Is cream a good LCHF food? (as part of a balanced diet)

[S11m]

Is anyone struggling to keep up to their target weight?

I usually break my monthly 72-hour fasts with 500ml of full-fat yoghurt, followed by a cooked brunch. I normally fast 20 hours a day, eating only two meals... but, after lunch, I had my breakfast cereal-free muesli - in a bowl full of double cream... and I finished up the rest of the 600ml over a few days.

This seemed to work well - fat satiates, and I did not feel hungry or resort to having fish and a spring roll in the afternoon... so, the next week, I had another 600ml of cream.

Edited: 600ml of double cream is 2,790kcal or about 400 kcal per day, which would tend to cause almost a pound a week weight gain. This week I only bought 300ml of double cream, and I have been eating more cashew butter!

I am now at my ideal weight: I have lost 35kg, and I am now less than 90Kg, 17% body-fat - and my waist measurement is an inch or so less than half my height. I walk 35 to 50km per week, and, according to my Apple Watch, I burn 2,000 to 3,000 kcal per day, and I continue to lose a kilo a month.

I have no gall bladder, so it is, perhaps, surprising that I have no problem eating so much fat?

I have got into the habit of not eating after 14:00 - and it suits me.

[Subtle_badger]

Um, your calories are out by a factor of 2. Even 600ml of butter is less calories than that. Double cream is around 2800 for 600ml.

That said, it's a good element of a LCHF diet. Hidden can eat any amount without gaining weight, while the actual diet doctor says he lost weight when he gave it up. Your body will respond as it will.

dietdoctor.com/the-top-5-ti...

You need to watch the video

Well, you don't need to, only watch it if you want to see what he says about cream.

[Praveen55 in reply to Subtle_badger]

You are right Subtle_badger . Double cream available in the UK has 50% fat which means 2700 kcal for 600ml. Butter has 80% fat - 4320 kcal for 600ml.

[S11m in reply to Subtle_badger]

Thanks - I cannot do simple arithmetic, even when I have the container in my hand!

[Praveen55 in reply to S11m]

Otherwise, cream is very good. I use it liberally! It makes my food taste yummy.

[Hidden in reply to Subtle_badger]

I gave it up for a few weeks and did not lose weight either. I think I’ve got to the point where my appetite is bang on for my needs. I ate no cream, so I must have eaten something else to compensate.

[TheAwfulToad Ambassador]

I would say "yes" but as others have said here, don't rely on it too heavily. Some people have problems with it stalling their weight loss, some people don't.

Personally I don't think it's possible to eat too much of it simply because it's rather expensive...

[Hidden in reply to TheAwfulToad]

Not in the UK. Cheaper than chips.

[S11m in reply to TheAwfulToad]

Thanks - I eat it partly to keep my weight up.

[S11m in reply to TheAwfulToad]

Thanks @TheAwfulToad

It does “stall my weight-loss” …but I am at my target weight, and that is why I eat it!

[Hidden]

I don't get hung up on the calorie count. Life is too short

Checking in the fridge, double cream has 1.6g net carbs, 50.5g fat, 1.5g protein per 100g. I'll fill up until I'm full. I trust my body nowadays to tell me Even if I were trying to lose weight. I'm not convinced that it would be the double cream that's stopping me. Maybe double helpings of something else...

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

Yes! Enough already with the calorie counting. Eat then you are hungry, stop when you have had enough.

[Hidden]

If you have got to your ideal weight, and are still losing, maybe it’s time to shorten those fasts?

[S11m in reply to Hidden]

Cream provides extra calories, which help me keep my weight up, and it satiates, which prevents me being hungry in the afternoon.

...but if I am below my target weight, and I am hungry - I eat.

Intermittant fasting is good for weight loss, but has many other benefits, see my Fasting Newbies FAQ:

healthunlocked.com/fasting-...

[Hidden in reply to S11m]

I just worry you are going to fall down a grating... xxx

[S11m in reply to Hidden]

Please do not concern yourself - I am still nearly 90kg!

