Welcome all LCHF diet enthusiasts,
Please make yourselves at home here. We hope this will be a fun, supportive space for you to share your experiences and ask questions- so get started!
You could start by simply introducing yourself to the community or by diving in and asking/ answering questions.
Start posting now: healthunlocked.com/lchf-die...
Can't wait to hear from you all!
Hello, I am new to the LCHF community. I have been following the nhs 12 week plan and it is going well for me, losing 20lbs in 8 weeks but i have been considering LCHF for a while and decided to start it on Monday 
I am now 16st 6lbs, 6ft tall and my waist measurement is 45 inches so I am hoping this will reduce by following a low carb approach. Also my partner has been told she is "borderline diabetic" and although not over weight she is carrying a lot of weight around her middle, she eats lots of carbs so hopefully she will also embrace low carb eating.
A couple of questions to those of you who have been lchf for a while:
1. Do I still calorie count, keeping to the recommended levels set by the BMI calculator?
2. What about grams of fat per day? Should i have a limit to this?
Thank you in anticipation - John
My understanding from wise people here is that there is no need for calorie counting. The only thing you need to count is your carbs - 20g carbs a day for a fortnight then 50 or so. Absolute max 150g. I didn’t do the strict fortnight to start though & I am losing weight & not tempted by carbs at all., you don’t count fat but add enough to fill you up. Butter on vegetables, cheese grated on everything, bathe in double cream etc. That will be quite a lot to start with then after a few weeks you won’t want so much, and so you cut back and then start losing weight seriously. I have cut back slightly on the cheese I ate initially to fill me up, but lost weight eating the cheese too, so the theory may not perfectly match my body. So in short. Eat the cheese. But not the cracker. The cream. But not the scone & jam underneath.
I am from the weight loss NHS community and have been maintaining my weight loss for over a year. A few members have talked about the LCHF diet and wonder whether I would benefit from this. I cook from scratch majority of time, occasionally have shop bought pizza and hummus so should be doable. However I am no longer wanting to loose weight- can you follow this diet and maintain? I am a vegetarian though I do eat fish and I know meat factors into this diet for the fat content. I do only tend to eat wholegrain/seeded bread, wholemeal pasta, couscous & rice which from my limited understanding are better carbs to have!
Is there a guide I can access to get a better understanding of what LCHF entails?
Yes you can definitely follow this diet an maintain. Lots of people here do. The idea is that by cutting carbs, we free up our metabolic hormones to make a decision about what our appetite should be, based on our fat stores, and therefore our weight. Too many carbs means too much insulin so the appetite controlling hormones get out of whack. If you are the right weight in your body’s opinion, your appetite will keep you there. There’s a whole new mindset of listening to your body ahead! LCHF has loads of other emerging health benefits besides weight, arthritis and dementia etc, so it’s definitely worth it for a slender person as yourself!
Thank you I will have a look into it- but I do like my rice bread and oasta😄
Ha. I truly did not think i could do it! Resisted for ages! I love toast - I make my own spelt & rye bread & love it toasted with butter & marmite. But I am even more excited about the weight management & other health benefits. Admittedly I have a bit of weight to lose, which you don’t, but I’d do a lot to reduce my arthritis & be able to cycle long distances along disused railways come the spring. 30 miles and my stamina is fine, my muscles are fine but my arthritic knees are screaming their heads off.
Loosing weight should quieten your screaming knees!
It may help a bit. I am not ‘overweight’ anymore and don’t think all the answer is weight loss - I want to lose weight to look a bit hotter 🤣. I never feel my arthritis when i am standing & bearing my weight - only when I have done too many revolutions on the bike pedals & the bike seat is bearing my weight. But you are right to some extent, every pound lost is 8lbs less pressure on my knees.
Sorry - should have sent you a guide. Www.carbdodging.com & dietdoctor.com
Hi i am 57 year old. In winter of 2018 caught 3 viruses and i became very unwell and have asthma. I was ill until around end of January 2019. I realised was unfit and need to improve my health and fitness. I also have been battling mental health issues like anxiety. Which had huge impact on my confidence and have determination and motivation in completing dieting programmes and exercise programmes. I recently joined circuit training programme but due to how i feel and not being fit decided need to sort out my way i see food and eat food to improve my fitness. I have researched about Low-carb High fat diet think this may be good place to start. I have also today joined 5 k couch.
