The oldest person in Europe, who tested positive for coronavirus but showed no symptoms, celebrated her 117 birthday with a omelette norvégienne (baked Alaska). My namesake aunt lived 99 good years, living independently until the end, and losing none of her faculties. She ate the mixture of macros that was normal for mid-twentieth century. These women have a good lifespan, and an amazing healthspan without ever thinking about carbs. Actually, I am sure my aunt did, she was always concerned about her weight, but she had a good waist:hip ratio, so it was healthy fat. I am pretty sure she never joined the low fat bandwagon.
No one is saying that being low carb is the only way to be healthy. It's the best way for some of us, the only way for others, but there are billions of people in the world who are healthy while eating carbs.
The people who accuse us of saying it never seem to notice that the NHS/USDA/etc are saying there is only one way healthy way of eating - low fat, minimum saturated fat, seed oils and fill your plate with empty carbs.
For me low carb is the best way because it turns out I can live without grains, sugars, potatoes and processed food; thus maintaining my weight becomes effortless. I don't know what would happen if I reintroduced them into my diet, but I see no need; 10,000 years ago, my ancestors were eating none of them, or just traces, so obviously I am evolved to thrive without them. I am lucky to be metabolically flexible, so can eat high carbs occasionally without ill effects. This is such a happy state, that I would not like to do anything that might change it.
Others have metabolisms so broken - eg metabolic syndrome or T2DM - that they can never eat many carbs again, but without the carbs they can live healthy, happy and hopefully long lives, so they just eat differently.
Coming to a low carb group and advocating eating carbs is wrong. You may be able eat carbs and stay healthy, but that has nothing to do with what I need to do to stay well. It's like going to a coeliac group, and tell them to eat gluten because I do without issue, or to harangue type 1 diabetics that I can stay well without ever injecting insulin. We have different metabolisms so we need different things.
It's also wrong, because one of the hardest things about being low carb is the high world we live in. Typically in a cafe there is literally no food I can eat. The choice is very limited too in most restaurants. In people's houses, the snacks provided are usually flour or potato based and refusing is awkward. I was in a breakroom yesterday, feeling a bit peckish and the only food was a box of salt&vinegar crisps. This place should be refuge from a world that is trying to stuff carbs down our throats.
There are many people that think not eating pasta is extreme. I try not to discuss my diet with such people, because who needs a pointless argument with a zealot? I am saddened that I can receive that sort of abuse from someone on here as well.
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Written by
Subtle_badger
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A thousand apologise, as I realise long posts aren’t really “the thing” on social media. I’m not a concise person…..
Hi Subtle_badger
I agree with lots that you have said above in relation to a LCHF diet.
I felt a bit sad reading what you have said about hoping for a space away from the rest of the carb-devouring world (I can also relate, discussed below in my own rant below). It makes a lot of sense to me now why you object to the posting of moderate-high carb meals in this community. So thank-you for the clear explanation.
Having said that I do enjoy and appreciate a hearty debate and I can’t say I haven’t been fascinated by the underlying group dynamics on the LCHF community. Clearly there is some conflict here that’s been rumbling on for a while and clearly what constitutes LCHF, is to some extent subjective. There is also some poking going on, I think in social media it’s called “trolling” but it looks like poking to me…. I don’t really have much of a felt sense of what the word “trolling” even means……
Is it of interest to post a would-be pretty high-carb meal that has been altered to be a bit lower carb but not actually low carb? Maybe to some people. Is it on topic to talk about exceptions we make, where we might eat higher carb foods? Maybe some people think so, I certainly do. Should we be allowed to question each others food choices respectfully without being called a “troll”? Or question the relevance of a post? I think so. Is it ok to poke and provoke each other? I don’t know….. we all have the option not to bite or respond and I believe in (relatively) free speech.
Having said that I don’t know everything that has “gone down” here in the past. Perhaps the conflict here is rooted in something more sinister than macro-nutrient ratios……
My fascination is partly because I’m very new to all this, having only joined HU in March, and this being the first social media I have ever viewed or engaged with. My only examples of participating in social media are here and in/on (don’t know the right preposition - lots to learn still about this stuff) the HU weight loss community.
Rightly or wrongly, I see this as more of a discussion forum than a support group and from my perspective the slightly anarchic lack of definition/norms/purpose is exciting. In group theory (sorry), to lack a clear and agreed task/vision for the group is often considered “not very productive” but it does make for a very fascinating process of negotiation and it often increases conflict/provocation, which I think can sometime be productive and cathartic, it doesn’t feel “safe” though.
