Week 3 - New Year Low Carb Bootcamp - Full Fat or Light?

[BIWI]

So we've completed the hardest part of Bootcamp. Now is the time, if you wish, to relax things a little, and to move on to Bootcamp Light.

On the Spreadsheet of Fabulousness you will - after weighing in, of course - find the rules for Bootcamp Light. However, as I know some people can't access the spreadsheet easily, here they are:

Bootcamp Light

1. Eat when you?re hungry - if you?re not hungry, don?t eat
In Bootcamp, you should have been eating three meals a day. The point of this being to ensure that you got used to eating proper meals, and so that your blood sugar is regulated and stable. Having achieved that, you can now relax this a little bit. If you find you?re not hungry - which often happens, because ketosis suppresses your appetite - then don?t force yourself to eat. But don?t let yourself get so hungry that you make inappropriate choices! Always make sure you have plenty of low carb food to access quickly, if you need to.

2. Avoid processed food
Focus on pure, natural protein as the basis for your meals ? meat/fish/eggs.
You may include processed meats like bacon or (low carb) sausages, smoked salmon, smoked mackerel, gammon - but please don?t have these at every meal or every day. As well as being highly processed they often contain undesirable ingredients, can add unnecessary extra carbs into your diet, and often include sugar.

3. Eat lots of fat
Eating fat helps to keep you feeling fuller for longer. Fry in butter, add butter to vegetables, eat salad with a home-made vinaigrette dressing (not made with balsamic vinegar though, as this is too sweet and has too many carbs), add mayonnaise where you can (just check the carb count on your mayo first). Eat fattier cuts of meat ? e.g. pork belly, roast chicken with the skin on and/or eat the fat off your lamb chops. Absolutely no low fat/light foods of any kind!

4. Make sure you are eating vegetables and salads with your food
This is where the bulk of your carbs should come from, and this is non-negotiable. But choose only those vegetables that are on the allowed list. You don?t have to weigh/count carbs ? this is one of the great joys of this WOE (way of eating), but if you?re new to low carbing it can be helpful to weigh your portions of veg in the early days, just so that you know how many carbs are in the sort of portions that you like to eat.

Beware that some of the veg on the allowed list can be surprisingly high in carbs once you make up a portion of it ? this is because they are denser, and therefore you tend to use more ? compare, for example, 100g of onion with 100g lettuce! Keep your focus on those veg which contain 3g carbs per 100g and use these as the focus of your meals. Use those over 3g per 100g sparingly.

5. You may eat some dairy
You should aim to include plenty of butter on this WOE. Fry with it and add it to your vegetables. And if you know that dairy doesn?t impede your weight loss you may eat cheese, but don't overdo it. Full fat yoghurt is the best way to include dairy in your diet - but beware, it does contain carbs. Total Full Fat is the best.

If you?ve been cutting out tea/coffee, you can re-introduce this ? but just be careful how much milk you end up drinking. You can end up adding a lot of extra carbs this way.

6. You must drink a minimum of 2 litres of water per day
Even if you?re drinking more tea/coffee than in Bootcamp, this is still a non-negotiable part of this WOE. And the more weight you have to lose, the more water you should drink. Water helps to flush out the ketones that your body will product ? so flushing out the fat. However, drinking this amount of water can affect your electrolyte balance; you need to make sure that you get plenty of sodium, magnesium and potassium. There is less need to worry about restricting salt if you?re eating a low carb diet. Good sources of potassium are salmon and avocado and spinach is a good source of magnesium. You could also consider supplements if you have an issue with this.

7. You may drink some alcohol
But restrict this to once or twice a week max. Vodka with soda is the best thing to drink. Or Champagne, red wine or dry white wine. Absolutely no beer/lager, cider, liqueurs, cocktails or full sugar mixers. You can drink spirits with artificial sweeteners, but bear in mind that we are attempting to avoid all things artificial!

Alcohol is the easiest source of fuel for your body, and it will use this over and above anything else that is available to it. Therefore, even if you?re following the diet absolutely to the letter, including alcohol can prevent weight loss.

8. You may eat some fruit
Strawberries, raspberries, blackberries and rhubarb are all fine. But please ? only once a day at the very most, and keep an eye on your portion sizes. Just for information ? these are the carb counts:

Rhubarb ? 0.8g carbs per 100g (but don?t forget you will need to sweeten this ? and not with sugar!)
Blackberries ? 4.4g carbs per 100g
Raspberries ? 4.6g carbs per 100g
Strawberries ? 6g carbs per 100g
Blueberries - 6.4g carbs per 100g (although this is a bit controversial - I have had differing carb counts from various sources - some saying as much as 12g carbs per 100g)

9. You may eat some nuts/seeds
Nuts/seeds can make a good snack. BUT it is incredibly easy to overdo it, and you can end up eating your bodyweight in carbs. As an occasional snack they are great, but keep it occasional and keep the portions to a small handful at most.

