DaleE

Hi Tracy. Welcome to this thread. Most of the answers you are looking for are in the "Art and science of low carb living" by Phinney and Volak. If you have not read it, I suggest you do. Here's my 2c worth on your experiences .... The dizziness, etc usually lasts 1-2 weeks, but as Dean said, you MUST increase your salt intake. Also, potassium can be a cause. There is no concrete answer for leto adaptation time, everyone is different. Bad breath - I believe this is caused by too much lean protein. When going low carb its really easy to just up the protein content to compensate. I believe this is a mistake. Try to get more of your daily food from veggies, salads and add some olive oil or butter. And when you do have protein, look for bits with fat on, not fillet or lean mince. Constipation usually goes together with bad breath - same issue as above. For measuring ketones, there are 3 methods: 1. urine sticks - about R120 for 50 sticks iirc. They measure acetoacetate so are only useful for the first 3-4 weeks while you body is adapting. They will also show ketones after this period if you continue to eat MCT/Coconut oil. 2. Blood sticks - http://www.abbottdiabetescare.co.uk/your-products/other-meters/freestyle-optium R20 per stick!!! You buy a small meter made by Abbott health care and take a finger prick blood samle to get a reading. This measures beta-hydroxybuterate which is the ketone in the blood. this is the gold standard of measurement at the moment but expensive. These meters also measure glucose - like diabetics do each day. There is a reasonably good, but not perfect, correlation between glucose and ketones so you may find it cheaper just to measure glucose as a proxy for ketones. glucose strips are R2 each. 3. breath meters. you can order a breath meters from http://www.ketonix.com +-R1200 delivered to SA. I have one of the earlier ones and it has limitations but will give a reasonable reading when compared to the blood readings. Lastly, you may want to rethink the whole idea of measuring ketones. What advantage is it going to give you? After 2 weeks strict LCHF, you will probably find that you have ketones in both your blood and urine, but if there is still dizziness, it may just meant that your body s not using them efficiently yet - this is what takes 2-3 weeks. Persevere with your diet and tweak it so that the hunger, halitosis, etc go away and then see what happens to your weight (if that is the goal) or blood markers, or any other measurement you like.

JC and Boesman have it right ... ride long and slow on water only. Longer is better, faster is worse. No matter the length of the ride, if you want to burn fat you need to keep your heart rate in the zone 180-age to 170-age. Example for a 30year old that's 180-30 and 170-30, so your training range for heart rate is 140 to 150. Anything more than 150 and your fat metabolism switches off (ok, it more a sliding scale than on/off, but you get the idea.)

If fat loss is the plan, then you ideally need to be exercising at a aerobic (as opposed to anaerobic) level. This is roughly at a heart rate of 180-your age (as per maffetone's formula). If you have been severely carb restricted and are well fat adapted, or have done an RER test to get absolute values, then your aerobic threshold may be a bit higher, but 180-age is a good estimate to enable fat metabolism. No food before riding, water only on the ride and a balanced amount of fat (80%) and protein (20%) afterwards should give you your best fat burning response.

Try these guys. I know they supply my local butchery and may have an outlet in your area. http://www.happyhog.co.za

http://www.woolworths.co.za/store/fragments/product-details/product-details-index.jsp?productId=20175696&_requestid=1294470 Expensive!

It doesn't work as well. My feeling is because the rendered fat is 'purer' than the leftover fat on the biltong. Also, remember that you are aiming for a fat:protein ratio of 60:40, so fatty biltong is not really fatty enough

So, there was a discussion a while ago on pemican and how to make it. I've been experimenting a bit and have found that the following works for me: Tallow (rendered suet) is the only fat that is stable enough at room temp to make the product transportable and useable for a snack. I tried lard and duck fat but neither are good. Snapsticks style biltong works best, or very old very dry biltong (like when you go on holiday and forget to take it out the biltong maker!). Moist biltong kind of falls apart when you shred it. I add some salt and pepper just cause its tastes better. I shred the biltong almost to rice sized grains, then slowly add the hot tallow till it forms a nice thick paste (think cold porridge) Have tried adding dried cranberries, but not sure I like the sweetness they provide. I pour the mix into silicone muffin cups and leave to harden at room temp. them pop them out the muffin cups and store in a tupperware. Have also tried using small ziplock bags (like bank bags), put 1-2 table spoons of mixture in a bag and flatten it. This makes a sort of flat square bar they can be easily transported - as lunch box snack or carried on the bile for a long ride. One issue with taking it with on the bike is that if you put it in your pocket, the heat from your body makes it mushy and hard to eat They keep in the cupboard - they seem fine after a month. This may be less in summer?

