Back to the Basics

We recently purchased a book called "The Real Meal Revolution" by Tim Noakes to try and inspire us and give us some more drive going into the next year. This book gave us some new information and thoughts on our diet and introduced us to the Banting Diet. This name isn't something we'd heard of before but is the diet we have been following, Low Carb High Fat. The book is great for giving background information and breaking it down into a really clear set up, so I'd highly recommend it, but what we've gained from it most is the straightforward recipes. We went through the book and created quite a list of new recipes we'd like to try. We'll write blog posts about our progress through these. 

The Banting diet is quite a big thing in South Africa and proving to be quite popular with those that try it. I'm sure Gary can write more about the science in the book but I focus on the food. 

When I described our changes to my dad he suggested getting an old war book because we are going back to the roots of food and saving everything. We will make our own stock from our saved chicken bones. Make mayonaise from scratch and also our own yoghurt. By making everything from scratch we are ensuring we are aware of everything that is in our food and keeping all carbs to a minimum. 

So far we used the turkey stock by boiling the leg bones with some onions, carrots, parsnips and swede. We boiled this for several hours and then strained off the liquid discarding the rest. We intend to do the same with some chicken bones we have been collecting. 

To make the mayo I put 2 eggs yolks with a tea spoon of lemon juice into a mixer. To this I added 3/4 cup melted coconut oil and the same of oil olive. This needs to be added very slowly while the mixer is on full speed. You need to ensure this combines gently and the mayo will thicken. Add 1 tbsp of yoghurt to this mixture once completed. The yoghurt will prevent the mayo from thickening in the fridge and slightly weaken the taste of the coconut oil, which can be quite strong. You can also add any flavourings in to give some variety. 

Low Carb, High fat and Cholesterol

So one of the questions that I am getting asked often (well twice in the last few days) is in regards to cholesterol when you are on a high fat low carb diet. This is something that is covered really well in the following 2 books, so I will refer you to them and cover a few basic points.

The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Living

Cholesterol Clarity

Of course both of the above are pro low carb but they provide good insight and use peer reviewed scientific papers as evidence, it really is a wonder that there is so much anti-low carb coming from the medical community given the information that is available. An article I found on the internet linked to the following article, I think this is freely available so anyone can read it and see what they have done.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20679559

Basically it shows that the levels of good cholesterol are better in people that stick to a low-carb diet and that there was no difference in the levels of bad cholesterol between people on a low fat diet and those on a high fat diet. I found an analysis of the above paper at the following link and thought that the following quote was important:

“The study is not the first to suggest that low-carb weight loss programs like the Atkins diet are safe and may be slightly better than low-fat diets for reducing risk factors for heart disease. But it is one of the longest to show this, says lead researcher Gary D. Foster, PhD, of Temple University’s Center for Obesity Research and Education.” Emphasis on this is not the first study to show that low carb diets are better than low fat diets for reducing risk factors of heart disease.

http://www.webmd.com/cholesterol-management/news/20100802/low-carb-diets-improve-cholesterol-long-term

The details of how and why are explained really well in the above 2 books, in fact if you look on YouTube you can find some great presentations by the authors, particularly of the first book which is my favourite low carb book as it is so much great science and evidence. One of the authors of the books, Cholesterol Clarity (has also written Ketone Clarity) has written the following article, http://wellness-centre.com/pdfs/Big_Fat_Lie.pdf which states you come to “the surreal conclusion that you can eat lard straight from the can and conceivably reduce your risk of heart disease”.  The article linked to there is great, it is not so long you get bored but contains lots of great information backup up by facts. Really is an article I intend to recommend to all people who are questioning the lifestyle. 

Low Carb, High Fat- Less fat?

One of the problems a lot of people have had with me being on this diet is not to do with the low carb portion of the diet but instead it is to do with the high fat part. What’s that you eat high fat? How odd….

Because of the anti-fat paraphernalia we are exposed to from a young age everyone thinks fat and thinks heart attack and can’t be good. Although studies have shown that it is not all that bad, certainly when you look at cholesterol and things (just see some of the books listed on the reviews page) and you will see what I mean.

Still much like the low calorie post I want you to actually sit down and think for a minute. Think about your typical food intake before you started this diet, think of all the snacks you had and add up the fat in them.

A typical Mars Celebration box mix for example has 27g of fat in 100g (a couple of bars) as does a lot of ice cream etc. Sounds like a lot, how much do you reckon is in bacon per 100g? Closer to 20g. For breakfast I don’t even have 100g of bacon (I don’t think) so I am actually having less fat for breakfast than someone will get in having a couple of chocolate bars. Now to some people this may seem like a stupid comparison but when I am not on a diet a couple of mars bars does not seem stupid (or the equivalent at least). Chicken which is my staple lunch is much lower at around 6.5g / 100g, again at most looking at 100g or so of chicken at lunch. Dinner is too variable but basically some meat and vegetables.

The point I am trying to make is that if you look into what you are actually eating you might find that although you are on a high fat low carb diet you are not really eating high fat, so why call it high fat?

Well it is high fat because when you look at the grams of fat, protein and carbs you are getting you should see the fat is quite high. So when people ask if the fat is all bad for you, perhaps get them to add up all the fat they have eaten and do a comparison and I am sure at the very least it will be closer than they were expecting?

Of course there are foods you can eat that are going to be high in fat but these tend to be things we eat in moderation any, mainly nuts and cheese.

My source for these was http://www.weightlossresources.co.uk/calories/calorie_counter/