Low-carb, high-fat: a beginner's guide
Carbohydrates spike your blood sugar levels to a far greater extent than protein, and fat has virtually no impact at all. That's why a carb-rich lunch will leave you feeling tired just a couple of hours later, when your sugar-loaded energy boost has run out. And that's also why you then start feeling hungry and crave a mid-afternoon snack. This is just one of the ways you put on the pounds, and for many people, that's the start of a vicious cycle which ends in type-2 diabetes and worse.
But things go quite differently if you eat a higher fat diet and drop the carbs. A low-carb, high-fat lifestyle (LCHF) has not just been scientifically proven to be the most effective weight loss programme, it provides you with a healthier way to eat. LCHF is based on eating real foods and after just a few days of 'low-carbing', you will feel more awake and more energetic.
But things go quite differently if you eat a higher fat diet and drop the carbs. A low-carb, high-fat lifestyle (LCHF) has not just been scientifically proven to be the most effective weight loss programme, it provides you with a healthier way to eat. LCHF is based on eating real foods and after just a few days of 'low-carbing', you will feel more awake and more energetic.
What exactly is lchf?Adopting a Low Carbohydrate, High Fat (LCHF) diet means eating fewer carbs - essentially that means less sugar and refined starch - and more healthy fat, surrounded by generous amounts of vegetables and some fruit.
Adopting an LCHF lifestyle has helped many people reduce weight and gain energy but for many, it's still pretty counter-intuitive!
Dr Tim Noakes, Professor of Exercise and Sports Science at Cape Town university goes so far as to say: 'everything we've been taught about nutrition is wrong'. Maybe that's one step too far but you will discover as you work your way through this site, that we are all suffering from an abundance of misinformation; some well meant, some clearly misdirected and some simply there because it preserves the status quo. |
Eating in this much healthier way turns out to be a much simpler way too. The easy rule is that the fewer the ingredients and the closer your food intake is to the original raw material (be it fish, flesh or vegetables), the better it is for you.
Here on Sky TV Sept 1 2015, the cardiologist Dr Aseem Malhotra explains why 'fat is our friend'. |
Cut the carbs; make fat your friend
Carbohydrates, particularly processed flours and sugar should be cut right down and only eaten in strict moderation. But even if you're dieting and eating less, you need to replace those carbs with something. Protein provides the building blocks for the human body but you cannot just eat protein - and yet fats make you fat. Don't they?
Errh no! The evidence is now overwhelming. Fats do not make you fat, just as broccoli does not make you green. In fact, dietary fat is essential to the digestion and absorption of many vitamins and minerals found in what you eat.
Carbohydrates, particularly processed flours and sugar should be cut right down and only eaten in strict moderation. But even if you're dieting and eating less, you need to replace those carbs with something. Protein provides the building blocks for the human body but you cannot just eat protein - and yet fats make you fat. Don't they?
Errh no! The evidence is now overwhelming. Fats do not make you fat, just as broccoli does not make you green. In fact, dietary fat is essential to the digestion and absorption of many vitamins and minerals found in what you eat.
Our motto: Eat real food, eat well and lose weight.
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YES, You can eat: Meat, fish, eggs, cheese, cream and vegetables (especially those growing above the ground) as well as other natural fats such as butter, lard, coconut and olive oil. Fruit in small quantities is fine too. NO, You cannot eat: Sugar and processed starchy foods (such as bread, pasta, rice and potatoes); sugar-rich fruit such as mangoes and bananas. |
GOODBYE... Yes, say goodbye to junk food There's no surprise here: junk food has to go! Use fresh, natural ingredients to improve both your health and your figure.
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Enjoy your food, because there's so much choice...
HEALTHY: fresh veg & occasionally fruit
HEALTHY: Cheese, butter, salad, lchf crackers
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HEALTHY: meat, fish, eggs and dairy products.
HEALTHY: Fish, nuts, oil-rich fruit like avocados
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and eat fruit in moderation
Want to know the full sugar story?
Here's Professor Lustig's popular lecture. |
So Kids: What's inside the nuggets, then?
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When deciding to drop processed food, let’s remember that for example only about 50 per cent of a McDonald’s chicken nugget is actually made of chicken, the balance being made up of many ingredients... including sugar in one of its many forms.
Ingredients: “Water, Food Starch-Modified, Salt, Seasoning (Autolyzed Yeast Extract, Salt, Wheat Starch, Natural Flavoring, Safflower Oil, Dextrose, Citric Acid), Sodium Phosphates, Natural Flavor." Battered and Breaded with: "Water, Enriched Flour (Bleached Wheat Flour, Niacin, Reduced Iron, Thiamin Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), Yellow Corn Flour, Bleached Wheat Flour, Food Starch-Modified, Salt, Leavening (Baking Soda, Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate, Sodium Aluminum Phosphate, Monocalcium Phosphate, Calcium Lactate), Spices, Wheat Starch, Dextrose, Corn Starch.” So if you're going to eat nuggets,
why not make your own from fresh ingredients? http://www.ditchthecarbs.com/2017/02/21/lchf-chicken-nuggets/ |
Then fried in:
“Vegetable Oil (Canola Oil, Corn Oil, Soybean Oil, Hydrogenated Soybean Oil) with TBHQ and Citric Acid to preserve freshness of the oil and Dimethylpolysiloxane to reduce oil splatter when cooking”. 
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GOOD NEWS
Are you looking for practical advice on how you can steer your kids away from a #junkfood diet? I recommend this joint post from Sweden's amazing DietDoctor and Australia's ditchthecarbs.com at: https://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb-kids 
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