For those of you who have had as much success trying to render fat as I have (about none!!), I found this at my local butchery. Duck fat, tallow, lard. Online sales as well. http://www.melfort.co.za

Umm, if you trawl back through this thread, you will find enough info to either calm your fears or have you reaching for the bottle ... it sort of depends what your goals are If rapid weight loss is the goal, then staying away from the booze for a month or 2 can't hurt. If heart health is your goal, then my cardiologist will tell you that a glass of red every night is mandatory If long term sustainability is the plan, and you love wine (like many of us), then trying to cut it out forever is simply going to derail your efforts. Perhaps, give it a miss for a month, let your body get fat adapted and slowly add a glass or three back after that. BTW: I have found that the hardest thing about no alcohol for a month is not the cravings, but the peer pressure from your mates when you ask for a soda instead of wine. Some folk seem to take it really personally they you won't drink with them. Tell them you're on antibiotics for some rare disease and they will leave you alone

some wise words at the end .... an easy trap to fall into. Group thinking is a big problem in nutrition. People tend to pick “sides” – then they only read blogs and books by people who agree with the side they have chosen. This is a BIG problem among vegans. They are often completely brainwashed, with a severely distorted view of the science. But I have started to notice the same thing in the low-carb community as well. We need to be vary of this group thinking phenomenon and always look at the opposite argument as well. Science changes all the time and what is true today can be proven wrong tomorrow. So let’s continue to promote the incredible life-saving benefits of low-carb diets (for the people who need them). But let’s not ignore all contrary evidence or distort the science just to get our point across. That ain’t cool.

So it's been a bit quiet here lately ... is everyone off holidaying in the south of France for the winter ??? For the rest of us confined to the frozen SA, I found this podcast with a pro mountain biker using a keto style diet to control his epilepsy - some interesting points in there about racing on low carb. https://itunes.apple...d324601605?mt=2 episode 836 - Chris Kelly He also has his own website / podcast http://www.nourishba...sts/paleo-baby/

Not sure if this has been posted before, but some south african lo-carb recipes http://lowcarbislekker.wordpress.com

Firstly congrats on the first week - it gets easier over time. Roughly (very, very roughly) allow the following: 1-2 weeks for your body to adapt and the cravings / headaches / low energy to start to subside 2-3 weeks before you start feeling a bit better with low intensity (aerobic) exercise 2-4 weeks before you start to feel like you can ride all day on water only at low intensity 1-4 months before you are back to full sprinting power on the bike In short, take it easy for a month and hang in there when you feel lousy. go for lots of easy coffee rides and enjoy the scenery. Thereafter build steadily as you would with any other training.

Welcome to the land of nutritional "science". I'm willing to bet you that for every study /expert / scientist / etc you find that says "X is true", I can find one that says "X is false". The reason for this is simple ... nutritional science is severely flawed for a few reasons: 1. people are all different 2. every study refers to the average and conclusions are drawn from averages. imho, the bell shaped curve is a curse. 3. there is never a true control group. any dietary intervention changes peoples eating habits. Even just asking what they eat will change their behaviour. So, for me the answer, is read a lot, believe a little ..... and experiment, then experiment some more. Find out what works for you, not everyone else in the bell curve You may find strawberries are fine, maybe not. Ketosis is not the holy grail, and may be so hard for some folk to achieve that it derails their lchf journey. if you find yourself in ketosis, great. if not, don't stress about it. rather concentrate on fat adaptation and the benefits that it brings. Lastly, you may want to spend some time trawling through this tread - some of you concerns have been discussed already and you will find some other stuff not yet printed in the books

1 teaspoon cod liver oil daily. Doc says it's good for the heart, my grandmother swore by it (proof enough for me ) and it seems to be a good source of omega 3, vid D & A. Also, lots cheaper than the omega3 capsules

I think it's fair to say that anyone reading Time magazine for diet advice will be truly confused by now. I suppose they are consistent ... they keep changing their tune

Have been reading "big fat surprise" http://www.amazon.com/Big-Fat-Surprise-Butter-Healthy/dp/1451624425/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1403093860&sr=1-1&keywords=big+fat+surprise It's a great read, well researched, written like a novel, not a text book. worth the money IMHO One of the things that amused / amazed me was that when Keys was trying to gather his data for his diet-heart hypothesis, the British cardiologists were very anti his ideas. Try to tell most modern cardiologist that fat won't harm you ... Round and round and round we go.