[Hidden]

I commend clotted cream to you all too

[Hidden]

What do you use cashew butter for, or do you just eat it as it is? I didn't know there was such a thing!

[S11m in reply to Hidden]

Rice cakes are not Keto, but they are gluten-free… I eat about a teaspoon of nut butter with yeast extract on each rice cake.

You can use nut butter as an ingredient in home made keto muesli.

[Subtle_badger in reply to Hidden]

Any nut can become a butter, with the aid of a food processor or a high speed blender. Then you use it however you might use peanut butter.

Beware of cashews if you are low carb, they are pretty high carbohydrate.

[Penel]

Just to add to this discussion. Your lack of gall bladder does not affect your ability to eat / digest fat, it’s only somewhere to store bile, your liver is still making the bile you need.

Eating a low fat diet is unfortunately the general advice after gall bladder removal.

[S11m in reply to Penel]

LCHF and IF is not a good combination for anyone without a gall bladder, as the gall bladder stores bile and enables one to eat large fatty meals… but I manage.

[Penel in reply to S11m]

Yes, my husband also manages fine without a gall bladder.

[Pink4eva in reply to S11m]

Hi S11m, I also am doing LCHF and IF and I had my gall bladder removed 10 yrs ago. I haven’t noticed any problems with digesting fat either.

[Subtle_badger]

I have a confession - and this is going to shock Hidden

I don't really like cream. I mean, I don't dislike it, but I keep buying 300ml for a recipe, and then finding half left in my fridge has gone off. I just never think to use it.

Just never been a huge fan, back in the day I would have a tarte citron rather than éclair, and waiters would stair at me asking if I wanted cream or ice-cream on my desert, and I would say "no".

That doesn't excuse the food waste, I do enjoy cream sauces. I need to plan better.

Coffee in order of preference: flat white, latte, long black/americano, espresso, with cream, (every other sort of coffee there is), bulletproof 🤮

[bigleg]

My advice is to forget calories, because it is the quality and nutrients contained in the foods that matter. For example, unused carbs are stored as fat and most high carb foods are reduced in other nutrients. You mentioned moving to cashew nut butter, cashew nuts have a very high carb content: dietdoctor.com/low-carb/ket.... When I first saw that visual guide I was amazed at the huge range of carb content of the different nuts.

My husband and I get through approx 2 1/2 x 600ml cream per week (approx. 100ml each per day if my maths are corrrect). As we eat to appetite I have never thought of our actual consumption. That is double cream. I use it in cooking and coffee. We don't fast as such, just eat breakfast and dinner - normally at 6pm. Breakfast is always eggs in one form or another with cheese and maybe ham/bacon/liver pate, spinach/tomato/mushrooms and my husband loves a few pickles. I cook with butter. We started our low carb journey about 15 years ago. In our 70s now, back to our youthful weights and holding very steady (7 stone lighter) than the start of our journey. To answer your question, we love our cream and it works well for us as part of our real food, low carb lifestyle.

[AnnieW55]

Every time I see this I read it as Ice Cream. I do not like ice cream or do I and my brain is trying to tell me something.😮

[Winelover]

On the subject of cream in coffee I have a further suggestion.

Butter in coffee.

Sounds disgusting perhaps? Some of you may recall the ex-MP Tom Watson lost a lot of weight a few years ago. He even wrote a book about his experience (which I haven’t read).

The press picked up on his taking his coffee with butter and some time after I was attempting a LCHF regime and tried it. Not very pleasant as I just stirred in the butter and an oil slick floated on the surface.

Earlier this year I was inspired in so many ways after watching the film Fat Fiction. It contained a man making butter-laced coffee properly and I have enjoyed a breakfast mug of it daily ever since. If you put the butter and the coffee of your choice into a blender and whiz it the butter emulsifies and the result looks and tastes like creamy coffee. (I use about 1oz of butter per coffee mug serving.) Try it.

[Hidden]

Very interesting, good to hear what works for you.