What LCHF has done for me so far

Yesterday I received an absolutely lovely email. I am such a total sucker for people telling me they read something I posted, tried it and liked it. So sue me.

K, who I shared a flat with while she lived inLondon, had stumbled upon this LCHF diet thing and wondered how come I started doing it. As I penned my reply I realized that I like to remember in a few years from now how I felt about LCHF today, so I decided to publish it here.

hey Manne,

i followed your recommendation and bought the 'egg perfect' timer a while ago and, you were right, it is brilliant. 

i followed your perfect omelette instructions and, you were right, i made the perfect omelette. 

now, i've done a lot of internet research over the past few days, since reading what you've had to say about LCHF and i'm going to give it a whirl. the more i read, the more sense it makes. i've found it quite hard to find info, in English, on the net. it seems that a lot of the low carb info out there is American and doesn't really focus on the saturated fat part of the diet.

how long have you been living the lifestyle and how have you been feeling as a result of it? are you excercising also?

would love to hear what you have to say on the matter.

And this was my reply:

Wow, little did I know my posts had such widespread usefulness. :) Made me really happy.

I am well. In fact, looking forward to a day of food and drink with Ing, her gilrfriend J, B and W. Started the day with picking up some treats at Borough Market before the crowds came. Sun is shining and it feels like a perfect summer day. All I have to do now is clean the flat and then I can have my tasty morsels reward as they all arrive...

Agree on the lack of info in English. There are some blogs and resources out there, but as you say they are pretty low on the high fat part. Not sure why. Perhaps because it is still quite controversial and if you are in America and put advice on blogs perhaps you even open yourself up to litigation, what do I know. In Sweden the situation on finding information online is entirely different though.

Have however found an interesting English-speaking site called Fat Head and another called Living La Vida Low Carb (heh) that report good findings:

http://fathead-movie.com/
http://livinlavidalowcarb.com/blog/

To be honest, I still feel a bit freaked out by the fact that the fat recommendations of LCHF flies so much in the face of traditional recommendations. Despite the shelf feet of books I have read (and like you I think it makes perfect sense), I am thinking a lot about the validity of these new realizations. Is it right? Will I not clog my arteries up? What if it is a mistake? I intend to go take readings now and then just to make sure, on a really basic level, that I am not turning into a cardiac arrest risk.

That said, I (and C actually, lchf101.blogspot.com) have now been doing this for a number of months. It all started with C pointing out to me that people with IBS (and much more serious gut problems like Crohns or coeliac) have been massively helped by following LCHF.

Now, coeliac improvements I can understand since that is all about cutting out wheat and gluten and on LCHF you just won't get any of that since bread and flour and pasta and so on are strictly off limits. But why would it relieve IBS symptoms? I decided to give it a go and amazingly, after just a few days my stomach was better than in years before.

Bit of a history to my LCHF experiences...:

When I started I went on fairly strictly (and actually registering all I ate on nutridiary.com just to easier stick to the right proportions) for a few weeks and felt great. Then vacation season kicked in and I fell from grace and ate all kinds of stuff.

After my holidays, as I tried to get back on the LCHF wagon, it all went a bit weird. I started feeling fatigued, my stomach while still better was not as good as those first few weeks, I got dizzy spells and felt slow and thick... Couldn't really exercise, my running went to shits. Made me real worried for a while, but I kept telling myself that it was these "transitioning problems" I had read so much about.

So keeping at it I tried to really stick to it properly for some time, not eating anything with more than 10% carbs on the label (except peanut butter, which I eat as a snack on celery sticks, awesome), while keeping my exercise up. Hard, but I figured I had to trudge through. I even increased the fat content a bit. I still eat lots of greens though, like broccoli, beans, rocket, spinach. Need the bulk to fill the stomach and it also just tastes so good.

Turned out it was probably right. Now I feel great. I feel clear headed, I have same if not better energy levels as before, my running is back on track (did a 10k in 56 minutes two days ago, and felt like I could run another one straight away) and I am certainly not worrying about getting enough nutrition. If anything, with the increased greens content (since I now eat greens with more or less every meal) I eat more healthily than before when there was so much bread and pasta in my meals!

