Do you want to eat real food (as much as you like) and improve your health and weight? It may sound too good to be true, but LCHF (Low Carb, High Fat) is a method that has been used for 150 years. Now, modern science backs it up with proof that it works.
There is no weighing your food, no counting, no bizarre “meal replacements,” no pills. There is just real food and common sense. And all the advice here is 100 percent free.
Contents
Introduction
A LCHF diet means you eat less carbohydrates and a higher proportion of fat. Most importantly you minimize your intake of sugar and starches. You can eat other delicious foods until you are satisfied – and still lose weight.
A number of recent high-quality scientific studies shows that LCHF makes it easier both to lose weight and to control your blood sugar. And that’s just the beginning.
The basics
- Eat: meat, fish, eggs, vegetables growing above ground and natural fats (like butter).
- Avoid: sugar and starchy foods (like bread, pasta, rice and potatoes).
Eat when you’re hungry until you are satisfied. It’s that simple. You do not need to count calories or weigh your food. And just forget about industrially produced low fat products.
Real food. Add some good fat (like butter).
There are good scientific reasons why LCHF works. When you avoid sugar and starches your blood sugar stabilizes and the levels of the fat storing hormone insulin drops. This increases your fat burning and make you feel more satiated.
Note for diabetics
- Avoiding the carbohydrates that raise your blood sugar decreases your need for medication to lower it. Taking the same dose of insulin as before might result in hypoglycemia (low blood sugar). You will need to test your blood sugar frequently in the beginning and adapt (lower) your medication. This should ideally be done with the assistance of a knowledgeable physician. If you are healthy or a diabetic treated by diet alone or just with Metformin there is no risk of hypoglycemia.
Dietary advice
Eat all you like
- Meat: Any type. Beef, pork, game meat, chicken. The fat on the meat is good as well as skin on the chicken. Try to choose organic or grass fed meat if you can.
- Fish and shellfish: All kinds. Fatty fish such as salmon, mackerel or herring are great. Avoid breading.
- Eggs: All kinds. Boiled, fried, omelettes. Preferably organic eggs.
- Natural fat, fat sauces: Using butter and cream when you cook can make your food taste better and make you more satiated. Béarnaise, Hollandaise, read on the packages or make it yourself. Coconut fat, olive oil and canola oil are also good options.
- Vegetables growing above ground: All kinds of cabbage, such as cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, Brussels sprouts. Asparagus, zucchini, eggplant, olives, spinach, mushrooms, cucumber, lettuce, avocado, onions, peppers, tomatoes and more.
- Dairy products: Always select high fat options. Real butter, cream (40% fat), sour cream, fat cheese. Turkish yogurt. Be careful with regular milk and skim milk as it contains a lot of milk sugar. Avoid flavored, sugary and low fat products.
- Nuts: Good to eat instead of candy in front of the television (preferably in moderation).
- Berries: Okay in moderation, if you are not a super strict /-sensitive. Good with whipped cream.
Maximum 5 grams of carbohydrate (excluding fiber) per 100 g of food is a basic tip for beginners.
Avoid if you can
- Sugar: The worst. Soft drinks, candy, juice, sports drinks, chocolate, cakes, buns, pastries, ice cream, breakfast cereals. Preferably avoid sweeteners as well.
- Starch: Bread, pasta, rice, potatoes, french fries, potato chips, porridge, muesli and so on. »Wholemeal products” are just less bad. Moderate amounts of root vegetables may be OK if you’re not too strict with the carbohydrates.
- Margarine: Industrially imitated butter with unnaturally high content of omega-6 fat. Has no health benefits, tastes bad. Statistically linked to asthma, allergies and other inflammatory diseases.
- Beer: Liquid bread. Full of malt sugar, unfortunately.
- Fruit: Very sweet, plenty of sugar. Eat once in a while, treat it as a natural form of candy.
Once in a while
You decide when the time is right. Your weight loss may slow down a bit
- Alcohol: Dry wine (regular red wine or dry white), whisky, brandy, vodka, drinks without sugar.
- Dark chocolate: Above 70 % cocoa, preferably just a little.
Drink most days
- Water
- Coffee: Try it with full fat cream
- Tea
The advice above in other languages
The theory of LCHF
What are you designed to eat?
Humans evolved during millions of years as hunter-gatherers, without large amounts of carbohydrate. We ate the food that is available to us in nature by hunting, fishing and gathering all edible foods we could find. That did not include pure starch in the form of bread, pasta, rice or potatoes. We have only eaten such food for 5 – 10 000 years, since the beginning of agriculture. Just a limited adaptation of our genes can take place in such a relatively short time.
