Low Carb, High Fat Diet
We are trying to follow a Low Carb, High Fat diet after hearing about all the healthy benefits for your body. We've been doing this for a while now and I can assure you, body and mind feels good. No more lethargic, fatigued me! I no longer get my energy from carb loaded foods but rather from full fat foods. My body loves this. If you don't know anything about this diet, please research it immediately! You will love me for it <3 Our whole family, including 2 little boys, aged 6 and 3 is following it. Oh, and it shouldn't be called a diet. Diet sounds so depriving... It's a HEALTHY LIFESTYLE!!
It's amazing what you can eat. I just got rid of all carb food in my cupboards. No more sugary cereals, no more "healthy cereals" (oats, muesli). No more pastas, no more breads - the breads were a biggie for me, as I loveD bread. But it was easier to give it up, than what I thought it would be. We are still struggling with sugar cravings, as my husband is a self confessed chocolate addict and I'm driven by my pregnancy cravings (well, that's my excuse for the moment)... My gynecologist told me to add a calcium supplement to my daily vitamins. I do find the cravings for chocolate is less pressing but my usual I-prefer-salty-to-sweet, is gravitating more towards the sugar rush at the moment.
Back to LCHF... I go big on fruit in the morning, as it is a bit of a no-no for the LCHF. Reason being, fruits are very high in sugar. So, mornings are our fruit time. It is still much better than those sugary cereals my kids used to live on (because so and so gets to eat it :\).
Also, eat FULL FAT!! No more low fat, no fat, fat free foods for you. That's right. Have that spoon full of butter. Have that full cream milk. We have been brain-washed to think fat free foods are better for us. Truth is they strip the food of all it's goodness when they take the fat out. I'm thinking those skinny cows, that Joseph dreamed about. Do you see healthy?? No, I'd rather have those fat healthy cows. These fats are what your body will use for energy, as you cut out those unhealthy carbs, this will be your body's source of energy. Which means it won't have to contend with carbs. If you eat carbs, your body will use the carbs for quick energy bursts, and all the fatty foods will be stored away in your body (weight gain!!) and also collect in your blood veins to cause cholesterol.
Professor Tim Noakes is a big advocate for this diet. Read about an experiment carried out on twin sisters, one following the normal high carb, low fat diet and one following the Low Carb, High Fat diet: http://www.health24.com/Diet-and-nutrition/Nutrition-basics/Tim-Noakes-diet-comes-out-tops-20130210
Some more information from Professor Tim Noakes:
I am no expert on this. This is just my view of a LCHF diet. How I understand it, how I perceive it. A normal lay person, stay at home mom. I am not into fashion dieting or into dieting at all. I just made this change, because it all made sense and as a mom I want my family to eat healthy meals, be healthy and energetic.
Changes we've made:
No more juices (not even 100% fruit juices watered down) - we only have full cream milk and water in our fridge now. I do treat them every now and again with juice or milkshake when we go out, so, they are not completely deprived and they are allowed to have things at parties - it makes them more agreeable to eating healthy at home :)
Coffee and tea: I used to have 2 spoons of sugar in my coffee and Tony had 1. I've cut down to 1 now and he has none!
Lunches: My children used to get a sandwich for lunch time. I am a bit more lenient for lunches, but changed to provitas, nuts, sausages, biltong, droe wors, etc. My husband gets a lot of salad sent to lunch. He was never a salad guy until the one day, when he saw my chicken salad, and wanted some instead of his hamburger. So, Tuna salads, Mixed salads, chicken salads. He also gets boiled eggs, biltong, droe wors, etc.
For evening meals, I basically make our normal old fashioned meal, but with no pre-prepared sauces and I cut out the carbs. So, we have two veg and one protein. The LCHF also does not recommend high carb veggies, like potatoes, sweet potato, carrots etc. An easy way to remember this: avoid all veggies which grow in the soil or anything starting with a "C". I find this a bit difficult and we still have a high carb veggie every now and again (just not potatoes or sweet potatoes). I just figure that it's better than all the processed carbs like pasta. If I make this too hard on myself, I won't be doing it.
This morning for breakfast, we had smoothies. Here is an easy recipe. Make sure you have a blender, the best ever invention!!
Cinnamon flavoured Banana and Almond Smoothie Recipe
Makes 4 x 250ml glasses
4 Large Bananas (1 per person)
1 Granadilla (or 2 if you are that way inclined)
Big handfull of Raw Almonds
Good sprinkle of Cinnamon or 1 teaspoon of Cinnamon
500ml Full Fat, Non sweetened Yogurt (the good stuff Bulgarian or Greek)
250ml Full Cream Milk
Add everything together in a nice big jug (for easy pouring) or mixing bowl. Use your amazing blender to sjoosh all your ingredients together. My family does not like the nuts to be too big and they don't like granadilla pips at all, so, I go at it for a while, to create a very smooth smoothie. But up to you...
Enjoy :)
PS A friend of mine told me that the cinnamon helps with sugar cravings. That's why it's in there :D
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