Hi I am a newby to LCHF community and although I believe low carbs is the way to go I am not sure about the high fat part, but am interested to follow the forum until my next doctors visit to check if it is safe for me
Welcome Molly. An excellent resource to learn about the LCHF approach and how it is not just safe, but also enables people to get their health back is dietdoctor.com. The web site has some excellent resources for both patients and supporting medical professionals. Some interpret the HF as ‘Healthy Fat’ rather than ‘High Fat’. One is removing industrial highly processed foods from the diet, and that can only be healthy. It is about returning to eating ‘real food’ vs ‘highly processed’ foods associated with the Department of Health’s Eatwell guide dominated by industrial foods. Enjoying butter, cheese and all the traditional fats.
Compare the Public Health Collaboration's 'Real Food Lifestyle' phcuk.org/wp-content/upload... vs Public Health England's Eatwell Guide assets.publishing.service.g.... One is focusing on REAL Food and the other 2/3rds are industrially processed foods.
Dr David Unwin, twitter.com/lowcarbgp, has produced some sugar-equivalence infographics to help us all better understand the impact different foods have on insulin response. These infographics are supported by a published paper and now endorsed by NICE. In fact the Public Health England's Eatwell guide does not meet the 2015 NICE Dietary Guidelines for Diabetics (most recent).
Over the weekend I was talking to someone who told me they had only just realised that the 'spreadable' butters were not real butter products but a concoction with the seed oil fats mixed with the traditional butter.
Personally, we have followed this lifestyle for over 10 years. My husband put his T2D into remission, we both lost 4 stone and weight stable. The healthy fats are packed with essential nutrients and satiating. I hope that info helps you helps you to have a better understanding of the LCHF lifestyle.
Hi Newby, my only worry about you approaching your GP about the LCHF regime is that I have known of and used this diet intermittantly since 1978. I have only ever found one doctor who approved of it. Every other doctor just spouted, ' eat less calories, burn off more calories'. Dr Michael Mosley approves of low carb at least!!!!! Though I have never spoken to him yet! 
At least these days the LCHF diet has evolved and is a lot more consumer friendly and better known too thank goodness. But let us know what your dr has to say, he won't necessarily approve, but please don't let that stop you trying it.
Hi
I am curious as to whether I can low carb and follow a vegan diet, thoughts, experiences, anyone who knows enough that can direct me please, thank you
God bless you
Vicky
About 14 years ago I 'did' the Atkins diet and lost around 2 stone. I have been looking at the LCHF eating plan now and am feeling very enthusiastic about giving it a go. I gave up Atkins back then because I love fruit and missed eating that and also because a lot of people were negative about eating all that protein and fat; it was considered unhealthy and low fat diets were the ideal. Since then, I have put on about 10 lbs - I have maintained some aspects of Atkins - but I haven't been able to lose that extra weight. So here goes - I was 10st. 10 this morning - 15th December. Let's see what happens!
Too much protein bad. Apparently we can get protein poisoning. I don’t think people were supposed to stuff their faces with meat on Atkins, just not restrict it, and how it was implemented gave it a bad rap. With LCHF, you eat quite a bit of fat in the first few weeks to see you through the transition, then dial back naturally according to taste and appetite as your body gets the hang of things. In y first two weeks I was gnawing on whole Camemberts, but feel uninspired to do that now. Berries are good news under LCHF - I but mine frozen as they are a lot cheaper.
Yes I did get fed up with meat - got jaw ache!! I'm still happily chomping away on loadsa butter 
I think butter is my favourite food in the whole world so hoping to get over the novelty sometime soon because I do still feel guilty 
I feel that way about double cream ❤️
My second favourite food!
Ok, I have taken a deep breath and am diving in.