With the industrial revolution, 100 – 200 years ago, we got factories that could manufacture large amounts of pure sugar and white flour. Rapidly digested pure carbohydrates. There has been no time to genetically adapt to that food.
In the 80s the fear of fat gripped the western world. The low fat products appeared everywhere. If you eat less fat you need to eat more carbohydrates to feel full. At this time the worst epidemic of obesity and diabetes in history started. The most fatphobic country in the world, the USA, has been hit the hardest and is now the fattest major country in the world.
Today it is clear that the fear of real food with natural fat contents has been a mistake.
The problem of sugar and starch
All digestible carbohydrates are broken down to simple sugars in the intestines. The sugar is absorbed into the blood, raising the blood glucose. This increases the production of the hormone insulin. And insulin is our fat storing hormone.
Insulin is produced in the pancreas (pictured to the right). In large amounts insulin prevents fat burning and stores surplus nutrients in the fat cells. After some time (a few hours or less) this may result in a shortage of nutrients in the blood, creating feelings of hunger and cravings for something sweet. Usually at that point people eat some more. That starts the process again, a vicious cycle leading to weight gain.
A low intake of carbohydrates gives you a lower and more stable blood glucose, and lower amounts of insulin. This increases the release of fat from your fat stores and increases the fat burning. This usually gives fat loss, especially around the tummy in abdominally obese individuals.
Weight loss without hunger
LCHF makes it easier for the body to use its fat stores, as their release is no longer blocked by high insulin levels. This may be a reason why intake of fat gives a longer feeling of satiety than carbohydrates. Caloric intake usually drops in studies when the participants eat all they want on a low carb diet.
So, no counting or weighing of the food is required. You can forget about the calories and trust your feelings of hunger and satiety. Most people don’t need to count or weigh their food any more than they need to count their breathing. If you don´t believe it, just try a couple of weeks and see for yourself.
Health as a bonus
No animals in nature need the assistance of nutritional expertise or calorie charts to eat. And still, as long as they eat the food they are designed to eat they stay at a normal weight and they avoid caries, diabetes and heart disease. Why would humans be an exception? Why would you be an exception?
In scientific studies not only is the weight improved on a low carb diet – the blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol profile (HDL, triglycerides) is also improved. A calm stomach and less cravings for sweet food is also common experiences.
Initial side effects
If you stop eating sugar and starch cold turkey (recommended) you may experience some side effects as your body gets used to it. For most people it is relatively mild and just lasts a few days. Also there are ways to minimize it.
Common during the first week:
- Headache
- Tiredness
- Dizziness
- Heart palpitations
- Irritability
The side effects rapidly subside as your body adapts and your fat burning increases. They can be minimized by drinking some extra fluid and temporarily increasing your salt intake somewhat. A good way can be some broth every few hours. Alternatively drink a few extra glasses of water and put some more salt on your food.
The reason is that carbohydrate rich foods may increase the water retention in your body. When you stop eating that food you will lose excess water through your kidneys. That may give dehydration and lack of salt in the first week before the body has had time to adapt.
Some prefer to decrease the intake of carbohydrates slowly, over a few weeks, to minimize side effects. But for most it is wise to take away most sugar and starch right away. A few extra pounds of fluids lost on the scale in the first days is great for the motivation.
How low to go?
The less carbohydrate you eat the more pronounced the effect on your weight and blood sugar will be. I recommend following the dietary advice as strict as you can. When you are happy with your weight and health you may gradually try eating more liberally (if you want to).
The Food Revolution
This talk by me from the Ancestral Health Symposium 2011 summarizes the history and science behind the ongoing revolution.
More theory and practice
Here four of the world’s biggest experts on the subject explain the theory and practice of various kinds of carb restriction:
Tips and recipes
Breakfast suggestions
Eggs and bacon- Omelet
- Leftovers from last night’s dinner
- Coffee with cream
- A can of mackerel and boiled eggs
- Boiled egg with mayonnaise or butter
- Avocado, salmon and crème fraiche
- Sandwich on Oopsie-bread
- A piece of very thin hard bread with plenty of butter, cheese, ham etc.
- Cheese with butter on it
- Boiled eggs mashed with butter, chopped chives, salt and pepper
- A piece of brie cheese and some ham or salami
- High-fat yoghurt with nuts and seeds (and maybe berries)
Lunch and dinner
- Meat, fish or chicken dishes with vegetables and rich sauce. There are many alternatives to potatoes, such as mashed cauliflower.
