LCHF diet week 6: La carne es débil

This last week I had a bout of rebelliousness: on Tuesday I could not resist anymore and ate a lot of chocolate cookies. Unwisely I had bought those cookies before starting the diet, simply because I could (they are difficult-to-get lactose free German cookies). So they have been sitting on a box on plain sight for a whole month, and somehow I had this huge craving for cookies and went for it. The problem is that I would not get happy with one or two cookies, I just cannot resist to eat till I am buzzing with the sugar rush, and two-thirds of the package has disappeared.
What was interesting was the effect it had on me: on the day I felt really stuffed (no dinner) but in the unpleasant way when you eat way too much. I remember feeling like that all the time before the LCHF diet. I also felt guilty, as I knew I would stop ketosis for a while.
On the following day I felt literally sick. I had stomach cramps, sluggishness, diarrhea. I felt bloated and sick for a couple of days. But the most interesting was the tiredness I felt. I came home exhausted (as I used to), I went to the couch, I didn't move for the rest of the evening (like I used to). I also started feeling depressed, numb. This regression got my weight to increase accordingly, I accumulated water and stopped the fat-burning process, so my weight went to 73.5 kg.
Fortunately I went back to the LCHF diet and all this horrible symptoms disappeared in a few days. But the lesson is learned: any sugar (at this point) and I pay dearly. It does make it easier to resist the cookies.

Colds, flu, running nose

After I started this diet I have been ill with colds more than usual. I was wondering why (and if it is healthy at all to follow this diet) until I found the following paragraph in the site of a fellow low carb diet follower:

Around this time, I caught the flu, and developed a really serious case of chest congestion. I hadn't been that sick in a long time, and it scared me into figuring out why. My thought was "wait a second, I eat really well, why am I so sick?"
So I did some research, and found out Vitamin D was essential for respiratory health, so I had my vitamin D levels checked. My levels were super low - a measly 27. Normal is between 50-100. Not surprising since I live in Wyoming, where we have Winter 10 months out of the year, but not good.
Having read how beneficial it is for so many body systems, I started a program to get my vitamin D levels up. I started taking 5000 IU a day and then checked it again several months later. It was better, but still only at 31. So I upped my daily intake to 10,000 IU. I felt even better at this point. Last time I had it checked, my vitamin D level was at 76, and I rarely get colds any more. So, one more puzzle piece fell into place. 

I started taking more vitamin D and walks in the sun now, and I feel better and less asthmatic. I did not have my vitamin D checked. I don't think the doctor would help me with this anyways...

Pre diabetes symptoms - scary!

I surf a lot on the web about low carb diets, ketogenic diets, etc. The reason is clear: I need the positive reinforcement (besides the need for information) for continuing a diet that is very often tough, as I love sweets and cookies and chocolate and all those delicious treats. Those treats are my comfort food and it is really hard to be deprived of them. Yesterday was a classic example: I had a dinner with my boyfriend's company and the restaurant had no alternatives for my dessert. And the raspberry sorbet was too tempting. I ate it. I just could not resist, specially with all the wine I drank... So there you have it. I will pay dearly for my sorbet: it takes at least 4 days to go back to normal ketosis, and this means I will have 6-7 days of water retention and inflammation. It will probably show in the weight chart.

But this is not what I intended to discuss in this post. The scary part of the pre-diabetes symptoms is that I looked at them and could immediately recognize my complaints. Even scarier: I raised those complaints to my doctor and she did not do anything. Nobody stopped to check if my insulin levels where normal. I suppose if you do that it is too expensive for the dutch health system, but it is my health we are talking about!
I put the symptoms list below, noting that I took it from the blog Healthy Eating Politics.