Macadamias are not only luscious, but they are very low in carbs.

Here are some carb counts ? BUT ? check the back of your packets as I don?t know if these are for raw or roasted nuts:

Pistachios 4.6g carbs per 100g
Macadamias 4.8g carbs per 100g
Pecans 5.8g carbs per 100g
Almonds 6.9g carbs per 100g
Peanuts 7.1 g carbs per 100g
Cashews 18.1g carbs per 100g

10. Avoid artificial sweeteners
The aim of Bootcamp was to help reduce the stranglehold that sugar has on us ? and to curb your sweet tooth. But it does make some things difficult, e.g. desserts at a dinner party, and it is undeniable that it can be enjoyable ? occasionally ? to eat something sweet. However, restrict such goodies. For some people, artificial sweeteners can impede weight loss.

Cathy, gorgeous puppies and what a beautiful mum dog too! That's such a good way to start the day.

Those puppies are adorable! Black ones and golden ones all mixed up together with little ribbons on!

I am going to the Mumsnet Academy session on Sunday, to be run by Dr John Briffa

I have lots of things I want to ask him, but if any of you have anything you want me to ask, please can you post your questions on this thread?

Many thanks!

Oooh, will have to think about that, BIWI! How exciting.

cathy your puppies are beautiful, and by the way looking at you profile you are looking fierce in your bikini. LC is obviously working fantastically for you. I love to see before and after pictures!

Oh, talking about puppies and bikinis in the same sentence may be open to misinterpretation. That sentence looks all wrong written down!

Ahhh what adorable puppies Cathy - thanks! My childhood dog was a black lab, they are such lovely dogs.

Also - very impressed by your low-carbing results, you look great!

Willie and Ewan* thanks for fishcakes advice. Didn't do them in the end as DH cooked steak béarnaise with lots of spinach. But might do tomorrow - I might try cauliflower mixed with celeriac to make it less soggy.

teddy will report back!

Had the cream cheese pancakes for breakfast and they were lovely - didn't fancy making them sweet, had them with blue cheese instead and imaginary spinach - we ate it all last night so no veg for me this morning tut tut

I have found another yogurt that is LC - Asda Extra Special Authentic Greek Yogurt is 4g carbs and 10g fat per 100g. It is 1.28 for a 400g pot.

starshaker I made sauce for prawns using tomato puree instead of ketchup last week - it's not got sugar like ketchup and although quite carby per 100g you need a teeny tiny amount. Add some cayenne and it's very nice.

Also, PUPPIES! I just want to SQUEEZE them!

Thanks bullet I shall have a look for that as I still haven't found any Total FF yogurt.

Hello everyone - I always feel I need to introduce myself as I don't post much and this thread moved FAST I also don't weigh as I find it counter productive.

I have been really enjoying the food this week, thanks for all of the inspiration on the recipe thread.

Ooh BIWW... I have a question

Can you ask Dr John about LC and childrens dietary needs, in my case growing boys... My two do lots of competitive sport, always active and starving, but not sure hoovering a loaf between them every day is ideal... Assuming carbs from fruit veg and starchy veg is ideal, but is there an recommended daily amount from pulses or grain?

BIWI, about the questions for john briffa, I think I have one.

I remember reading a book many years ago that suggested that the 'toxins' that find their way into the food we eat, can't be used by the body and end up stored in fat around the body. The toxins were things like pesticides, chemicals, additives, preservatives etc.

So if by following this woe, we are using up stored fat, does that mean these oxins are mobilised? If the body couldn't deal with them before, where do they end up?

The same is true for animals, ie the chemicals the body can't use get stored in their body fat, so if we are consuming more fatty foods, is this a problem.

Since reading that book, I changed to mostly have organic dairy products, but this woe is making me think about the book again in terms of meats etc.

If anyone's interested it was a book by a lady called Dr Paula Baliee Hamilton and it was about chemical calories. Very interesting reading.

Thanks.

Cathy the puppies are just adorable

Ooh, kitchen fairy, good question about kids. I actually feel guilty for going my dc rice but don't know if it's okay for them. Knowing what I know from that swedish video, I feel like I'm creating a problem for them in the future. If that makes sense.

Just out of interest. Mark Sisson, of primal blueprint, says that pulses aren't actually good for you. He says anything that has to be cooked to make it less poisoness like some beans, aren't meant for human consumption. Things that can safely be eaten with no or minimal cooking are fine. I can't actually eat lentils etc as they always give me heartburn and very bad erm indigestion wind

As it happens dd has many allergies including to legumes, so I sometimes kick myself for not listening to my body and just not eating all those sorts of foods, as I'm sure a lot of things that don't sit we'll with me are what she is allergic to.