I am 67 years old, first tried the Atkins diet in 1978 when I was in Hong Kong and every woman around me dropping pounds on the Atkins diet.
I bought the book and could get into ketosis, but could not lose weight.
Back then you were not allowed anything except meat, fish and poultry & fat, heavy cream, butter. You could only progress to other items of food after being on the basic diet for a while.
I have a family history of type 1 diabetes (brother diagnosed in his 20's, his son and my grandson - both at age 3) type 2, my mother and father neither of whom were overweight.
I was epileptic in 1978, though I didn't know it until the1980's and I was back in the uk.
That Atkins book was the first time I heard of low thyroid. Although I have to say that I never really thought that that might have been the reason why I could not lose weight on Atkins. I lost my weight by fasting in the end and really had little trouble in keeping the weight off either. I returned to the uk and had a third child in 1980. I was back to my normal 10 stone 3 lbs within 3 weeks of his birth.
I stayed at that weight with only slight variations on occasions until I began to near the menopause around 24/5 years ago.
I tried HRT but I had terrific weight gain, putting on 2 stones in 2 or 3 weeks. I was told that I could not try HRT again because of that weight gain and so I generally suffered through it.
I was diagnosed hypothyroid around 1994 ish. I welcomed the diagnosis because I thought that my weight gain, hair loss, constantly cold, etc would change now that I was on thyroxine. It didn't change.
I carried on taking my thyroxine, having yearly blood tests and occasional alterations in thyroxine doses.
I tried the Atkins diet again many times, along with Weight Watchers, Slimming World, etc etc. My doctor was not at all sympathetic telling me that calories in had to be less than callories out. When I mentioned low carb diets/diabetes etc, I was told that I was wasting his time and should stop searching the internet when it was really easy, I should eat less and exercise more.
I didn't agree, but what could I do about it?
I gained steadily until in 2011, I was 15 stones, By this time I was on 200 mcg of thyroxine a day.
I decided to try again and gave myself a calorie allowance of 1,200 daily from any source, though I ate less and less bread, potatoes, rice, cakes, biscuits, pasta etc etc. I knew they were not good for me because if I did eat white carbs as I think if them, I would become desperately thirsty and had unmistakeable signs of fluid retention, complete with visible oedema - I did over a year's training as a pupil midwife in the early 70's before my second child decided to arrive, so I knew the symptoms.
To my amazement it worked and in about May 2012 I had lost 3 stones and was wearing size 12 again. I stayed that size until early 2013 when I started to gain again. Once more, nothing worked, neither calorie counting nor Atkins, I fould turn purple on those ketones, but could not lose anything. There alwaysvseemed to be an up a pound, down a pound system going on. Occasionally I would gain 3 lbs or so and then maybe lose a pound again or take a week to lose a pound, but the general trend was upward.
At the beginning of 2019, I started to lose weight again, calorie counting. I was amazed but it was happening. I got down to 12 stones 5 lbs this time before I started to go up a pound and then down a pound, every day.
I tried a more modern 'Keto' diet book in November last year. More veggies and salad than Atkins allowed, but and please note that I understand what 'keto-flu' is and why it happens, but I now got tremendous headaches, that nothing shifted, I tried a little more salt in my diet, I tried more fluids, gallons of water, gritting my teeth and bearing it, after all it would be gone soon and I looked forward to the keto 'high' which I have experienced before. I had bright purple ketostix , but my headache didn't waiver and I didn't lose any weight, in fact I gained a pound or twp. After about 5 days I think it was, I gave up again and returned to veggies with my protein. But no high carbs still.
I wondered if it might be a diabetes issue and bought a BM monitor which showed that if anything, I was low blood sugar. Generally between 5.1 and 5.8 first thing in the morning, the highest BM was 9 once only after a meal of fish and cooked veg, l have also avoided root veg since before Christmas too. I did try taking a dry cracker and that did get my blood sugar moving up, I got up to double figures after eating that, but I don't want the roller coaster or high BM and a terrific low an hour later.
So at the moment, I am on a no dairy, no meat or poultry with lots of vegetables diet. It is not good. I don't want to go down the pulses route because of the higher carbs.
