LCHF v NHS 12 Week

[teletubby]

Hi everyone. Has anyone tried the diet low carbs high fat. I sent for a book about it to try and do something completely different to shake up my body. But it is so opposite to what I've known before I can't see how it can work. Anyone know anything about it.

[Dave1961 25kg]

I HAVE been on a low carb high fat diet before but I found it too easy to completely over do it.

Because I was craving carbs I would fill the void with fat.

Breakfast would be bacon and eggs but not just a strip or two of bacon. Thats what would land on the plate but there was a LOT of bacon in between ....

And remarkably I would lose weight as I munched on cheesecake (sweetened with Splenda of course!) sans crust and ate sausages for dinner. 6 months later I had put it all back on and all I had was gallstones (result of a high fat diet) to show for it and the occasional VERY painful gallbladder attack.

I am all for low carb but I learned the hard way that you also have to be restrained with the fat as well. I would never wish those gallbladder attacks on anyone!

If you can do that then its a great diet which can help you shed kilos quickly but I have to say that after trying a lot of diets in my life the one that seems the most logical is a well balanced eating plan with exercise included.

Sounds crazy right?!?

P.S. I love your nickname - it's me to a tee! lol

[teletubby in reply to Dave1961]

Thanks for the advice. I really thought I could give my body a kick start but as you say it's all about well balanced dieting and in some ways I don't think lchf will help.

[OlsBean in reply to Dave1961]

It's very unusual for a High Fat diet to be the actual cause of Gallstones, the opposite is more likely. Following a low-fat diet for years and years is normally one of the main contributory factors, this because the bile stored in the Gallbladder does not get used as much, as it's not needed to metabolise dietary fat.

The problem then can be if you have then formed these stones and you suddenly eat a very Fatty Meal the gallbladder responds by emptying and you can end up with one of those stones getting stuck in the bile duct, which in turn causes the gallbladder to go into spasm, which I can concurre is very painful.

I like lots of ex Obese people had issues with gallstones, years and years of dieting and following a low fat regime left me with a diseased gallbladder completely full of stones, I am glad to say I had it out a couple of years ago and have not had an attack since.

Teletubby, I've followed LCHF lifestyle for almost 2 years now and it works well for me personally, but I must add I did not lose weight with it, I use it for maintenance. The reason for that is that I did not discover it until after I had lost all my weight.

I find it works for me because I was always left hungry when I ate the standard Western Style Diet with refined sugar etc. Basically I Removed refined carbohydrate, most grain, very sugary fruits and super starchy veg from my normally daily diet and when you do that you have to replace with an energy source, which only leaves Fat to be honest.

It's well worth doing your homework first if you are thinking of doing it, the main problem with any lifestyle/diet change like this, is that you have lot of contrary information floating around mixed with poor facts, hearsay and bad science and there always so called experts who take things to the extreme, there are several LCHF "Internet Guru's" for example who have been known to snack on a block of butter in the past, which does nothing in my personal opinion to encourage a healthy lifestyle! For this reason it's often hard to know which way to turn or what to believe.

Good luck with your journey!

[Penel]

There have been some posts about this, which you might find useful.

healthunlocked.com/nhsweigh...

It can work well if you have metabolic problems, such as insulin resistance, but you must be careful to do it right. For some people this will mean cutting down on carbs a lot, others may not need to cut so much. You need to do your research and then stick to it as a permanent way of eating. It isn't going to be right for everyone.

I do best on a medium carb/medium fat diet.

authoritynutrition.com/9-my...

[Fran182716]

Hi, there seems to be a lot of evidence supporting lower carb higher fat as a healthier way of eating now we know that the advice we've all been given for the last few decades re fat causing heart problems was based on flawed and biased research. I personally couldn't go as low carb as an Atkins type diet but by reducing carbs, particularly processed ones, and eating more fat ( as in eating normal fat versions of things instead of low fat not indiscriminately eating fatty foods) I've managed to pretty much get rid of junk food cravings and got much better sustained energy. I still have to keep an approximate count of calories if I want to lose weight! But this for me is just as much about feeling well and coping with stress better. As far as weight loss goes studies seem to show very low carb diets lose weight more quickly but after a year it levels out with other types of diet. If you do go low carb beware of replacing it with too much protein as this can have some health consequences particularly for your kidneys. Best thing to do is read up about it, try dietdoctor.com, see if it appeals to you, and give it a go but listen to your body to see what works for you. Good luck. X

[Prin]

It's much easier for most people to stick with the NHS healthy eating plan long term but cutting back on processed carbs is a good thing try and eat quality food where ever you can and not junk - good luck! ( one size doesn't fit all and find what works for you)