Hi, I’m Shari MAC (formerly Darling). Let me tell you a little about myself.

MY MISSION:

It is my mission to educate women to LOVE their hearts!  I’m referring to their physical hearts.  It’s vital that we stick together to educate and support our mothers, sisters, girlfriends, nieces, cousins to look after their hearts. 

MY STORY:

Former Career and Weight Gain:

For over 30 years and under the last name of Darling, I specialized in wine, food, and their partnership. I wrote a syndicated column called “The Sophisticated Wino” for over 16 years for newspapers across Canada. 

I wrote best-selling cookbooks on food and wine pairing, taught wine courses and cooking classes, and worked as a TV host, speaker, and journalist.

Canadian colleges and universities, including George Brown College in Toronto, use my food and wine pairing books and tools for chef and sommelier training. I’m a foodie and wino!

Living a gourmet lifestyle was exciting. Moderation was not part of my vocabulary! As the years progressed, so did my weight. One day, the mirror revealed my true self. I was fat.

Weight Loss:

Now awake to my obesity, I pursued a healthier lifestyle. Paleo seems like the cure. A gluten-free diet of protein, fruits and vegetables. I felt healthier and lost a few pounds, but nothing significant. Paleo is the answer for many people. I needed a diet free of all sugar. The Keto diet changed everything for me.  I lost 70 pounds.

This Blog:

I developed this blog to share my Keto and Low-Carb recipes, ideas, videos, and cookbooks with you. For ease, I’ve divided the recipes into specific categories. They are:

·      Keto Low-Carb–offering recipes under 10 net carbs per serving.

·      Keto Lazy–offering recipes between 10 and 20 net carbs per serving.

·      Zero Carbs–offering recipes with zero net carbs per serving.

·      Keto Heart Healthy–offering heart-healthy recipes under 10 net carbs per serving.

·      Healthy (Paleo)–offering Paleo-compliant recipes.

In this list, you’ll notice a section called Keto Heart Healthy. I added this section because Keto, alone, may not be enough for you to maintain a healthy heart.

Wine Notes:

Now let’s talk about wine! For those of you who enjoy wine, I’ve included a wine note with almost every recipe. Here is what you need to know. To maintain your Keto diet or low-carb lifestyle, choose low-carb, low-sugar, and low-alcohol wines that are free of additives and artificial coloring.  Include your wine carb macros as part of your meal. Remember, your liver will process alcohol before nutrients, pausing ketone creation and slowing the ketosis process. Your body will also metabolize alcohol as fuel before using food. This can slow fat burning and may cause your body to store carbs, fat, and protein as excess body fat. Alcohol consumption also stimulates the appetite. So, drink low-sugar, low-carb, and low alcohol wines in moderation.

Wine and Your Heart: The jury is out whether moderate wine consumption is good for your heart. Benjamin Franklin’s adage applies: “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” Drink wine in moderation!

Loss, Grief, and Heart Disease:

Recently, I lost my father, brother, and mother to heart disease in less than 1.5 years.  The grief is overwhelming. 

My sister has also suffered a heart attack. My parents and sibling lived an unhealthy lifestyle.  Bad habits and genes can raise the chances of heart disease and related conditions.

Given our obviously bad heart genetics, I visited the cardiologist to check my heart health. I learned that I have Coronary Artery Disease (Atherosclerosis) and slightly high cholesterol. CAD is a form of heart disease.

Living the Keto lifestyle has been a positive, healthy choice for me. I am lean (no obesity) and enjoy low blood pressure, low inflammatory markers, and no diabetes. 

Thanks to the Keto diet, I am the healthiest member of my family. Keto, alone, is not enough in my case. 

HEART DISEASE IN WOMEN:

Did you know that over 60 million women (44%) in North America are living with some form of heart disease? Heart disease is the leading cause of death for women in the United States and second cause of death in Canada. Heart disease can affect women at any age.  

Coronary Artery Disease:

Coronary Artery Disease, also called Atherosclerosis, is the most common form of heart disease in women and the leading cause of death for women. Coronary Heart Disease comes from a buildup of fats, cholesterol and other substances in and on the artery walls. Plaque causes it in the walls of the arteries that supply blood to your heart and other parts of your body. This buildup of plaque can burst, leading to a blood clot. After menopause, women are at a higher risk of coronary artery disease because of hormonal changes. This disease can affect arteries throughout the body, not just the heart.

My Heart Disease:

I was shocked to learn that I had high cholesterol.   How could this be? While saturated fat, in general, is part of the Keto diet, I was consuming too much of it. Too much bad fats and not enough healthy fats.

Cheese is my weakness. I love cheese so much that I wrote a book about it and taught cheese making classes. Red meat, pork, and cured meats like bacon and prosciutto were always part of my diet. For some people, the consumption of saturated fats is okay on the Keto Diet. This is not the case for everyone, however. Certainly not the case for me.

Keto Heart Healthy Section of Blog:

In this blog, you’ll find a recipe section called Keto Heart Healthy. This section incorporates recipes that use healthy fats and are significantly less to zero saturated fats. The recipes suggest using healthy ingredients such as pasture-raised eggs, grass-fed beef, and healthy oils. I can use Turkey bacon as a substitute.

My Mom:

My mom was showing symptoms of a failing heart a week before she passed away. The nursing home doctor and nurses did not know my mom’s symptoms were heart related. This is common.  Heart disease expresses itself differently in women than in men. This causes a delay in diagnosis and treatments. Taking this one step further, heart disease affects women differently in varied ways. Heart disease affects women of different races, ages, and health conditions. Had I recognized the symptoms a week before, I could have demanded she go to Emergency for her heart.  This may have saved her life.  

There is no one to blame here. I was uneducated.  Now I feel it is our duty to keep our own hearts strong and healthy.  We need to love our hearts!  Let’s make it our job to encourage and educate all the women in our lives to do the same. 

I hope you enjoy making these recipes as much as I enjoyed developing, preparing, and eating them.