Sorry for the long posts always.

thekitchenfairy - how old are your DC?

Hello Humphrey!

Just wanted to say how much this diet has helped my DH's skin problem. He's got patches of psoriasis, mainly on his arms and has them for about 6 years.

After two and a half weeks on this diet, his skin has improved so much, the patches are literally shrinking and he says they don't itch as much.

I wish I'd taken before and after photos as it is really quite remarkable. It must be all those pesky carbs causing it! He's also lost a stone so he's a very happy man!

Menu today-
B-Greek yoghurt and berries
S-teaspoon of peanut butter
L-omelette with mushrooms and salad
D-beef burgers with melted cheese, salad and roasted courgettes/celeriac/shallots.

Mumat. It's my understanding that as you virtually wee out the fat released from this WOE, the chemicals etc stored within should go same way.

I have read a lot of people take charcoal tablets when they start this woe to help your body get rid of toxins. Apparently charcoal absorbs them as it passes thru your digestive system. This is why hospitals use charcoal into the stomach for those who have overdosed or drunk/eaten toxic substances.

I was going to get some charcoal tablets from holland and Barrett to see if it would help me.

Hi BIWI. I'd be interested to know whether there's a risk of eating too much protein (especially red meat) on this WOE and if we should be thinking about the proportion of our intake made up by certain types of meat, versus vegetables, to avoid the risk of other potential negative outcomes. I think I am eating much more red meat on this WOE currently, which is funny as I am a big fan of fish so I am trying to consciously up my intake. Is there any evidence that suggests that one sort of meat protein is better than another when low-carbing.

Also, what would it take to get some proper studies done to demonstrate a) the benefits of low-carbing and b) the fact that saturated fat and cholesterol are not necessarily bad for you. Why has this academic research not happened yet in a way that health authorities will listen to?

Not sure that makes any sense....

Realise you're not going to be able to get him to answer all these questions, so no panic if you don't get to this!

YY about the DC question; my DS is 2 and seems to actively avoid pasta and bread. He likes beans and the occasional tin of 'peppa pig sketty', but otherwise he really is more of a curry or soup chap.

Could it be that he's naturally avoiding foods that make him feel bad?

People seem to frown on me a bit for 'giving into him' and not making him sandwiches/toast/cereal and always having to give him hot meals. Apparently I'm making a rod for my own back But nursery have reported the same; bagels etc are always met with the same calm pulling apart of the bread and eating (or licking) of the filling, before carefully placing the slices back together and putting them back on his plate. They've given up and give him soup or the veggie option (usually a cauliflower veg bake or something).

So really, my DS is forcing me to let him live this way. There's nothing I can do. Is it ok? He is very slim; still in 6~12 month baby Gap jeans and he is 2.3 and 7th Centile. I got told at his 2 year check to 'keep offering him bread, maybe cut up into little shapes because he needs the bulk', but where is the point?

I'd be interested to hear back about that.

Went to a work meeting yesterday. LOTS of compliments and smiles from people! My thighs looked (very slightly) concave in the bath, which was pleasing. And I am another 2lb down, so 11lb total so far. Oh, and have treated myself to extended wear contacts .

Again, many thanks for the help and support!

mumat, you do actually burn the fat for energy. Generally speaking everyone will do this at some point during the night, as all bodies tend to fuel themselves without eating when we are asleep and not ingesting food.

Fat stores add & deplete constantly. I'm not sure of the science behind toxins binding themselves to the tri-glycerides that move in & out of the fat cells, this is not something I've heard of & it sounds unlikely - but I'm not a bio-chemist.

What kind of toxins do you think you might be ingesting?

BIWI my question is along the same lines as savoirfaire. I'd be interested to know about the current research pipeline in low carb eating. Is there much up and coming research to get excited about? Is there difficulty in getting funding for this kind of research, particularly given the bad press low carbing often has?

It feels like there needs to be a seminal longitudinal study of HCLF versus LCHF diets, addressing not just weight loss but other health factors too. As well looking at psychological well being - a hugely important factor that a lot of us are reporting.

slatterlymother - there is no need to eat bread. For most of human history we have not eaten bread. I would be happier if my children did NOT eat bread tbh, and I have tried and failed to cut their consumption. It sounds like your ds knows what is good for him.

hi Biwi, maybe ask Briffa if he knows how important carbs are for children's diets.

and also, if one cheats on a regular basis on a low carb diet and thus continually moves in and out of ketosis, is it better for their long term health if they were not to be on a low carb diet. (not talking about me of course!)

of course Briffa's opinion will be much more relevant than mine