Here (LCHF), is completely unlike the weigh loss forum which has the word “support” in it’s title and is heavily/attentively and almost lovingly “moderated?” (sorry…. not sure if that’s the right forum-jargon word) and structured to ensure that it mostly feels supportive. Is that a good thing? I quite like the contrast between the two spaces. I’m slightly “abnormal” in that I’m a particular fan of chaos and seeing what emerges from it…. Having said that I enjoy the weight loss community with all it’s structure and supportive overenthusiastic “goodness” and I am benefiting immensely from being a part of the community!!
What should we and shouldn’t we use this forum for? Your post got me thinking about having a space to join with other people who may to some extent understand some of my struggles which are specifically related to eating LCHF. I wasn't partially aware I had any struggles until I thought about it last night with a glass of wine.
Am I allowed to have a very self-indulgent rant about a few minor and very very first world problems? Is that one of the purposes of the community? You mentioned some practical issues Subtle_badger, like the lack of options in restaurants etc. I would like to talk about some of my mild psychological and inter-personal difficulties related to eating low carb in a high carb world…… I’m focussing on the low carb part rather than the high fat part because in my experience people have more of a problem with me refusing carbs than they do with me eating fat.
I eat pretty low-carb Mon-Friday and those are also the days that I work - not so much in the office these days, thankfully. But historically my colleagues only see my Mon-Friday eating habits.
In work environments people often don’t understand why I won’t snack on a biscuit or sweets when they are offered to me, or why I don’t eat cereal bar every morning or whatever….. This must feel very familiar to some people reading.
I think my colleagues have literally never seen me eat a biscuit… or eat much at all in the way of food they consider to be “normal”. It can be slightly tiring to be in the minority (although I am in no way comparing being a person who refuses carbs with being in an actual minority group!!). It can also be tiring to constantly explain that “yes, I do like biscuits but if I eat that biscuit my body won’t process it in the same way your body would, oh but yes, I’m sure those biscuits you baked are absolutely wonderful though, they certainly smell nice etc.….”.
In most jobs it has taken about a year for some of my long term colleagues to stop offering me biscuits every day, even though I have explained, maybe hundreds of times, that I just don’t eat biscuits and they really need not keep offering. They sometimes ask “why?” or “don’t you ever treat yourself?” and I explain that if I did eat biscuits on a daily basis I would become very overweight quite quickly…. “But you’re so thin” ….. “no, I’m actually overweight” and on and on. I would very seldom bring somebody else’s weight into an office chat situation - if they raise it fine - I wonder why (a minority of) others feel it acceptable to pass comment on my weight in an exchange about a biscuit. These exchanges, where I explain that I don’t want to be overweight, have potential to make me uncomfortable especially if the colleague running the interrogation is very overweight, perhaps it makes them uncomfortable too, but of course none of us talk about being mildly uncomfortable, we go back to work and the next day they might try to hand me a bag of sweets.
A few years ago a colleague who suffers with type two diabetes offered me something he had baked at home - it was mostly made of flour and (a very small amount of) sugar and a lot of high carb fruit. He was a lovely man, very kind, and I think he offered it proudly, maybe thinking “I’ve finally baked something that Professor Yaffle will eat”, because from his perspective he had adapted it to be healthier than the traditional recipe. He told me “it’s ok, it’s all made from wholesome ingredients”. I HATED saying no!!! Of course I could have said "yes" and it would have done me no damage at all to eat it..... but I’m not in habit of saying yes to be polite and I had zero desire eat the baked good. And it’s a struggle sometimes to know how much to get into a debate about diet with people in a work environment…. for example “I wonder how your diet impacts you T2D?”. I’m quite sensitive and the scene still haunts me. I haven’t spoken with him for quite a while but I hope he is managing his diabetes well. Maybe he started baking with almond flour and erythritol by now 😂.
When some people constantly offer biscuits, I know they believe they are being polite etc. and for sure it doesn’t take me long to say “no thank-you”, but it feels very odd and not nice, not to held in mind enough by others, that they don’t simply accept/realise/learn (in all the years they have known me) that I don’t eating sodding biscuits!!! and I don’t need to be offered any as I will NEVER say yes. It’s not the worst problem in the world and it’s certainly not something I spend too much time pondering but as I type more of this rant I realise it did create a niggling psychological burden of some sort back when I had to frequent the office. I don’t mean to seem ungrateful in the face of other people’s kindness but it’s frustrating.
