Relax...

[MikePollard]

I've been giving some thought about the whole paradigm surrounding LCHF, keto etc.

Our ancestors, recent and past, were almost certainly never in ketosis, at least on a permanent basis but for people wanting to change their lifestyle some will freak out unless the urine sticks are purple, and will panic that they've somehow blown it if the stick remains pink.

I've often said that returning to the diets of our grandparents a few generations ago is enough to maintain a healthy body weight, and they didn't drink lashings of double cream in cups of coffee four or five times a day, neither did they dump lots of butter in there either. So, there is a case, in my opinion, not to get wound up because twenty grams of carbs is so difficult to do. Look at the old black and white photographs of people from yesteryear if you need confirmation.

This isn't to say that re-evaluation a stalled weight loss gives licence to scarf down white foods ad libitum, that's not the case, and keto certainly works, but there are many roads that will get you to your destination and one with meat and two veg on the journey is certainly one of them.

So long as you have cut the junk, sugar and snacks and understand the concept of keeping insulin LOW, then you are going to be ok, and a bit of roast potato (done in dripping/duck fat of course) once a week isn't going to kill you, so be kind to yourself.

In conclusion, I hope I'm not sending out mixed messages here, and if you are diabetic, then your approach certainly be towards the very low end of the carbohydrate spectrum.

Have a look at this video, it chimes with me in my belief (born out empirically with my overconsumption of double cream) that overeating fat could be a reason for stalled weight loss and consequent puzzlement.

youtube.com/watch?v=FNxJYsb...(Not working as expected?)

[Hidden]

Thanks for this Mike. I was beginning to get a bit wound up by the ‘rigidity’ of the LCHF ethos. There are bits of it that I totally agree with, we have come to rely on a very high carb diet and overeating of processed foods. I definitely need to reduce my carbs but as a family we don’t eat much meat and I tend to cook pulses quite a bit. These tend to be a bit carby so it’s causing me a few issues at the moment. 😊

[JiminyCricket in reply to Hidden]

I'm missing pulses too - beans and lentils, they are staples in my house with 2 vegetarians. (Im not one of them, I like chorizo in my bean stew!)

[MikePollard in reply to JiminyCricket]

I somehow instinctively want to eat pulses, probably for the fibre to feed good gut flora. I really don't like eating only fat and protein, but can hack just about anything with a few beans. For example this evening my meal was bacon, egg and a quarter can of (leftover) baked beans. The kids supplemented with chips. In the freezer are a whole load of chickpeas, kidney beans etc all cooked from raw. I usually add butter or melted cheese, but the quantity is probably only a couple of heaped tablespoons.

As always, find your own road.

[TheAwfulToad Ambassador]

Totally agree. One of the great things about low-carb is that it's really flexible, and it gets people away from all that counting and weighing. The whole point of it is to let your body take charge again: there's no need to meter nutrients into your stomach or avoid all the nice bits. I don't measure my fat or carbs. I just eat whatever I feel like. I just turns out that, as long as you set yourself on the right path, "what I feel like" rapidly morphs into a standard LCHF pattern.

Yes, sure, if you want to go 'keto', it's a little complicated and quite restrictive. You have to pay attention. But nobody (apart from diabetics, as you said) needs to do that for more than a couple of weeks. As long as you keep carbs low and fat high, you'll be fine.

I was actually just thinking on this earlier because someone mentioned Dr David Unwin. If you look at his diet plan, it isn't really LCHF. What he's done is very simple: he's started with standard British fare, dialled down the white carbs, and told people that "healthy fats are OK in moderation" (that's a sop to his employers, I imagine). Because he can't tell people to eat fat ad lib (because he'd be struck off) his diet is rather protein-heavy. Nevertheless, it works. Probably not as well as classic LCHF would do, but it gets 80% of the result without alienating anybody.

I must say, though, British people from yesteryear weren't particularly shapely. The early 20th century was a golden age for market gardens: for any class above "unskilled tradesman", food was of excellent quality and quite affordable, but have a look at those old film reels of Edwardians frolicking on the beach. They're not obese, but they're a bit squishy. I imagine the problem there was lack of exercise rather than poor diet per se.

[MikePollard in reply to TheAwfulToad]

I'd suggest those on the beach were wealthy middle and upper class. The trend for paid holidays for the working man only came in in 1938, and you wouldn't see many coming from the factory gates waddling onto a charabanc en route to Blackpool.

[Hidden in reply to TheAwfulToad]

Your reply has been such a relief. One of the reasons previous diets have not worked for me is that I became so obsessed with counting and weighing everything that I was constantly thinking about food. I ended up just stuffing my face all the time and, not surprisingly, severely overweight. I have recently found my cooking mojo and I’m cooking from scratch with good wholesome ingredients and my relationship with food is so much better. 😊

[Hidden]

I've been reading on these forums for a number of years now.

I think the LCHF diet works very well but for me I found it just too restrictive. I did try it for a few days but with a family who love good whole grain bread rice pasta and potatoes it was torture.

Am keeping a steady weight now, and that is because I keep my calorie intake on what my body can handle with the amount of activity that I do.

I drink my coffee black with sugar.

I love all meat and fish, but not so keen on the fat.

Love dairy products, cheese butter milk.

We mostly now only eat potatoes rice and pasta that we cooked the day before and kept in the fridge overnight and reheated the next day.

[Stoozie]

Very interesting Mike thanks

How is your torpedoes challenge going?

[Rabbit81]

I needed this right now. I'm getting really sick of completely cutting out a lot of my favourite things, and I've just hit a wall with the weight loss that's been puzzling and causing me anxiety.

[Lesley1234567]

I agree with you Mike. I got hung up with the numbers and doing the right thing. Now I listen to my body which is a whole lot easier now because I no longer crave carbs. If anything keto is excellent for that. Still find it a bit awkward when out shopping and only want a snack, so I tend to opt for a scone or toasted teacake, I couldn’t eat a sandwich though.