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How high is the High Fat of LCHF??

L

Looseboy

Well-Known Member
Messages
196
Location
London
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Dislikes
Diabetes
Hello everyone

I am interested in understanding peoples / the official interpretation of High Fat?

I can see on this forum there is a difference of opinion when it come to Low Carb and it's definition.

I am probably in the upper level of low Carb with around 100g a day average at this time.

Looks like my fat intake ( according to my fitness pal) is also circa 100g a day ( consists of hard cheese, nuts, avocado, mackerel, chicken, other!!)

Can anyone share the official view or share their own take on this please.
 
How long is a piece of string...
It's very individual.. personally I follow a ketogenic diet for the most part which limits carbs to 20g per day . After that I consume protein and fat. My protein is usually between 100 and 200g per day averaging around 130g. My fat consumption anywhere between 180g- 350g with an average about 200g. The averages are lower because some days when fasting I consume less grams of both.
There is no "official" level of fat but most people don't worry too much about fat consumption and actively avoid "low fat" produce instead eating butter, cream and cheese. There are others who are very concerned about fat consumption and eat what they call "healthy" fats from avocados and olives rather than those from meat and eggs.
Then of course you get into the whole cholesterol argument...
So not an easy question to answer..
 
How much fat depends on the individual and personal circumstances. There is no rule of thumb.

People on lower carb than you need more than you do. It is a matter of balance (less carbs = more fat)

People trying to lose weight need to watch they don't overdo the calories from fats.

People trying to gain or maintain weight usually need more than those trying to lose weight.

For many, there is no need to overdo the fat, just don't deliberately avoid it by eating low fat products.

There is no real answer to your question.

Personally I no longer weigh or count anything, but I am very low carb so to keep me in ketosis, to maintain my weight, and to keep up my energy levels I need quite a lot of fat. I get my fat from fish, salmon, meat, dairy especially butter and cream, mayonnaise, and other foods.
 
Here is a link to The British Nutrition Foundation's guidelines (revised in 2016)
https://www.nutrition.org.uk/attachments/article/234/Nutrition Requirements_Revised Oct 2016.pdf
Quite a tricky doc to read, with the EARs and RNIs and LRNIs and DRVs...
Plus of course they then suggest that macro nutrients should be eaten to provide certain % of Energy intake AND mention the dreaded Eatwell Plate occasionally.

Personally, I eat a controlled amount of carbohydrate (to control my blood glucose levels), average protein amounts (although there is quite a lot of debate on that subject too!) and then add in butter, cheese, cream, olive oil, coconut, avocado, fish oils, and animal fats to my appetite. I certainly don't limit my animal fats A La Guidelines.

The reality of my way of eating is very low carb with two small protein portions a day, lots of veg, lots more salad, a few berries, and a nice amount of butter, cheese, chicken skin and so on, chopped avocado on salads, mayo, etc. etc. also treats like 70% choc and some nuts. Also 'coffee' with cream And then some days I go off the rails and have a large steak or similar gourmandification, and feel no guilt whatsover!
 
For me the fat element of my diet is the flexible bit. I am strict with carbs and (to a lesser extent) with protein but not at all with carbs or above ground veg.

My point of view on this is that low carbing (for me) has to be a way of life rather than a 'diet' to be finished when I have achieved a certain result - this is because I believe my diabetes can't be resolved, cured or fixed no matter how low my HbA1C goes and there has to be some element of flexibility in any way of eating for me otherwise I'd go nuts and fall off the wagon.
 
I do LCHF, so approximately 80% of my energy comes from fat. Not that I weigh my food, but I guess I eat about 150-200 grams of fat every day. Olive oil, duck fat, butter and all the fat in the food I eat.
 
100g of carbs a day is low-carb? Really? I would say that is moderate carbing, and when moderate carbing you don't have to concern yourself so much with making sure you have lots and lots of healthy fats, and your appetite and how you look in the mirror/your scales will tell you (ie - you!) if you are getting the LCHF balance of nutrients right for you.
 
I haven't had my morning coffee yet - I should have added 'how you feel' also, along with the appetite. (The 'how you look' is just to gauge how much excess carbs and energy you may be storing - nothing other than that.)
 
AloeSvea said:
I haven't had my morning coffee yet - I should have added 'how you feel' also, along with the appetite. (The 'how you look' is just to gauge how much excess carbs and energy you may be storing - nothing other than that.)
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@AloeSvea
at this time I am still holding a fair amount or legacy carbs. If i look closely I can see years of pizza and beer clinging to my middle from my teens!!!

That said I have started to shed this and the look is improving, as is the whole wellbeing thing.
 

Cheers @Chook I realise I am in this for the long haul and just trying to find that balance. So far so good with what I am doing . Increased exercise, reduced rubbish going down my gullet and sticking to around 1800-2000 calories a day for weight loss( bit not feeling hungry)

LCHF seems to me to be a loose framework that we as individuals stick to based on our unique circumstances and what works.
 
