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

Low Carb High Fat Diet

pam_x_pam

Well-Known Member
Messages
138
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Hi guys. I have been reading about that diet everyone seems to be following. Low Carb high fat diet. To be honest it scares me. Not the low carb part. The high fat part. I cant imagine seating so much fat I am obese, and in last two months I have lost a bit over a stone (7.5kg) by eating balanced meals 5 times a day. Each meal had around 25 to 30 grams of carbs. No more than 140 grams of carbs per day. I have lost the weight but my sugars went sky high. Hence, I do not want to continue with that diet. Is there anything else than low carb high fat diet? Or am i just being "stupid" ? I read the entire http://www.dietdoctor.com/lchf and it scares me to even think that someone can spread butter on cheese?! I cant imagine myself doing that. I am ready to give up bread and spuds, not so keen to give up pasta as i love it, but the idea of eating butter on its own seems ridiculous. Anyone care to explain it to me more in dept? or point me out towards some recipes?
 
Well the low carb bit is the most important bit. You don't need to worry about adding fat unless you are hungry and if you don't like butter with cheese you don't have to have it. I don't like fatty meat, but still manage LCHF OK.

Most of us started by reducing our intake of carbs, but not all follow LCHF by any means. I have just 3 meals a day and normally have less that 50g carbs all day. You may not need to cut down that much though.

Do you have your own meter to test your Blood Glucose levels? That would help to show you how well you are doing and which foods are OK for you to eat and which aren't.
 
Thanks for your replay. Yes I do have my own meter and usually no problem in getting the strips etc. I am going in tomorrow to chat with my GP for first time since being diagnosed to see what he has to say. He is a very good doctor so hopefully he will help a little. I ran out of strips the other day so I will ask for more tomorrow. So maybe a graduate reduction in carbs each day/week would be a good point to start? I am a very picky eater too =/ I will definitely start checking my glucose more closely to see how it responds to different foods. Thank you!
 
I have been following LCHF for about 7 months now and love it. Lost 2.5 stone, lowered bad cholesterol levels, upped good cholesterol levels and latest HbA1c shows BS levels within 'normal' range. I gave up all obvious carbs over night (bread, pasta, rice, potatoes, all things made from grains and of course things containing sugar) as I tend to be an all or nothing person and knew that cutting down gradually wouldn't work for me. For the 'high fat' part it doesn't mean that you have to eat a lot of saturated fats but you need to eat enough to provide you with the energy you will no longer be getting from carbohydrates. Fat fills you up for longer so you don't need to snack in between meals and you need less of it so you will find portion sizes will be smaller. Eating fat doesn't make you fat! Buy full fat rather than diet products, eg full fat milk. Good sources of fat are oily fish (salmon, trout, mackerel etc), avocado, nuts, olives. I love cheese and butter but if they are not your thing, don't feel you have to eat them. Have a look at these links for ideas about what sort of things people following LCHF diets are eating:
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/threads/what-have-you-eaten-today.75781/
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/threads/low-carb-recipes.4871/
 
I think Dietdoc does explain it rather well. Basically you eat normal amounts of protein, very little carbs and fill up on fat. You eat when hungry until satisfied.
If you don't like butter, fine.

Have you read http://www.dietdoctor.com/how-to-lose-weight ?
 
I love butter. It's the idea of so much fat! I am obese as it is (BM of 40) and I am terrified of getting even fatter by eating too many calories form high fat diets. I read the entire diet doc site and it makes me feel scared of getting fat :/ I don't have problems with high cholesterol or high blood pressure.
I will figure out something I guess. Low carbon but controlled callories.
Thank you @Totto and @Mongolia for help
 
It's not essential to eat the High Fat part, just enough so that you do not go hungry.

Just ensure you reduce the Carbs to amounts that keep your BG levels down.

There is certainly no need to go to the extremes that are espoused by the dietdoctor guy, although apparently it is of vital importance that you only eat grassfed butter, as if there is any sure fire way of knowing whether the stuff you buy is or isn't.

Of course you could get your own cow and feed it yourself, then you could be certain
 
I went low carb and ditched all the low fat products I had been using, such as low fat spread, and changed over to the real thing. I cook mushrooms and other things in butter, and put a knob of butter on my veggies. I had never eaten cheese, I thought I didn't like it, but now I eat tons of the stuff. I was always worried about fry ups, but now have bacon, eggs, high meat sausage, mushrooms and tomatoes for my lunch some days. I had also never eaten yogurts before, but now have a full fat Greek yogurt daily, with a few berries added for sweetness. I also eat a lot of eggs and salmon (tinned with salads). My BMI was 30. It is now 20.4. It was the carbs that were making me fat, but I needed extra fats to give me the energy I was losing from cutting the carbs, and for me, it worked. There is NO need to go overboard with fats, just enough to keep you energised and not hungry.

Yes, by all means low carb and calorie count. That's what I did. I counted my carbs and calories, but made sure most of the calories were from the fats, not the carbs.
 
@Bluetit1802 i must say I love the nick name
I am in process of writing out a meal plan for next week. Aiming to keep the carbs below 50 a day. And calories in around 1800. That's the amount of calories I was on when u lost 7.5kg.
Thank you so much guys. You are giving me hope!
 
Good luck! And clear your cupboards of all the "naughty stuff", and don't forget to check nutrition labels on packaging for all those hidden carbs.
 
It can be really worrying until you get your head round it...we are so conditioned to think that fat is bad that it does take a while to relax and stop worrying about a little butter or cheese etc. The evidence however will speak for itself...once you start to see the weight fall off as it did for me you will just relax and go with the flow.
 
The thing is not all calories are equal. Have a look at a thread I did recently. I am not suggesting you try this until you are well used to low carbing and maybe the weight loss has been stuck for a very long time. I am just showing you that fat doesn't make you fat. It's the carbs that you eat with it that do that. I did the following experiment because my weight loss had been stuck for 6 months and people kept saying 'reduce your calorie intake if you want to lose weight' :-

http://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/threads/my-5-day-dairy-fat-fast.81433/
 
You eat fat to fill you up. And a calorie from fat is much more benign than a calorie from carbs. If you have read the Dietdoc site you also have come across all the success stories and the science behind why carbs leads to weight gain while eating fat helps weight loss. It's not so much about calories as about hormones. Fat makes you full for a long time while carbs stimulate appetite and makes you want more.
 
I am actually starting to like this high fat thing I can finally eat my favourite feta and brie cheese without feeling too guilty about it! And sugar free jelly!
 
pam_x_pam said:
I am actually starting to like this high fat thing I can finally eat my favourite feta and brie cheese without feeling too guilty about it! And sugar free jelly!
Click to expand...
And if you like cream you can have some of that with your jelly
 
Thanks for all the info from everyone.

After years of not eating much (<1000cal/day) and not being able to loose weight, I have taken advice from the forum and gone on a 'Low carb diet' for the last 3 months (Dr. also agreed), lost a stone in the first 8 weeks. Recent HbA1C dropped to acceptable levels, as well as FBG - Dr says ' treatment working, continue'.....so no medication for me!! Now to keep going.
 
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.…