LCHF - Low Carb High Fat Diet Ver 2

[htone]

While discussing sweet stuff, I'd like to know what your guy's views on dark chocolate (80%+ cocoa) are. The way I read things is that it is high on fat and not that bad on carbs, I know there is a bit of sugar involved, but nothing insane. It seems to be ok from a Paleo perspective, but I can't see anything from a LCHF perspective.

Absolutely acceptable - as with all things, just don't overdo it.

Strange thing is - I cannot remember when last I craved chocolate in that form - it is as if my body has completely forgotten about it, and I was a real chocoholic....

[majestic]

So I did the Knysna big 5 last week. 80km mountain bike 2 bottles of rehydrate and 2 date balls.The 80km road 1 bottle of water, 15km trail run nothing,Exterra full 1/2 bottle of water on the bike, knysna half a mouth of coke 4 km from end.

 

I had lots of energy,past problems of bloated gut and vomiting were gone and in general felt like a million bucks. This way of eating works for me.

[Helpmytrap]

I'd also like to see comparisons of BG spikes i.t.o:

1. Milk

 

We'd need to agree beforehand the brand & quantities.

 

You guys willing to be our guinea pigs?

I just had 3 sips of milk as I got home from my 4h10 road ride, then tested my BG 20min later. 6.7mmol/L

 

Looks like I'll be giving milk a skip. It was Woolworths Full Cream.

[eitan]

Recipe pls!

What I did is set up a camp stove on the stoep next to the braai. So when we have our weekend braai or potjie I normally have some primal experiment going on the side. kaiings, pork crackling, bone broth or something "disgusting" as my wife might call it!

[HappyMartin]

I did a little experiment this evening with almond milk. My wife is not fond of milk, says it makes her flemmy.

 

Took a cup of almonds and stuck them in my thermomix blender. Ground them to flour then added 5 cups of water and ran the blender again on high speed for 20 seconds. Produced a very palatable milk substitute. The instructions were to strain the fibre out to produce a smooth liquid but I have elected to put it as is in a shaker. We will give it a shake before using.

 

I know it is not part of LC but we will use it in our morning porridge. We were using powdered rice or soya milk but I am it fond of these powders as I am not sure how they are made or what exactly is in them.

 

On the nut side I met the brother of a friend who distributes bulk nuts and seeds. He runs his business out of a place in Eloff street extension. Minimum quantities are a KG for various nuts seeds and dried fruits. He has almonds that are broken or chipped so not top quality as well as top quality. I am keen on bulk almonds of a lower quality for things like almond milk. Could be useful for us in various ways. I will try and get there this week and will post prices and what he has in stock.

Edited July 9, 2013 by HappyMartin

[tombeej]

I did a little experiment this evening with almond milk. My wife is not fond of milk, says it makes her flemmy.

 

Took a cup of almonds and stuck them in my thermomix blender. Ground them to flour then added 5 cups of water and ran the blender again on high speed for 20 seconds. Produced a very palatable milk substitute. The instructions were to strain the fibre out to produce a smooth liquid but I have elected to put it as is in a shaker. We will give it a shake before using.

 

I know it is not part of LC but we will use it in our morning porridge. We were using powdered rice or soya milk but I am it fond of these powders as I am not sure how they are made or what exactly is in them.

 

On the nut side I met the brother of a friend who distributes bulk nuts and seeds. He runs his business out of a place in Eloff street extension. Minimum quantities are a KG for various nuts seeds and dried fruits. He has almonds that are broken or chipped so not top quality as well as top quality. I am keen on bulk almonds of a lower quality for things like almond milk. Could be useful for us in various ways. I will try and get there this week and will post prices and what he has in stock.

 

One thing this thread hasn't really explored is LC desserts, made from almond flour, etc.

 

I'm seeing ingredients like homemade almond flour becoming more and more prominent in LCHF/Paleo food sites.

 

Homemade almond milk sounds interesting too.

 

If there's someone on this thread who loves to bake, and keen to experiment in the kitchen, this sweet tooth would be interested to see what healthy, grain-free, low-carb desserts are kicked up .

[tombeej]

I just had 3 sips of milk as I got home from my 4h10 road ride, then tested my BG 20min later. 6.7mmol/L

 

Looks like I'll be giving milk a skip. It was Woolworths Full Cream.

 

Eish, that's a serious spike, esp. with just 3 sips.

 

It brings to mind my favourite morning cereal not all that long ago: big bowl of corn flakes with lots of milk and sprinkled with a generous amount of sugar. A triple insulin whammy.

 

Hells bells, what I used to put my body through...

[P.A.K.]

 

 

One thing this thread hasn't really explored is LC desserts, made from almond flour, etc.

 

I'm seeing ingredients like homemade almond flour becoming more and more prominent in LCHF/Paleo food sites.

 

Homemade almond milk sounds interesting too.

 

If there's someone on this thread who loves to bake, and keen to experiment in the kitchen, this sweet tooth would be interested to see what healthy, grain-free, low-carb desserts are kicked up .

I also thought about this but it seems that there will always be a generous amount of artificial sweetener in anything sweet and LC.

