My name is Jax.
I’m a South African bush baby living on a farm high up in the mountains.
Join me on my many adventures around the kitchen, come foraging in the jungle that is my garden, and see how we live life in the African bush..
My name is Jax.
I’m a South African bush baby living on a farm high up in the mountains.
Join me on my many adventures around the kitchen, come foraging in the jungle that is my garden, and see how we live life in the African bush..
Hi Jax
Came across your blog when i was searching for banting recipes. I love what you are doing…keep it up…great blog by the way
Thanks so much Yandisa! So glad you like it!
Hi Jax,
Came across your site while searching for easy recipes. Thanks, your recipes and stories are a real help and inspiration. I have been weighing up many different diets and lifestyles, my husband and I are both overweight and needing to improve our lifestyle. Our situation is a little compounded by the fact that we live on a yacht, we have travelled the majority of the South African Coast and in the next 2 years plan to head toward the Caribbean, all the more reason to get the eating plan and way of life in order before we go, a tall ask. Your recipes are easy to follow and don’t leave us feeling deprived, great, keep it up.
Hi Donna
So lovely to hear from you! Yes, the LCHF diet has been my life saver, I swear by it. But I also believe in doing what works for you. But I really have tried it all – SureSlim, Weight Watchers, Weighless, Herbalife, Low GI, Atkins etc etc. You name it! I’ve found that the magic combination has been the LOW carb but then including HIGH fats. It seems so ridiculous in the beginning, as you’re adding cream to your coffee! But all I can say is I’ve never felt better, and the weight has melted off over the past 4 years. So I would definitely encourage you to give it a go!
Wow life on a yacht, what an adventure! But I can imagine healthy (fresh & low carb) catering must be a challenge. We did a fair amount of travelling to different countries, and just stuck to the basics to keep us on track. We traveled with an electric egg boiler that had a steamer attached, so breakfast was usually coffee with cream, boiled eggs & steamed brocolli with some cherry tomatoes as a fresh choice. Hardly gourmet, but it set us up for the day! I assume you at least have a working kitchen on board? But the challenge must be sourcing and keeping perishables. Eggs luckily are a global staple, so I’m sure you could pick those up at most of your stops. I remember reading an article about how the Voortrekkers put eggs in their flour containers to keep them from breaking on the bumpy roads. But I’m sure you guys have modern storage options nowadays.
I wouldn’t sweat the small stuff though, and just do the best you can in the situation. So if it means you have to make do with things like canned veg (is frozen an option?) and tinned fish those aren’t bad options. Droewors and biltong are also great travel-friendly food ( I assume you don’t have issues with custom control in harbours like you do at airports? Wouldn’t want them tossing out your stash of biltong! Sacrilege!)
So here are some LCHF-friendly suggestions that travel well:
Grain-free granola – check out my recipe, just search for it in the search tab – you could make up big batches of this when you’re on dry land with access to an oven and it stores very well. Then just have that and some full-cream box milk or box cream and defrosted frozen berries if frozen is an option?
Eggs – They can keep for up to 5 weeks, so you might not have a fresh supply all the time, but as breakfast goes, they’re hard to beat. I’d keep some long life box cream and frozen spinach, peppers etc, and toss all that in just to give you a bit of a change up, and keep your fats nice and high.
Tinned tuna, sardines, pilchards etc – Fantastic source of good fats. You could add them into omelettes, frittata’s, on top of seed crackers etc.
Seed crackers – Speaking of which, these would probably be a life saver too, as they keep for ages. You’d have to make them on land where there’s an oven, but I’d make up huge batches and these could sub things like chips, biscuits, bread etc. The best recipe I’ve found is in the Real Meal Revolution recipe book.
Nuts, seeds & dried fruit – Go easy on the dried fruit as high in sugar, but it at least travels well, and the nuts and seeds are great to have on hand and travel well.
Hard cheese, salami etc – Aged cheese like parmesan probably keep for ages, and you can buy those long rolls of salami that keep well too. Then you can incorporate whatever fresh stuff you have, and make tapas style finger food meals.
Then I would just try and stock up on as much fresh stuff in between stops. Coconut oil is also like white gold, get a big tub of that and cook everything in it. You’ll find as you get fat adapted you will probably settle quite happily into eating only twice a day, which will make life much easier.
Once you get to the Caribbean then you have all that amazing fresh, spicy produce to look forward to! What a wonderful trip! Please keep me posted and shout if you have any other questions or want to bash ideas around.
Bon Voyage
Jax