Thanks @Brunneria

I have not ventured into chocolate full steam yet.

My wife got me some %100 buttons which I had once with cream and raspberry. Was nice and my readings were fine after.

Not doing to many desserts at the moment due to the calories limit I have set myself in order to lose weight. I need them all for the savour

Although steak night and date night tomorrow with berries and cream for pudding yum yum
oh and some red wine
 


Cheers @bulkbiker yes cholesterol was and is on my mind

I am newly diagnosed so doing all I can to improve my HbA1c and cholesterol before the next test at the 3 month marker
 
Looseboy said:
Cheers @bulkbiker yes cholesterol was and is on my mind

I am newly diagnosed so doing all I can to improve my HbA1c and cholesterol before the next test at the 3 month marker
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Personally I don't worry about cholesterol in the slightest. Your body makes it and without it you're dead.
Trying to lower the levels with drugs seems to me to be ludicrous especially as the science linking high cholesterol with CVD seems to be flaky at best and extremely misleading at worst.
Your HbA1c is far more important at the moment. I would recommend cutting out more carbs but that's just me - I have had great results with the way I eat and so would recommend it to all.
 
Looseboy said:
Cheers @bulkbiker yes cholesterol was and is on my mind

I am newly diagnosed so doing all I can to improve my HbA1c and cholesterol before the next test at the 3 month marker
Click to expand...

I find saturated fats hike my cholesterol.
 
Simon84 said:
That's a shame for you,you have my sympathy as I'm the opposite.
Click to expand...

Why? Nothing particularly special about saturated fats, I'd much rather keep my cholesterol under control.
 
I have been cautious on my journey with food as it is such a wide subject, gradually going from low glycaemic index carbs and low fat yogurts, with lots of oily fish. I moved to the removal of low gi carbs and moved to high fat yogurts. I have seen what my bloods come back with to get confidence.

On days when I am at home I have a berries and nuts and seeds with Greek high fat yogurt (most recently double cream as an alternative, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and turmeric (which is a bit strange)). If I am networking it is a 3 egg omelette with cheese and tomato and 2 bacon, or scrambled egg, 2 bacon, mushroom and tomatoes (networking messes up my 16 / 6 fasting into a 14 / 8).

I then have my second final meal as below, with a further serving of nuts, berries etc as above. This is loads of food:



I tend to have 2 or 3 tablespoons of yogurt, so this combined with the fats in the nuts, and either the coconut oil or butter the main meal is cooked in, could be quite high fat, I can't be bothered to measure. I punctuate this with fresh coconut and sometimes a second desert my daughter or wife might make; for the last 2 days flourless chocolate cake (page 104 "Home sweet Home" using Xylitol).
 
justbe said:
There is nothing wrong with cholesterol; the hype about it is crazy. Cholesterol is VITAL for the human body, and actually people who have more of it LIVE LONGER.

http://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/6/6/e010401
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Water is VITAL, you'll still DIE from hyponatremia if you drink too much of IT.
As to CHOLESTEROL, I'll think I'll take my chances having LESS OF IT thanks.
 
Yes indeed, we live in a time of cholesterol controversy, for sure. That's why it's good to know that we make 75% of our cholesterol internally, as it were - just the 25% from food. And absolutely the morbidity stats which are very surprising, especially when it comes to the elderly (I had to find that out for my 80+ yr old mother recently, who had been prescribed statins by her GP) (her GP has now un-prescribed them - whew).

It is the cholesterol content of eggs that made them a no-go or a go-slow food from the late 70s on - and I know for sure I am very very very resentful of that piece of government-down nutritional advice! Because when eggs went out (as did bacon) - cereals and wholegrain toast for brekkie came in. And we know what that means for we carb-intolerant folk. I eat a lot of eggs now, and my fasting triglyceride levels (which shows how our bods are dealing with fatty acids in our blood - something diabetics should absolutely look out for) are consistently healthy. As we know - the grains and high carbs do not make for good fasting triglycerides levels.

I pay attention to my HDL to triglyceride ratio, rather than cholesterol levels and the HDL to LDL ratio. Although I do understand a high LDL cholesterol level is indicative of something not being right in my arteries and veins. (I don't know - higher than healthy blood glucose maybe? And burgeoning atherosclerosis perhaps? sigh. yes indeed.)

Naturally, I am thinking that LCHF is the right way to go to combat and nip atherosclerosis in the bud. I'm hoping I'm living with large fluffy LDL particles rather than the nasty sticking in the damaged walls kind. And high carbs being the enemy to our artery and vein health - saturated fats and healthy fats generally affect our blood glucose levels with a big fat zero. All good. Especially living with malfunctioning blood glucose regulation, IMHO.
 
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