LCHF - Low Carb High Fat Diet Ver 2

[htone]

Just realised the coke zero I just had also contains caffeine

 

Read Dietdoctor's post about Coke Zero or Pepsi Zero - they artificial sweeteners in there are so good that they trick your body into thinking you have consumed sugar, so what happens is your ketones drop and your insulin may also marginally increase. In essence, fat burning stops.... so try and stop all "sodas" for a week and see what happens ?

[No Name]

I downloaded a program on my phone called Noom. Not sure if anybody else is using it. It is not bad. It helps me track my eating, and it works out how much you should eat to get to your goal weight. You can also track your excercise and it will increase your calorie intake for the day. I've been using it for a week now and I'm down a kg. I've got 5 more to go.

[No Name]

The LCHF is starting to intrigue me. I've already cut out bread, so now it is just the other starches. Just a question though to all the experts.... I drink two cups of rooibos tea a day with a 1/4 teaspoon of sugar. That is about the only sugar I take except for the cup of milo now and then. Do I need to cut that out as well? Or is it so little that it won't matter.

[Cuppa Bru]

The LCHF is starting to intrigue me. I've already cut out bread, so now it is just the other starches. Just a question though to all the experts.... I drink two cups of rooibos tea a day with a 1/4 teaspoon of sugar.

...

 

1/4 tsp shouldn't derail you, but it's preferable to avoid carbs wherever possible, to the extent that protein intake is also limited on LCHF as our bodies can turn that into carbs as well after a certain amount (based on muscle mass and activity level).

 

All of this is to reduce insulin secretion and keep our bodies in nutritional ketosis where the body can meet its energy demands without us continually snacking (or breaking down muscles for energy).

Without insulin circulating in your body telling fat cells to suck up blood sugar and hoard that energy once they've assimilated it, your body - mitochondria (power stations), heart, brain, etc - adjust to using ketones derived from fat instead of glucose, which is great as most people have enough fat to easily get them through the day without energy slumps.

 

There was an experiment where a desperate, morbidly obese (100s of kilos body fat) guy approached a doctor to lose weight.

The doctor put the subject under medical observation with only water and vitamins for a whole year, but he survived. Amazing.

 

Your tastebuds will become much more sensitive to sweetness if you continue with LCHF, so you'll eventually cut out sugar and milo (look at label: it's sugar disguised as a wholesome energy drink).

[P.A.K.]

I downloaded a program on my phone called Noom. Not sure if anybody else is using it. It is not bad. It helps me track my eating, and it works out how much you should eat to get to your goal weight. You can also track your excercise and it will increase your calorie intake for the day. I've been using it for a week now and I'm down a kg. I've got 5 more to go.

Most of us use the app MyFitnessPal, but they all do the same thing. They are good to teach you about what is actually in your food. I usually log religiously for a few days to learn, and then dont log for weeks because I know what's in my food by then.

 

With MFP app you can also set up your Fat : Protein : Carb goal ratio (on their website) which is great

 

EDIT: As for the sugar, I agree with Schweinehund above. In my experience having some sugar makes me crave for MORE sugar. Cut out the bit in your coffee/tea and your cravings for sweet things will become less.

Edited September 6, 2013 by P.A.K.

[Dirtbreath]

Was researching macro ratios for kefir and ended up on this gem for macros on many foods:

http://himolocarb.tripod.com/nutrival.htm

 

The link doesn't give the carb content of kefir, but the author states in one of his books that the nutritional information on shelves wrt carbs is often wrong due to the methodology used to arrive at carb content.

Supposedly the method is to measure water, ash, fat and protein content and the balance is calculated to be carbs.

Thus, eg. lactic acid in commercial kefir drinks is labelled as carbs.

 

Home-made kefir can be left to ferment as long as possible. And damn! It's tasty!

 

Have been making kefir for some time and have recently started with Irene Dairy Raw Milk. Yesterday's batch was terrible, this opaque water with some foul smelling cream on top. Any idea why?

 

I do my kefir in the fridge for a day or two.

