I’m 28 years old female who lives in Victoria, Australia. I grew up in the country and love the country lifestyle. Besides my amazing boyfriend my true loves are food, fitness, travel and budgeting! I’m a qualified Registered Nurse and at the beginning of this year my world and knowledge around healthy eating got turned upside down!
Throughout my teen years and adult life, up until 2015 I had a tremendous appetite. I would eat three large meals a day plus morning and afternoon tea, all made up of a ‘well-balanced diet and healthy snacks’. I found it very difficult to stay full and I would need to eat every 3-4hours, if I didn’t eat I would become shaky and irritable and unable to concentrate. I also struggled to achieve my fitness goals and couldn’t lose that last niggling 5-10kgs.
At the beginning of 2015 I was introduced to the LCHF way of eating (WOE), and I say WOE and not diet because diets don’t work. Diets are fads which cannot be maintained! Diets don’t work in the long run because people don’t enjoy the foods their eating, exercise regimes aren’t sustained, and diets are often associated with hunger! LCHF works because hunger diminishes, the food is amazing and energy levels increase.
Personally, in the past I could never exercise first thing in the morning without eating because I would wake up hungry every day and not have energy until I ate. If I did want to do early morning exercise this meant having to eat 1 hour prior, and getting up far too early… I’m not a morning person lol. Since changing to LCHF WOE I can now wake up and do early morning exercise without needing to eating prior, and I have plenty of energy to complete a high intensity workout.
It took me around 2-3 weeks to understand the concept that ‘fat is good’, and to be honest at times it still gets me. Within the 2-3 weeks of starting LCHF I started seeing results, which help reinforce my new high fat eating habits. Before LCHF I wouldn’t dream of eating chicken skin or pork belly as the idea of eating fatty products made my stomach cringe, and I thought they were unhealthy. But after becoming ‘fat adapted’ I now enjoying eating fatty meats, creams, cheeses, and yoghurt… and I can eat them all guilt free!
Of course all food should be eaten in moderation no matter what you’re eating, but foods rich in fat and protein tend to fill you faster and keep you fuller longer, and you will find that you will start eating smaller portions without even trying! Basically eat until you feel full, then stop eating, leaving food on your plate is not a bad thing!
Benefits to LCHF for me
- Eating smaller food portions
- Remaining fuller for longer
- Delicious food options
- Cholesterol markers are perfect
- The flexibility to exercise at any time of the day as I no longer have to eat prior to exercise
- RARELY experience feeling shaky, dizzy, irritable or that pit of the stomach hunger
- Stable mood
- Increased energy levels
- Can fast for 12 – 18 hours without feeling hungry
- Clothes are loser and more comfortable
- Increased motivation
- Feel more confident and positive about myself, which is good for mental health!
- I previously had horrendous skin, and now I barely get the occasional pimple!
- Improved concentration
Disadvantages to LCHF
- For the first two weeks I experienced sugar withdrawal symptoms: tiredness, irritability & lack of energy.
- If I don’t eat enough fibre your bowels will slow up, so be sure to eat lots of fiber rich food and drink water.
People are less likely to fall back into old habits if they like and enjoy the new change. If it’s easy, maintainable and positive results are occurring then consistency to committing to this WOE is more sustainable!
Since commencing my LCHF journey I haven’t fallen off the band wagon because I love and enjoy what I eat and I feel great! Everyone’s journey is different because the way in which our bodies process foods can be different. Before making any changes to diet and lifestyle I urge you to see your doctor and talk about your plan.
I recently sort some professional advice from a Nutritionist in Melbourne Victoria who supports LCHF, and she was amazing! It was a very professional sit down where we went through my medical history, goals and my lifestyle. I felt very comfortable and she explained things I was uncertain about. For me my goals are to maintaining my current weight and inflammatory markers. Vicky individualises each person’s plan of attack, provides many resources to guide you in the right direction, and makes herself available on a closed facebook page for any questions you might have. Plus on this Facebook page you can read about what other people have posted, some might be questions you already have.
If you are interested in further Nutritional support hit the website below, she is amazing!
Let’s talk food!! I can’t stress enough that everyone is different and what works for John may not work for Jack. Some people are more sensitive to particular foods than other. The easiest way to determine if you are sensitive to a particular food group is by reducing or cutting it out for 3-6 weeks and see what happens. I personally have to watch that I don’t have too much cream or protein as I can eat large amounts of both before feeling full and this causes weight gain for me. I do my best to eat slowly where possible, only eat what’s on my plate and not go back for seconds, eat until I’m comfortably full, and try eat only when I’m hungry but NOT starving otherwise I tend to over-eat!
As a child and through my teen years I had a lot of trouble with my bowels and I never understood why. Doctors were never able to give me an answer. One day my mother took me to see a naturopath and the naturopath diagnosed me as lactose intolerance. I stopped eating dairy products such as yoghurt, milk and cheeses and found a marked improvement. I tried changing to lactose free milk but still found it to cause my regular intolerance symptoms. I found I had to cut dairy out just about completely. I would occasionally have dairy products but they were not in large quantities. It wasn’t until I was about 2014 that I started introducing more dairy products back into my diet, I was able to eat more dairy than I recent could but I still suffered if I ate too much. Since commencing LCHF I did not hold back from eating dairy, but I did stay away from milk. Now not only am I symptom free but, excuse my honesty, my bowel actions have decreased for 4 times per day to only once now, and the consistency is consistently normal more often than not for the first time in years.
CHOLESTEROL
Now I don’t know about you guys but I was getting very concerned about my cholesterol results until I did some research and researched the most up-to-date medical journals. My questions were what is cholesterol, and why is my Doctor telling me I have high cholesterol and the LCHF community telling me it’s okay? Turns out my General Practitioner (GP) isn’t up to date!
Most Doctors look at the Total Cholesterol Result, this was the golden standard rule for many years but not anymore. I went and saw my GP the other day, she told me that I was unhealthy because my Total Cholesterol result was 7.4 mol/L. When I questioned her about what LDL, HDL and the triglyceride results meant she couldn’t explain it to me and she was aware that I am a Nurse! Just because they are Doctors doesn’t mean that they know everything, keeping up-to-date with our ever changing evidence based research can’t be easy I know but I was a little disappointed to say the least!
So here’s the basic run-down about what all those numbers mean on your cholesterol test
HDL: Best to sit above 1.5 mmol/L minimum, above 2 mmol/L is best!
MY HDL RESULT: 2.3 mmol/L
Triglycerides: If this reading is above 1 mmol/L then LDL particles are small and dense (this is BAD, think of them as hard golf balls bashing around your arteries). When triglyceride levels are below 1 mmol/L then the LDL particles are large and fluffy (this is GOOD, like beach balls floating around in your arteries).
MY TRIGLYCERIDE RESULT: 0.5 mmol/L
LDL: If your triglyceride levels are below 1 mmol/L then its okay for your LDL levels to sit high (Lots of beach ball aren’t going to do damage). But if your triglyceride levels are above 1 mmol/L and your LDL levels are high then you are at an increased risk of heart disease (Lots of hard golf balls bashing around in your arteries, not good!)
MY LDL RESULT: 4.9 mmol/L
NEW ADVENTURE – APRIL 2016
Continuing to eat LCHF whilst traveling for 7 months around America and Canada!!
I will endeavour to load new content when I can but unfortunately there will not be new recipes on a regular basis, nor will I be updating the latest articles as often as I’d like too, sorry guys!
BUT hopefully I can attract a hole new audience in America & Canada and inform them about the LCHF way of eating!!
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