What is LCHF and Why all the Excitement?
The letters, LCHF, stand for "low carb high fat." I had been eating this way for a while before I ever saw the letters. This diet has become increasingly popular, I spite of the limitations.
I had been on lots of fad diets in my life, always searching for the best diet to help me live a happy, healthy, longer life with type 1 diabetes. Actually to tell you the truth, I believed for many years that diet In general would play a role in healing this so called "dis-ease." Yes, I still believe in healing, getting better, improving, "getting off of insulin". All that.
At this point my main focus is being the healthiest I can be, and since insulin is a drug that we really don't know what "they" put in it, how it's made, are the additives safe for long term use???? The way I see it is be on the diet that allows you to take the least amount of this foreign substance as possible.
The fewer the carbs, the less insulin you have to take, good. But are there any other reasons I want to be on this diet?
Way back in 1996, when I first heard Dr. Bernstein on those primitive cassette tapes, he explained why this diet and life style was so important for all diabetics, but particularly type 1's. If you eat very low carb, 30 grams of carbs or less, the less insulin you have to inject, the safer your life will be. When you go low, you won't go dangerously low, because if there are any miscalculations they will be very slight. Dr. Bernstein took a nearly 500 page book, Diabetes Solution, to explain this. So that's my quick summary of the idea. Less insulin=less danger, basically. I highly recommend Dr. Bernstein's book.
But since 1996 when I first started Dr. Bernstein's low carb approach, there has been a lot more research and experiences of people following similar protocols with quite amazing benefits.
Healing arthritis, hypoglycemia, acne, many autoimmune conditions, fibromyalgia, Lyme disease, Crohn's disease, irritable bowel syndrome, Alzheimer's disease and obesity are among the conditions I've heard helped by this diet.
There have also been several books written on the ketogenic diet, basically that's what the LCHF diet is called scientifically. The ketogenic diet was first implemented for type 1 diabetics before the discovery of insulin and also for children with epilepsy then and now, still. Children put on an extremely low carb/high-fat diet at John Hopkins hospital, would become seizure free. The book I find interesting on this diet is The Art and Science of Low Carb Performance, where doctors, Voltek and Phinney, describe how the low carb diet improves endurance and athletic performance across the board.
To me, it starts to sound like this LCHF diet is good for everybody!
Since I began the LCHF diet 5 years ago in about 1 month, specifically January 1, 2010 what has healed for me? Osteo-arthritis in my knuckles, pain in many of my joints such as knees, hips etc. improvement in moods, better sleep, better more balanced blood sugar numbers, less insulin needed, increase in happiness.
In my translation the LCHF diet is percentage-wise, 75-85 % fats, like coconut oil, lard, raw grass fed butter, duck fat, lard, bacon fat, 15% protein from free range eggs, grass fed meats, fish and 5% carbs from local farm vegetables, light ones like kale, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, lettuce ect. In other words, no grains, no fruit, unless no more than a handful of local berries per day, no potatoes, sweet potatoes or winter squash. Is this possible you ask?
ln my world it is not only possible but necessary. I am the healthiest I have ever been. I am on 1/3 the amount of insulin I used to be on before the diet and my blood sugars are almost always in normal range, meaning normal for a normal person without diabetes.
Here's a list of my day's food
Oh first, my personal rules for creating health:
1. I eat some form of fermented foods every day, kimchi, sauerkraut, kefir
2. I never eat any processed food. If I eat anything out of a package, it has one ingredient like powdered colostrum, maca, Brazil nuts, coconut
3. I eat as close to 100% local farm food, within 100 miles of my home
4. All the meat I eat is humanly raised on pasture eating their natural diet
5. If I eat fish it is wild caught
6. I use only stevia as my sweetener and make sure it has only stevia, no added ingredients like malto dextrin or magnesium stearate.
Note: these are my rules, mine only. I live in Maine, one of the easiest places to eat food from local farms. Interestingly a state with one of the shortest growing seasons. It takes effort, knowing local farmers, driving to farms and nearby farmers markets. And I admit I am a fanatic, most people aren't willing to go this far, but I will say my health has increased dramatically since I started eating LOCAVORE- style 5 years ago.
My daily intake, food log:
Breakfast: 2 fried eggs and 2 pieces of bacon. I fry the eggs in bacon fat.
Lunch: this is the meal that changes every day and this is my dinner or the largest meal of the day, example 4 ounce grass fed burger, sautéed veggies like kale and onions, or broiled Brussels sprouts, whatever is in season from a farm. Use coconut oil or saved bacon fat.
Supper: if you decide to follow my diet you could just repeat the same idea as the lunch or my delicious snack supper. 1.5 ounce of raw grass fed butter, mixed with 2 teaspoons of Surthrival colostrum, 1/2 teaspoon maca (a Peruvian radish that balances hormones), 1/2 teaspoon Dandy Blend (a powdered dandelion beverage with a coffee flavor, low carb) and Mucuna (a superfood that is a predopamine which means it is really good for your brain and memory and useful in the treatment of Parkinson's disease) and powdered stevia to taste, Now brand or Kal brand. Mix it all up and eat with a tiny spoon. I also eat 4 Brazil nuts and 2cups of herb tea.
This is my personal story and it is what works for me. What works for you?
Here's a picture of me on my porch
A lunch of baked chicken, coleslaw and Brussels sprouts and garlic, sautéed in bacon fat
my delicious breakfast
snack supper of 4 Brazil nuts and my butter mash-up