The Low Carb Diet is, in my opinion, the best general diet. I think there is solid scientific evidence to support this opinion! But that doesn’t mean that Low Carbing is for absolutely everyone!
Many people add more ingredients to their recipe for optimal health or for healing and recovery from current health challenges. Many of those ingredients, though healthful, though necessary, are not specific to Low Carb diets, so I have left them out of my basic recipe.
My Basic Recipe for Low Carbing
These are the main ingredients that characterize my Low Carb Diet.
Carbs should generally be limited to 20-50g per day to gain the benefits of a true Low Carb Diet, but many individuals may be able to thrive on more. The amounts of water, protein and fat are based on my weight. I am not suggesting these targets for anybody but myself!
Calorie Restrictions
My Low Carb Diet does not place limits on maximum daily calorie consumption. Most Low Carbers I know agree with the nutritional advice to avoid entering metabolic starvation or “survival mode,” by eating a minimum of 1,000-1,200 calories per day.
I usually adhere to the minimum calorie requirement except when I’m not feeling hungry. Loss of hunger is a symptom I respect, so I cut back when my body tells me to. When I’m healthy and eating well, my minimum daily caloric intake, as reflected above, is about 1,000-1,400.
If I’m hungrier, I eat more. In the past, I have tried to take any “extra” calories as protein, but now I lean more towards not overeating protein. So, after I reach my Carb and Protein targets, if I’m hungry, I take additional calories as fat until my hunger is satisfied.
Protein and Fat
I am guessing that some of you — maybe even some devout Low Carbers — are going to look at my gram counts above and think: That’s too much FAT, even for a Low Carb diet! 100 grams of Fat a day, are you kidding? You call that dieting?
Until this year, I was majoring in Protein and minoring in Fat. I was sticking pretty closely to the equation: 1 gram of protein for each 2 pounds of body weight, and then filling up on Low Carb veggies (without going over my 20g per day) and fat to reach satiety. Except that some days, I could not eat anything after forcing my self to down so much protein!
More recently, I have decided to increase my Fat intake, and pay more attention to my Fats. If my main Protein at a meal is very lean, as many are in our Fat-phobic culture, I take extra Fat with it. Sometimes this can take the form of adding mayo to it, like chicken or egg salad. Or, I eat olives or avocado as a side dish. I also use Fat-based dips to give my meal a fat boost.
My newest invention to satisfy this need is a delicious, creamy whip I make out of cream cheese and sour cream. It tastes sort of like cheescake, and has a texture like yogurt or pudding. I like to sweeten it a little with sugar-free syrup, and top it with nuts. Today I added Coconut Fat. The Coconut Fat really changes the texture to a more silky texture (if I whip it up enough), like chocolate silk pie. The mouthfeel is greasier, which would not appeal to everybody. I don’t mind it, but I do like it better without the Coconut, I think. It tastes cooler and fresher, more refreshing, without it. The Coconut Fat makes it feel like it is melting in your mouth (which it IS), so it feels warmer in my mouth, and then leaves an oily feeling on my lips. Maybe I’ll like the warmer version in the winter time!
Several experts do not recommend so much milk fat. There are objections to pasteurized dairy, homogenized dairy, and all dairy in general. There are many objectors to animal fat, saturated fat, tropical fat, etc, which I think is backwards! I think we should be eating more of the stable saturated fats, less of the unstable unsaturated fats that go rancid so easily and cannot be heated, and even less of the chemically-altered trans fats. That’s what I’m trying to do. I do not cook most of my own food, though, and it is hard to control how my food is cooked, when I am not the one cooking it. Still I persevere, and I am making great progress!
I also have read about Protein needs not only in diet books for weight loss, but also in programs that are targeted at optimal fitness (~exercise) and body building. These high-powered types really know their proteins… They measure their grams of protein per pound of lean body mass, not total body weight! Since so much of my body weight is fat, I lowered my protein consumption to 75-100 grams per day. (I had already lowered my protein from 150g to 125g due to losing about 40 lbs. last year) One program I tried had me working up to a whopping 300g of Protein every day. I think I only managed that once or twice. It was too much. Excess Protein does have an adverse effect on blood sugar, so even though eating high-protein meals does not cause radical blood sugar spikes like Carbs do, those of us with blood sugar issues certainly cannot eat unlimited amount of Protein, without any negative consequences.
Fat stabilizes blood suger. This higher-fat Recipe for Low Carbing is working better for me. It’s easier to live with. I am more comfortable between meals. Symptoms I would normally associate with blood sugar fluctuations are minimized or gone.
This new facet of my diet really amazes my non Low Carb friends. I’m starting to be asked how I lost weight… and I tell people I doubled my fat intake and it fell off. Well, that’s almost true! I did just about double my fat intake. And I redoubled my efforts to avoid hidden Carbs, and keep my daily count below 20 grams! And I tried to remember to drink my water.
I am still trying to find better fats to eat, and better ways to eat them, for the meals that do not include a naturally fat-rich animal protein. Especially Coconut Fat. I have read a lot about this healthy Fat, and I’m eager to incorporate more of it into my diet.
I have recently heard of melting coconut oil (which is solid at room temperature) in an herbal tea or other hot beverage. I have met people online who even drink it melted in plain hot water! I tried that last night, and it wasn’t great, but it was actually better than trying to lick the coconut oil off the spoon like peanut butter. By the way, speaking of peanut butter: Coconut Fat is great mixed with almond butter or macadamia butter or both. Add a little cream cheese, vanilla and sweetener, and you’ve got something like crustless nut butter cheesecake filling! Delicious!
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check out my new Low Carbing Page
Lovin’ It Low Carb
Ramona Denton
The opinions expressed on this blog are not intended to be medical advice and should not be taken as advice of any kind. Always consult your doctor or healthcare professional if you have health concerns or want to alter medications or treatments.
