Tools & References
The Provisions (Recipes) List
Every climb runs on what you packed.
Knowing what to eat is one thing. Knowing what to cook at half past five on a Tuesday, when you are tired and nothing is defrosted, is another. These are recipes for the trail, in every kind of weather. For the weeks you feel unstoppable and the weeks you do not. For birthdays, holidays and hotel rooms. For feeding a household that is not climbing with you. Eight sites, the ones I actually send clients to, and the reason each one earned its place.
At a glance
The whole list on one screen
| Site | Best for | Cost | |
|---|---|---|---|
| American Diabetes Society: Recipes | Filtering to exactly your way of eating | Free | Read more |
| American Diabetes Society: Meal Plans | A whole week already decided | Free | Read more |
| Diet Doctor | Dietitian-verified accuracy | Mostly free | Read more |
| KetoDiet | Variety and allergy workarounds | Free | Read more |
| All Day I Dream About Food | Keto bread and desserts | Free | Read more |
| KetoFocus | True zero-carb, and the keto-to-carnivore spectrum | Free | Read more |
| Primal Edge Health | Everyday carnivore family cooking | Free | Read more |
| Heal Nourish Grow | Keto and carnivore in one place | Mostly free | Read more |
Why this list is short
Eight sites, not eighty
Search “keto recipes” and you will get a few million results, most of them thin content built to sell you something. That is not help. That is noise, and noise is one of the main reasons people quit in week three.
Every site below is live, actively updated, and run by a real person or organization you can name. Every one publishes carb counts you can check. Every one has a substantial free library, with no paywall between you and the cooking. And every one has enough recipes that you will not run out in a couple of weeks. If a site did not meet all four, it is not here.
The sites
Where to go, and why
American Diabetes Society: Recipes
FreeKeto · Carnivore · Paleo
Best for: finding a recipe that fits how you eat, in about a minute
A registered non-profit with a properly built recipe library, and one of the very few diabetes-focused organizations whose recipes are openly keto and carnivore friendly. Filter by diet, by meal, by difficulty, or by what you are actually after: blood-sugar friendly, fat loss, muscle building. There are five-ingredient options and budget options too. No account, no email, no upsell.
americandiabetessociety.org/recipes →American Diabetes Society: Meal Plans
FreeLow-carb · Seven-day plans
Best for: the weeks when you do not want to decide anything
Seven full seven-day plans as downloadable PDFs: Meat Lover’s, Classic Low-Carb, Quick and Simple, Budget-Friendly, Family-Friendly, Vegetarian Low-Carb and Mediterranean-Inspired. Each comes with a grocery shopping guide that includes a section on spotting hidden sugars, which pairs neatly with our own Hidden Sugars Guide. Print one, stick it on the fridge, and stop negotiating with yourself at 5pm.
americandiabetessociety.org/meal-plans →Diet Doctor
Mostly freeKeto · Low-carb
Best for: knowing that what you are reading has been checked
The most carefully governed low-carb resource on the internet. More than five hundred recipes, developed and tested in-house, then verified by a registered dietitian who is also a certified diabetes educator. Carb counts on everything. Their guides are as good as their recipes. Most recipes are free; the meal planner sits behind a membership.
dietdoctor.com/low-carb/keto/recipes →KetoDiet Martina Slajerova
FreeKeto · Carnivore · Allergen-free
Best for: the deepest library, when you want variety
Around 1,700 free recipes with net carbs on every one, sorted into categories that actually matter: high-protein keto, carnivore, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free. Ten cookbooks behind it and a stated evidence-based review process. If you have a food you cannot eat, this is the site most likely to have worked around it already.
ketodietapp.com/Blog/recipes →All Day I Dream About Food Carolyn Ketchum
FreeKeto baking · Desserts
Best for: the person who says “but I would miss bread and dessert”
The best keto baking on the internet, and it is not close. Low-carb bread, muffins, cheesecake, crumble. Use this one deliberately rather than daily, and read the note further down about treats. But when a birthday lands in week two, this is what keeps the climb going.
alldayidreamaboutfood.com →KetoFocus Annie Lampella
FreeCarnivore · Ketovore · Keto
Best for: genuinely zero-carb cooking, and understanding the spectrum
Fifty-four carnivore recipes averaging under one gram of net carbs, each with full macros. What makes it worth bookmarking is the plain-English explanation of the difference between keto, ketovore and strict carnivore. That distinction confuses almost everyone at the start, and getting it straight early saves a lot of frustration.
ketofocus.com/collections/carnivore-diet-recipes →Primal Edge Health Jessica Haggard
FreeCarnivore · Animal-based
Best for: everyday carnivore cooking for a household, not just for you
The most practical carnivore kitchen resource I have found. Ground beef a dozen ways, slow cooker meals, bone broth, and a gentle, non-preachy introduction to organ meats for people who are curious but squeamish. Written for families, which matters if you are the only one in the house eating this way.
primaledgehealth.com/carnivore-diet-recipes →Heal Nourish Grow Cheryl McColgan
Mostly freeCarnivore · Keto · Low-carb
Best for: moving between keto and carnivore without changing sites
Carnivore, keto and low-carb sitting side by side, which suits the way most people actually eat over a year rather than a week. Certified personal trainer with a psychology background, and it shows in how the behaviour side is handled. Recipes are free; coaching and meal plans are paid.
healnourishgrow.com/carnivore-diet-recipes →“A recipe site does not change anything. Having three meals you can cook without thinking, that changes everything.”
