There was a need for our household to go vegetarian for 11 days in October, so I decided to eat a version of my low carb pizza each day – it was an easy option and I wanted to see if I would get sick of it (yeah right!), see what impact it had on my satiety levels as well as seeing how imaginative I could get with toppings as I did not want to repeat any across the 11 days.
I was posting pictures up on Instagram and sharing on the ketogenic forums in the superbly named “Show me yer fappin pizza already!” thread.
A fellow forumite asked for a breakdown of each recipe, so here it is – sorry for the delay.
All items will be in my linked recipe above unless stated.
Day 1 – Oct 9th
Started the ball rolling with my usual pizza, but with a few olives thrown in for good measure.
- Base – Std base
- Sauce – 62g of sauce
- Toppings
- 100g Cheddar Cheese
- 50g Green Olives
- 62g Spring Onions
- 39g White Onions
- 15g Red Chilli Peppers
- 22g Yellow Bell Peppers
- 13g Red Bell Peppers
- Sides – 29g Coriander and Chilli Pesto
- Macros
- 22.5g Carbs
- 59.6g Protein
- 91.6g Fat
Day 2 – Oct 10th
Change of cheese today as well as 10% less base as I was quite stuffed yesterday.
- Base – 90% of my std base
- Sauce – 54g of sauce
- Toppings
- 100g Red Leicester Cheese
- 95g Mushrooms
- 40g Spring Onions
- 20g Green Chilli Peppers
- 40g Rocket
- Sides – 25g Coriander and Chilli Pesto
- Macros
- 17.2g Carbs
- 59.1g Protein
- 78.7g Fat
Day 3 – Oct 11th
Still stuffed, so today tried reducing the base by 20% – this does not look right – clearly not enough pizza here. Though I really enjoyed the cauliflower topping.
- Base – 80% of my std base
- Sauce – 40g of sauce
- Toppings
- 100g Red Leicester Cheese
- 79g Cauliflower
- 4g Green Chillies
- 52g Mushrooms
- Sides – 30g Coriander and Chilli Pesto
- Macros
- 13.5g Carbs
- 53.9g Protein
- 73.7g Fat
Day 4 – Oct 12th
Changed things up today, tried a base made from almond flour, flax seeds and water. Turned out crispy which was nice.
- Base
- 50g Almond Flour
- 25g Ground Flax Seeds
- 45ml Water
- Sauce – 50g Coriander and Chilli Pesto
- Toppings
- 85g Red Leicester Cheese
- 100g Avocado
- 34g Mushrooms
- Sides – None
- Macros
- 8g Carbs
- 18.2g Protein
- 36.1g Fat
Day 5 – Oct 13th
The plan for today was set, pizza in the evening, however, whilst catching up on the morning news on the bbc website, I came across this interesting article about Michelin stars and how restaurants change once they get one. It was one of several stories I read that morning. Our plans for the day involved accompanying my son who was looking to buy a new car, we had arranged to test drive on in a town called Colne which is not too far away. We had an appointment for 9:30am I think, and we ended up stopping there for quite a while so it was noon before we left. We were hungry. I recalled the article and remembered a place called The White Swan in a nearby village, so we headed there and had a fantastic meal which left me totally satiated for the rest of the day.
The sea bass (below) was excellent. I went back there with a friend recently and will write that up soon.
Anyway, back home, in the evening, I was experimenting with different ratios of almond flour and butter for the base of my Chocolate Salted Caramel Shortbread so I ended up scooping all the leftovers together, throwing some cheese on top and calling it a pizza. My kids argue that it was technically ‘cheese and biscuits’ but I am older, so its a pizza!
- Base – mashup of almond flour and butter
- Sauce – none
- Toppings – a bit of cheese
- Sides – none
- Macros – err pass
Day 6 – Oct 14th
Back to the usual 100% sized base today, decided to add some spinach to the mix.