I often wonder if some people have a subconscious intention to sabotage other peoples healthy eating…. but I won’t go into that now.
Having said all that it must be confusing for some people around me because I do still enjoy talking about biscuits if the conversation is quite niche or involves complicated baking procedures or foods from different cultures…. or a biscuit with an interesting history.
There are, of course, rare occasions when I would say “yes” to a biscuit….. or even go out of my way to find a biscuit, but it would be an exquisite biscuit from a highly rated (mainland) European bakery on a culinary tour for example…. definitely not a Jammy Dodger at 11am on a working day. (no offence Jammy Dodger fans, I am a complete food snob and it’s my problem, not yours)
Some other people particularly struggle to comprehend why I don’t eat the fruit that is always on the table in meetings… “it’s so healthy” “it’s good for you, you know Professor Yaffle”. I often feel they fail to retain the answer I give them as to why I don’t eat 5 pieces of fruit a day all week long. (I do eat some fruits, some weekends but they don’t see that).
Recently, in one job (I normally have a few on the go), someone else’s refusal of carb laden foods got mislabelled as borderline orthorexia - I’m not saying that low carb enthusiasts can’t also be orthorexic because they surely can. But I think we need to be careful with these kinds of definitions because for the majority of people who follow a low carb diet it’s not a sign of mental ill health but rather, as you say above, for some it may be an important part of managing their physical health and/or weight.
Sometimes I have a passing paranoid thought that others view me as a person with disordered eating but don’t tell me to my face.
So it’s mildly difficult, like a small constant psychological and factual disconnect with most others around me. A great many people (me included) are sensitive about things involving diet and eating and I somewhat understand your desire for refuge….. and I think I have out-ranted you.
</rant>
P.S. I had to google what “</rant>” means. You learn something new every day. I don’t often rant and it has never occurred to me to rant about this subject but it turns out there was some stuff going on to rant about.
Thank you. Excellent rant. Oh, I hadn't realised </rant> was googlable. I came up with it myself, and didn't know it was common. You live and learn.
Debate would be great, but that's not what's happening here. We have a member who thinks it's a personal insult to suggest a meal built around potatoes or pasta isn't low carb. I mean, he actual is offended, calls it abuse and has reported me repeatedly for harassment, even though I almost never comment on his posts. There is no way to engage with irrationality.
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As for your rant, I only became super serious about low carb after lockdown began last year. I realised this gave me an advantage. I can now turn down food, but I didn't before lockdown. You might find my thoughts on it interesting.
Well congrats as your </rant> has made it to the Urban dictionary:The act of letting the other bloggers know you're finished with your rant. Derived from HTML code in which the rant block would have begun with <rant> and finished with </rant>.
Oh no! I am not claiming I am the originator of the phrase. I came up with it independently. I didn't know it was a thing. Example of parallel evolution.
It's quite a natural thing if you have worked with HTML or XML much.
Loved your rant. I completely understand your problem about refusing biscuits and cakes when they’re offered. You feel you’ve offended the person doing the offering no matter what you say, especially if they’ve made the offering themselves and especially if you’re in their home.I have a really lovely friend who goes out of her way to always make sure that when she’s giving treats to other people in my family, there’s a gluten free one for me. It’s always high carb however, as most treats are. I think I might completely blow her mind if I tell her that actually my treats have to be both gluten free and low carb 😄.
Yes, in the office is one thing, in another persons home I usually eat what I'm given. I have only a small social circle of people who are all quite reasonably and happy to cater for all dietary whims/needs. I do the same for their dietary requirements and I quite enjoy then challenge.
Must be tricky when a carby gluten free item has been prepared especially for you, can't see anyway of not eating that really. I felt a bit like that with my T2D ex-colleague as he really believed he had cooked something super healthy that I would defiantly want to eat 😢
It's not something I think about much, but my diet is gluten free. I don't eat any grains not processed food. I do eat some sausages and cure meats, but I think they are mostly gluten free as I choose the lowest carb ones. So, maybe not safe for a coeliac but would be OK for gluten intolerant.
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How many carbs a day are considered low carb?
LCHF and clogged arteries 
Staying low as I can go so far. 
Heading for Higher Fat/Low Carb