I would really, ideally like to go high protein, low carb. I don't do ready made food, I cook for myself, make my own mayonnaise etc etc, so I know what is on my plate. But I surely must be doing something wrong when trying to go low carb/no carb, and I have no idea what.
Is it possible that I ate too much protein at once? Or not enough fat? I have had no one to go to for advice.
I know that my thyroid medication is not correct. I am not at home at the moment, but I have asked my surgery for my blood test results, which I have never seen once yet. And I have joined ThyroidUk again, I was a member once before, but totally gave up when I got no sense out of my GP. So I am trying, yet again.
Sorry about my long, long message, but the one I put onto ThyroidUk believe me, was longer. Members there advised me to come on here and so I am trying again.
Thanks for listening
So glad you mad it! Big hugs!! Di
What a nice welcome! Thank you xx
Wow that all sounds very challenging. Well done for persevering. I don’t know too much about it bit apparently we can get protein poisoning, which is why keto (high FAT) is now thought to be better than Atkins (highish protein). Could that account for your symptoms?
Looking at your diet, unless I have missed something, you seem to be eating just fish and vegetables. I expect your body now thinks it’s starving. You need to eat some fat. Avocados? Coconut oil? If you want to pace any reintroduction of dairy, these could help.
TheAwfulToad this is probably one for your research and insight, though.
Possibly, I have never heard of 'protein poisoning', but I did see a mention on a Forum long ago that said it was possible to eat too much protein, whether that meant in any one day or per meal I have no idea.
Yes, at the moment I am eating fish, shellfish, eggs and vegetables, salads, oh and nuts, I have almonds, walnuts, cashews, nut butters with no palm oil preferably.
Fats are olive oil, coconut oil, rapeseed oil and I have always used Kerrygold butter because it is made from the cream from grass fed cows only supposedly, but at the moment I am trying this variation of vegetarianism, I suppose you could call itand dairy free. I haven't been using as much oil as I usually do though and the lack of butter is a bit boring I have to say!
I am surprised that it has gone so well, to be honest, I thought I would be very much more hungry than I am.
I love cheese especially but none of that at the moment.
Thanks for your reply
Welcome to the group, BrynGlas. I don't have a whole lot to add aside from "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". Your diet sounds healthy in general terms. I can't help wondering if you headaches etc were caused by something completely unrelated to diet, or were some kind of allergic reaction to some specific food.
The term "protein poisoning" refers to a diet of protein and nothing else. Some people who have been brought up in the "fat will make your heart explode" tradition attempt to do LCHF with high protein, low-fat, and low-carbs, and they fail (because you get terrible cravings for carbs/fat). There are also several research studies that adopt this macro mix, possibly through ignorance, but more likely because they're guaranteed to produce a terrible outcome, thereby allowing the researcher to pronounce that "low carb is bad for you and doesn't work".
But you're not doing that, as far as I can tell.
The main issue with a high-protein diet is that your body can't use protein very effectively for energy; if it's forced to, it does so by converting some of it (specific amino acids) to glucose. So it's basically just an expensive way of eating carbs
Just a couple of thoughts:
1) Restricting calories is usually counterproductive. If you're still doing that, I would try gradually reducing your protein and adding fat, without paying too much attention to the calorie count. If you weigh yourself frequently, make sure to plot your results out and look only at the trend (over a period of weeks).
2) You might want to add back, one-by-one, some of the items that you discarded and see if you have any reaction to them. Obviously, there's no point adding things you don't like, but if you miss cheese, try bringing it back in small doses.
3) You don't say how old you are, but I'm guessing about 70, and that means exercise is going to be incredibly important. Diet alone won't get you where you want to be. If you're not exercising hard at least three times a week, your results will be mediocre at best.
I suppose the confounding factor here is your thyroid medication. It is very hard to get a thyroxine prescription correct because the optimum range is so narrow, and the standard test (single-point TSH measurement) is usually misinterpreted because doctors don't understand how control loops work. I suspect most people are on the wrong dose. For obvious reasons I can't give you medical advice, but a lot of people end up tweaking their thyroxine dose up or down slightly, exploiting the fact that thyroxine has a long half-life to make miniscule tweaks. If you attempt this, you can apparently feel when it's too high, but not when it's too low (you have to have someone keeping an eye on you for signs).