[Dirtbreath]

 

Read Dietdoctor's post about Coke Zero or Pepsi Zero - they artificial sweeteners in there are so good that they trick your body into thinking you have consumed sugar, so what happens is your ketones drop and your insulin may also marginally increase. In essence, fat burning stops.... so try and stop all "sodas" for a week and see what happens ?

 

Dawdling in the queue at Dischem I had a look at the label on a flavoured mineral water. 10g/100mls and that was a 500ml bottle!

[Cuppa Bru]

...

I do my kefir in the fridge for a day or two.

 

I haven't had a bad batch yet (touch wood).

Used all kinds of milk: Low-fat that was R9/2L @ Checkers, Full Cream, Full Cream + Cream, and raw.

 

The raw batches had the subtlest taste of all after 12 hours. Currently have a batch at 25 hours and it's separating and has some zing now, so have to stir it and strain it before I have frankenzilla kefir.

 

I have two containers. One for the kefir grains + milk, and one for the strained kefir.

I keep both at room temperature (18 degrees) in a dark corner next to my fridge.

Also allow the milk I add to reach room temperature before I add it.

 

Fermentation will stop at 4 degrees.

Raw milk is "alive" so if you're keeping your culture in the fridge, it's possible that the kefir isn't doing its thing (creating a hostile environment for pathogens by making the milk acidic) and the pathogens which might be more resistant to cold are ruining your kefir.

 

I'm still learning, but so far, so good.

Got some raw milk @ R16/L from Organic Emporium. Expensive, but it's from Mandy's Farm pastured cows and they make great milk. The milk has a subtle almond milk undertone and the cream from Mandy's Farm doesn't have the whiff of corn like the commercial ones, either.

[tombeej]

Putting your kefir in the fridge makes it pretty much stop working.

Room temp is best.

 

As summer approaches, with the air temp warming, we'll find that the boyties start working quicker. The warmer the ambient air temp the faster they go.

[htone]

Do any of you use a normal metal strainer for you kefir - there's some literature to suggest that it may be detrimental to the kefir and that one should only use plastic or glass ?

[Cuppa Bru]

Do any of you use a normal metal strainer for you kefir - there's some literature to suggest that it may be detrimental to the kefir and that one should only use plastic or glass ?

 

Stainless steel is fine. The metal leeching fear is a remnant of long ago when metal containers weren't "food-grade".

[Dirtbreath]

Putting your kefir in the fridge makes it pretty much stop working.

Room temp is best.

 

As summer approaches, with the air temp warming, we'll find that the boyties start working quicker. The warmer the ambient air temp the faster they go.

 

I'm paranoid about leaving milk out.

[Cuppa Bru]

I'm paranoid about leaving milk out.

 

Don't be. Especially with raw milk.

[krl747]

Sorry guys, it's Friday and I am lazy. Can you quickly give me a run down of the ingredients needed for the kefir cheese and just a quick recipe the way you guys do it?

[tombeej]

Stainless steel is fine. The metal leeching fear is a remnant of long ago when metal containers weren't "food-grade".

 

Interesting.

 

Coz I'm pretty pedantic about not letting my boyties anywhere near metal of any kind. I use plastic/wooden spoons and either plastic or glass containers to store.

[Cuppa Bru]

I don't store my kefir grains in a metal container (I use glass), but I use stainless steel utensils.

So far, so good.

 

Here an excerpt from http://users.sa.chariot.net.au/~dna/Makekefir.html#*Note :

Because milk kefir-grains are naturally acidic, the organic acids that are part of each kefir grain readily react with reactive metals. The important question is, which metals are reactive in the process of making and storing kefir? The answer is copper, brass, zinc, iron and aluminium are common reactive metals. If milk kefir-grains or kefir come in direct contact with any utensil made from any of the above, metallic ions of that particular metal can leach onto the grains, or into the kefir, where liquid-kefir is stored in containers made from any of these reactive metals. Daily long term ingestion of minute amounts of any heavy metal ion accumulate in the body, and can reach toxic levels.

However, stainless steel is quite inert and kitchen utensils such as sieves, spoons and bowls made from stainless steel are quite suitable for kefir making or for storing either water kefir or milk kefir. However, I personally would not use stainless steel containers to brew or store kefir, but rather use glass containers, for glass is the most inert, non-reactive material.