1. Heartburn, especially during sleep; a diagnosis of GERD – Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease.
2. Digestive issues. You get frequent stomach aches, and are constantly dealing with gas pain, bloating and stool issues, cycling between diarrhea and constipation.
3. Headaches and a sore throat that comes and goes.
4. Breathing issues, especially at night; you may have been diagnosed with sleep apnea.
5. Dizzy spells, and a feeling of being lightheaded sometimes, especially after having sweets. (This indicates reactive hypoglycemia.)
6. Unexplained weight gain. Your eating habits haven't changed, but suddenly you've put on 10 pounds. In addition, you are having difficulty losing it, even when you exercise and eat less.
7. Blurred vision that seems to be worsening, and trouble seeing at night.
8. A constant feeling of being tired. No matter how much you sleep, or exercise to gain strength, you feel fatigued.
9. Frequent bouts of depression for no reason. You’ll be fine, and then you feel sad all of a sudden, without any cause.
10. Constant joint aches, and muscle and joint stiffness when you wake up in the morning. You may even have been diagnosed with some form of arthritis.
11. Your feet burn and your toes feel numb when you stand for long periods of time.
12. Swollen ankles, and a general feeling of puffiness or water retention, especially if you sit for long periods of time.
13. If you don’t eat, you get really grumpy. You may also feel nauseous and shaky.
14. Waking up in middle of the night with your heart pounding. Often you also feel nauseated or cold. It happens more often if you've been eating high sugar meals. This again indicates hypoglycemia or low blood sugar.
15. Constant hunger, no matter how much you eat. You often think, "How can I be hungry? I just ate!"
16. Frequent yeast infections, and cuts or bruises you get don’t seem to heal quickly.
17. After every meal, you really crave something sweet, even if you are already feeling full.
18. You have elevated blood pressure and blood tests indicate you have high triglyceride levels, and low HDL cholesterol levels.
19. The dentist tells you that have gingivitis, even though you brush and floss every day. You often wake up with a nasty taste in your mouth, even though you brush before bed.
20. A groggy, sleepy feeling after meals, even when you have plenty of rest. You may have been embarrassed because you fell asleep at your desk at work, or during a meeting. 

How many of these symptoms did I have? (note the past tense): 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17 and 20. I had a "yes" for 15 of these symptoms. You only need 4 or 5 "yes" to suspect you are becoming a diabetic.
Right now, after starting with the LCHF diet I can say that the symptoms have almost all disappeared (except one or two). But it came from me, the doctor did nothing to help me. It is infuriating. The worse part is that I told the doctor that my parents are diabetic and I had more danger for such a problem. I was ignored.

LCHF diet week 5

I am satisfied. The weight is still going down and I feel better and better everyday. Apart from losing weight, my mood has improved greatly and I feel that I am more energetic and lively. It also has improved my work life: it is much easier to focus than before, and I am not distracted by being hungry. This week the weight went down to 72 kg...
I decided to take up walking as an activity to help the weight loss and feel healthier. I take now a brisk 30 min walk everyday at lunchtime, and it is really nice because I get to be out and enjoy the weak winter sun. It is low impact exercise, but I do get warmed after the walk, and I feel already it helps my circulation. I decided to do this walk in the moment of the day I am the least productive, after lunch, because I feel sleepy from eating and it is tough to start working again. It had been almost impossible to arrange a schedule to exercise before, it is so difficult with a long traveling time from work to home. I put some fast beat songs in my mp3 player and walk in the sunshine every midday. It feels wonderful actually. I recommend it!

Low carb diets and cancer

Amazing story about ketogenic diets beating cancer.

The theory side of the LCHF diet

The idea is to give a hint of why the diet works. I am no doctor, therefore this post is sort of a concoction of things I've read, wikipedia articles and plain speculation.
There is a very extensive and interesting article on wikipedia on low carb diets. A extract of what is written there:
^"The body of research underpinning low-carbohydrate diets has grown significantly in the decades of the 1990s and 2000s.Most of this research centers on the relationship between carbohydrate intake and blood sugar levels (i.e. blood glucose), as well as some related hormone levels. Some evidence suggests blood sugar levels in the human body should be maintained in a fairly narrow range to maintain good health. The two primary hormones that regulate blood sugar levels are insulin, which lowers blood sugar levels, and glucagon, which raises blood sugar levels. These are both produced in the pancreas: insulin from beta cells and glucagon from alpha cells.
In western diets (and many others), most meals are sufficiently high in nutritive carbohydrates to evoke insulin secretion. The primary control for this insulin secretion is glucose in the blood stream, typically from digested carbohydrate. Insulin also controls ketosis; in the non-ketotic state, the human body stores dietary fat in fat cells (i.e., adipose tissue) and preferentially uses glucose as cellular fuel. Diets low in nutritive carbohydrates introduce less glucose into the blood stream and thus evoke less insulin secretion, which leads to longer and more frequent episodes of ketosis. Some research suggests that this causes body fat to be eliminated from the body, although this theory remains controversial, insofar as it refers to excretion of lipids (i.e., fat and oil) and not to fat metabolism during ketosis."

So, the main idea it to reduce the amount of insulin secretion (that is the low carb part). This will induce a state of ketosis, where instead of using glucose, the body will use ketones to get its energy. The higher fat intake is necessary to have enough energy from the food and to ban the hunger from the diet. The body feels sufficiently nourished and does not lower the metabolic rate to accommodate for lower energy intake (i.e. starvation mode). Then you become an efficient "fat burning machine". I really recommend to read the wikipedia article on low fat diets. It outlines well the ongoing scientific debate about nutrition.
Another interesting wiki-article is about insulin release. These diets eventually aim for lowering the insulin release from the body. So it is most natural to want to know the insulin response to food. What is surprising from the article is the sometimes disproportionate insulin release to the carb content of some food, for example beef. But I think it would be very hard to know the insulin release of combined foods, like a soup. It anyways gives a good indication.