 

My sweet tooth satisfaction I get from mixed berries in Greek yogurt with a sprinkling of sweetener over it

[Helpmytrap]

Took a cup of almonds and stuck them in my thermomix blender. Ground them to flour then added 5 cups of water and ran the blender again on high speed for 20 seconds. Produced a very palatable milk substitute. The instructions were to strain the fibre out to produce a smooth liquid but I have elected to put it as is in a shaker. We will give it a shake before using.

Did you use cold water? Hot water would make sense to "draw" out the flavour?

[HappyMartin]

 

Did you use cold water? Hot water would make sense to "draw" out the flavour?

 

Used cold water. Looked up three recipes and they all called for cold water. Not sure why. From the taste and consistency it seems there a process of dissolving rather that a tea like brewing thing going on if you know what I mean. I did grind the almonds to a flour first.

 

Can't really help with the baking thing I'm afraid. Although I do contribute on this most interesting, helpful and constructive thread I am not on a low carb diet. I just happen to agree with a lot of the principles and find some commonality. I am most interested in making my own food at the moment. As in Pasta from flour. Butter from cream. My own icecream and so on. Posted the thing about the almond milk after it came up in a post.

 

Don't mean to distract from the aims of the thread however so apologies if what I post is not relevant to the thread.

[Spinsei]

I've just come up to my 1 year anniversary on LCHF. No carbs for 12 months, yes, unbelievably I'm still alive I've been pretty strict at points taking my keto readings daily really keeps you on track, although it is bl**dy expensive so I don't do it all the time. I take my glucose readings too. I find that if I stay at 3.0 to 4.0mmol I'm pretty much in ketosis. I do long mountain bike rides / races 4+ hours on water only. No more energy bars, gels and energade. Don't feel so sluggish as I used to and not so obsessed about food. At the end of a ride I used to fantasize about what I was going to devour, now I don't even eat immediately after. I can go 18 hours without food, no problem. Lost 10kgs, skin is clear, not bloated anymore. I do recommend it, but the first three or four weeks is VERY difficult.

My thanks to Prof Tim Noakes who was my initial inspiration and who has graciously replied to many of my tweets.

[htone]

So this is what being insulin / carb resistant looks like from a Blood Glucose perspective. For those of you who measure BG readings between 3.5 - 4.5 on most days, keep it there...

 

I am a diagnosed Type 2 diabetic who has kept my diabetes under control following the LCHF way of eating. That was partially because the glucophage (metformin) medication impaired my top-end performance on the bike (it severely limits the liver's glycogen capacity under VO2Max conditions) and I wanted to get off the meds.

 

My "usual" fasting BG levels without any meds on LCHF vary between 4.7 - 5.5

My HbA1c (long term BG) level tested a month ago is 5.7. The cut-off for diagnosing diabetes via HbA1c is 6.5, so although I am on the higher side of the scale, I am well within "normal" limits.

I have not tested my BG regularly of late, as my diet is boringly stable and does not vary by much. Like I have reported recently, I have however seen an increase in weight and BF since supplementing with whey protein.

So following on suggestions from tombeej yesterday, I decided to do a bit of n=1 experimentation, but I cranked the amps up a bit:

• BG prior to any of the below was 5.7
  
• I consumed 100g of PVM whey protein, mixed with 200ml cream and 100ml milk. 1 hour later my BG was 7.9. Two hours later my BG was still 7.2.
  
• I then went out for dinner and had pork belly, but instead of the expected potato gnocchi, it was served on mash & onions. I gobbled that down and decided to really stretch things, so I had half of a chocolate brownie with some ice cream for pudding. 1 hour later, my BG was 9.4 !!! (PS, I felt like death afterwards)
  
• My fasting BG this morning was 6.4, so I had my fatshake, which also had about 50g of PVM whey added. 1 hour later, BG was at a massive 10.4 (I am thinking part of the reason for this is a residual effect from yesterday as well as a cumulative dairy + whey effect).
  
• Went for an hour's MTB and BG immediately post that was 6.5.
  
• My blood ketones this morning was a measly 0.2 - far from being in the fat burning zone.
  

So... I will by a process of elimination establish what my insulin response is to dairy (milk and/or cream) and protein, separate from each other, but for now my money is on the protein as a big cause of the spike. What to do about this ? - probably means I need to either spread the whey consumption out a bit more, or consume it immediately prior to or just after a ride.

 

@Helpmytrap - if you do supplement with protein, it would be interesting to compare notes ?

 

PS. On that reading after the 3 sips of milk, just do another control check to be 100% sure. I have often found my BG being higher than normal after longer, intense rides, and my theory is that it is the liver and pancreas trying to supply energy due to the higher demand, therefore you have higher levels of available BG. But I may be wrong...

 

edit:typo

Edited July 10, 2013 by htone

[tombeej]

I think I've got to get myself one of those BG testing thingamajigs.

[htone]

Old saying that goes "if you can measure it, you can manage it", tombeej. I stand by that

[Marge]

I think I've got to get myself one of those BG testing thingamajigs.

 

Just got mine delivered from M-kem today. Can't wait to do first tests this weekend after having the old reliable big bowl of future life for breakfast (which I swore by for at least a year now) VS my new bacon and egg breakfast....

 

Here is some interesting reading on BG:

http://www.phlaunt.com/diabetes/

[tombeej]

Old saying that goes "if you can measure it, you can manage it", tombeej. I stand by that

 

I can see myself doing all sorts of lekker weird science on myself with a toy like that