About

I am Lori O’Connell. I have always been openly experimental with my life, constantly trying new things and developing new habits in pursuit of a happy, healthy life. In doing so, I explored the ketogenic diet/lifestyle, which has been awesome for me in my physically and mentally active life as an outdoor enthusiast, film industry stunt performer, martial artist and writer. Now I spend many hours of my week in the kitchen trying out new recipes, or experimenting with my own. This is partly out of necessity since North American food culture is not exactly keto-friendly, but I do love the creativity that is inspired by cooking with limitation. And nothing beats the look of disbelief and happy surprise when people eat something I made that’s low carb because it tastes amazing and without the traditionally used sugars or refined carbs associated with it.

I have always had a strong connection with nature, having grown up camping with my family every summer in Ontario. As an adult, I’ve leaned into that wonderfully grounded feeling I get when I spend time in natural settings, trying more and more ways of enjoying it. Nature walks evolved into summiting mountains, car camping into backpacking, canoeing into portaging, kayaking into whitewater and expedition kayaking, etc. A week doesn’t go by without me feeling the call of the wild, even if I all I can fit in is a walk in the woods to pick a bucket of blackberries.

As you can probably guess, I want to live and breathe “the good life.” But it’s not always obvious what things we need to bring this about. In addition to cooking and adventuring, I do spend a lot of time reading and trying new things that will help make my life better, physically, mentally, and spiritually. Sometimes things work out swimmingly and have carried on as a habit over the long term, like my daily meditation and journalling practices. Other ones don’t gel with me and are tossed to the curb. “Use what works, discard the rest,” or so I read in one of Bruce Lee’s books.

Follow this blog and join me for my ongoing adventures as a keto foodie, adventurer and “Good Life” hacker.

Other Fun Facts:

• I grew up in and went to university in Ottawa, moved to Iwaki in Japan’s Fukushima prefecture, where I lived and taught English for 3 years, then moved to the Greater Vancouver area in British Columbia, Canada, where I settled and have lived since 2003. I currently live in Surrey, BC with my husband and two bengal cats named River and Kaylee.

• I have been working as a stunt performer in the Vancouver film industry since 2005. In my career, I have fought and fallen down many times and in many different ways. I have also done freediving and breath hold water stunts, and have even done a full body burn. A couple of my more notable jobs include some wire gags stunt doubling for Regina (the Evil Queen) on Once Upon a Time, and stunt doubling Ryn, the main mermaid on Siren. Watch my stunt demo reel.

• I have trained in a wide variety of martial arts for 25 years with my primary focus being Can-ryu Jiu-jitsu, a Canadian style of Jiu-jitsu focused on self-defense for civilians and practical applications for law enforcement. I have also been teaching this style for 22 years and currently run a dojo in Richmond, BC Pacific Wave Jiu-jitsu. I also wrote and had a book published by Tuttle Publishing called When the Fight Goes to the Ground: Strategies and Tactics for Self-Defense.

• In university, I earned an honours BA in communication at the University of Ottawa, having graduated cum laude. I studied a variety of types of communication, including, interpersonal, organizational, and media. For several years, I also worked in marketing as a copywriter and marketing developer for a Vancouver IT company and as an independent contractor.