- Stews, soups or casseroles with allowed foods.
- You can cook most recipes in cookbooks if you avoid carbohydrate-rich ingredients. It’s often a good idea to add some fat (e.g. butter, cream).
- Drink water with your meal or once in a while a glass of wine.
Snacks
When you eat a low-carbohydrate diet with more fat and a bit more protein you will probably not need to eat as often. Don’t be surprised if you no longer need to snack. Many do well on two or three meals a day. If you need a snack:
- Rolled up cheese or ham with a vegetable (some even spread butter on cheese)
- Olives
- Nuts
- A piece of cheese
- A boiled egg from the refrigerator
- Some canned mackerel in tomato sauce
Olives and nuts can replace potato chips in front of TV. If you always get hungry between meals you probably do not eat enough fat. Don’t be afraid of fat. Eat more fat until you are satisfied.
Dining out or with friends
- Eating in restaurants is usually not a big problem. You can ask them to switch potatoes/fries for a salad. Ask for some extra butter with meat dishes if you need more food.
- Kebab can be decent fast food (preferably avoid the bread). In hamburger chains the hamburgers are usually the least bad option – naturally avoid any soft drinks and fries. Drink water. Pizza toppings are usually OK, the stricter you are the less of the pizza crust you can eat.
- If you eat strictly everyday it is less of a problem to make a few exceptions when you are invited out. If you are not sure what will be served you can eat some food at home before you leave.
- Some nuts or cheese is popular as “emergency food” when there are no good options to be found.
Shopping List for Beginners
Print this list and bring to the store:
- Butter
- Heavy cream (40%)
- Sour cream (34%)
- Eggs
- Bacon
- Meat (minced, steak, stew pieces, steaks, fillets, etc.)
- Fish (preferably fat fish like salmon or mackerel)
- Cheese (preferably high fat)
- Turkish yoghurt (10% fat)
- Cabbage (cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, etc.)
- Other vegetables growing above ground
- Frozen vegetables (broccoli, wok vegetables, etc.)
- Avocado
- Olives
- Olive oil
- Nuts
Clean pantry
Want to maximize your chances of success? Especially if you have difficult cravings / sugar addiction it is smart to throw out (or give away) sugary and starchy foods, light products and stuff like that:
- Candy
- Potato chips
- Soft drinks and juices
- Margarine
- Sugar in all forms
- Wheat flour
- Pasta
- Rice
- Potatoes
- Everything that says “low fat” or “no fat”
- Ice cream
- Cookies
Why not do it now?
The Serpent in Paradise
Be very skeptical of special “low carb” products such as pasta or chocolate. Unfortunately that is usually junk food that have stopped the weight loss for lots of people. These products are usually full of carbs once you see through their creative marketing.
Dreamfields’ “low carb pasta” for example is almost pure starch that is absorbed more or less like any pasta:
How about low carb bread? Be careful: if it’s baked on grains it’s certainly not low carb. But some companies still try to sell it to you as low carb. Here’s an example:
Low Carb chocolate is usually full of sugar alcohols, that the manufacturer does not count as carbs. But roughly half of them may be absorbed, raising the blood sugar. The rest ends up in the large intestine where it may easily cause gas and diarrhea. Additionally they can maintain sugar cravings.
If you want to be healthy and slim – eat real food instead.
RECIPES
Easy things to do with eggs
- Put them in cold water and boil 4 minutes for soft-boiled or 8 minutes for hard-boiled. Add some mayo if you like.
- Fry in butter on one or both sides. Add salt and pepper.
- Melt some butter in the frying pan and add 2 eggs and 2-3 tablespoons of cream per serving. Add salt and pepper. Stir until done. Add some chives and grated cheese on top. Serve with fried bacon.
- Make an omelette batter with 3 eggs and 3 tablespoons of cream. Add salt and spices. Melt butter in the frying pan and pour in the batter. When the omelette solidifies on top you can fill it with something tasty. For example one or several kinds of cheese, fried bacon, fried mushrooms, good sausage (read the ingredients) or left-overs since last night’s dinner. Fold the omelette in half and serve with a crispy salad.
Instead of bread
Would you have a hard time living without bread. Ooopsies is a good option. It is a “bread” without carbs and can be eaten in many ways.
Oopsies
6–8 depending on size.