Thanks for your message, much appreciated. Yes, you guessed it, I will be 68 at the end of June and so I know that I don't need vast amounts of calories and I ought to be able to lose weight with what I am eating and the exercise that I am doing.
Exercise, I try to walk as fast as I can for an hour every other day. I am a fair weather walker though, don't do fog/ice/rain/snow or too much rain! I also do yoga, tai chi and pilates from videos, but usually those are for when I can't walk.
Yes, the headaches I got at the beginning of the Keto diet in November, I assumed were because I was forcing my body to turn to burning fat. I thought I was there though because I had bright purple ketostix, but the headaches continued. I have never had this headache when beginning low carb diets before, and I just couldn't handle the pain which was all consuming. I wondered whether it could have anything to do with the fact that I am usually on a low carb diet anyway anyway, I don't know???
Anyway, what I am doing now is going ok. My weight is more stable (12.12 again today) which is a change and I shall go to adding a small steak, tuna, chicken here and there at times as well as more coconut oil and see how I get on. I can't wait for the crunch of pork scratchings!!! I miss crunch!
Thanks very much
Thyroid is the bane of my life. Luckily (?) I am used to diabetes, the treatment and control of. I know that low carb should work for me, I ought to be able to lose weight with it but that doesn't happen unfortunately.
I love being on low carb, I can get into ketosis easily usually and have 2 packs of ketostix and a BM monitor in my bathroom at all times. It has to be a thyroid problem.
I can't tell you all how good it feels to have someone to approach when things (diet, weight, blood sugar, etc etc) are not going right. I am staying here with my brother in law at the moment. He has no idea why I refuse to eat toast, chips, biscuits. I once had a terrible argument when I would not eat a baked potato that he had cooked for me! He thinks I am cracked because I will cook him a curry, and enjoy it, but I won't eat rice, only my own cauliflower rice.
He is forever taking me out for Sunday dinner. last Sunday I gave him my roast pork and ate the veggies (plus 2 roast potatoes which were only small and irresistable!) But I left the pile of mashed potato and the rest of the roast potatoes plus thick gravy!
Sometimes I can have a steely resolve you know! Not often, but sometimes.
He just can't get his head around why I am such a ninny, no spaghetti? No sandwiches? No scone with jam and cream? No digestives?
He saw me when I was in that terrible headache pain and I keep hoping that he will understand one day that I am trying to do what I need to do for me alone. Trying to find a way. It can't be good for me to be overweight, I will never believe or accept that.
Sorry, I am spouting again!
Yes, I forgot about avocado I do eat those. I don't normally eat much in the way of fruit except berries, which I really like, but doing this veggie type diet I have been eating apples, satsumas, but am wary of the higher sugar fruit such as grapes, I love them, but worry about the higher sugar content.
I am afraid that I worry a lot about what I eat, I am amazed that I haven't turned anorexic sometimes.
I never eat rice either, I make my own cauli-rice now and often add broccoli to it and garlic
I am eating sweet potatoes now and celeriac too, though I don't usually eat these often. And I haven't mentioned mushrooms, I would normally have those fried in either oil or butter, I get through 2 or 3 large containers minimum of those every week.
Well that all sounds very healthy. Are you still on your 1200cals a day? (I’d be in a coma /stabbing people at that level)
No, I don't think I am eating those many calories at the moment, because no cheese, butter, milk. I have black foffee or frit/herbal teas, or sparkling water with lemon or lime. I would have a teaspoon of double cream in my coffee if I could, but no dairy, milk, cream, yogurts or cottage cheese. When I am at home I generally have one meal a day, plus a snack in the evening, usually a couplenof eggs scrambled. At the moment I am having 2 meals a day, 3 yesterday because I was hungry. I can't take being hungry these days and fat does keep me fuller, though I don't lose weight despite having ketones.
