice touch, but what about the taste and the nutrition information? Keep reading my Keto Bars review to find out! Continue reading “Keto Bars Review: Quest Bar Alternative for the Keto Diet”

BHB Supplement Review: Perfect Keto Exogenous Ketone Base

Posted on by Laura
BHB Supplement Review: Perfect Keto Exogenous Ketone Base

When I discovered the joys of Zhou Nutrition’s Keto Drive, I wasn’t sure I would ever need to experiment with another exogenous ketone supplement. However, the brand Perfect Keto was on my radar because I was using their ketone test strips, and I became aware that they produced many other keto products including exogenous ketones (more specifically, BHB salts). My curiosity eventually dictated that I needed to try Perfect Keto’s exogenous ketones. Now I’m reviewing the two flavors I sampled in case anyone else is curious about them!

If you’re new to exogenous ketones and aren’t sure what they do, I recommend reading Perfect Keto’s product guides. Anyway, onto the review!

Perfect Keto Exogenous Ketone Base Flavors

One thing I found intriguing about Perfect Keto base were the flavors, of which there are four:

  • Chocolate Sea Salt
  • Coffee
  • Vanilla
  • Peaches and Cream

Continue reading “BHB Supplement Review: Perfect Keto Exogenous Ketone Base”

7 Quick and Easy Pescatarian Keto Meals

Posted on by Laura
7 Quick and Easy Pescatarian Keto Meals

People often ask me what I eat on the ketogenic diet because they find it surprising that I’m able to follow it as a pescatarian, meaning I eat fish but not meat. I always explain I love my pescatarian keto lifestyle and that my food choices aren’t limited at all! (Check out the Pescatarian Keto Shopping List to see what fresh foods I buy and what I keep in my pantry.)

I decided to write a post featuring seven simple keto meals that I eat regularly to quell curiosity and to give other keto pescatarians a few ideas. If you have basic cooking abilities, you shouldn’t have much trouble whipping up these meals. I often cook by just winging it rather than following precise recipes. This isn’t a true recipe post, though I will happily write complete, detailed recipes for any of these items if anyone requests it in the comments.

The majority of these are also vegetarian keto recipes, and they can be enjoyed by meat eaters as well. Anyway, here are my seven easy pescatarian or vegetarian keto meals! For more ideas, follow @pescatarian.keto on Instagram.

1. Baked salmon with sautéed spinach

Salmon is one of my favorite fishes, and luckily it’s also ideal for the keto diet (especially a pescatarian one) because it’s high in good fats. See my article What Are the Best Fatty Fishes to Eat on the Ketogenic Diet? to learn which fishes have high fat content and which don’t.  Continue reading “7 Quick and Easy Pescatarian Keto Meals”

Zhou Nutrition Keto Drive BHB Salts Review

Posted on by Laura
Zhou Nutrition Keto Drive BHB Salts Review

Zhou Nutrition’s Keto Drive line of products has been retired since I wrote this review in 2018. However, the company is still in business and selling supplements on their website and on Amazon. For all my reviews of discontinued products from the 2018-2020 keto craze, see the Keto Product Graveyard.

Keto Drive BHB salts by Zhou Nutrition were the first exogenous ketones that I used to supplement my pescatarian ketogenic diet. I was new to keto and had heard that exogenous ketone supplements helped with the symptoms of “keto flu,” so I decided to give them a try.

As I review the three available flavors of Keto Drive, I’ll also discuss the effects I felt from taking these exogenous ketone supplements.

Keep reading to find out which one I liked best!

Keto Drive BHB Salts Orange Mango Review

I had heard that ketone supplements taste terrible, so I wasn’t sure what to expect when I stirred my Orange Mango Keto Drive into a glass of water. One of my reasons for ordering this flavor first was an Amazon review that said Orange Mango was more enjoyable than the average ketone supplement. (My other reason was that Orange Mango was on sale.) Once the powder was all dissolved, I tasted the drink and was pleasantly surprised by its sweet and tangy flavor, which only had a slight weird aftertaste. It’s hard to identify what the aftertaste is. Maybe the issue is just that the flavors taste artificial to me, and there’s a slight chalkiness.

Continue reading “Zhou Nutrition Keto Drive BHB Salts Review”

Keto Ice Cream: Wink Frozen Desserts Review (Cocoa Dough & Cake Batter)

Posted on by Laura
Keto Ice Cream: Wink Frozen Desserts Review (Cocoa Dough & Cake Batter)

Wink Frozen Desserts is no longer in business as its founders shut it down in 2020, so the products described in this post are no longer available.  For all my reviews of discontinued products from the 2018-2020 keto craze, see the Keto Product Graveyard.

Wink Frozen Desserts creates frozen treats that boast a number of diet-friendly traits compared to traditional ice cream. These pints are low calorie (100-240kcal for the whole pint!), sugar free, vegan, and most importantly for me, keto-friendly! Like ENERGYbits® spirulina algae tablets, this is a product I first discovered on Shark Tank but didn’t seek out until I started the ketogenic lifestyle. Also like ENERGYbits, Wink Frozen Desserts did not get a very positive review from the Sharks, but that did not stop me from being intrigued by it. Nor did some of the negative reviews of the taste that I read online, especially since I read a few positive reviews of Wink Frozen Desserts as well.

