LCHF or Ketogenic Diet

[uncfnp]

Is anyone following a Low Carb High Fat or Ketogenic diet?

 

[Bubblesong]

My brother in law, he has a trim figurebut i do wonder about how it affects the heart valves? He gets regular check up. Also, if you put a bowl of chips in front of him, he does go off the rails because he is so carb-deprived.
I follow the diabetic diet, which allows anything in measured, small portions, and track with an iPhone app, this works for me, because i like plain, simple foods, without sauces and condiments. I am not diabetic, but the even blood sugar keeps me from going off the rails, generally.

 

[mcohen1021]

I follow it.

I started out with a green veggie drink in the morning with an avocado, and the same thing at dinner. It's called a "soft fast",,, You do this for 2 days, no lunch. Thie green drink powders are available at any GNC, can be bought cheaper online - I paid about $23. The fast speeds up getting into ketosis.

I also bought a ketosis test kit at CVS... When you pee on the Strip it will show you whether you're in ketosis or not. The kit at CVS is around $14

If at all possible I would recommend starting on a Thursday morning, so you can make a good breakfast on Saturday morning, and you have to eliminate anything that has carbs, like an Adkins diet on turbo.

I have been on this kick for 64 days - weighed in this morning @ 173.6. Lowest ive been in 10+ yrs... So down 24.4 in 64 days!

I am also running 1.5 to 2 miles per day and doing high rep low weight strength training, but I just added the strength in a few days ago. And BTW - 49 years old here... I even ran and completed a TG Day Turkey Trot - 5K.

What you'll notice on this diet is that your nervous energy will go away, your focus will improve and you'll generally feel better. Plus once you get started, you'll be surprised the cravings aren't there.

My diet is: meat, chicken, pork, cheddar/string cheese, salad, veggies.

No potatoes, rice, beans, bread, tortillas, sugary drinks, processed foods. .. no coffee creamer, instead use heavy whipping cream. Instead of mashed potatoes, eat mashed cauliflower. Instead of rice, eat riced cauliflower. Eat a salad topped with grated cheddar at lunch AND dinner. Sugar free jello topped with heavy whipping cream (whipped) makes a great sweet snack. Buy a tub of the coarsely grated parm cheese – bake at 350 for 8-10 min and enjoy a 0 carb snack…

My goal is to make it to 170 AND maintain it. This diet works and the results are good.

I HAVE NOT GONE HUNGRY - You just can't eat the same high carb crap that made you fat. It is training your body to use fat as energy, and then it burns the stored fat you put on as a result of the carbs you used to eat.

Once you get to your goal weight, things can be added in, but you limit intake. Example – I had a hamburger in Cozumel last week – only ate ½ the bun. Had chips n salsa, only ate 5. Ate fajitas, only ate one tortilla. I had alcohol – but it was rum and diet coke!

And 3 days after I got back from vacation, i weigh less than before I left.

 

[tursiops]

I slowly ballooned over the years, did Atkins for a few years to come back down (nothing else worked for me), now stay down with smaller portions, smarter-overall eating, grazing instead of gorging. During the Atkins, the pee-strips changed color nicely, I was not hungry, and I enjoyed the protein, loved the high fat, had terrific glucose readings. Biggest problem was the diet was fairly low fiber, and that has its own issues.Second biggest problem was social: hard to eat meals with my wife, going out was not fun.

 

[chillyinCanada]

I've been on them off and on and only recently decided that it should become a way of life for me. I'm currently in SE Asia for the winter so will not be strict for the next few months. Will do the complete change up upon my return.

I do feel ever so much better when in ketosis.

 

[mi000ke]

I've been on a low/moderate carb - high (good) fat diet for about 20 years. Had a lot of heart disease and diabetes in the family so I decided to change the way I ate (I used to be a carbaholic). I did a lot of research into nutrition, read a lot of medical literature, and came up with the diet that I would discover a few years later was similar to the south beach diet and also coincidentally the diet the doctors eventually put my severely diabetic father on later in life. I looked into the ketogenic diet, but at the time it was something that was being used primarily by weight lifters to trim down before competitions with out reducing muscle mass too much ( I was doing a lot more lifting back then. The "bible" was a book called "The Ketogenic Diet" by Lyle McDonald, 1998). I was looking for a diet as a way of life, not a temporary fix. And the lo carb diet I've been on has had great results, not only for weight control but more importantly (in my case) for blood sugar control. I also eat 6 - 8 small meals per day rather than three bigger ones, as the body processes the carbs better that way. The key villain is insulin, which drives the production of fat, cholesterol, blood sugar, and (some recent research is starting to show) cognitive dysfunction. Carbs drive insulin production the most, followed by protein. Fat does little to promote insulin release, so fat does not make you fat (assuming your intake is reasonable, as it has twice the calories per weight), Also different carbs are processed differently by the body, and the better carbs are lower on the glycemic index. White rice, white bread, potatoes are right out. Orange juice is one of the worst ( it's what they recommend diabetics drink when their blood sugar gets too low from overdosing their insulin). So for me it's been a good way of life - have lots of energy, am able to stay physically active, and my vital signs are great for an old man.