3 eggs
100 grams of cream cheese
a pinch of salt
½ tablespoon fiberhusk (can be excluded)
½ teaspoon baking powder (can be excluded)
- Separate the eggs, egg whites in one bowl and egg yolks in another.
- Whip the egg whites together with the salt until very stiff. You should be able to turn the bowl over without the egg whites moving.
- Mix the egg yolks and the cream cheese well. Add fiber husk and baking powder if you want (will make the oopsie more like bread).
- Very gently put the egg whites into the yolk mix – try to keep the air in the egg whites.
- Put 6 large or 8 smaller oopsies on a baking tray.
- Bake in the middle of the oven at 150° C (300° F) for about 25 minutes – until they turn golden.
- Can be eaten as bread or used as a hotdog- or hamburger bun. You can also put different kinds of seeds on them before baking them, for instance poppy-, sesame or sunflower seeds. One big oopsie can be used for a swiss roll. Add a generous layer of whipped cream and some berries.
Less strict: some bread
Can´t live without real bread? Have a thin piece of bread and add lots of butter and toppings. The more butter and toppings the less bread you need to feel satisfied.
Instead of potatoes, rice, pasta
- Mashed cauliflower: Divide the cauliflower in smaller pieces and boil them until soft with a pinch of salt. Remove the water. Add cream and butter and mix.
Salad of above-ground vegetables, perhaps with some kind of cheese. Try out different kinds.- Boiled broccoli, cauliflower or brussels sprouts.
- Vegetables au gratin: fry squash, aubergine, fennel (or other vegetables you like) in butter, add salt and pepper. Put in baking dish and add grated cheese. Heat at 225° C (450° F) until the cheese melts and turns golden.
- Vegetables stewed in cream, e.g. cabbage or spinach.
- Cauliflower rice, grated cauliflower boiled for a minute or two is a good substitute for rice.
- Avocado
Snacks and dessert
- Mixed nuts
- Sausage cut in pieces, add a piece of cheese and put a tooth pick through them.
- Vegetables with dip, e.g. cucumber sticks, peppers, cauliflower.
- Cream cheese rolls: roll some cream cheese in a piece of salami, air dried ham or a long slice of cucumber.
- Olives
- LCHF-chips: put grated Parmesan cheese in small piles on a baking tray, heat in oven at 225° C (450° F), let it melt and get a nice color (be watchful – they easily get burned). Serve as chips, perhaps with some dip.
Cook books
There are a million cook books with low-carb recipes. Just avoid books that are unnecessarily scared of fat. If you avoid carbs you have to eat some more fat or you will be hungry. Don’t fear fat. Fat is your friend. Add fat until you feel satisfied.
Here is a good example:
Good luck with your new LCHF life!
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996 Comments
I went on a diet like this in 1986 and it was great. My girlfriend and I went to a doctor and he gave us some vitamins to take along with the diet.
I loved eating Italian Sausage with eggs for breakfast. My favorite snack was black olives along with smoked almonds. My ex-husband loved Burger King, so I would get a cheese whopper and not eat the bread. He also loved pizza so I would order a large one with everything and take my pieces off of the crust. I didn't drink any alcohol, ate no fruit, no starches and never got hungry.
The inches just kept coming off!! I wnt from a size 12 to an 8 in 3 months. Of course, since I didn't watch what I ate since then, I need to drop a dress size. The best part is you don't feel like you are on a diet, everything is so good and you can ear as much as you want!!!!
Hello! my name is Julia Verdorfer, I am a student of the Slow Food University in Italy, where I study Gastronomic Science. I'm really interested this LCHF movement and wanted to write an article about it. Therefore, I wanted to interview somebody who tried the LCHF diet for a period of time. Would somebody of you, be available for 3-4 questions?
Im more than happy Julia to answer some questions
Garth Turner, that is really nice to hear. Could you please give me your email address? my email address is: july_verdorfer@hotmail.com
Julia, why not just ask the questions here on the comments section? I'm sure you'll get tons of answers from many of us that are confirmed, practicing LCHF people.
Hey Doc, is there a reason you have a link to Marion Nestle's Food Politics? She seems to just push the same old tired notions of 'fat is bad for you'. "Want to lose weight? Eat less." http://www.foodpolitics.com/2012/01/want-to-lost-weight-eat-less/
Really? It just seems to me that it's food politics alright. Politics as usual...
Can anyone tell me whether it is acceptable to eat fried potatoe skins on a low carb diet, and if so, how many carbs? Thank you. [I googled but couldn't find any info.]
