About

Hello and welcome, my name is Ryan Pedersen and this blog is a collection of recipes and general advice on following the Slow Carb Diet.  Full disclosure I am not a professionally trained chef as the website might suggest but slowcarbamateurhomecook.com didn’t have the same ring to it.  I have however been following this diet for over 3 years and picked up lots of great cooking techniques and recipes in the process. I started following this diet (or an approximation of it) starting in February of 2011 after hearing about the basic ideas behind it and then reading Tim Ferriss’ book The 4-Hour Body.  Having never used a diet plan before the main parts that really appealed to me were the simplicity of not having to record any nutritional information, a focus on eating whole non-processed foods, no limits on amount of food (i.e. no hungry feeling), and finally the inclusion of a weekly “cheat day”.  The following is a summary of the main tenets of the Slow Carb Diet:

  • No “White” Carbs – bread, pasta, starches, sugar, etc
  • No Fruit
  • No Dairy
  • Cheat Day
  • Unlimited vegetables, meats, beans/legumes, nuts

Following this plan I’ve noticed a great improvement in my energy, mood, physical condition, and overall well being.  I won’t go into the science behind the diet here (definitely recommend reading the 4HB for that!), but in general this diet forces you to cook more or most of your foods because its difficult to find options that are allowed at most restaurants and it also forces you to eat more vegetables, which was a major deficiency for me prior to this.  This results in eating much more nutritionally dense foods and much less preservatives and unhealthy fats.  I will say that although I don’t think fruit in moderation is generally bad for you, the less fruit, dairy, and bread/pasta you eat the more vegetables you are forced to eat to stay full. The difficulty with this diet is finding recipes that are allowed (and especially tasty ones).  Over the last year+ I’ve found quite a few really good recipes from various websites and developed a few of my own.  This was the motivation behind creating this site as your one stop shop for amazingly tasty Slow Carb approved recipes.  I hope you will find this information beneficial! P.S. I’d love to hear recipes that you find too so use the Contact page to share them.