Answers
Frequently Asked Questions
What is LCHF lifestyle?
LCHF means low-carbohydrate, healthy-fat. This means:
- a lifestyle high in healthy fats and low in carbohydrates
- eating whole, real, healthy, and fresh foods
- following a nutritious diet composed of meat, fish, eggs, nuts, seeds, healthy fats, and various types of vegetables and fruit
- getting rid of additives, chemicals, preservatives, and other harmful ingredients in your food.
Studies show that low-carb diets result in weight loss and improved health markers.
What is the keto lifestyle?
The keto or ketogenic diet is a low-carb, moderate protein, and healthy-fat lifestyle that has many benefits for weight loss, health, and performance. The “keto” in a ketogenic diet comes from the fact that it allows the body to produce small fuel molecules called “ketones”, which are an alternative fuel source for the body used when blood sugar (glucose) is in short supply. The liver can produce ketones from fat, which then serve as a fuel source throughout the body, especially for the brain. When the body produces ketones, it enters a metabolic state called ketosis. On a ketogenic diet, your entire body switches its fuel supply to run mostly on fat so that fat burning can increase dramatically due to lower insulin levels. This is great if you are trying to lose weight, but there are also other less obvious benefits, such as less hunger and a steady supply of energy. This may help keep you alert and focused. The ketogenic diet has been shown to have therapeutic uses in conditions including:
- Weight loss
- Cancer
- Insulin resistance and Diabetes
- Mental health and Depression
- Epilepsy
- Alzheimer’s disease and Dementia
- ADHD
- Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome and Pregnancy
- Migraine
- Sport performance
What are processed foods?
Processed foods are foods that do not look like they have come straight from the earth – they no longer look ‘natural’ because they have been packaged and have had different ingredients added to them to make them taste nice and stay fresh for longer. Processed foods are those that typically come in a box or bag and contain more than one item on the list of ingredients. Real food goes off and has a very short shelf life. Examples of processed food are potato chips, tinned soup, Vienna sausages, KFC/McDonald and breakfast cereals. Some processed foods like chopped frozen vegetables can be healthy, but most of them have hidden sugars and preservatives in them.
What are carbohydrates?
Carbohydrates are chains of sugar linked together which break down into either glucose, fructose, or galactose in the body and raise the blood sugar levels. Examples of carbohydrate-reach foods are bread, pap, pasta, beans, potatoes, bran, rice, and cereals. Humans do not need carbohydrates to survive.
Most processed foods and drinks are high in carbohydrates and will make your blood sugar levels rise. When your blood sugar levels rise, your body needs to find a way to either use or store all the new energy. Our bodies release a hormone called insulin to normalise the blood sugar levels. All the energy we do not use turns into fat. Too much sugar in the blood means we need to produce more insulin – too much of either of these can have negative long-term effects on the body and increase your risk of developing obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and other conditions.
Carbohydrates and sugars do not keep you full when you eat them so you need to eat more of them than you would natural foods. Good carbohydrates are found in some fruits and vegetables and are part of a healthy diet.
What is fat?
Fats are an essential part of the diet, they keep us fuller for longer and help grow the brain and other vital organs. For a long time, fat had a bad reputation for making us fat – but this is not true. It is actually carbohydrates and low-fat products that make us fat and unhealthy. When you take the fat out of a product, for example, low-fat yogurt, it loses its nice flavour. So to get the flavour back, companies will add sugars, preservatives, and flavourings, making it unhealthy. It is best to eat things in their original, natural form. Good fats that are very nutritious and will keep you full for longer include Olive oil, coconut oil, nuts, seeds, avocado, olives, butter, ghee, cream, full cream dairy products like milk, yogurt, and cheese, fatty meats, and fatty fish. Not all fats are good, some fats have been so highly processed that they no longer contain any vitamins and minerals such as vegetable oils and margarines.
Fats do not turn into sugar in the body so it means we do not need to release insulin to turn it into energy. Fats also keep us fuller for longer. Usually, when we have breakfast cereal or toast we are hungry again by 10 am or tea time. If you eat a breakfast high in fat you will stay full for much longer. Try it out yourself!
What is protein?