I looked up potato skins on SparkPeople.com. They had only two choices and they were from restaurants. Since sour cream, bacon and cheddar are not carb-rich, they must leave a lot of 'tater with the skins. It doesn't specify fried or baked.
TGIF Potato Skins Snack Chips - Cheddar & Bacon 17 grams carb for one ounce
O'Charley's Loaded Potato Skins 20 grams carb for one serving (no size specified)
Why would anyone want to eat potatoe skin anyway? It tastes like sh.., can be full of poison (solanine) and is difficult to swallow. Even the antique South-America natives removed the skin from the original potatoes.
@gallier2: Have you had a fried potato skin filled with onion, cheese, sour cream and bacon? If you had, you would not need to ask that question. The potato skin turns crisp when fried and provides a nice grain-free conveyance for all the fat to reach your tongue. I would be careful to scoop out much more of the potato than do the here named restaurants, however.
@Imafan: An average potato, red or russett, is about 110cals, 26g carbs, 2g fiber. Simply add in calories for fat your frying oil. I looked at the Livestrong/Mydailyplate site for the numbers. For just the skin, I would take half the counts or more depending on how much of the inside potato you remove. I don't eat potato, but my spouse likes them, so I use organic small red potatoes that have a lower carb count, and fry them crisp in bacon fat.
@Sharon Burress. You are so right. When I peel potatoes for the family dinner I peel them very thinly, or I take the peels as I pull them off from boiled potatoes which leaves no potatoe on the skin, and fry them until crisp. One of the best restaurants in our famous Franschhoek valley [in South Africa] serves a heap of them on a plate with a rich cheese sauce dip. Delicious and very economical too!
From what I understand 60 - 70 g of carbohydrate per day would allow one to loose weight irrespective of how much protein and fat one eats. I am eating a lot of fat [because I love it] but what I want to know is, do I need to reduce my intake of carbohydrate if I eat lots of fat? [Say for example I take about 1000 calories in fat... will I still lose weight if I take 60g of carbohydrate per day? Or do I have to cut the carbohydrates according to my intake of fat? I suppose I can experiment with it, but maybe some of you have already experimented with it and would not mind sharing your wisdom with me. Thanks!
@I'mafan, according to the following chart the answer is yes, as long as you keep carbs below 100 per day, you should lose weight. http://www.marksdailyapple.com/how-to-succeed-with-the-primal-bluepri... Not sure if that is true for a T2 diabetic, but certainly as a weight loss guide, this rocks.
@Margaretrc Thanks a million! It's a great site. E.
I have been on 20 carbs or less since Labor Day with no calorie restriction and have lost 64 lbs in that time. I eat lots of fat and lose fat! I eat lots of cholesterol and my LDL and triglycerides go down and my HDL goes up! My blood pressure is normal again! And after taking insulin for 10+ years I am off of it and my blood sugar has never been under better control! And yet dietitians tell me I'm doing it wrong!
Thanks for the ideas shared using your blog. Another thing I would like to talk about is that weight reduction is not all about going on a dietary fads and trying to reduce as much weight as possible in a couple of weeks. The most effective way to lose weight naturally is by using it slowly and obeying some basic suggestions which can assist you to make the most through your attempt to slim down. You may be aware and be following most of these tips, nevertheless reinforcing understanding never affects.
Hi,
I have just started reading up on LCHF life style and I have one question that I can't seem to find an answer for.
What kind of effect does this kind of eating have on arteriolosclerosis development?
If anyone has a link to some scientific or personal experience, I'd appreciate it.
"Conclusions: In postmenopausal women with relatively low total fat intake, a greater saturated fat intake is associated with less progression of coronary atherosclerosis, whereas carbohydrate intake is associated with a greater progression. "
http://www.ajcn.org/content/80/5/1175.full
http://jama.ama-assn.org/content/295/6/655.abstract
http://archinte.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/short/169/7/659
http://translate.google.se/translate?js=n&prev=_t&hl=sv...
Zepp, that makes it sound like we post menopausal women should eat low fat over all, but more sat fat???? Less fat means more carbs, no? I don't get it.
Its just there findings and conclusions.. and I do find it funny.. how they do wrihgt!
They do find other strange things !
"The inverse association between saturated fat intake and atherosclerotic progression was unexpected. However, this finding should perhaps be less surprising. Ecologic and animal experimental studies showed positive relations between saturated fat intake and CHD risk."