And when I tried to go Keto in November I wasn't expecting to have such a headache that made me stop after 4 or 5 days, because I don't have carbs apart from the ones in green vegetables, salads, dairy food 99% of the time. So why did I react so badly? That has not happened before and I knew what my blood sugar was, because I bought my blood sugar monitor when I first started the headaches a day or so into the diet.
I often crave chocolate too, so I buy 95% cocoa solids chocolate, and keep it in my outside freezer, so I just have a little taste now and then but can't binge on it. If it was in front of me I would eat it certainly.
If you are eating fewer than 1200 cals you are starving yourself. Your body has gone gone into emergency mode & isn’t going to give up your fat stores because it’s too risky. Have you done the nhs calorie range calculator?
nhs.uk/live-well/healthy-we...
If you have dark purple Keto readings you may also have Ketosis - which is another emergency response. And the protein poisoning. I am no medical professional, but you may be implementing keto in such an extreme way you are making yourself ill.
Just eat some more! Eat a few carbs- not going mad.
Yeah, I was surprised that the ketostix are still purple. Normally you would expect them to fade towards brown after a few weeks.
I doubt she has ketoacidosis (that involves a complete breakdown of your blood pH buffering and a runaway cascade of ketones, which puts you in the ER) but it seems like she's adapting unusually slowly to running on fat. As you said, it may be that she's simply eating too little.
Yes sorry. What Toad said. Listen to him.
Not Ketosis but ketoacidodis is what I meant but knew not enough about.
Thank BrynGlas for sharing. Your journey took me on a roller-coaster of emotions. I do not have enough knowledge to help you, just to assure you that you are not crazy.
And to be sorry your GP surgery is not giving free access to your medical history. Mine does, for good or bad, so I was able to learn today thanks to Hidden that an antidepressant caused me to put on 10kg in something less than 8 months.
Double check that you can't access your test results online. Everyone should have that sort of access, IMHO.
Aside: are there other GPs near you? Changing to a different one might improve your experience.
Yes, I came off mine in around October and pretty soon I started to lose weight too, but it stopped again at 12 stone 5 lbs around June-ish, then began to rise slowly. I was 12 st 12 lb this morning. It seems to be generally in the 12st12lbs to 13st.1lb at the moment, up a bit down a bit.
If I had known that they were so inclined to make you gain weight I would have never had them, it was my weight which made me so depressed in the first place.
No, unfortunately not. There are only 2 surgerys in the village and the other one is one that I left in disgust some years ago, so I have no other option. My GP is the only permanent one, in the sugery, they have another locum every now and again, when very busy.
I have asked for all of my thyroid results and they seem to be saying yes at the moment, but I am not convinced to be honest. I will believe it when it happens.
Sorry, subtle_badger, I didn't say thanks for your reply, it is much appreciated
Nothing to apologise for. I was interested in your response and sorry I had nothing more to offer, but nothing was missing from you reply.
Well, I like to show my appreciation anyway!
Welcome BrynGlas, you are in the right place. So glad to see you here. Where the starvation diets failed...cream, cheese, lamb chops, pork scratchings and butter have succeeded. And the support of great people. 😁
Omg, you poor thing. I can identify with all you say about diets (although fortunately without your health problems) and aaaaaaarrrrgggghhhh - the medical profession do your head in. Are there any medical doctors or even better, nutritionists on this forum???? I bet they wouldn't dare show their faces!!
How is your current GP? Have you been able to find anyone more sympathetic?
I really hope it all gets sorted out for you xx
Not up to now, but I have a newfound bolshy attitude brewing and I think that they are going to get a shock when I get home to Wales! LoL
You go girl!!
Hello. I am 47. I put on a couple of stone over the last couple of years through stress, medication & having too carb heavy a diet. I have generally eaten pretty healthily - cooked from scratch, no ready meals, complex carbs such as quinoa & cut back on sugar. I lost a stone in 6 months last year by cutting carbs a bit and sugar a lot, and squeaked into the healthy bmi band. Since new year I have committed to LCHF to speed up my weight loss and my weight is steadily dropping - not in an astonishing way, 10lbs overnight but steadily & I am thrilled. I’ve only achieved this sort of steady weight loss before by starving myself. I ask lots of questions on the forum because I want to understand the physiology underneath it. I have weird low blood sugar so can’t fast - yet. Maybe that will come in future when my body has fully got used to doing without carbs.
