This has been something that I have been thinking of doing for probably not months but years. For me, trying to follow a LCHF (low carb high fat) lifestyle as been a see-sawing conundrum. I see all the benefits of cutting out sugar. As far as weight loss goes, I have not seen the full potential of what I believe I should have seen. I’m at the age where metabolism slows and burning calories is a far harder exercise than ever before. I always feel good when I’m sugar free, but I have often wondered if the key to unlocking my weightloss will be through dumping dairy. I’m not talking about all dairy. I’m mainly talking about frothy milk (and lots of it) in my coffee.
I now will have about 30mls of full fat (37%) cream in my coffee for the day and I will see how that turns out.
I’ve been reading Understanding LCHF by Martina Johansson. Of mil dairy products, she writes,
“If you have trouble losing weight or getting into ketosis, you should limit or avoid this food group entirely.”
The Keto Dairy products which are acceptable, according to Johansson are heavy whipped cream (40% fat – the one of SA shelves is 37% – I think that is close enough), full fat sour cream, full fat cottage cheese, all hard and soft cheeses, cream cheese and mascarpone cheese.
The Ketosis thing I’ve always been confused about. Johansson simply describes ketosis as “a nutritional state where the body is using fat for fuel and not glucose as it would normally do.”
When I started reading this book, the process of digestion and how we convert food into energy and excess into fat soon became very clear. The author explains the difference between ketosis and ketoacidosis. Ketoacidosis can be extremely dangerous but, thank you Martina: “it cannot happen if you have not been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes.” All these things I didn’t know – now I do.
The more you know the better control you have.
Making a low carb lifestyle can sometimes feel like a mountain too high to climb, but the more you know about the process, the easier it gets. It think some of the obstacles that I have found in Banting or LCHF can be overcome by eating outside of the box (literally) and being happy to not eat traditional fare at traditional times. eg. having vegetables or salad for breakfast, if you want to steer away from daily eggs. For my sedentary lifestyle, where I am sitting at a computer for 8 hours a day, I don’t need a lot of food, although I am aware that I must try and take a break often and move around during those times. I’ve been going out into the garden and pulling out weeds.
The biggest thing I’ve got from Martina’s book is that it has got me back on track.
We are made up of body, mind and soul. Eating is only one of the body components, although it is so often connected to how we think.
2 Timothy 1:7
God’s Spirit doesn’t make cowards out of us. The Spirit gives us power, love, and self-control.
We can do this.
These are the days!
Keep the smile going.
God bless you!
In His Grip,
Helga xx 🙂