I do think they was suspecting the totaly opposite?
Here you can see how Dr. Peter Attia's lipid profiles improved with carbohydrate restriction:
http://waroninsulin.com/how-low-carb-diet-reduced-my-risk-of-heart-di...
Thanks for the clarification, Zepp. I though you were posting those in answer to Shaunt and I misunderstood your drift. Go LCHF.
I have suffered from acid reflux for many years, and lately I have been taking up to 40 mg Omeprazole Capsules to contain the problem, which I take twice a day. In the past if I miss a dose, I will suffer for a day until I get it back under control. since I have been on a LCHF diet, I have now cut down to 20mg a day, by error, as a couple of times I forgot to take my 2nd daily dose, and I had no ill effects. I then started cutting down delibertly and have had no problems with the lower dosage. Has anyone heard that a LCHF diet can help the likes of acid reflux, heartburn etc?
Hi,
I realy like the idea of the LCHF diet so I started right away two days ago. But I am also a regular BLOOD DONOR and I'm scheduled to donate blood in 6 days. We are advised not to eat fatty foods 20 hours before and to eat white bread and drink tea with sugar right before donation. So this can't be further from the idea of LCHF.
I would appreciate any suggestions what should I eat at that time, or even if it is possible to donate blood when on the diet, especially during the initial two week period.
I'm in my low thirties and normal weight so far, with no significant health problems yet.
"Has anyone heard that a LCHF diet can help the likes of acid reflux, heartburn etc?"
Oh, yes! Lots of people, including me, have experienced the same thing!
http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/uncategorized/heartburn-cured/
Hello
Could someone please help me understand something, If somebody is very active, as in gym 5 times a week (45 min cardio & 45 min weight training per vist) does the diet need to be tweaked or adjusted?
Thanks
http://vitals.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/02/08/10352781-heartburn-drugs...
Ben #527
Maybe this is an answer to your question. I don´t mean you have to eat raw food, but I hope you get the picture
The naked truth
http://translate.google.se/translate?hl=sv&sl=sv&tl=en&...
Ben.. its dependent of if you are healty and if you are an elit athlet!
If one is healty and do traning at elit level.. then you do use both glykolysis and betaoxidation!
Its means that there is both good and bad things about both ways.. if you want to be lean year around then is a ketogenic diet a good thing!
But if you is att elit level then you can gain a littel better with some more carbs!
Moste ketogenic atlets do use a cyclic ketogenic diet, with one carb loading day.. to fill there glycogen depoes.
So its dependent how healty you are, and what level you are traning at.
Here is a post from a body building forum thats discus this.
http://ironaddicts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=19002
And here som report about it.
http://www.nutritionandmetabolism.com/content/3/1/9
"The notion that you can't do high intensity exercise without carbohydrates is simply and categorically false" - Dr. Peter Attia
http://waroninsulin.com/nutrition/my-pet-peeve
It's a long blog post, but if you want you can just scroll down to the video of his workout. His blog has a lot of information about low carb diets and exercise.
Ketogenic diets and physical performance
"Both observational and prospectively designed studies support the conclusion that submaximal endurance performance can be sustained despite the virtual exclusion of carbohydrate from the human diet. Clearly this result does not automatically follow the casual implementation of dietary carbohydrate restriction, however, as careful attention to time for keto-adaptation, mineral nutriture, and constraint of the daily protein dose is required. Contradictory results in the scientific literature can be explained by the lack of attention to these lessons learned (and for the most part now forgotten) by the cultures that traditionally lived by hunting. Therapeutic use of ketogenic diets should not require constraint of most forms of physical labor or recreational activity, with the one caveat that anaerobic (ie, weight lifting or sprint) performance is limited by the low muscle glycogen levels induced by a ketogenic diet, and this would strongly discourage its use under most conditions of competitive athletics. "
http://www.nutritionandmetabolism.com/content/1/1/2
Did you watch Dr. Attia flipping the 450 pound tires? He talks about keto-adaptation, too. You should have a look. Dr. Attia is the person Gary Taubes is working with on the NuSci project.
I am convinced my exercise capacity is significantly greater on LCHF. See the recent post on my blog about this: http://www.drjaywortman.com.
