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.

dosh- after briefly causing a panic regarding the mfp fennel count I don't think I'll hold the babycorn against you.

I usually look at the packet, but bought at the grocers so no info available.

I'm currently reading escaping the diet trap- bought when I found out about my wheat intolerance (friday), and its a revelation. I too wonder why there is not more support for this woe in the public/media when the science is well conducted and well referenced. Bit of conspiracy but it does make me query the diet industry and who is gaining from promotion of hclf eating?

that's good mumat39, i was a bit worried it would be even more stress for you, but it's lovely that you can eat together more now

oh that sounds excellent coldethyl!

Hi all

coldethyl the courgette baguette is genius

Thanks BIWI, ok so last few days

mon:
B cheese and spinach omlette
L leftover homemade beef stew
S Nigellas baked eggs (basically eggs with double cream!) (was in a rush)

tue:
B fried eggs, mushrooms, 2 baby tomatoes
L/S salmon baked with pesto, salad, mayo
snack - a babybel
(I know what you're going to say, but was working 12pm-10pm and only get 1 break so usually only eat 2 meals when doing that shift)

today
B scrambled eggs, buttery spinach (got full and couldnt finish it - really unlike me!)
L salmon baked with pesto, salad, mayo
S will prob have homemade chicken soup with chicken and some veg (didn't you know chicken soup heals all ills?)

mumat39 I love what you wrote, I know what you mean about knowing what to do and how to do it but not doing it! I have less to lose, prob a stone and a bit, but have been chubby my whole adult life so not expecting it to be quick. I think that's where I struggle, short attention span and want to get instant, permanent results!

pyjamalover - your meals look fine ignores lack of meal on Tuesday

But - you're not eating much veg. It's important that you get your carbs from veg/salad. And check the carb count on that pesto - I was horrified when I realised how carby it is.

And, it doesn't look like you're eating much fat - all your protein seems to be relatively low fat.

I'm the same pyjamalover. That's why I think I'm going to just stick to bootcamp lite as I don't trust myself not to fall off the wagon into a pile of donuts ;)

BIWI, is it really that easy to come out of ketosis? I had protein shakes for breakfast the last two days and have been feeling better, but didn't think I'd have undone the last two weeks. I had chicken breast this morning for breakfast with lashings of mayo and an avocado.

I know we're not counting carbs, but once in ketosis is there a point in terms of carbs at which I would come out of ketosis? I don't even know if that makes sense.

Thanks again.

BIWI - miss, miss! - I have questions for Dr Briffa!

Okay - you've already had lots of requests and all of them good, so I won't be offended if you don't have time to squeeze mine in. However - here goes:

QUESTION FOR DOC JOHN:

A couple of days ago, you (BIWI) posted for me an article of his which critiqued The Swedish Study.

It was very good; HOWEVER. He says in this article here that some of the key reasons that The Swedish Study is rubbish is that (a) it is self-reported data (notoriously unreliable) but that (b) it is an epidemiological study, i.e. (as he goes on to say):

"The data is epidemiological in nature, which means it can never tell us anything more than the associations between things, and certainly not that one thing is causing another."

HOWEVER. He then goes on to discuss in the same article why saturated fat ISN'T harmful to us. But he says:

"Does saturated fat cause cardiovascular disease? Major recent reviews of the evidence suggest not [3-5]. It should be noted that this evidence is epidemiological in nature, so we can?t be certain that saturated fat does not cause problems from this evidence. [my emphasis] However, the lack of an association between saturated fat and cardiovascular disease strongly suggests that eating more of it is unlikely to be a problem."

SO:
I'm not losing sleep over this, but I have a bit of an issue/question I would like answering about this!

It can't escape us that he refutes the "LCHF diet causes heart disease" argument by dismissing it because the studies are epidemiological in nature, yet his arguments FOR LCHF are ALSO based on studies that are epidemiological in nature (i.e. only show associations, or lack of associations for heart disease, in this case).

Don't get me wrong - I am sold on LCHF and I nod vigorously when reading this stuff, and the kitchenfairy's story from yesterday is the proverbial proof in the pudding.

