Anyone Doing Low-Carb High-Fat?

I am doing low carb by follow Diane Kress's book called The Metabolism Miracle. I just count carbs and she prefers that we choose lower fat foods but sometimes I don't. She basically explains that if you eat really fatty stuff your body will first have to burn the fat you ate before it gets to burning the fat on our bellies and rear ends I have lost 40 lbs on the plan and still have another 20 to go before I'm at my current goal.

Also - with that 40 lbs of fat I've lost I've gone from a size 24 to a 16. pretty substantial difference!

Your instincts are correct in avoiding going low-fat in addition to low-carb. The idea behind lower-carb diets is to train your body to burn fat for its fuel instead of carbohydrates. When you restrict carbs and fats, you force your body into burning some protein for fuel--not a good idea. You must eat fat if you want to burn fat. People who restrict both fats and carbs endanger their lean muscle mass. At least that is the current thinking among the gurus. I still think that a ketotic diet is probably not okay for extended lengths of time because of the restrictions on vegetables and fruit. But I can see it working pretty well in the short term.

I don't want to get conspiratorial in this post but it is clear that the main benefactors of the high carb healthy diet MYTH are Big Pharma and Big Agra. And they are both VERY BIG! And they control our politicians and the FDA. A low carb approach to wellness on a nationwide scale would result in the reversal of diseases and the reduced need for manufactured drugs. I'll let the readers of this post draw whatever conclusions they want. All I will say is that I know without a doubt that Washington DC doesn't have my best interests at heart. Do they have yours?

Eat low carb, be healthy, and live long. Glad you have stumbled upon the truth and thank you for sharing it.

This is so true! As a health editor I once published an article by pediatrician Dr. William Sears (Sr. - not his son who is on the show The Doctors) who was one of the first to advise parents not to feed their children high fructose corn syrup. Well, the "corn board" came after us big time - throwing reports at me (which they had paid for). Dr. Sears was wonderful! He stood his ground and the magazine I was working for at the time stood theirs too. These days, with magazines under financial pressure, I'm not sure that would be true.

But just to back up your view, these agricultural lobbyists are powerful. Woe to the university researcher who crosses them. Their university will see funding pulled out from under them and pressure will be brought to bear.

It is a real problem. The power of these lobbyists is also very likely reason that the "food guidelines" are so strongly pushing grains and cereals.

I wouldn't exactly say that it is a conspiracy as much as it is a combination of ignorance and (for Big Agra and Big Pharma) a defense of their profits. They have the money to hire the "science" they want to hear. Here is a link to a VERY interesting article (from about a year and a half ago) by Mark Hyman, M.D. who has run afoul of both of those corporate interests from time to time. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-mark-hyman/high-fructose-corn-syrup-dangers_b_861913.html

bump for later reading

What are the benefits of adding it? Avoiding constipation?

What are the benefits of adding it? Avoiding constipation?

coconut oil is composed of 65% medium chain triglycerides. Unlike long chain triglycerides, which make up the majority of the fat in common cooking oils, MCT's can be easily processed by the body for nutrition. Lots of evidence out there that coconut oil is good for you as a source of energy and good, healthy fats for your diet. I have a cup of coffee with butter and coconut oil every morning as my breakfast, as odd as that sounds.

Um--coffee with butter? Why not have coffee with cream? My husband is allergic to dairy and has full-fat coconut milk in his coffee every morning (he has lost 10 pounds without even trying since he started the coconut milk).

I am on a low carb (20g net carbs) and high fat diet. Its working for me as well, but I am trying to make it good fats though - so no more eating the skin on the chicken or buying fatty biltong.

Actually, there is nothing wrong with eating the skin of the chicken (if you like it). There are several immune-boosting factors that are stored in chicken skin (so it really is true that chicken soup will cure "anything"). I would just make sure that the chicken is, at least, "naturally raised" (but organic is even better) to avoid getting nasty hormones and antibiotics.

Is it important to keep track of my net carbs or just carbs as a whole when doing LCHF?

Fiber doesn't impact insulin response or affect ketosis, thus you only want to pay attention to the carbs minus fiber to understand if you are achieving low carb and how it is impacting your glucose, insulin response and ketosis.

Late to the discussion here and ran into this thread looking for suggestions on my issue: I am 5 pounds from reaching my target weight but really want to see a flatter belly. My belly is not budging much.

My question for the LCHF group is this: if you are working out on a daily basis, can you still do LCHF successfully. More specifically, if you are lifting weights to add muscle, carbs seem to help a lot with that. I dont know if fat can help me be as efficient at the gym. So Im thinking this LCHF is for people who are ONLY using diet to reach goals, and not adding exercise to the program.

