A High Fat, Low Carb Healthy Diet minus Sugar
A lot of words and books have been written about diets, health and weight loss over the past 50 years but all that matters to me is what actually gets results for me.
I have tried to implement many eating plans and strategies over the years and now 20 years into the 21st century I am achieving the results that I have always attempted to attain.
I started toying with the ketogenic diet in early 2019 and during the interim I have lost around about 25 kgs in weight and feel healthier and fitter than I have in at least 25 years. On the journey I have repaired my liver, normalised my blood pressure, turned around the strong potential to have Type 2 Diabetes and generally let my body heal itself. I haven’t undone all of the harm that I did to myself in the ensuing 25 years but I am well on the way.
Yes, I have to “give up” lots of food that I liked to eat but when I really look hard at it the majority of the food that I now forsake is empty calories with no nutritional value, it’s just food that is full of grains, glucose and fructose and seed oils. In other words I have given up almost all processed food.
Take an hour out of your busy life and listen to the following lecture by Dr Paul Mason. Wise words that if followed bring about miraculous results.
At this point I want to make it very clear that flavour and enjoyment is an integral part of my eating regime but the underlying factor that surpasses anything else is that the food that I eat and the liquid I drink is the fuel that my body uses for energy and to regenerate my cells as well as heal itself plus it is sustenance for the trillions of microscopic bacteria and viruses that have hitched a ride on my body and that act as chemical plants to keep me healthy and protected from the whims of my environment.
The proof is in the pudding.
My observations are anecdotal and are based on the results that my wife and I have had over the past few years.
There are many other activities that I do as well, like long walks, saunas, hyperbaric oxygen, intravenous supplements, intermittent fasting and a long list of other therapies but the foundation of my new found health is based on what I do and don’t put in my mouth.
When I mention the ketogenic diet to people I have a feeling that most of them look at it as a fad diet of bacon and eggs. This couldn’t be further from the truth.
Like any diet the nutritional value is based on the quality of the food that you eat. There will be many variations of the ketogenic diet, some very healthy and some not so healthy but the basis is high fat, low carb with a bit of protein. As with any diet the food processors always tend to jump on the band wagon and create packaged food with fancy labels embellished with words like “keto friendly” “low carb” and some people probably even think that by eating this keto junk food that they will become healthy. This is so far from the truth.
The principle of the healthy ketogenic diet for me is the macros ratio and their quality. Approx 80% healthy fat, 5% healthy carbs and 15% healthy protein. This might sound freaky but 80% fat isn’t all that much in terms of bulk. There is so much data around now about the value of eating organically grown food and vegetables, grass fed humanely raised meat products, clean saturated fats. Our society has been ravaged by illnesses exacerbated by over consumption of grains, sugar, fructose, seed oils and chemicals.
Compare a bowl of freshly picked organically grown salad vegetables with some cold pressed extra virgin olive oil (or MCT Oil) topped with some protein like wild caught salmon and goats feta embellished with herbs and a sprinkling of sea salt to a frozen pizza that is heated up in a microwave and then crisped up in an oven for 5 minutes. Check out our lunch today, mainly from our garden.