- Base – 100% of my std base
- Sauce – 50g of sauce
- Toppings
- 80g Red Leicester Cheese
- 20g Cheddar Cheese
- 8g Red Chilli Peppers
- 50g Mushrooms
- 20g Spinach
- 80g Baby Plum Tomatoes
- 4 Garlic Cloves
- Sides – 25g Coriander and Chilli Pesto
- Macros
- 19.6g Carbs
- 60g Protein
- 83g Fat
Day 7 – Oct 15th
As I had the full portion yesterday, I decided to do a 24 hour fast, drinking just decaf coffee and water. Broke the fast at around he 25 hour mark with a reduced base and a mix of cheeses as well as ramping up on the chillies.
- Base – 90% of my std base
- Sauce – 50g of sauce
- Toppings
- 30g Mozzarella
- 70g Cheddar Cheese
- 27g Spring Onion
- 20g Red Chilli Peppers
- 60g Yellow Bell Peppers
- 11g Green Chillies
- 90g Mushrooms
- 25g Rocket
- Sides – 25g Coriander and Chilli Pesto
- Macros
- 19.7g Carbs
- 58.8g Protein
- 75.2g Fat
Day 8 – Oct 16th
Just a few more days to go and I have to honestly say that after a week of pizza I was getting to the limit of my imagination for different topping combos. I went a bit random today and it didn’t quite that great – still ate it all mind.
- Base – 90% of my std base
- Sauce – 50g of sauce
- Toppings
- 30g Mozzarella
- 70g Cheddar Cheese
- 29g Green Olives
- 32g Spring Onion
- 153g Cauliflower
- 10g Green Chillies
- 61g Mushrooms
- 5g Fresh Garlic
- Sides – 30g Coriander and Chilli Pesto
- Macros
- 20.5g Carbs
- 60g Protein
- 79.9g Fat
Day 9 – Oct 17th
Reduced the size of the base by 15%, and this seemed to be the right ratio for me. Decided to keep the toppings simple too today. End result was a very tasty delight.
- Base – 85% of my std base
- Sauce – 50g of sauce
- Toppings
- 50g Mozzarella
- 50g Cheddar Cheese
- 41g White Onions
- 28g Red Bell Peppers
- 11g Green Chillies
- 61g Mushrooms
- 20g Spinach
- Sides – none
- Macros
- 16.8g Carbs
- 54.7g Protein
- 68.8g Fat
Day 10 – Oct 18th
With just 2 days to go, I decided to try cauliflower as a topping again, the first time was a hit, the second time a miss, so this was the tie-breaker.
Have to say, a small amount of cauliflower, sliced thinly or small florets is definitely worth trying.
- Base – 85% of my std base
- Sauce – 50g of sauce
- Toppings
- 126g Cheddar Cheese
- 23g White Onions
- 33g Red Bell Peppers
- 30g Cauliflower
- 13g Green Chillies
- 50g Mushrooms
- 25g Rocket
- Sides – None
- Macros
- 15.6g Carbs
- 62.2g Protein
- 85g Fat
Day 11 – Oct 19th
Well, I made it to day 11, with just the one unplanned lapse on day 5. Today I decided to try the almond flour/flax seed base again, with just a few toppings. Base was not as good as last time and to be honest, I don’t think I will try this again, my standard base is just too nice.
- Base
- 50g Almond Flour
- 25g Ground Flax Seeds
- 45ml Water
- Sauce – 40g Coriander and Chilli Pesto
- Toppings
- 100g Cheddar Cheese
- 33g White Onions
- 6g Green Chillies
- Sides – None
- Macros
- 9g Carbs
- 41.8g Protein
- 73g Fat
Wrapping Up
It was an interesting experiment, I did find myself getting bored towards the end but part of that was down to me not investing time in finding different topping options.
I did manage a few insights though:
- Olives and avocado have no place on any pizza of mine.
- Cauliflower, however, is a good thing, but only in small doses.
- Need at least 2 of onions, peppers, mushroom or chillies and either spinach or rocket.
- Less toppings make for tastier pizza.
- One full sized recipe is an ideal starting point if you want to do a 24 hour fast.
- I like pizza