My understanding is that there are two issues with artificial sweeteners, but first we need to go back to the basics ... One of the aims / benefits of lchf is that it lowers the glucose & insulin levels, allowing leptin to do it's work and use the stored fat in your body. There is also the idea that insulin can be triggered from a thought - you do not have to actually put sugar in your mouth, merely the thought of eating something sweet will get the insulin flowing ... and this is obviously an issue with an artificial sweetener - you body expects sweetness so get the insulin levels you are trying to avoid. Then there is the idea that sugar is addictive (some say more than cocaine) ; and that you need to be completely sugar and sweet free for 3-6 months to break this addiction. There are reports of people claiming that their taste buds "came back to life" after a period of not eating sweet things. The last issue with artificial sweeteners simply seems to be that they are artificial and in a lchf / paleo world that's frowned upon.

Cant remember where I read it, but my understanding is that your body deals with saturated fat very differently when you are on a diet high enough in carbs to keep insulin high and leptin low to how it deals with sat fat on a low carb diet. In other words, sat fat is fine on low carb/low insulin person, but not good if carbs are high. I suppose you're going to want me to go find the reference .... ... will have a look tonight.

I like Mark Sisson has a very balanced approach to bulletproof coffee. Heard a recent interview with him ... When asked if he used it, his answers went something like this: "I prefer to eat my calories than drink them" "I like my coffee to taste like coffee, not like coconut or butter" "It's a great short term strategy for weight loss or hunger suppression" Also, the recipe in the article refers to 2 tablespoons MCT and 2 tablespoons butter ... not sure I could stomach that amount in one sitting. I usually make mine with 2 teaspoon of butter, coconut and cream and around 200ml coffee and sometimes a bit gets left behind. Each to their own I suppose.

Yup, blame the food ... I'm sure they have lots of minions just forcing it down the MP's throats .... You eat what you choose to eat. If you don't like the free food, take a lunch box from home. Pretty sure some of the homeless folk living in the streets around parliament wouldn't mind a diet of "three-course lunches with soup or salad as starters, followed by steaks, chicken, lamb or fish served as mains."

That would be my guess. Two ideas I strongly believe in are the concepts of "eat when hungry, but eat the right stuff". You seem to be doing both. You could get really picky and say that naartjies (highest carb content of your menu) as probably not the best thing after supper. You ideally want to be having those 3-4 hrs before bed so your body has a chance to burn them off. Apart from that, stick with it for a few days and see if the hunger subsides.

However WRT the coconut oil thing, my wife knew i was looking and managed to find some at Dischem however now that i look i have noticed that it is actually a solid at room temp and that it says it was mechanically extracted. Yes, that's normal. I'm of the opinion that mechanically extracted is better than chemical methods. I was wondering about the fact it is solid at room temperature (it says below 24 degrees C). Is this stuff the bad stuff? Also normal - gets a little more liquid in summer, but not much. I have it now so i will use it - but what can i use it for? Cooking, sauces, coffee, hot chocolate. Can you eat it raw? Sure, but not everyone's cup of tea If there is a good coconut oil, where do i get it locally and what do i look for ? Crede is a good product. Don't know about others.

Hmmm, each person is different and you're going to have to experiment. As Dean says, a little reading might help ... "Art and Science of low carb performance" probably a good place to start. Having said that, what works for me is: 1. training at low/aerobic/<65% max heart rate threshold can be done on water only, regardless of time (at low intensity you are almost exclusively burning fat, so no dietary fuel needed). 2. high intensity intervals / race for more than 2hrs I add some carbs in the form of cashews or potatoes or Ucan. Do a search on this thread for info from Davetapson on glut4 receptors and why carbs during high intensity exercise are not a issue. Apart from Ucan (super starch) I prefer real food to gels/powders/etc. The paper from Noakes, et al (4 or 5 posts back) seems to indicate that it may be possible for some folk to become so well adapted that they can race without any carbs. AFAIK, the only way to test this is with a RER/RQ test. "How long does it take to feel better during training after starting LCHF?" For me about 2 months till my endurance kicked in and around 5-6 months before sprinting/power was back to normal .... again, each person will be different. If the race is only August, I'd think you have ore than enough time.