Oh yes and while my interest is primarily vanity (and reducing my immense bottom). now, I will be interested in the impact LCHF has on my early arthritis, endometriosis and brain sharpness - apparently other positive side effects besides weight loss.
Why not have vanity in your life? I don't worry about vanity when I am gardening , but I think most women would like to think that they look their best.
I would love to be able to eat high carbs, I have not eaten that way for years, except I do like my trifle at Christmas! The family history of diabetes is always at the back of my mind, type 2 might be around the corner and I don't want that to happen if I can help it.
Low thyroid though, let alone low thyroid which is not controlled properly, has not helped one bit.
Sounds a stinker. Different doctor /second opinion?
I love toast, crumpets, tea cakes, hot & buttered on a tray with a teapot, cosy & Spode cups. But it’s not worth being plump for that - I’ll remember my grandparents and childhood in different ways.
Not enough doctors in North Wales to be able to get a second opinion near to me. I live near to Caernarfon in Gwynedd, but am staying in Stoke on Trent where I have been for most of the last year.
A neighbour of mine (& her partner) in Wales has gained a lot of weight over the years. They were both type 2 diabetic. I met them coming out of Morrisons one day and I couldn't get over the contents of their trolley!
Biscuits, cake, crackers and on the top was a pkt of giant sized crumpets! I asked who was the crumpet eater and Janet admitted to it.
I asked then if they knew that everything in their trolley was high carb and not good for type 2 patients. I don't know whether they were trying to have a laugh, but they said that the district nurse had told her that crumpets were a good choice of food for breakfast because they had no sugar in them and not much fat!
I then had to explain how your body turns carbs into glucose, etc etc and the horrors that type 2 could do to them if they didn't try to limit carbs some.
I took them around a pile of books and recipe books for low carb and explained all. Janet didn't manage a week, but her partner did and was free of type 2 in a matter of 3 months or so.
Oh well done on sharing your insight! There’s so much confusion in the medical profession about carbs & fat. I have just done an online health assessment before a workplace health check & from the way the questions were laid out, I expect to get told off for not eating more fruit, not eating whole grains & eating lots of full fat dairy. I’ll be using the anti endometriosis & arthritis argument rather than weight loss in my defence!
Good for you!
I have only ever spoken to one doctor who thought anything of the low carb/high fat way!
Well, when a district nurse is telling a type 2 diabetic that giant crumpets and jacket spuds (yummy!) are good for their diet your mind has to boggle doesn't it?
Crazy!
Just in case it's not obvious, I support your "vanity" weight loss, though I suspect your arse isn't as egregious as you think it is.
And the other benefits of LCHF, apply to almost everyone. For my family history, dementia and alzheimer's are the biggest incentives.
(aside: Now I wish I had chosen egregious_arse as my username!)
LoL, now you are really making me laugh!!!
Yes my mother has dementia, not terrifically bad yet, but I understand that if she has it there is a bigger chance for me to go that way. Her younger brother has it too, he is a fair bit worse than my mum. It is his daughter, my 1st cousin who is coeliac, another reason why I am wondering if I might have Hashimotos disease. Type,1 diabetes is in my immediate family too, another at auto immune disease. Scary!
Don't yah just love it?
I lost my grandmother to senile dementia and my mother to vascular dementia so doing everything I can to stop the onset, even going so far as taking statins! But with a chadvasc score of 4, that’s a no brainier! Di
I don't blame you Hylda.
I have never heard of a chadvasc score, something to do with blood supply to the brain?
Sounds very scary, I'm glad that you are expanding your chances of not developing dementia.
S xx
Chadvasc score is your likelihood to have a stroke, made more likely by the AF. Points for being an elderly lady, having high blood pressure etc. x
No, I hate it.