@Dr. Jay Wortman, me too! My endurance, speed, and strength are greatly increased since I started LCHF last April. I noticed it immediately, too. One day I had a carby breakfast as usual and was hungry and tired a couple of hours later. Next day I had a couple of sausage links for breakfast and took a hike. Kept waiting to get hungry or have my energy crash. Neither happened for hours and hours and hours. It was amazing and all the evidence I needed to stay that way. And I have. I am very active and can keep going and going on, usually, less than 50 g carbs per day. I would never go back. I play a couple hours of tennis two mornings a week, dance 2 hours at least one night a week, bike and/or walk every day. And I'm 65. I wish I had done this years ago! Love your blog, BTW.
T-T
This is not vegetarian friendly... =P
@T-T:
I like the vegetarians I have met and feel I am friendly to them, but this site is promoting the kind of diet that our ancestors ate while becoming the human race...the kind of diet that builds lean muscle and promotes higher brain function, long-lasting energy and vibrant health. Things not easily accomplished on a vegetarian diet.
Looking at the scattered tribes of modern hunter/gatherers that have been studied in recent times and the archealogical studies of ancient implements and bones, teeth, etc., have given us a pretty good idea that they were able to catch fish or trap or kill land animals and birds a good part of the time. Before agriculture, they also gathered nuts, berries, fruit, bulbs and roots, seeds, wild grains, etc. The grains required so much preparation to make them edible, though, with stones to work with, that it is doubtful that a large part of their diet was made up from grains, except, perhaps in the winters in northern climes where the grains would store well in the back of the cave to provide when all else was unavailable and the people, sequestered from the storms, would have plenty of time to sit around soaking and grinding.
The small animals, though, in the other months of the year required the tribes to move around less from place to place, being more plentiful than the large animals who traveled far and wide, following the grasses. So it is probable that small fish, birds, animals and insects, worms, grubs, etc., made up a great part of their diet. Some societies herded animals. The prized parts of the slaughtered animals were the fatty parts and the organs, by the way. Add to that the dairy products for those cultures that herded ruminants, and you have a pretty high fat diet. Since the brain is highly made up of mostly fat, this is important. Plus, fat helps the body go longer between meals, probably a necessity back then, I would think.
I hope you will read through this site and see if anything does click with you. We don't differ far on how we want our animals treated. We want them pastured and fed their traditional, natural diets. We want them treated so that they are free from panic and terror, humanely treated by local farmers who know and respect their partnership with nature in providing wholesome food. One difference is that we do want them eventually killed for our sustenance. We want them killed humanely and swiftly. Why have animals age and live so long that they would start suffering from the illnesses and afflictions of old age?
We recognize that we, too, are animals and that as omnivores, we eat from the earth's bounty. We do not have the redundant stomachs of the ruminants, so cannot long thrive and survive off grasses. We do not have the extra long intestines of the great apes, so cannot long thrive and survive on mostly fruits. We are not birds and do not have the ability to grind within our gullets the grain's outer shells. We can soak and grind them with our tools, or just simply grind them, but grains are not too friendly to our guts in the unsoaked form and modern man has just about ruined grains with his GMOs (genetically modified organisms). And, with our comparatively sedentary lives now, we really cannot use all that many carbohydrate.
So! There you have it. We are friendly, I think, to vegetarians, but not so much vegetarian-diet-friendly, I think you would say.
Plant-Based, Low-Carb Diet May Promote Weight Loss And Improve Cholesterol Levels
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090608162426.htm
Yes you can diet low-carb as a vegetarian
http://lowcarbvegetarian.blogspot.com/
Is anyone here a blood donor? Are there any complications when on low carb high fat diet?
I'm not a blood donor (I'm not allowed to donate due to the whole Mad Cow scare, or at least I wasn't a couple of years ago) but I used to work in a blood and tissue bank.
Low carb shouldn't be a problem for blood donors. In fact, since it can improve your health and help heal your gut, usually people who adopt a low-carb lifestlye have higher iron levels (they can actually absorb the iron from the food they eat) and thus they are superior blood donors.
In addition, the reduction in overall inflammation in your body should allow you to recover that much more quickly from donating.
I am 70 and following LCHF and not losing. I use 4-5 packets of Stevia a day in my coffee and tea. Is this why I am not losing?
Maybe some headway is being made here in the U.S...
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/06/01/eating-fat-staying-lean/
@beckysays-If a person eats all his/her body's requirements then the body doesn't have to give up any stored fat. Many people, myself included, must track intake. With my big appetite I can easily gain weight even though I do very low carb/high fat diet. I use Livestrong, others sparkpeople, fitday, or similar. Many people, especially younger people and males, can lose simply by adopting LCHF, but many of us still have to track intake in order to lose. Even so, I enjoy my good health, and don't ever feel hungry though I usually eat around 20-30g carbohydrate and no more than 1200 calories (90% of the time or more), a result of having become insulin resistant in my 50s. But without LCHF, I would have been diabetic by now (many in my family are). I feel a million times better eating this way: no joint pain, good skin w/almost no wrinkles, lots of energy, and more.
