• Guest - w'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »

LCHF diet to help you lose weight, not diabetes


I thought the one diet that everyone can agree to recommend is the Mediterranean diet -- the one diet that I find diabetic nutritionists and cardio rehab teams can agree on. It may need tweaking here and there, admittedly, but I've never heard anyone attacking it (retires to safe distance).
 

I assuming you meant HCLF, but if's that's another claim for HF, (seriously? you'll become mentally unstable, due to the brain being deprived of fat, and commit suicide if you go on a low fat diet?) it really does seem to becoming the cure for everything.
And, after reading the rational reports, amazing claims like that, does make me question the validity of the claimant.
 

There doesn't appear to be one.

The only one with any claim to be medically accepted may be the Newcastle diet.

Any other diet merely treats the symptoms, and if we can keep our BG in the correct range, they all seem to work.
The first trick is to get the patient on any diet, perhaps that is the first thing the medical profession have to consider, instead of what extreme diet should be enforced.
 
@desidiabulum Well , I agree about the Med diet.

@zand, I agree with you that such a diet could be low in nutrients (particularly the 'white rice' diet http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beriberi ) I think the modern incarnations are better as they have more variety and stress unprocessed foods. (certainly not white rice, sugar and fruit). I think you know that I think that the same may apply to diets at the opposite extreme. Fat in itself has few nutrients.
I don't think it's relevant to Pritikins suicide, he had advanced leukaemia , he had very 'clean' arteries at his death. http://articles.latimes.com/1985-07-04/news/vw-9280_1_nathan-pritikinI ( I didn't know anything about the other 'guy mentioned_)

If one wanted to argue individual deaths then it's easy enough but probably pointless to point to gurus on high fat diets that have died early through heart disease.


This is a general forum and I think people should be given space, advice and freedom to find the best answer for them.
The first intro thread isn't in my opinion a good place for pushing what specifically works for you. If someone then wants to say what worked for them and it's different then it may lead to confusion or worse arguments.
. (it's not even always safe, there have been people told recently to cut carbs dramatically when they are using a medication or insulin titrated to a presumed normal amount of carbs)
What people eat and do has to take into account lots of things including their lifestyle, age, gender, activity level and the fact that there are many different varieties of diabetes and people are also diagnosed at various stages, medications and with other conditions.

I've been looking back ( I was trying to work out when the term LCHF started being used) and got diverted.
Here were several pieces of 'internet' advice passed around the intenet frequently by T2s. (2004-2008)
They derived from long term posters on usenet which were the forerunner to forums(very argumentative with no moderation and lots of spam)

The first one , written as a open letter was far more comprehensive than merely looking at diet. (obviously her views on fats may not be accepted by all(!)
http://www.sequin.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/Downloads/openlet.pdf
This one is less comprehensive focussing on testing
http://www.alt-support-diabetes.org/newly-diagnosed/testing
and this one on exercise and ' what foods can I manage?' (2006 and I note he was talking about resistant starch !)
http://www.alt-support-diabetes.org/d-e/quentin-s-advice

Notice that in all the emphasis was on YMMV rather than one size fits all. They were about finding out what works for the individual (and none of them necessarily right for a first post ; for a start test strips are even more rationed now ) .( and no doubt a few errors in them too)

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Thank you Douglas, I did indeed mean HCLF, thanks for correcting me. I have amended my post.

However I didn't make that suggestion because I was saying that LCHF was a cure for everything. I was saying that eating not enough fat may be dangerous, meaning that EF MF IF or HF would be preferable to low fat, that's all
 

Douglas

I am referring to diet in the wider sense of what one eats in general, not in the narrower sense of what one eats to lose weight, or even deal with diabetes.

What is a healthy diet?

For years we have been told that eggs and butter and cream are evil, to be consumed in moderation. Now we are told that they may actually not be so bad after all. That consumption of food high in cholesterol such as eggs does not actually lead to rises in blood cholesterol levels and that butter a natural product may be better for us than processed low fat spreads.

As for the Mediterranean diet, I am fortunate enough to live in the Mediterranean myself and yes I do believe that it is quite healthy, based as it is on monounsaturated olive oil, pulses, variety of vegetables etc.

Trouble is that even here, the way we now live, means that people move away from this diet in favor of more processed easier solutions.

In the past people prepared and consumed only what was fresh and in season. Lack of funds dictated that meat was consumed only on Sundays and special occasions, while the vast majority of the people were farmers, getting plenty of exercise working manually in the fields.