It goes without saying that Wink Frozen Desserts is very different from traditional ice cream made with dairy and sugar, and if you’re expecting it to be exactly the same, you’re going to be disappointed. Of course, if you’re buying keto ice cream, you already know what you’re getting into and are likely used to sweeteners like stevia and monk fruit.

Here are my thoughts on the Wink Frozen Desserts flavors I sampled, which are Cocoa Dough and Cake Batter. Continue reading “Keto Ice Cream: Wink Frozen Desserts Review (Cocoa Dough & Cake Batter)”

What’s the Lowest Carb Halo Top? Here’s Every Flavor Ranked by Net Carbs

Posted on by Laura
What’s the Lowest Carb Halo Top? Here’s Every Flavor Ranked by Net Carbs

UPDATE 2026: This article has been updated to reflect Halo Top’s current dairy pint flavors, which have changed since this post was originally published in 2018.

For years, Halo Top has been a common choice for keto dieters looking to enjoy ice cream while avoiding the carbs found in traditional ice cream. When I searched for the lowest carb Halo Top flavor, I didn’t find an immediate answer, so I looked at every single nutrition label of the available flavors. My hope with this post is to make information about the carb content in Halo Top easily accessible. Keep reading to find out just how safe it is to eat Halo Top on keto and which flavors have the lowest total carbs and net carbs!

Continue reading “What’s the Lowest Carb Halo Top? Here’s Every Flavor Ranked by Net Carbs”

Keto Cookie Review: KNOW Better Cookies [No Longer Available]

Posted on by Laura
Keto Cookie Review: KNOW Better Cookies [No Longer Available]

KNOW Better cookies are no longer available, nor are Fat Snax and Nui cookies, which are also referenced in this post. View this an archive of the competitive keto cookie market back in 2018. For a more current option, try HighKey’s keto cookies. For all my reviews of discontinued products from the 2018-2020 keto craze, see the Keto Product Graveyard.

Update 12/2/18: KNOW Foods has changed the size of their cookies so they are now about half as big and only 190 calories. They are still delicious and probably a more reasonable serving size now although I loved how giant they were before. There is also a new flavor, which is peanut butter. I initially disliked it compared to the other flavors, especially since it was 1g higher in net carbs, but it’s starting to grow on me and become a favorite. It’s nice and gooey, but it has a strong peanut butter taste that I didn’t expect. Now I enjoy that aspect of it.

I learned that keto cookies exist while listening to Joe Rogan Experience #994 with Dom D’Agostino, the same episode I referenced in my ENERGYbits® spirulina algae tablet review. Dom brings keto cookies to the show, and he says to find them by searching “keto cookie.”

He was referencing the brand Nui, which used to be called Keto Kookie, and their cookies aren’t on Amazon and were out of stock when I was working on this review. However, my own searches on Google and Amazon brought me to KNOW Better Cookies by KNOW Foods and Fat Snax keto cookies.

I originally wrote this review as a comparison of KNOW cookies with Fat Snax, but that was when I’d only tried one flavor of each. I’ve since revised this review to focus on all four flavors of KNOW cookies, and I posted a separate Fat Snax review that includes the comparison. I’ve also published a review of Nui cookies. Anyway, onto the KNOW Better Cookie review!

KNOW Better Keto Cookie Review – Chocolate Chip

KNOW chocolate chip cookies have only 4g net carbs per cookie, and the cookies are large and 395 calories each, so that’s not bad! They also have 32g fat (288 calories from fat) and 18g protein, making them an amazing keto dessert (or meal replacement). The sweetener used as allulose, which is noted to have zero glycemic index on the KNOW Foods website. Continue reading “Keto Cookie Review: KNOW Better Cookies [No Longer Available]”

ENERGYbits® Spirulina Algae Tablets Review (Vegan & Keto-Friendly)

Posted on by Laura
ENERGYbits® Spirulina Algae Tablets Review (Vegan & Keto-Friendly)

I first learned about ENERGYbits® spirulina algae tablets when I saw them on Shark Tank. I was intrigued and went online and read reviews of the ENERGYbits spirulina (also known as blue-green algae), as I do with a lot of Shark Tank products. At the time, I wasn’t into “healthy living” and supplementation, so I wasn’t going to order any.

Fast forward to a couple years later when I was listening to Joe Rogan Experience #994 with ketone researcher Dom D’Agostino and he started talking about ENERGYbits. This was one of multiple podcasts that pushed me from being merely keto-curious to being ready to follow a pescatarian keto diet. Spirulina is keto-friendly as it only contains 1g of carbs per serving of ENERGYbits. There’s 0g of fat and 5g of protein in a serving of these little algae tablets along with multiple beneficial nutrients, and they may increase energy and endurance, making them popular among athletes. ENERGYbits spirulina is also totally vegan-friendly (and gluten-free, paleo, organic, non-GMO, and so much more).

As part of my review, I’ll share what Dom D’Agostino and Joe Rogan had to say about ENERGYbits along with my own impressions of the tablets. I’ll also try to answer some common questions about the ENERGYbits spirulina product.

Continue reading “ENERGYbits® Spirulina Algae Tablets Review (Vegan & Keto-Friendly)”