high fat diet - is this ok?

urbanradish
urbanradish Posts: 4 Member
edited November 28 in Food and Nutrition
My daily diet typically consists of 40%-60% fat on a daily basis, with protein at 18-20% and carbs at whatever is left over. I typically eat 3 eggs cooked in a tsp of ghee with a cup or 2 of raw spinach for breakfast, a kale based salad with tuna, salmon or sardines for lunch. And have coffee with almond milk about once a day. I usually snack on nuts/flavored almonds or trail mix and I don't really eat complex carbs i.e.. bread / pasta / rice. Dinner is usually protein and vegetable... i usually mix it up! I'm concerned about the high fat % compared with what MFP recommends (30% fat). Can anyone give any advice? I've been losing weight - about 9.5 lbs in 3 months so I'm happy with the results but want to make sure I'm eating a sustainable diet.

Replies

  • urbanradish
    urbanradish Posts: 4 Member
    Thanks - yes I've been trying to maintain as close to 20% protein as often as I can. I'm new to eating mostly plant based and fish only so I've had a bit of a learning curve finding really dense protein resources outside of protein powders!
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
    You can set your macros any way you want, so I don't think a diet high in fat is something to be concerned about. I am like PP more focused on getting in a range of all the nutrition we need, and keep doing that, day in, day out, for the rest of our lives, which is easiest to accomplish by eating a variety of foods we like, balanced in any way that suits our preferences.
  • cathipa
    cathipa Posts: 2,991 Member
    Sustainability is individual. I couldn't do this long term, but others could. Can you do this long term? What is your plan once you get to your goal?
  • earlnabby
    earlnabby Posts: 8,171 Member
    tbright1965 wrote: »
    earlnabby wrote: »
    foreverhealthy3 wrote: »
    moderation in everything. It seems people on high fat are doing low carb also. High fat will lead to cholesterol problems and simple carb lead to pre-diabetic; so no easy answer; but, I would beware of high fat; because I know those lab results are the ultimate final result.

    No on the simple carb leading to diabetes. Diabetes is NOT caused by eating sugar, it is caused by a malfunctioning pancreas. Excess weight is the main contributing factor to the pancreas not functioning correctly. Simple carbs are involved only if they are included in overeating.

    Sort of...

    Insulin resistance is a pathway to Type 2 diabetes. Eating too many carbs and flooding your body with insulin can make your cells insulin resistant. The pancreas is still producing insulin, but your cells don’t respond, causing glucose to remain in your bloodstream.

    You are correct in that carbs in general is important, not just simple carbs (aka sugars) which was my point.

  • tbright1965
    tbright1965 Posts: 852 Member
    earlnabby wrote: »
    tbright1965 wrote: »
    earlnabby wrote: »
    foreverhealthy3 wrote: »
    moderation in everything. It seems people on high fat are doing low carb also. High fat will lead to cholesterol problems and simple carb lead to pre-diabetic; so no easy answer; but, I would beware of high fat; because I know those lab results are the ultimate final result.

    No on the simple carb leading to diabetes. Diabetes is NOT caused by eating sugar, it is caused by a malfunctioning pancreas. Excess weight is the main contributing factor to the pancreas not functioning correctly. Simple carbs are involved only if they are included in overeating.

    Sort of...

    Insulin resistance is a pathway to Type 2 diabetes. Eating too many carbs and flooding your body with insulin can make your cells insulin resistant. The pancreas is still producing insulin, but your cells don’t respond, causing glucose to remain in your bloodstream.

    You are correct in that carbs in general is important, not just simple carbs (aka sugars) which was my point.

    Yes, many people do conflate the two. I probably do as well from time to time.

    I know if I have a standard Chinese meal made for the American consumer, I'll have a big fasting BG number the next day. Nothing like a bunch of white rice and unnaturally sweet sauces to overload a body with carbs.

    So I try to limit any such indulgences for nights before I plan to do a lot of high intensity exercise, like this weekend when I did a couple of bike rides, getting about 70 miles in.

    It does seem my cells respond when I'm exercising.