Today, we are richer, we spent our days stuck in offices to earn enough money to eat rich food that we do not have time to prepare ourselves.

In the past food was scarce and families large so portions were of necessity small. Today you hardly find families with more than two children, I only have the one son myself, and the food plentiful. We are encouraged by constant advertising campaigns to consume more and more products with endless and often conflicting claims to contribute to our health.

How many cereals advertise themselves as being healthy. Yet how few can justify this claim. Most are packed with sugar and/or salt and all spike my blood.

I consider myself a reasonably intelligent, well educated man, yet I find it all confusing.

In the end I try to eat as much unprocessed natural food as possible, plenty of salads for instance, and I restrict my carbs so as to get the readings I want from my glucose meter.

Lately I have started consciously to not go for low fat options and to increase my consumption of eggs, cheese, and olive oil to compensate for the calories lost from the reduced carbs consumption.

But I do so with half a heart. Yes, I am afraid of fats. I suffer from familial hyperchesterolimia, without statins my lipid levels would be sky high, and for this reason fats have been anathema to me for years. At the moment, I am trying to lose weight as well so the dilemma of what to do with fats is not so urgent. But eventually I will have to make a decision.

I suppose that I am just experimenting, until my next blood count results and I am prepared to amend my diet then depending on the outcome.

To be honest though, I resend all this uncertainty and guesswork.

What we should eat to stay healthy is too basic a question for science not to have come up with a conclusive answer by now.

Pavlos
 
Last edited by a moderator:
What's the best way forward as i dont like low fat food like margerine and skimmed milk as they taste bad but my doctor says i should change to them as well but i really dont want to
 
Simon84 said:
What's the best way forward as i dont like low fat food like margerine and skimmed milk as they taste bad but my doctor says i should change to them as well but i really dont want to
Click to expand...

What reason did your doctor give you for changing to them? Do you have any other health problems?
 
Simon84 said:
What's the best way forward as i dont like low fat food like margerine and skimmed milk as they taste bad but my doctor says i should change to them as well but i really dont want to
Click to expand...
If you have managed to pick your way through all the bickering, I would say there are a couple of things you can do. Some people eat low GI. I cannot comment on this diet but @douglas99 may be able to help. Some people low carb, which is reducing the amount of starchy carbs and some of us eat lchf. This is my diet choice. If you go on to the following website, which is written by a doc who specialises in diabetes and obesity. http://www.dietdoctor.com/lchf
When you have read all you can get your hands on, I would keep a food diary and buy a meter. The cheapest one is an SD codefree meter and the strips if bought in packs of 5 work out at £25. Each pack contains 50 strips. I would test before eating then an hour afterwards and then again one hour after that. This will show you what spikes your blood. After a month you'll have built up a menu of things you can eat.
http://www.homehealth-uk.com/medical/blood_glucose_monitor_testing.htm
Whatever you decide, good luck!
 
It's lovely to hear from you again! Glad you're well!
 
@AnnieC
Obviously we are having very different experiences because most of the posts I have read where there has been discord have not been started by the lchf lot but I am sorry that you've had this experience.
As I have said, I regularly chat with people who have opposing views to me but we have not fallen out so far! I guess it is about respect and I find that if I am respectful to others that is reciprocated. Although I have seen the occasional poster who is extremely vulnerable and not in a good place. I think you should continue to follow whatever it is you eat and post about what works for you. That way people can form their own opinions and make their own choices.
Our whole house smells of crab pie and we are all waiting for it to set. We have found a recipe for paleo bread (ground almonds not flour) so I shall try it and let you all know!
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Perhaps I'm outrageously thick skinned, but I don't think I've ever had a hard time for saying I don't like some of the, in my view, extreme fat options.
 
Scandichic said:
It's lovely to hear from you again! Glad you're well!
Click to expand...
Hi @Scandichic ....you to ...I am often around popping in and out ...
But might have a bit of a break again soon ...
A bit of a rest ....
Like you I am getting there ....congratulations on weight loss that is really good ...
I to have nearly another stone I would like to loose ....
But have discovered ..muscle weights heavy and had a time where things stayed the same ...all on the go again now ...
Trousers I can have a size 12 fitted and 10 not fitted ....you know the pull on ones yes jeggins ....trendy
Tops 12, or 14
Looking and feeling more like me again ....goodness we talk different numbers these days ...
Take care ..good to chat ..Kat x chat soon ..
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Menu
Log in
Register
Cookies are required to use this site. You must accept them to continue using the site. Learn More.…