Thoughts?

Late to the discussion here and ran into this thread looking for suggestions on my issue: I am 5 pounds from reaching my target weight but really want to see a flatter belly. My belly is not budging much.

My question for the LCHF group is this: if you are working out on a daily basis, can you still do LCHF successfully. More specifically, if you are lifting weights to add muscle, carbs seem to help a lot with that. I dont know if fat can help me be as efficient at the gym. So Im thinking this LCHF is for people who are ONLY using diet to reach goals, and not adding exercise to the program.

Thoughts?

If your goal is purely weight loss, then LCHF and no exercise is the best bet. If your goal is primal fitness, then LCHF and exercise is what you want. Seriously, cavemen were seriously fit dudes to be able to hunt and kill a wooly mammoth in an ice age. And they weren't exactly munching on a bunch of pasta and bread.

Your carbs probably should go up from the 20g of net carbs that really hardcore LCHF types are doing, but 50g of carbs a day can easily be done WITHOUT eating whole grains, pasta, bread, potatoes, rice, etc. That's probably more daily carbs than the typical paleolithic wooly mammoth hunter got. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't want to go toe to toe with him.

Have you seen the Flintstones? Fred Flintstone is not exactly in prime condition.

I personally for me prefer Lois Griffin.

Late to the discussion here and ran into this thread looking for suggestions on my issue: I am 5 pounds from reaching my target weight but really want to see a flatter belly. My belly is not budging much.

My question for the LCHF group is this: if you are working out on a daily basis, can you still do LCHF successfully. More specifically, if you are lifting weights to add muscle, carbs seem to help a lot with that. I dont know if fat can help me be as efficient at the gym. So Im thinking this LCHF is for people who are ONLY using diet to reach goals, and not adding exercise to the program.

Thoughts?

Yes, you can do LCHF if you work out regularly. I do boot camp m/w/f and spin t/th and yoga whenever I can fit it in. This is not just a diet for me, it's my response to a shift in my understanding of eating for performance. A great book is The Art and Science of Low-Carb performance by Volek and Phinney.

It instructs you on how to permanently change the way your body burns energy - converting it to a reliance on burning fat stores in your fat cells rather than quick carbs. Do this, and the authors argue, you will be a BETTER athlete.

If you want to see how a triathlete does it, google Dr. Peter Attia's blog eating academy. He's a doc that as a triathlete was working out 4 hours a day and yet could not lose belly fat, until he read Volek and Phinney.

Will certainly check out your references.

I was leading a low carb/slow carb, high protein life until recently, but would have bad cravings for junk food especially chips and beer. When I joined this site, I also started adding carbs to my diet. I added a baked potato and a slice of wheat bread in my daily diet. Voila, I have no cravings for chips and beer. I feel like I was depriving myself so long and it would result in insane weekend or late night binges. Now I got that under control. And have lost 5 pounds thus far. Nevertheless, I will do more due diligence.

20% Carbs 30% Protein 50% fat @1,600 calories for me ^_^

I eat a good amount of fat but not as a "diet" and not following any plan. I'm just addicted to coconut milk and all natural PB lol

I started out doing Atkins, but after stumbling on the work of Dr. Andreas Eenfeldt and his LCHF diet, I am switching over.

I was a bit wary adding so much fat that it would stall me, but I stepped on the scale this morning, and I'm down another .6.

The biggest benefit is I'm not hungry/no cravings.

Is anyone else eating MORE fat to lose weight? It seems so contradictory, but I can't deny it's working.

Not familiar with Eenfeldt, but now will look her up. Also, on the more populist front Kat James began touting the benefits of good fats several years ago. Her empirical observations were interesting, so I did some more research on my own and permanently gave up fat restriction. I had switched to de-emphasize grain carbs about 10y ago, in favor vegetables & legumes.
/I have set my nutritional ratios on MPF as follows: 95-115g carbs (35%) //60-75g protein (25%) //50-70g fat/ (40%) //25g fiber //20-30g sugar (a carb, but it helps me to keep my fruits in proportion).

I continue to research and improve my diet. What is new for me since joining MPF in January 2013 is filtering my drinking water and taking digestive enzymes. What I am finding is that I now can lose weight at a more less predicatible tractory and RA episodes are no longer being triggered.

I do not think any one piece is a magic pill. What I think is that I finally have found what is balanced nutrition for me. A clean diet and exercise was not enough.