Does 'stolen' food count?

[Libbaloo]

Just glancing at Admin thread ' What have you eaten today' , I chuckled to see mention of ' 6 stolen chips' ! It made me wonder if the occasional slip up would spoil the good work. On my first day of low carb high fat yesterday, I sat at table with family as they treated themselves to fish and chips while I had smoked mackerel on green salad with feta! I hasten to add I didn't steal any chips but I was tempted.

Have spent some of today comparing what the NHS and Diabetes UK says re low carb high fat dieting and the ' controversy', I am wondering if the LCHF is a quick weight loss and regain route I should not be opting into. ( I'm prediabetic and I do need to lose about three stone and keep an eye on my blood sugar levels before review in January.)

Perhaps I am having an early stage 'wobble' and wondering if all this fat is going to be good for me plus cutting out or lowering carbs to make body go into a different way of metabolising which could then pile on the pounds if I come off or increase carbs later. I notice the NHS advice maintains low fat intake with starchy foods at each meal for good nutrition.

I'm loving the food choices though and have also done a big walk in sunshine with dog this afternoon plus getting to grips with newly acquired meter.

Often rapid initial weight loss seen is usually due to water retention released but I've read about 'ketosis' and wonder if I should discuss all this with GP first.

 

[DeejayR]

Well done with your resolve, and I would actually prefer your mackerel.

I am wondering if the LCHF is a quick weight loss and regain route I should not be opting into.

No it isn't. I eat lots of fat but few carbs and I have a struggle to keep the weight on. Very many people here will testify that fat doesn't make us fat -- it's carbs wot does it.

 

[Bluetit1802]

I used to steal half a dozen chips from hubby's plate, but then decided I may as well have half a dozen of my own. Our homemade chips (deep fried twice) seem to make no significant difference to my levels. It is a different matter with chip shop chips. Even 2 send me high.

I had no problem losing weight on LCHF. It fell off me. My problems began when I hit goal weight because I just carried on losing. I knew I couldn't increase my carbs for the sake of my BS levels, so had no choice but to increase my fats to gain the extra calories. It took several months of fine tuning to get the balance right, but eventually I managed it and have been stable at my nice new weight since about March this year. I admit I was concerned as to what it might be doing to my cholesterol, but even after increasing my fats quite a lot, my lipids all improved.

Which ever way you go, you need to find a diet you can sustain for life, not just until your weight has gone. I can't envisage ever going back to eating more carbs, other than occasional treats. Too many carbs = weight gain. I'm not going there again.

 

[Lamont D]

If you really want to know is can I have a treat?

Of course you can!

Low carbing is not in my opinion a diet! It is a lifestyle change!

If it means you can have a few chips now and again, why not?

You have to think long term! Once you are in control of your blood glucose levels, then you just have to be careful not to fall into the trap of thinking you can eat what you like and you have to find out what causes your bloods to rise too high and what your body can tolerate.

It's all about trial and error and testing, testing, experimenting, and importantly control!
I would definitely keep a food diary and record your test results and how much you ate!

Have a read in the low carb forum about ideas and recipes.

 

[zand]

LCHF is the only diet/food plan where I have not regained the weight. OK for me the loss has been slow, but the main thing as far as I am concerned is that I'm not yo-yo dieting anymore.

 

[Gezzabelle]

I tried to lose weight for years and years and ate only low fat products thinking it would do the trick.....it didn't. Now I eat things I would never have dreamed of.....cheese, butter, pork scratchings,...meat with the fat left on it,....bacon, avocado......the list goes on and on. I like to think of my lifestyle now as not what I CAN'T have but what I CAN have and how tasty I can make it with a little thought The weight has dropped off me eating all the fatty foods and I feel amazing. I think the old rules we were taught about fat and eggs being bad for us sticks in our minds and makes it harder to accept the higher fat part of eating low carb. I still feel almost guilty picking up cream and full fat yogurts and that big pack of bacon really makes me cringe.....okay so I lied about the bacon making me cringe haha ...yummy

 

[mehhh2015]

I have lost stones of weight through low carbing and keep it off for years while been insulin resistant and hyperinsulinemic (long before becoming full blown diabetic) if I stayed eating like that constantly (and seen carbs as very occasional treats) probably I wouldn't have developed diabetes, but periods of stress and seeing that my weight didn't come back quickly made me complacent and I thought I could eat normally since the weight didn't creep back on, but I can't eat too many carbs without putting the weight back up eventually, nowadays much faster than before.

Carbs, the more I eat them the more I crave them, the less I eat them the less I crave them, except when I am stressed. I believe this is due to hyperinsulinemia and not because lack of willpower in me.

I don't see my eating style as high fat.

I eat things that are high in fat when and if I am hungry, particularly at the beginning, as I lose weight I stop being hungry and it becomes a pretty much a normal diet (without the carbs) just with occasional protein/fat treats here and there if I feel hungry.

Never reached the point where I don't want to lose anymore weight... we will see when I get there... to be honest it would be great to have that as my main problem

My meter taught me I can eat sweet potatoes, a few boiled potatoes, beans, and a few other things without affecting my BGs, but if overdone they can stall my weight loss. I keep away from them but I know I can eat them and I occasionally do.

GP's opinions vary, mine is really happy with low carb/ paleo lifestyle and so is my nurse.

 

[Celeriac]

The developed world was brainwashed into thinking that fat was a demon, because of flawed research by Ancel Keys, inventor of wartime K rations for troops. American politicians jumped on his research because it opened up new markets for all the corn they were subsidising.

Brits followed along like Mary's lamb, despite the fact that our own Professor Yudkin had stated that it was sugar which was the poison, not fat.

I thoroughly recommend Gary Taubes' book 'Why We Get Fat and What to Do About It', as well as 'Fat Chance' by Dr Robert Lustig MD. If you're feeling skint they may be available in your local library. There are also several videos on YouTube.

My father was diagnosed with high cholesterol and high blood pressure when I was a kid. We were the poster family for low fat everything. He ate right, lost weight, took his meds, exercised and just got worse - despite no history of heart disease or high cholesterol in his family at all.

Before 1994, the supposedly healthy sunflower margarine was full of trans fats. We know now how bad they are.

Gary Taubes wrote an article for the New York Times entitled 'What If It's All a Big Fat Lie ?' and in my opinion it was.

It does feel like a leap of faith, but it's a leap of faith in yourself. It's your body and for the HCP's you're just another patient. It's never wrong to be invested in the body you live in.

That governments got it so wrong and put profit before health will haunt them. Now when they try to tell us that genetically modified food is safe and try to encourage us to eat it, the majority of people aren't interested.

So never feel guilty for having cream, butter, ghee, bacon, steaks etc at the supermarket checkout. That's a whole lot healthier than the sliced white, Pot Noodles and crisps that other people are loading onto the conveyor.