Low carb living

I am still happily converted to eat the Banting way, and am still very content, enjoying the freedom this way of eating has given me. I am continuing my reading and research into the subject although this has shifted mostly towards finding new recipes and experimenting with food ideas, learning about the nutritional content of foods etc.

I finished the Comrades in 2014 running on 6 macadamia nuts and 2 blocks of 90% chocolate and when I finished I was not broken or starving. For me the diet made a huge difference. My recovery was also very fast, and the science agrees with me that this diet lowers inflammatory responses. Something really important for someone with an auto-immune challenge.

After nearly six months eating low carb, I am a true convert, although I have realised that there is no point in trying to share this too much with people. I love helping when people ask me for advice, but this is such a personal journey and there is too much out there that is confusing, . Complicated by the fact that we are all different. My one friend can eat some carbs and still keep her weight stable, she lost nearly 10kg but her (identical) twin sister had the same slow response I had, but with the same benefits of "feeling great".

My new lifestyle comes with the following insights:

• Eating this way can result in dramatic weight loss for some people. My parents both lost more than 10kg and my dad is heading towards 20kg, but some people don't get that dramatic effect. I am one, I lost a bit but didn't shrink away into nothingness. My weight though is incredibly stable.
• In never feel deprived or desperate:, no shakes, no hypoglycaemia in 6 months, no cravings!
• LCHF does not fix your eating disorders i.e. stress eating does not go away just because you are eating healthy food. It is possible to overeat, although I am still shocked about how much less we eat. We still trim our meals down all the time as we find we need less and less "extras".
• Green salad, cauliflower, cabbage, green beans, mushrooms, butter (from grass fed cows) cream, eggs, mascarpone, avos, yoghurt, and macadamia nuts are "pantry must haves". Most of our dinners are 80% veggies (with cream or butter).
• New discoveries for me are:
• Coconut (milk, oil, fruit) - contains the healthiest fat of all medium chain tri-glyceride
• Mascarpone
• Flax seeds
• Double cream or greek yoghurt
• Cauliflower and it's incredible versatility!
• It is easy to snack on protein and reading about it has taught me that one has to track how much protein you eat. It is actually very easy to eat too much. People confuse low carb high fat with high protein diet. The bulk of one's energy is supposed to come from FAT not protein.
• Fruit (strawberries and naartjies) are treats - and I consume about 3 strawberries a day 5 days a week.
• 90% cocoa Lindt is a wonderful treat too. Very low in carbs
• Weirdly: I had the worlds biggest sweet tooth and over the last few months have realised that even 85% Lindt is now too sweet for me. Tastes "yucky". So the old friends - chocolate just don't have the same appeal anymore! I would not have believed you if you had told me about this weird side-effect. For all recipes that I adjust, that requires a bit of sweetener (Stevia or Xylitol), I use less than 1/3 of the recommended quantities.
• I AM NOT ON A DIET
• My favourite blogger is "Low Carb is Lekker". Totally love her stuff and writing.
• My favourite appliances in the kitchen is my ice cream maker and my small coffee grinder (use it to mill my flax seeds for my low carb bread).

If you choose to eat like this:
DON'T do it unless you plan to give it 100%,
DON'T do it unless you really understand how the diet works. Low carb, High fat, normal protein. And don't be scared of fat. And don't believe the nonsense about cholesterol and heart attacks, the evidence is truly shaky, but if you don't believe that - DON'T try this diet. It really requires you to abandon your beliefs (brainwashing in my opinion). Remember, lots of times when you deprive your body of something (cholesterol/fat) your body actually ends up holding on to it as if you are in "famine" mode. Often you have to increase the thing that you need to lower. That's if you really, really have a cholesterol problem - only the really, really small damaged LDLs are the real problem.

I love eating this way.

I have never felt so alive, awake all day long - no afternoon slumps, no sugar lows, no joint pain, no trouble running (no carbo loading), just total relaxation about food. I enjoy food now, I've stopped feeling guilty. We eat only things we can make from scratch basically, very few "processed" foods, exceptions are salami and cheeses. We can make our own cheese, but who has the time! My dad makes his own cottage cheese. Very productive...

Maybe, someday, someone will benefit from my ramblings - me I am off to bake a flax seed bread that contains less than 3 g of carbs per slice and is high in Omega 3, and is totally delicious.

My low-carb bread (left) and slices of the bread turned into french toast (right). Yummy.