But I would really, really like to know his answer to this - and am hoping he has a good one!

(Apols for length of question )

thanks BIWI, will take that on board.

anyone got any ideas how to get some fat into a veggie stir fry with tofu? we don't eat loads of meat, but made this last week, cooked in olive oil, and wasn't very satisfying, probably as very low fat.

PS> SavoirFaire posted a related question above, which was when ARE we going to see proper intervention studies that can prove that LCHF is good for us?

In synopsis (as my Q was very long) - how can he dismiss anti LCHF arguments (e.g. the Swedish study) on the basis that they're supported by weak epidemiological data, when his arguements FOR LCHF are also based on (presumably equally) weak, epidemiological data.

End of novelty's question!

Blimey. Can you ask some easier questions, please?

pyjama - how about frying with coconut oil? We shouldn't really be frying with olive oil, apparently, as the high heat changes it/makes it less healthy - whereas coconut oil is much healthier. And with a stir-fry, would add another lovely flavour.

pregnant pause - there is an awful lot of money being made by the likes of kelloggs, weight watchers, slimfast & every other company who sell "diet" low fat products. Most of the foods sold are very high carb & often very sweet, usually made from cheap basic ingredients like wheat & sugar with some vitamins thrown in to make them appear wholesome. We all know how much a box of SpecialK costs and it is nearly all rice flakes (uber cheap) at about £3.50 for a 750g box. Imagine what the profit on that must be?

Most of these companies are members of organisations like the British Nutrition Foundation, the Food & Drink Federation and they make sure that their interests are represented both in the press & politically.

At the start of my career (when I didn't know any better) I used to work in the PR dept for a global soft drinks manufacturer and believe me we worked very hard indeed to ensure that all the right messages got out & supported other huge global multinationals with similar interests too. We also funded "independent" studies & you have to believe me when I say no corporately funded study is ever independent!!!!

So, it is not a conspiracy at all, but a fairly well acknowledged fact that the companies making alot of money out of cheap "diet" or low fat goods, are going to fight very hard to protect their interests.

Sorry BIWI - just posted a mucho shortened version above!

Good question novelty!

It is, indeed, a very good question. I'm more worried about the fact that I won't remember/understand his answer!

Smile and nod. Smile and nod.

Postbellum, good post!

I have also heard that a lot of training for nhs dieticians is also funded/sponsored by these same coorporate food giants.

Also, the conspiracy is that the public aren't given all the facts. Someone in 1985 decided that cholesterol was bad for us, so we all started to turn to low fat stuff.

When we started to get diabetes, or whatever, we get referred to dieticians at the hospital who then tell us how to eat healthily! Ie low fat and whole grains.

The body works the way it works. Surely, the messages that the public are given should be based on what's good for us rather than what's good for the big corporate food giants.

My dad has recently been diagnosed with diabetes and he went on a full days workshop at their local hospital where they were told to eat less, eat less sugar and eat more whole grains and less processed. My dad has been following this advice but when he tests his blood everyday, he can see that after two hours of eating his blood sugar is spiking. Therefore he's still producing too much insulin, therefore he needs the drugs to control that and so the cycle continues.

The huge majority of the population don't have time, I assume, to read p about the actual facts, so they will trust the advice they are given by the people who are there to look after their health. Even though I have read quite a few books on the low carb high fat subject, It has still taken me ages to believe it enough to make the changes. I have now thanks to BIWI and everyone on here but even with the facts it has been a leap of faith because of the years and years of misinformation that we've been spoon fed.

And breathe!

Sorry got carried away there.

Thanks mumat

BIWI Give it a go (if you get the chance, that is) and maybe he'll answer with a nice, memorable (and persuasive) answer! I am hoping he does. (Or scribble fast...)

BIWI, can you record him on a dictaphone?

Ratherbeonthepiste's strategy also good.

I was thinking about that, mumat39. I use a digital recorder for my work, so could easily do that. Will have to check with Mumsnet/Dr Briffa first, though.

I wonder if mumsnet would video the workshops and then sell them on DVD? I was thinking of booking up to go along, but couldn't in the end, but I would love to have attended. I would buy a DVD if the was one.