An Introduction to Low Carb, Healthy Fat (LCHF) Ultimately, LCHF means ditching the processed carbs and getting back to the diet we were originally designed to eat. LCHF means lots of full fat delicious food and getting rid of most of the foods that we see in the center aisles of the grocery store. The current dietary guidelines instruct us to eat 45-55% of our energy from carbohydrate, 25% from protein and <30% from fat (with no more than 10% saturated). With LCHF, you increase your fat intake to over 60% (mostly saturated and monounsaturated fats), keep your protein at 25% and drop your carbohydrate to around 10-15%. Keep in mind these are just guidelines and that the real trick to longevity is allowing some flexibility. LCHF is about eating the most delicious, natural, unprocessed foods possible. This approach strongly advocates food as medicine (to a point) and encourages you to celebrate food for its ability to heal our minds and bodies. We also encourage you to celebrate food in its ability to bring people together and foster connectedness. It s for these reasons we don t encourage you to count calories and macros. For one, we don t think you need to and two, we want you to start trusting your body to dictate your appetite and encourage you to develop healthy eating habits and a healthy relationship with food. Claire & Matt
FOOD LIST
Protein Dairy* Fats & Oils Eggs Meat Poultry Game Fish Other Seafood Offal Natural & Cured Sausages Natural & Cured Meat Hard Cheese Soft Cheese (no fruit) Nautral Pot-Set Yoghurt Full-Cream Milk Cream Cream Cheese Cottage Cheese Ricotta Feta Butter Milk Butter Coconut Oil Lard Ghee Duck Fat Avocado Oil Macadamia Oil Olive Oil Mayonnaise (minus vegetable oil or sugar) Rendered Animal Fat Beverages Sweeteners Veggies Water Tea & Coffee (no sugar, if taken with full fat milk or cream) Stevia Erythritol Xylitol All Vegetables NOTES: if you do not have insulin resistance or diabetes and are otherwise in good health, you probably don t need to limit your intake of any vegetable or dairy product. Make sure you are drinking enough water for your body weight, climate and physical activity levels. If you are thirsty, you are more than likely already dehydrated. During the 12 weeks, your taste buds will be remodeling, they adapt to the reduced sweetness in foods, for this reason, try to avoid sweet foods. If you absolutely need to sweeten foods, use a small amount of stevia or erythritol as both have no effect on blood sugar levels.
Nuts & Seeds Dairy* Veggies Fruit Cashews Chestnuts Hazelnuts Pecans Pinenuts Pistachios Macadamia Nuts Almonds Flaxseeds Walnuts Sunflower Seeds Pumpkin Seeds Hard Cheese Soft Cheese (no fruit) Nautral Pot-Set Yoghurt Full-Cream Milk Cream Cream Cheese Cottage Cheese Ricotta Feta Butter Milk Starchy, high carb or high sugar veggies such as, potato, sweet potato, beans, peas, carrots, beetroots etc. Blackberries Blueberries Strawberries Raspberries Apricots Honeydew Watermelon Passionfruit Lemon Starfruit Coconut NOTES: If weight loss is a priority for you, you may wish to avoid vegetables that are higher in carbohydrate and sugar. Dairy has the ability to increase blood glucose levels. Sometimes dairy has more carbs than we think, or sometimes it has more protein. The body can convert this dairy protein to glucose and is also able to stimulate insulin release, which can be counterproductive to weight loss. You will need to figure this out for yourself, but simply if you are struggle to shift weight, then I would recommend reducing your dairy intake. Nuts are a great LCHF snack, but unfortunately, they contain mostly polyunsaturated fats, which is the wrong chain length. Only eat in moderation, particularly if you are struggling to lose weight.
Protein Fats & Oils Veggies Processed Meats Meats in Marinade Seed Oils (sunflower, safflower, canola etc.) Vegetable Oil Hydrogenated Fats (trans fats) Margarine Starchy, high carb or high sugar veggies such as, potato, sweet potato, beans, peas, carrots, beetroots etc. Sweeteners Grain Dairy Sugar Sucrose Fructose Honey High Fructose Corn Syrup Agave Syrup/Nectar Coconut Sugar Anything ending in - ose Artificial Sweeteners Bread Rice Pasta Pastries Cakes Biscuits Grain-Based Flours Any Processed Dairy (spreads, ice-cream etc.) Dairy sweetened by fruit of other sugar products Beverages Alcohol Juice Soft Drink Flavored Milk Flavored Water Energy Drinks
Substitutions Sometimes you ll need to do recipe substitutions as it s not always possible to cater to everyone s dietary requirements. The more common substitutions are listed below: DAIRY Cream Milk Yoghurt Coconut cream/milk/yoghurt (check ingredient list for additivies, sugar and oils), nut milk. Butter Olive oil spread (check for blends with vegetable oil) Cheese Cashew cheese WHEAT FLOUR Note: quantities may vary between these flours and wheat flour as they behave differently. Each of these flours vary in carbohydrate content and will affect overall carbs for the recipe. Coconut flour, almond meal/flour, arrowroot flour, buckwheat flour, chickpea, cassava, flaxseed, potato starch/flour, tapioca, plantain, sesame, quinoa.