What if you body can't take a lot of fat?

Amandamc2711 said:

Hi all I've been trying LCHF for a few weeks now and I'm finding that when I eat high fat food whether it's dairy or pate for example I feel really sick. Can I reduce my carbs and not each so much fat and it still be beneficial?

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Absolutely, but choose carbs that aren't refined - i.e. stay away from bread, pasta, sugar, etc.

Hi Amandamc2711 I have been on the LCHF diet since Jan, I also struggle with some high fats so I go sometimes for med and low fat, can cope better with that, we are all different don't forget. Do what is best for you, if your BG readings are ok then don't worry.

what do you mean by high fat foods? but yes its mainly about carb reduction.

There is no LAW saying we have to eat masses of fat.

I strongly believe that our first priority (as a diabetic) is to control blood glucose.
So get that sorted first.
Then work out a personal protein/fat combo thatworks for you.

You may find that your body and appetite adjust, over time. In which case your appetite for fat may increase or decrease.
There are plenty of low carb veggies to fill up on, or lean protein, if they appeal more.

If they make you feel bad then maybe reduce.. have you tried avocados? Quite high fat.. again as people are saying its more the carb reduction the fats help make you feel fuller for longer so you don't get huger pangs but if they aren't agreeing with you then reduce.

I've found high fat is pushing me way over my calorie in take for the day. I was also drinking a lot of water. I then realised I was eating cheese to up my fats, which was increasing my salt intake (I don't add salt to any cooking and haven't done for years). I've gone back to my normal diet but have cut out cereal, bread, pasta and rice totally and lost 5kg. Typical of try to find your own way - it will take a few weeks to work out what's right for you.

My understanding of high fat has always been in a percentage/mathematical sense. Once you decrease carbs, the rest of your diet seems to automatically shift to higher fat in percentages. I've never really gone for adding lots of extra fat - I'm just not afraid of full fat or measuring the amount of olive oil etc. to food but I don't go out of my way to add it.

Also, your body needs to produce extra lipase to handle any fat increase, so best to do it gradually to give you time to adjust. You can also take digestive enzymes to give you a boost.

I think this is one of the problems with the LCHF label, it can be taken literally and assumed that eating really rich fatty foods are the only way to go. To be honest, I was never comfortable with the high fat side of it but think the advice above is the way to go and that message should be put across more clearly. If the term high fat should really be used at all is something I'm not too sure about either..

The other thing that seems to mislead people (esp the Fat Phobics ) is the 80% fat idea.
They seem to think that it means 80% volume of food, or something. Which is plain barmey!

It actually means 80% energy or calories.

So a huge green salad with a small/medium splodge of mayo gives that balance.

Besides, we CHOOSE whether it is 60 or 71 or 78% energy by fat.
We really are in control.

Brunneria said:

The other thing that seems to mislead people (esp the Fat Phobics ) is the 80% fat idea.
They seem to think that it means 80% volume of food, or something. Which is plain barmey!

It actually means 80% energy or calories.

So a huge green salad with a small/medium splodge of mayo gives that balance.

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It would be great if it could be as simplified as that for newbies Brunneria. Although many want to read and get lots of info, plenty of people just feel overwhelmed by it all and just shut down. If we could put info like yours to the forefront of info given out, it would all be less daunting.

I keep repeating this. A salad with a normal amount of EVOO and topped with a moderate amount of protein comes to 80ish % fat. No need to soak foods in butter, lard, bacon etc. Dairy bothers a lot of people as well as high saturated fat. Just eat a sensible meal low in carbs and you should be good. The type of fat makes a big difference too. NO dairy for me.

The key word is LC in order to keep BG level low. For the component HF it depends on individual. For me I have my gallbladder removed for more than 10 yrs. I can't go for high fat food. Actually I am doing LCMLF ..low carbs medium low fat food n it suited me well.

ladybird64 said:

It would be great if it could be as simplified as that for newbies Brunneria. Although many want to read and get lots of info, plenty of people just feel overwhelmed by it all and just shut down. If we could put info like yours to the forefront of info given out, it would all be less daunting.

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I agree entirely

I often think new members are often completely confused and put off by the mass of sometimes conflicting information that comes their way.

In fact, sometimes after reading new posters questions it appears they take far more notice of the HF part and little or no notice of the LC part.

The term High Fat is unhelpful and difficult to get your head around at first, and sometimes I think there is too much emphasis on the HF and too little on the LC.

The ONLY thing that matters if you want to gain control of your BG is to reduce your Carb intake substantially.

If I can add to what others have said, if you're new to low carbing, it also takes your body a little while to adjust to the new foodstuffs it has to digest and deal with - and the lack of things it was used to.

I felt pretty horrible when I reduced my carbs still further - even though I've lived on moderate carbs for over 20 years, so it perhaps wasn't as big a shock to my system as it might have been to yours, if you'd been a high carber before diagnosis. So maybe ease back on some of the changes and take it more gradually to allow your body time to adjust. Your BG won't come down as quickly, but that's not necessarily a bad thing either, as it needs time to adjust to new BG levels too.

That in itself might be some of the cause of your discomfort, if your BG levels have dropped quite fast, that can also make you feel rough until your body adjusts to the new levels and it panics when it thinks you're running too low, just because you're lower than you were.

I too don't 'high fat' it (as in my sig.), but I have replaced some low fat foods to full fat ones, like butter instead of low fat spread - but I'm not eating as much stuff to spread it on, so probably haven't added many net calories. I too had my gall bladder removed, so for years I couldn't tolerate foods like eggs, but once I reduced carbs, I found that I could now manage them, although I can still only eat one egg in a sitting and have found that I can only tolerate grass fed butter for some reason. You just need to find what works for you.

Amandamc2711 said:

Hi all I've been trying LCHF for a few weeks now and I'm finding that when I eat high fat food whether it's dairy or pate for example I feel really sick. Can I reduce my carbs and not eat so much fat and it still be beneficial?

Click to expand...

When I first started reducing carbs, I didn't add any fat to my diet, although I did ensure I replaced any low fat products with the full fat variants. That would be things like full fat yoghurt (not necessarily your Turkish yoghurt at 10% fat though), or proper butter.

I think that was one of the reasons I trimmed up really quickly, as well as bringing my bloods into order. My only objective was dealing with my bloods.

So, my only watch-words would be to be mindful of the scales if your weight is at a level you already want to maintain, as you may lose by trimming back on the fats again.

When I reached a point where I didn't want to lose any more weight, I upped the protein a bit, followed by a bit of cheese with my lunch (meaning an additional Babybel portion) and eventually, some nuts too. When making changes, in my personal view, it is important to change one thing; which could be adding an ounce of cheese at lunch, or swapping cream for milk in breakfast coffee, for a period of a week, before changing anything else. That way you get to understand the impact of the single change you have made, and it is a gentle mechanism for your body to cope with. After all, these different foodstuffs require a slightly different enzyme "recipe" for efficient breakdown and processing. Throwing big changes at our bodies, just make it rebel sometimes. Rebellion can be represented by feeling bilious, toilet trips, headaches, or all manner of symptoms. The food swaps were just examples of what sort of thing I would swap and the quantity of the swap at any given time.

Good luck with it all.