Still get the occasional stomach pain pang, I do think it is easy to over eat on protein on this diet (even though you shouldn't increase that compared to what you eat when not on LCHF) and it seems the stomach has to work harder to break that down? My typical IBS problems (not sure if you know what that means, let's just say it involves going to the loo 5, 6 times a day and usually on ridiculously short notice, making social events... ...challenging and interesting) are completely gone though.

Actually, I have also lost a few kilos of weight. Not that I care much about that, but it is interesting to note. Typically it is said that people that are overweight will lose some, while underweight will gain some, due to the natural weight regulation that kicks back in once you don't run around with high blood sugar all the time (the insulin response locks in the fat already in your fat stores while storing away more from what you eat, and even creating more from sugar in order to get rid of it).

What I do now is that in the weeks I try to be quite strict. Bread, pasta, rice and wheat based stuff in general do not pass my lips. Two exceptions. If I get a bread craving I eat crisp bread of a brand called Finn Crisp. I also eat muesli (with full fat Greek yoghurt and walnuts) twice or thrice a week, but always muesli made from spelt. I have found it just works better for me that way, which I think has something to do with the fibre content in the spelt.

To top it all off, as a result of all that reading on health I am doing, I started eating a few supplements more or less daily. Not your usual vitamins and minerals though, but focusing on Omega 3 addition (we don't get anywhere near enough Omega 3 in our food) and Vitamin D (not the usual 200 IU stuff, but really strong ones like 2000 IU, anything below that is pointless). They have found out quite recently that Vitamin D is key for not just serotonin levels and happiness (hey, winter depression exists for a reason...), it is also key for a good immune system and cell membrane health which brings cancer protection. I also eat some added calcium since while I eat a lot of cheese I am not big on milk or cream.

In the weekends I cheat. I still love all kinds of food and sticking religiously to something just isn't my style. Don't think it is good either to be completely monotheistic. ;) So when going to a restaurant, or to a friend's house, while still mindful of the amount I do eat carby stuff. Hey, with Italian restaurants like Bocca di Lupo and Polpo in town, not eating carbs ever again is off the table...

Technically, you can eat up to a 100 grams of carb and still be on a "low carb" diet. Amounts where people's insulin response kicks in varies a lot per individual though!

I do exercise, I think it is very important for health and energy levels. Usually quite a lot, like one or two nights of Krav Maga or boxing per week, two to three runs of 5 to 15 km a week. Been hard to maintain energy levels as I have been switching away from the carbs though but am trying to keep it up.

Right, turned out quite long. :) Hope you find it useful. Hmm. Might republish this on the blog actually. ;) Do contact C as well, she is finding this great too. While I do it for my stomach, she is more into the general health and weight control aspect of it. Not that she needs to lose weight, I never thought she did, but it sure is nice to not really have to think about calories and worry about gaining kilos because of what you eat.

Let me know how you get on, and if you have more questions! I might not have the answers, but at least we can share experiences. I also know of an amazing online low carb discussion forum in Sweden full of people of varying age, obesity and fitness levels who gladly answer questions and share thoughts.

// Manne

Comments

[software development london]

Quite inspiring,

This is great,

Thanks

[Vivienne]

The LCHF diet is brilliant. I completely agree with you about the initial uncertainty as to whether this diet is healthy. Due to high blood pressure my husband was told to lose a lot of weight and avoid carbs after noon. I bought the book "The Holford Low-GL Diet Cookbook" and the German "LOGI-Diät (Tabellenbuch)" which really helped me with the background info and provided some great weekday recipes. My husband has lost 10 kg without any problems or sudden hunger pangs. Your own personal experience with the diet and the wonderful recipes are a further inspiration for me to keep on track with LCHF:)

[Manne]

So glad it is working for you, and thanks for letting me know! :)

// Manne