LCHF
First of all, what is lchf?
Low carb and high fat. And that is exactly what it is. You eat low carb food and you eat a lot of fat.
- Meat: Any type, including beef, pork, game meat, chicken etc. Do not cut and throw away the fat on the meat and eat the skin on the chicken.
- Fish and shellfish: Especially fatty fish like salmon, mackerel and herring.
- Eggs: boiled, fried, poached, omelettes
- Butter, coconut oil, olive oil
- Vegetables that grow above the ground: all kinds of cabbage, asparagus, zucchini, eggplant, olives, spinach, mushrooms, lettuce, cucumber,avocado, peppers, tomatoes etc.
- Dairy products: always HIGH FAT option like butter (margarine is NOT allowed), cream, sour cream, Greek/turkish yogurt, cheese. Avoid lowfat and flavored products.
- Nuts: mostly pecans, Brazil nuts and macadamias (have a carb % under 5)
- Berries (a good option is to eat them with whipped cream or coconut cream)
This is more or less how a plate should like:
and this is how the lchf food pyramid looks like :
Have you noticed that its basically the upside version of the "standard food pyramid" ????
Being a vegetarian(like me) does not make eating LCHF impossible.
I eat a lot of :
- coconut derivatives: coconut milk, coconut cream, coconut oil, coconut flakes, fresh coconut, shredded coconut, coconut oil
- dairy : quark, cottage cheese, Greek/Turkish yogurt, cream, whipped cream,Philadelphia cheese (full fat of everything)
- cheese: mostly goat cheese (as goats have a similar gastrointestinal physiology to ours)
- eggs : boiled, fried, poached
- avocado
- nuts : mostly Brazil nuts, macadamia nuts and pecans as they are higher in fat. But I also eat a lot of peanuts, hazelnuts, walnuts, almonds and cashews
- All vegetables: spinach, lettuce,argula, zucchini, cauliflower,eggplant, broccoli, peppers, cabbage, pumpkin,
- olives and olive oil
- mushrooms
- red pesto, pesto, kale pesto, argula pesto
- berries
- nut butters
- quorn and other vegetarian alternatives to meat like seitan.
- Alcohol: white wine
- seeds: mostly sesame, flax seeds, pine nuts, pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds.
- sea weed noodles and konjak noodles
Here is what a "lchf" buffe dinner looked like for me and my mum:
I believe that LCHF is a flexible diet and you yourself can make a meal High in fat and low in carbohydrates depending on what you serve with it !
You can make a meal high in fat by , for example,adding extra healthy oils to it.
This is why I also eat:
- some fruit
- sugar free chocolate and cacao
- protein powder (casein and whey)
- root veggies (like carrots)
Do I miss pasta, pizza, rice, muesli and bread ????
The answer is no because I have found alternatives to it:
RICE = cauliflower rice
PASTA = spiralized zucchini, konjak noodles, seaweed noodles, fitness noodles
PIZZA = coconut flour pizza, almond crust pizza, hazelnut flour pizza, no crust pizza (you use a layer of cheese instead of the crust)
BREAD = I make seed crackers that I eat instead of crisp bread, I use a slice of cheese instead of crispbread that I top with coconut butter or peanut butter, and Lidl has a amazing lchf bread made of flax seed flour.
MUESLI= I make my own muesli and granola that basically consists of different nuts, seeds and coconut chips
CAKES = the list of lchf cakes is endless and trust me, they taste much better than the healthy low fat sugar free versions.
I´d like to remind you all that I decided to go low card NOT with the aim to loose weight but to get control back of my life. I was so tired of feeling tired, moody, anxious and hungry all the time. I was tired of not being to sleep at night because my anxiety was so high.
This does not mean that I will eat lchf every day from now for the rest of my life. I am not finally able to enjoy my life again and not to panic to much when it comes to planing the future. When I am in company I will eat what I am served and not be the "complicated guest" (that does not eat this and that does not eat that) but when I am home or with my family, I will eat lchf.
This is so usefull! I want to start a low carb diet but all of the information can be so overwhelming - would you ever consider making a 5 - 7 day meal plan for total beginners? It would be incredibly helpful! kisses!! :DDD <33
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for your comment :) I am not allowed to make meal plans untill I get my degree in nutrition (in 7 months!) but I can advice you on how a typical LCHF day would look like (here in the comments). Are you vegetarian? Do you have any allergies ?
DeleteAh okay! That would be great thank you! I'm not a vegetarian and I have no allergies so hopefully that will make it easier for you :D
DeleteHi! Thanks for all the great info. I have a possibly dumb question but I know in the past when I've eaten similar to this I've allowed myself to continue eating beans and lentils. What are your thoughts on this? I know these foods are high in carb but I've heard their protein content kind of counterbalances that. Also do you eat quinoa? I know it's technically a seed but most people eat it instead of rice so I wasn't totally sure.
ReplyDeleteThanks!