High Fat Low Carb Diet
What is it? A HCLF diet is exactly what it says on the tin. You eat high fat products with low carbs and sugar. Some common high fat products are:
Low carbs are:
How could a diet like this possibly work Good question! Firstly, let’s start by saying: fat doesn’t make you fat. It really doesn’t fat is a fuel source just as a carbohydrate is. We’ve been led astray for too long. Fat doesn’t make you fat, carbohydrates make you fat. How? Carbohydrate cause and insulin response What’s insulin? Insulin is a hormone that our body produces in order to lower our blood sugar levels, as too much sugar in the blood is poisonous. The natural process of the body is to store fat and release that fat inbetwen meals when we need energy for our daily routein. When we have an insulin spike, what it does is pushes the carbohydrates into the muscles and uses that as energy instead. During this period, when the fat is usually processed into energy it stays in the cells and we end up storing it as fat. On a continued cycle of eating a high amount of carbohydrates the body is continuously storing fat. The fat cells in the body eventually become greedy and stop letting out fat for energy. When you have no energy release to the body, the body sends a signal to you to eat more in order for it to get energy. It’s a vicious cycle. You are getting fat because you’re eating so many carbs and invoking a insulin response which stores fat, the fat isn’t released when you need energy throughout the day, causing you to eat more. Carbohydrates have 4 calories per gram you eat. Fats have 9 calories per gram you eat. Logically you should get more energy from fats due to the amount of calories it holds, and as fat is our bodies preferred source of fuel it will be used more efficiently. Watching a programme the other day called ‘How To Lose Weight Well’ had this and many other diets on it. Looking at various social media sites with their hashtag ‘#howtoloseweightwell’ there were a lot of people saying various things about the diets. This diet in particular was used on one of the women on the show who was overweight (by her own definition). She found that a lot of the things were very rich and that she didn’t have much energy to do her daily tasks. Her diet lasted two weeks! This came under a lot of criticism due to her having no energy so It couldn’t possibly be healthy, but not only did she lose the most out of her and her friend she was dieting with, I’d be willing to bet that a majority if not all of that weight loss was body fat! The reason this lovely lady felt a lack of energy is because she went into the diet cold turkey- Meaning that her body is used to carbohydrates being used as energy, snacking throughout the day when she feels hungry, on carbohydrates like crisps, crackers and bread rolls. Like I mentioned above, when the body is used to the insulin response, your body’s cells have become greedy from all of the the fat that it has been allowed to store and won’t let go. This process can take up to 6 weeks to change. By change I mean for your body to start synthesising the fat in the cells rather than your body telling you it is hungry and you eating more. Once it starts to synthesise the fat properly your energy levels will continue to be normal. Side effects of HFLC diet In the first few weeks you may find: - Increase irritability - Increased hunger - Decreased energy - Dehydration Dehydration is a big part of this nutrition plan. Carbohydrates help your body draw water into the body, which can mean that a lot of weight that you hold is water weight too. When you start to eat fats the body doesn’t hold as much water which means that you will have to drink more water than you usually would, as your body will just filter it through and won’t hold it in the cells like it usually would while eating lots of carbohydrates. Is it sustainable? In the age we live in it is much easier to eat carbohydrates than it is fats. It’s easier to makes a sandwich then it is a feta cheese and walnut salad. Not as expensive to buy. It can easily be done the same as anything if you are able to prepare everything you need too. The hardest bit will be the initial 6 weeks when you aren’t eating carbohydrates and your body adapts, you will more than likely be moody and lack energy. If you aren’t a person who likes nuts, red meats and such then this diet certainly isn’t for you. The lady on the show ‘How To Lose Weight Well’ wasn’t eating her food and giving it to her dog because it was “too rich.” Some people may find that it isn’t to their liking, but during this time it is important to be eating all of your meals as you will feel as though you are lacking in energy anyway. Summary This has been my short review on High Fat Low Carb dieting, hopefully it was of some use to some people. I’d be very interested to hear other people’s opinions on the matter. If you have any useful information feel free to share it as I would love to learn more about it. I would be very interested to see what people disagree with me have to say about the matter and scientific reasoning behind it. For some further reading on the subject go too- http://authoritynutrition.com/23-studies-on-low-carb-and-low-fat-diets/ This website has some great studies that support the HFLC diet and they are all interesting reads, if you wish to know a little bit more. As with every study done there are all things that can be picked out and said to be wrong with the parameters of it. Thanks for reading xxx
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