A couple of good layperson reads:

What if It's All Been a Big Fat Lie?

http://garytaubes.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Science-The-soft-science-of-dietary-fat.pdf

 

[Storker]

<warning, rant>
Back in the Bronze age, when I was in uni, one of the classes I took was biochem. What I learned there has colored my view on LCHF-diets rather dramatically.

1. The brain needs carbos to live. If your diet includes insufficient amounts of carbos, your body will convert muscle protein to glucose to keep your brain alive. That's why fasting and ultra-low-calorie diets rob you of muscle mass.
2. Large intakes of saturated fats are a health risk. Most LCHF-diets are rich in saturated fats, so if you follow a LCHF-diet a lot of your calorie intake will be from saturated fat.
3. Weight loss/gain is the consequence of your energy balance. Take in more calories than you use, and you gain weight.Take in less calories than you use, and you lose weight. It's as simple as that. So, why do LCHF-diets work? Because over time, they kill your appetite. So you take in less calories.
4. The best way to lose weight is to skew the calories in / calories used ratio. Basically, it means eating less and exercising more. IOW, go hungry and spend more time doing unpleasant stuff like getting tired and sweaty.
</rant>

 

[uncfnp]

Thanks to all for the replies and please keep the info, and debate, going. I started my journey about 4 weeks ago and it is still an exploratory process. I am not following a specific plan but just incorporating the concepts into a “healthy” diet. Yes more fats, including saturated fats but also more orgainics and raw veggies. Left out? Sweets, chips, highly refined foods, grains and of course starchy veggies. Its hard to argue agaist this based on any nutritional standard.

For me it really wasn't a huge step. Yes, I love bread and pasta but I was never much into the sweets or chips. And there are substitutes. Replacing pasta noodles with zucchini noodles is a big win from a nutritional stand point.

I am not doing this in the almost cultish approach that this and almost any diet plan can attract. In fact, its not really a diet plan for me but rather an alteration in my nutritional perspective with complementary change in eating habits. Yes, I check my urine ketones from time to time just to validate the results of my efforts but I have not, at this point, completely bought into the full ketogenic aspects of low carb nutrition.

 

[Dizzi Lizzi]

<warning, rant>
3. Weight loss/gain is the consequence of your energy balance. Take in more calories than you use, and you gain weight.Take in less calories than you use, and you lose weight. It's as simple as that. So, why do LCHF-diets work? Because over time, they kill your appetite. So you take in less calories.
4. The best way to lose weight is to skew the calories in / calories used ratio. Basically, it means eating less and exercising more. IOW, go hungry and spend more time doing unpleasant stuff like getting tired and sweaty.
</rant>

# 3 & 4. Yep. I know that, however I don't do that. I also don't diet. If I want to lose a couple pounds (much harder now in my late 50's) I know that cutting out fast food and hitting the pool/gym will produce a change in about 4-6 weeks. My goal when I hit 50 was to stay at that weight. I've pretty much managed that. I've never attempted to go under, I seem to be in a state of stasis. I'll accept that!

Don't forget that as we age we naturally lose muscle mass. Muscles help us schlep our gear...or other nice younger folks...or wagons...

 

[uncfnp]

<warning, rant>
Back in the Bronze age, when I was in uni, one of the classes I took was biochem. What I learned there has colored my view on LCHF-diets rather dramatically.

1. The brain needs carbos to live. If your diet includes insufficient amounts of carbos, your body will convert muscle protein to glucose to keep your brain alive. That's why fasting and ultra-low-calorie diets rob you of muscle mass.
2. Large intakes of saturated fats are a health risk. Most LCHF-diets are rich in saturated fats, so if you follow a LCHF-diet a lot of your calorie intake will be from saturated fat.
3. Weight loss/gain is the consequence of your energy balance. Take in more calories than you use, and you gain weight.Take in less calories than you use, and you lose weight. It's as simple as that. So, why do LCHF-diets work? Because over time, they kill your appetite. So you take in less calories.
4. The best way to lose weight is to skew the calories in / calories used ratio. Basically, it means eating less and exercising more. IOW, go hungry and spend more time doing unpleasant stuff like getting tired and sweaty.
</rant>

Believe me Storker. I completely understand where you are coming from. This was my party line for most of my adult life. And I am in the medical professional and gave this and similar advice to my patients.

But at least speaking from the USA perspective, this has been a huge failure. All aspects of medicine change as we gain insight and research into the workings of the human body but this seems doubly so with nutrition and in fact some of the much touted beliefs have later proven to actually be harmful with probably best know example the transfats that were used to replace saturated fats. One thing I have learned is to keep an open but critical mind when it comes to all aspects of medicine.

As my masters thesis at UNC I did a secondary analysis of a research study of secondary school children and the food pyramid in place in the US at that time. It was a diaster. The food pyramid was modified shortly after (not due to any of my efforts but possibly in part to the results by the primary investigator) but it is still a poor resource for nutrition.