Was is the difference between Low Carb/High Fat and Keto diets please

[nualasdad]

Hi. I got diagnosed 3 years ago. My wife in the last 6 months. Ive just had my worst HBA1C score of 53. Metformin dose doubled, put on statins and ramipril.

When I was last on the forum there was a lot of discussion about lchf & keto diets. Im looking for a long term healthy eating plan so im not eating ad-hoc.

Does low carb have to mean high fat?

Can anybody helpfully link me up to the basics of these?

 

[bulkbiker]

If you cut carbs then you need to replace them with something. That something is usually fat. So the Low Carb High Fat kind of goes naturally together.
This does not mean that your cholesterol goes up.. for most people it goes to a better set of ratios when eating LCHF.
There are many threads about cholesterol and statins and LCHF on the forum.
Eating higher fat foods also leads to more satiety (feeling fuller quicker and feeling full for longer) which can greatly help in hunger reduction. As this is usually why people cannot sustain new ways of eating then upping the fat is a good idea. Eating fat in itself doesn't make you fat. Eating fat with carbs does.
Check out www.dietdoctor.com for some LCHF and keto meal ideas and give it a go for a few months. Most people get good results quite quickly.
I would suggest going as low carb as you can at the beginning to get the best results. I found this worked for me and also led me to so intermittent fasting (because I felt full for longer). This can be a great aid in blood sugar reduction too.

 

[Resurgam]

By today's standards the diet is high fat, but I just eat the fats which are there naturally in the meat and fish, or with the meat I save the fats which come with them and use them to cook other things.
For instance, I use a hot air fryer to make chicken thighs with crispy skin, then throw in button mushrooms too cook whilst I pinch the skins - er - whilst the skins mysteriously evaporate....
For scrambling eggs I add a little olive oil, the yogurt I eat is the Greek full fat kind, I never pick up anything labelled as low fat.
Between my blood tests at 80 days from diagnosis and 6 months my triglycerides reduced from 2 to 1.5, and all my ratios were good normal or ideal, for cholesterol - which should not have happened if you believe the hype about fats.
There are essential fats, and proteins, but no essential carbs.

 

[bulkbiker]

Sorry and to answer your title question. Low Carb is thought of as being fewer than 130g of carbs per day (way to many in my opinion).
Keto will be for most people fewer than 20g of carbs per day to guarantee ketosis (you can play with that a bit once fat adapted).

 

[bamba]

https://www.dietdoctor.com/how-low-carb-is-low-carb

 

[woodenone46]

As said Keto is probably the best way. I started Keto Diet in January weighing in at 100.3Kgms & am now at 93.7Kgms. I startyed off eating less than 20grms Carbs per day & am now (because i run at least 3 times a week) eat no more than 30g carbs & am still in Ketosis.
I beleive you would benefit from this diet as most people do

 

[lucylocket61]

Hi. I got diagnosed 3 years ago. My wife in the last 6 months. Ive just had my worst HBA1C score of 53. Metformin dose doubled, put on statins and ramipril.

When I was last on the forum there was a lot of discussion about lchf & keto diets. Im looking for a long term healthy eating plan so im not eating ad-hoc.

Does low carb have to mean high fat?

Can anybody helpfully link me up to the basics of these?

I have low carb but just eat a bit of extra fat to make up the calories I lose from the reduced carbs. I have about 100g of carbs a day, and some butter, olive oil, full fat cheese and milk to make up the difference.

 

[Robbity]

What I did when first diagnosed was to (as advised) cut down on all sugary foods, and about a month later when I realised that I should be cutting down on all carbs was to reduce all the starchy stuff as well. I did this prior to having a meter but my 2nd HbA1c after diagnosis showed a huge drop in levels. My GP then advised that I try the Atkins diet for weight loss and I did the equivalent of his induction phase (20-25g carbs a day so ketogenic) for about a month, which caused a big weight loss. I've since upped the carbs slightly and try to keep under 50g a day LCHF. I'm actually burning fat (fat adapted) rather than "in ketosis", and I'll see anything from no to well into nutritional ketone levels which can change on a day to day basis. So for me the difference between keto and low carb has purely been one of carb levels.

I've now been eating LCHF for just over four years and like @Resurgam I tend to eat a fairly normal amount of full fat foods. For me the high fat means full fat rather than reduced/low fat and it's just "high" in relation to the number of carbs I eat.

Doing things gradually by accident rather than design also had the result that I never had any of the dreaded "low carb flu" withdrawal symptoms, and I probably in retrospect found it simpler adjust my diet this way.

Robbity

PS Ive been off Metformin for about a year now, and don't currently do any "real" exercise...