Thanks, Nan. I will begin tracking today and try to stay at 20g. I am only 5'2" tall so I am probably taking in too many cal.
@Jennifer Thanx, I will see tomorrow whether I pass a blood panel and whether I faint or not after they suck my blood out
I am on 20g carbs a day only for a week now so I am little afraid.
That is an interesting thing about Mad Cow disease, they still ask us about it in the questionnaire (if I spent more than 6 months in Britain at that time).
@Becky If you are afraid about sugar from Stevia, you can try your tee with salt and cream. I learnt this "recipe" from nomads in Mongolia. If I remember it correctly they eat mostly meat, fat, yogurt and cheese. I found it strange to put salt in a tea at a time being (and I really couldn't digest so much fat they served), but now I drink tea with salt 2 times a day and I really enjoy. It is much better then an artificial sweetener or a bitter tea.
HELP ! 5 weeks in and not one pound lost.... !
I've not gained though...
in brief...
read Dr Briffa's 'Escape the Diet Trap' in early Jan.
started the 'diet'
discovered http://www.dietdoctor.com
discovered Neris & India
read Idiot-Proof diet
It's not working!!
Today's menu:
3 litres water
B: V8 juice (about a quarter of a glass topped up with water)
tea with skimmed milk x 1
rooibos tea x 3
full fat greek yogurt with raspberries & coconut
sesame beef salad (restaurant)
sparkling water
homemade chicken curry made with groundnut oil and cauliflower
snacks: few sesame seeds, cashews.
brisk walk: 40 minutes
This is a typical day.
Any ideas why this is not working??
@Andie, why skim milk? V8 juice? Try adding more fat, especially coconut oil, to your meal plan. I know it's counter intuitive, but if your body thinks it's not getting enough energy, it will dial the metabolism down and you will burn fewer calories. And even vegetable juices contain some sugar that is easily absorbed and goes straight to the blood to raise insulin levels. If you're looking to lose, you want to keep carbs down below 100 (I try to keep them below 50 most days) and up the fat. Ditch the skim milk and eat veggies (with some fat) instead of drinking them. And eat enough to not be hungry. Hunger is NOT the secret to losing weight. And give it time. We women have a harder time shedding the pounds. Also, you may be losing inches even if you are not losing pounds. I've been on this program since last April and I haven't lost a whole lot of weight--maybe 6 pounds or so?--but I have lost inches all over and am wearing the kind of clothes that I haven't worn out in public for--well at least 25 years (leggings, for example.)
With the Hubby's approval, I should add. LOL
@Margaretrc
Thanks so much for your reply. V8 because a glass of juice on waking has been my habit for 38 years. V8 instead of fruit juice was the trade-off.
Skimmed milk because I only have milk in tea and this is the milk I've had for years. I really must try cream in milk...
I spent last year on WW (the first diet of my life) and lost 50 pounds. But I was rarely satisfied. And I ate fruit. A LOT of fruit.
I've got another 50 pounds to lose.
I think my metabolism went on strike. I went off-diet at Christmas and gained a whopping 15 pounds in 4 weeks. Yes, it was Christmas. Yes, there was chocolate and mince pies and a fair amount of wine, but 15 pounds?? Pre-WW that was inconceivable.
This made me start to wonder and I started researching low carb diets.
Thanks for your input. I'm going to stick with it. I love food, I love feeling satisfied, I love the fact that I've been 'cured' of my carb addiction, I love eating natural, unprocessed food. Hopefully I'll start to see a change on the scales at some point....
@Georgee, the last time I donated blood--a bunch of years ago, I admit--I was not LCHF, but I was HF and I went to my appointment having eaten a breakfast of eggs cooked in coconut oil and not muçh else. I don't recall there being any problems with my blood. They sent me a card later saying my cholesterol was "high" (219!) and that I should consult a doctor (which I ignored because by then I knew 219 wasn't high and that the whole cholesterol-heart disease connection was bunk anyway. But they didn't say they couldn't use my blood. I can't imagine any reason why eating this way should be a problem with donating blood, but if there are I, too, would like to know as I do like to give blood on occasion.