How to actually use this
Four rules that keep it simple
Pick one site, not eight
Choose the one that matches where you are this month and stay there. Eight open tabs is another way of not starting.
Find three, then repeat them
Three meals you can cook half asleep beats a hundred you have bookmarked. Variety comes later, once the habit holds.
Go easy on the keto treats
Low-carb baking is a bridge, not a destination. Useful for birthdays and the first few weeks. A daily habit it should not become.
Check the numbers yourself
Net carbs vary by how a site counts sweeteners and fibre. Glance at the label before you trust it, especially on desserts.
Feeling flat in your first couple of weeks is usually minerals, not the food. See The Electrolyte Shield before you decide a way of eating is not working.
Before the cooking comes the shopping
A recipe site tells you what to make. It cannot do much for you if the cupboard is working against you. The Keto-Friendly Food List is the companion to this page: what to eat freely, what to limit and what to skip, sorted green, yellow and red like trail blazes. Stock the kitchen from that list, then come back here for what to do with it.
A deliberate choice
The Society, not the Association
The American Diabetes Society is a different organization from the American Diabetes Association. The names are almost identical, so it is worth being clear that the choice here was deliberate.
The Association takes money from the makers of the very products it advises people with diabetes about. This is documented, not alleged.
A peer-reviewed study in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine identified 96 national health organizations that accepted sponsorship from Coca-Cola or PepsiCo between 2011 and 2015. The American Diabetes Association was one of them. Over the same period, the two companies spent millions of dollars a year lobbying against soda taxes and other measures intended to reduce sugary drink consumption.1
The pattern continues. Splenda is a current, named sponsor of the Association’s own Diabetes Food Hub, which states plainly that “Splenda is a proud sponsor of the American Diabetes Association Diabetes Food Hub.”2 The Association’s 2022 annual report listed Splenda’s manufacturer among supporters giving more than one million US dollars.3 Earlier, in the 2000s, the Association accepted a three-year, 1.5 million dollar sponsorship from Cadbury Schweppes, then the maker of Dr Pepper and Cadbury confectionery, before criticism led it to let a number of food and beverage deals lapse.4
In November 2023 the Association’s former director of nutrition, a registered dietitian, filed suit alleging she was dismissed after refusing to approve sponsor-linked recipes she believed breached the organization’s own nutrition standards, including one calling for a third of a cup of Splenda. The Association denies the allegations and says it will answer them in court. They remain unproven.5 Nutrition professor Marion Nestle, reviewing the Association’s finances, noted that pharmaceutical and device makers contributed more than 134 million dollars between 2017 and 2024, and concluded: “Conflicted? Sure looks like it.”6
To be fair, the Association’s own guidance has improved, and now advises eating less refined, highly processed carbohydrate. But when an organization is funded by the companies whose products it evaluates, its advice deserves an extra look. The Society publishes its recipes and week-long meal plans free, with no branded ingredients and no product placement in the recipes themselves. That is why it leads this list.
References
1. Aaron DG, Siegel MB. “Sponsorship of National Health Organizations by Two Major Soda
Companies.” American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 2016. The study identified
96 health organizations accepting Coca-Cola or PepsiCo sponsorship between 2011 and 2015,
including the American Diabetes Association, alongside industry lobbying against soda
taxes.
2. American Diabetes Association, Diabetes Food Hub sponsor page: diabetesfoodhub.org/splenda.
3. American Diabetes Association 2022 annual report, as reported by Reuters,
“Ex-director accuses American Diabetes Association of ‘pay to play’ with
sweetener Splenda,” 15 November 2023.
4. New York Times reporting, 2006, on the Cadbury Schweppes sponsorship and the
Association’s subsequent withdrawal from food and beverage funding.
5. Hanna v. American Diabetes Association, filed Bergen County, New Jersey, 16 November 2023.
Allegations are denied by the ADA and by Heartland Food Products Group; no findings have been
made against either party. See
contemporaneous reporting.
6. Nestle M. “American Diabetes Association: conflicted interests.”
Food Politics, April 2024: foodpolitics.com.
7. American Diabetes Association corporate supporter listings: diabetes.org.
Where are you on the mountain?
Take the free two-minute readiness quiz to find your starting point, or book a no-pressure call and we will map your route together.
Sources
americandiabetessociety.org • dietdoctor.com • ketodietapp.com • alldayidreamaboutfood.com • ketofocus.com • primaledgehealth.com • healnourishgrow.com. All sites reviewed and confirmed active in August 2026.
Ascent Metabolic Coaching provides education and behaviour-change coaching, not medical diagnosis or treatment. These are third-party resources we do not control, and we receive no payment for listing them. Decisions about medication and personal medical care belong with your healthcare team.