The insistence on the ban of trans fats is hardly surprising (what it is surprising is that they still manufacture it to give it to people) as those fats are really bad for health. The insistence on eating saturated fats is controversial.

The practical side of the LCHF diet

The theory is simple enough: no "man-made, unnatural" products are allowed. This means no trans fats (margarine is one of them) as they are really bad for your health. This has implications: no fast food (fries are fried in these trans fats), no foodstuff where these fats are used, this means you have to read the labels and find out if there are any trans fats used to make the product. Most products that you know if made at home should be in the fridge but are outside in the shop have either loads of salt, sugar or trans fats.
Which fats are allowed then? Natural saturated fat, like the ones present in butter and cream, animal fat (found in meat), and all the "good fats", olive oil, avocado, etc.
Also this ban involves "fake sugar", so all the artificial sweeteners are also prohibited. No diet coke, sorry.
So, what is the "carb" that you set to "low": sugary and starchy foods. Sugar is completely banned and the starchy foods, depending on the amounts of carbohydrates and the level to which the person desires, are also banned.
So, how do you "put into practice" the LCHF diet? I will talk about this diet to go down on weight only, not as a permanent lifestyle choice.
There are several steps to follow.

1. Clean your fridge and pantry: remove all sweet things like cookies, spreads, jams, marmalade and fruits (yes, fruits). Remove also all starchy things like rice, pasta, cous-cous, quinoa, bulgur, breakfast cereals, polenta, potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, legumes, paprika (this will depend on how strict you want to be). If you are super strict, then things like ketchup are not allowed (contains sugar), or soy sauce (also contains sugar or starch). Check up things like sausages, mayonnaise or sugo, they should not have carbs but very often they do. Be wary of all the sauces and things you use that are already made (pesto, salad dressings, sauces, etc). There are gray zones, and depending how strict you want to be, if you allow them in your diet or not. Lentils are rich in carbs but also rich in protein. Same with quinoa. Paprika can have a lot of carbs per 100 gr (10%), but it also comes with loads of fiber, so treat with care but allow it in the diet. What I did myself (because I don't want to throw anything away) is to put all those non-perishable foods in a box, for when the diet is over.
2. Shop often, because the food will be fresher. What can you eat? Eggs, meats, fish, nuts, cheese (full fat versions of it) and vegetables. The biggest problem is to have something to eat the meats with (you cannot have salad all the time!). The Internet is full of suggestions to fake the missing pure, rice, pasta. Chef William (link on the left) is an inspiration for me. The mashed cauliflower recipe is just delicious.
3. Add fat to the food to make it filling and satisfying. This was the hardest for me. After years of listening to the "fat is bad" advice, I had become a fat-phobic. You need to add fat to the diet, otherwise you end up eating way too much proteins, and a protein-rich diet is not good for your health. So you have to get used to make sauces to go together with your meat (gravy, cream and cheese is one of my favourites). Salad made with avocados are a good idea. Add fat until you are satisfied and not hungry.
4. With care and aware of your own response to it, a very moderate amount of (dry, not sweet) wine and berries is allowed. I respond well to wine, but if I eat a handful of berries, I get crazy for more sugar. I cannot eat (at least for now) anything remotely sweet. 
5. Treat fruit like you would candy. Not very often. I cannot eat any fruits now myself (and therefore I am taking a vitamin supplement) but I am hoping my insulin levels will go to normal and later be able to enjoy an orange without going out of ketosis.
6. Most important: eat only when hungry. Tweak your fat intake to end up hungry at the right moments (here in The Netherlands people are rather strict with times for the lunch pause). And never go hungry. It is counterproductive, as then the body goes into starvation mode and then you cannot lose weight. The whole idea is that you are happy and satisfied, but forcing the body to process protein and fat mostly, and going into ketosis.

I follow this diet without looking for the carb content of every thing. I would get crazy like that. I also don't want to get quotas to fill on each type of nutrient (there are apps for knowing how many carbs, protein and fat you eat per meal). I have a busy life as it is. I have banned all starchy foods (grains, potatoes, carrots, legumes) but I eat paprika without worry. I take it easy with the fat, I just cannot drink "bullet coffee" (coffee with butter), I find it gross. And also take it easy with nuts. That's it. It is actually a quite simple diet, as you don't count portions, calories or anything else. And it works.
After 4 weeks, I have gone down 7 kilos already (a lot of water though) and my boyfriend has gone down 4 kg (no water there, guys are lucky on weight issues). I think of those kilos we lost, 2 kg each is probably the real weight loss. The rest is the water retention part caused by the sugary things we used to eat.