    I can wake with a BG of over 100 mg/dL and then do an intense cardio workout and return home with a value in the 80s.

    So no pre-workout banana if my BG is over 100....
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,432 MFP Moderator
    urbanradish wrote: »
    Thanks - yes I've been trying to maintain as close to 20% protein as often as I can. I'm new to eating mostly plant based and fish only so I've had a bit of a learning curve finding really dense protein resources outside of protein powders!

    The bigger question is, what does 20% equal to in terms of grams of protein? And what are you stats. 20% may be too low, especially being plant based since plants contain less luecine than meats and dairy (soy is a bit of an exception). Luecine stimulates muscle protein synthesis which is what helps your body create more cells than they lose, which equal muscle gains/sustainment. More muscle = leaner body.
  • Stockholm_Andy
    Stockholm_Andy Posts: 803 Member
    psuLemon wrote: »
    urbanradish wrote: »
    Thanks - yes I've been trying to maintain as close to 20% protein as often as I can. I'm new to eating mostly plant based and fish only so I've had a bit of a learning curve finding really dense protein resources outside of protein powders!

    The bigger question is, what does 20% equal to in terms of grams of protein? And what are you stats. 20% may be too low, especially being plant based since plants contain less luecine than meats and dairy (soy is a bit of an exception). Luecine stimulates muscle protein synthesis which is what helps your body create more cells than they lose, which equal muscle gains/sustainment. More muscle = leaner body.

    The OPs not plant based PSU. "mostly plant based and fish", however, if you read the first post he/she also has egg etc.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,432 MFP Moderator
    GaleHawkins wrote: »
    psuLemon wrote: »
    urbanradish wrote: »
    Thanks - yes I've been trying to maintain as close to 20% protein as often as I can. I'm new to eating mostly plant based and fish only so I've had a bit of a learning curve finding really dense protein resources outside of protein powders!

    The bigger question is, what does 20% equal to in terms of grams of protein? And what are you stats. 20% may be too low, especially being plant based since plants contain less luecine than meats and dairy (soy is a bit of an exception). Luecine stimulates muscle protein synthesis which is what helps your body create more cells than they lose, which equal muscle gains/sustainment. More muscle = leaner body.

    And more mitochondria which can enhance CO burn rate.

    What are you even talking about?

    Stockholm_Andy wrote: »
    psuLemon wrote: »
    urbanradish wrote: »
    Thanks - yes I've been trying to maintain as close to 20% protein as often as I can. I'm new to eating mostly plant based and fish only so I've had a bit of a learning curve finding really dense protein resources outside of protein powders!

    The bigger question is, what does 20% equal to in terms of grams of protein? And what are you stats. 20% may be too low, especially being plant based since plants contain less luecine than meats and dairy (soy is a bit of an exception). Luecine stimulates muscle protein synthesis which is what helps your body create more cells than they lose, which equal muscle gains/sustainment. More muscle = leaner body.

    The OPs not plant based PSU. "mostly plant based and fish", however, if you read the first post he/she also has egg etc.

    Yea, I missed the egg part. I guess the question is if they are moving more towards plant based on still keeping fish/egg. If so, it makes it easier.
  • bpotts44
    bpotts44 Posts: 1,066 Member
    foreverhealthy3 wrote: »
    moderation in everything. It seems people on high fat are doing low carb also. High fat will lead to cholesterol problems and simple carb lead to pre-diabetic; so no easy answer; but, I would beware of high fat; because I know those lab results are the ultimate final result.

    High fat will not lead to cholesterol problems. This diet is not even high fat 50-60%. I can almost guarantee the OP has low triglycerides and high HDL.

    OP your diet is almost exactly the recommendation of Perfect Health Diet by Dr. Paul Jaminet. You can check it out here: http://perfecthealthdiet.com/the-diet/ It will make you feel more comfortable about what you are doing.
  • VeryKatie
    VeryKatie Posts: 5,961 Member
    If it's working for you and low in trans fat, it sounds fine to me. The % will be skewed since you're at reduced calories. You may find it drops a bit in % once you're on maintenance calories.
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