Which oils and fats do you use and why ?

I'm assuming here, that most people posting in this forum are eating low carb and eating comparatively high amounts of fat.

Having eaten LCHF properly since 2010 and having dabbled before that, I must admit that LCHF is my standard way of eating and as such, eating fat isn't terribly exciting, anymore.

We use Extra Virgin olive oil and/or butter for general shallow frying, that or avocado oil for salad dressings, coconut oil for stir fries, ghee for curry and dripping or lard for breakfasts. We have also used duck and goose fat occasionally. Whenever possible I buy organic and we don't re-use oil or fat.

Since giving up milk, I have started losing weight again. I do eat quite a bit of creme fraiche, double cream, sour cream and clotted cream. I'm thinking that I might lose that last bit i.e. one trouser size smaller, if I cut down on dairy. But obvs I still need to eat the fat.

But what ? I figure if I ask other posters how y'all Eat the Fat, I might find new ways of incorporating it or even new fat sources I hadn't considered. I might also learn more about fats.

Any info on fats and oils welcome, thanks in advance.

This being the Low Carb Forum on the website, I figured that people posting here would be doing some variant of LCHF, Atkins, Paleo or Primal.

If you are reducing carbs but not upping fat, that may work for awhile as you lose weight. What happens when the body decides it has reached optimal weight, which fuel will it use then, if not it's own excess fat ?

If you aren't eating fat to compensate for the lack of carbs, it's likely that weight loss is because of a calorie deficit. The brain could start thinking that this is starvation, and rebound after the weight loss just like with any other calorie-controlled diet. (Escape the Diet Trap by Dr John Briffa is an excellent book on this).

Conversely, nuts are high in fat but also really high in protein. Excess protein can be laid down as fat.

My guess is, that our body is adapted to utilise whichever handy fuel source is easiest and whichever uses the least energy to make. If it uses the glucose in a high carb diet, it will probably use he fat in a high fat diet. Maybe both of these are easier for the body than converting body fat.

As long as I'm not obese, I'm happy with stable weight. Recently, I quit whole milk because compared to cream or creme fraiche it seemed thin. I just wasn't enjoying it, even though it was organic whole pasteurized but unhomogenised milk straight from a farm. To compensate for the loss of milk, I upped other forms of dairy, which are lower on the Insulin Index.

Instead of putting on weight I lost it. In fact, because I don't weigh myself, to find that my new trousers became baggy two weeks after buying them, was quite disconcerting.

I seriously doubt that members are eating very low carb also. I eat around 25-30g carb a day, usually only from veg and dairy.

Professor Tom Noakes believes that to prevent diabetes deteriorating, it necessitates eating 25g carbs per less or day. Dr Eric Westman MD keeps obese patients at his clinic on 20g carbs per day, for as long as necessary.

The point of this thread however, was to discover which fats and oils other members use. I haven't eaten much tinned oily fish, which is something I can do and my husband is the nut fiend, so again I could try those.

So thanks for the ideas !

Brunneria I look at chia and think 'hmm what the heck can I use that for' because I don't bake.

Sent from the Diabetes Forum App

Brunneria said:

Chia puddings are divine!
And there are many options, from lemon to berry, to fruit tea, to choc and peanut...

Click to expand...

Hmm need to investigate these, husband perked up when I mentioned them.

Not sure whether it's a positive or negative, but I find really sweet and really salty food horrible now. My husband does too, so I presume it's connected to eating organic rather than to diabetes.

We love lemons and limes (lime butter sauce hmmm), coconut anything and my new thing is unsweetened cocoa made with hazelnut milk. I'm a bit dubious about using sweeteners, haven't had any since 2012, guess I need to try chia pudding without it.

I came across a blog, doing a Google search just now which suggests ground chia seeds as a thickener. Now that would make life easier, if it works.

I forget to add tahini to my own list, which is basically sesame seed butter and a key ingredient of hummus/houmous. Robbity where would I be likely to find sesame flour please ? That might be an interesting ingredient, depending on carbs.

Another one I forgot was peanut butter. We tried quite a few, even buying them from American and Australian food importers, but our all time favourite is Meridian organic crunchy peanut butter. No added anything. I like to add a tsp to a dressing, or melt it into a stir fry sauce.

Haven't tried other nut butters yet. Almond is out because husband hates them. Brazil nut butter would be a big hit if it exists, ditto cashew and walnut.

I'm so glad that I started this thread. Thanks everyone xxx