(but I love you laughing at it!!!)
It's a path I haven't explored yet - type 3 diabetes being dementia/alzheimer's.
Google will take you there. I haven't clicked on any of the links yet.
But you should. Maybe you can help your mum!
(the previous generation I could help are gone. I'm next, but don't have the urgency yet)
Well, that is the first time I have ever heard that Badge, Is it really?
I will do that, but I thank you all for your entertainment tonight, as well as your company and your knowledge especially, much appreciated.
And now I will try to sleep, butnlast night's Christine Keeler episode to catch up with first. I hope it isn't too exciting, so that it helps me to 'drop off!'
'Night everyone, xx
Ooh I want egregious_arse! Slim for good is so po faced! I had a better one but I had to change it in a hurry when I recommended my mother in law join. She’s huge & lies even to herself about what she eats. But she’s joined slimming world - probably out of contrariness to be honest. I’d have done better to recommend low fat & she’d have gone LCHF.
I think you are right about my bottom - it’s not Kim Kardashian big. My son’s former nursery nurse, age 25 ish, has just posted pics of herself on Facebook in the Caribbean in a very small white bikini showing a great deal of a very great bottom and is obviously pretty proud of the pics. I would be appalled if it were me... but hey, I am old, and the Kim bottom is not an influence for me...
Love the anti dementia thing. I have known for a while that being slim & fit helps dementia as it’s caused by lots of tiny strokes.
Hello , I am a Newbie. I have heard a lot about LCHF eating and think it may he the way forward for me. I am going to start tomorrow. I weigh 12st 8 pounds, l have put on 2 stone since losing 3 stone in 2018 following a low fat diet. I am hoping that this way of eating will fill me up and help to stop the years of yoyo dieting.
Hi everyone.
I’m 48 and have just been told I’m pre diabetic with a blood sugar level of 48. This is all new to me and I’m completely lost! I’m frantically reading anything I can. It goes against everything I usually eat so major habits are going to be have to changed.
Is anyone else in the same situation as me?
Hi all I've been a member of HU for 6 weeks now and have lost 4kg. My weight loss has slowed considerably over the last 2 weeks so I thought I would try something different so I downloaded a Keto meal plan from the internet - lchf is so different from my usual way of eating that I couldn't get to grips with it without a set out plan. Anyway the first thing that struck me was the calorie allowance - 1850 -1950 daily seems huge. I'll see how I get on over the next week - it seems to be working for many people so got to be worth a try.
Hi Sardinella! I was the same as you and started with LCHF about 10 days ago - what I’ve found is I’m so full after my meals - I’ve even found I’ve missed some meals (or reduced them a lot) simply because I’m not hungry - you may find as you follow your plan you feel the same so just listen to your body and eat when you’re hungry and stop when your full! 😊 Hope it goes well!
Thank you Food4Fuel - I've just finished the first day and have found exactly that - I've only managed 2 of the meals on the plan and struggled to finish the last one and to be honest I'm not really looking forward to tomorrow. Does it still work if you reduce the number of meals and the amount?
Do you mean in terms of weight loss? I honestly don’t know, as it very much depends on each person and how much they have to lose....from my understanding the purpose of it is to reduce carbs to a very low level which then lowers your insulin and your body has to use fat for energy - which is good because if it gets into a habit of doing that it will also start using up the fat in our bodies too!! It also teaches us to listen to our bodies - so if you are full that’s your body saying it’s had enough so just listen to it and don’t worry 😊 what programme are you following?
I’ve gone down to about 40g carbs per day and am using Diet Doctor recipes - I’m being quite strict for a few weeks (not even having fruit) to get my body used to it and then I will reintroduce more carbs step by step (but probably only to a max of 100g per day).
Hello all! I've been on and off LCHF Since January of this year and am having good success (when I stick to it). A nasty sweet tooth/carb addiction has been the bane of my journey but I hope that participating in this community will help me stay on track and maybe I can help others along the way
LCHF and the menopause
LCHF and clogged arteries 
Is Running on lchf ok... only 2 weeks in? 
In support of HU and why it works.