Protein is a macronutrient that is essential to building muscle mass. Chemically proteins are made up of hundreds or thousands of smaller parts called amino acids, which are attached to one another in long chains. The amino acids are needed for growth and repair of the body. Every cell in the body contains protein. It is important for growth and development in children, teens, and pregnant women. When eaten alone, protein does not create a rise in blood sugar levels. They do most of the work in cells and are important for the structure, function, and regulation of the body’s tissues and organs. Good protein-rich foods are red meat, fish, chicken, nuts, seeds, and eggs.
Why is carbohydrate consumption a problem?
Carbohydrates turn into sugar in the body causing your blood sugar levels to rise. The body cannot handle too much sugar in the blood so the pancreas has to release insulin to bring the sugar levels down. Insulin tells the cells to take in the sugar and use it for energy and stores the rest that isn’t used as fat. Eating carbs or sugars all the time means that your blood sugar levels keep rising and the pancreas has to release insulin to use up the sugar in the blood. Eventually, because the pancreas has to keep working to normalize blood sugar levels, it becomes faulty and doesn’t respond properly – this is called insulin resistance. Over time, it can even stop working altogether and this is when you develop health problems like type 2 diabetes.
Insulin resistance leads to hypertension (high blood pressure), high blood fat levels (triglycerides), low levels of good cholesterol (HDL), weight gain, and other diseases. All these illnesses, together with insulin resistance, are called metabolic syndrome. Metabolic syndrome leads to type 2 diabetes. Natural carbohydrates, such as those found in fruits and vegetables, tend to enter the bloodstream more slowly compared with the carbohydrates found in processed foods. Good sleep and regular exercise also help regulate blood sugar and hormone control.
Why is sugar bad for you?
At any point in time, a healthy person’s bloodstream contains just 1-2 teaspoons of sugar. So when you consume sugar or carbohydrates (which get absorbed as blood sugar), this triggers an insulin response by your body. Insulin is the hormone that facilitates the movement of sugar out of your blood and into your cells, where it can be used for energy, stored in limited amounts as glycogen, or made into fat. Insulin also actively blocks your body’s use of stored body fat, meaning that as long as insulin is high, it will be very difficult for you to lose weight. We all know about the sugar in candy, cookies, and soda. But just a small glass of orange or apple juice contains 2-3 times as much sugar as your entire bloodstream. Common processed foods are full of hidden sugar — just one tablespoon of conventional barbecue sauce contains enough sugar to double your blood sugar level if insulin were not there to drive it into your cells.
Frequent sugar consumption and the resulting insulin spikes contribute to a problem called insulin resistance. Insulin resistance is strongly associated with type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), high blood triglycerides, high blood pressure (hypertension), polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), and obesity.
The solution? If you want to lose weight and avoid insulin resistance and its related conditions, reduce your consumption of sugars and refined carbohydrate foods that cause elevated blood insulin levels. Each of us differs in our ability to tolerate dietary sugars and refined carbohydrates. If you struggle with losing weight or find yourself on the sugar and insulin rollercoaster, try cutting back. When you get your blood insulin level down by controlling dietary sugar and carbohydrate intakes, you will likely feel better and have more energy.
What is Metabolic Flexibility?
Metabolic flexibility is the ability to burn the fuel that is available to you with ease. That means if glucose is available, you burn it, but when it is limited, you are metabolically flexible enough to use fatty acids and ketones for fuel. This never leaves you in a limbo where you are dependent on one single fuel source.
Becoming metabolically flexible may require some metabolic training, and you might have to put in some work to teach your body how to switch from glucose to alternative fuel sources. It can be a bit of a process, but a worthy one! This involves an adaptation period where insulin is suppressed to the point that we can start breaking down our own fat for fuel, and if sustained long enough, enter ketosis! It’s almost like training ourselves to be hybrid cars. Metabolic flexibility has the potential to have a powerful impact on overall health.
What is nutritional ketosis?
Nutritional ketosis is a natural metabolic state in which your body adapts to burning fat rather than carbohydrates as its primary fuel. It is clinically proven to directly reduce blood sugar (as measured by HbA1c), improve insulin sensitivity (as measured by HOMA-IR), and reduce inflammation (as measured by white blood cell count and CRP). Nutritional ketosis can be induced by following a ketogenic diet.
Nutritional ketosis happens when carbohydrate consumption goes low enough that a person’s liver can convert adipose tissue and dietary fats into a fatty acid known as ketones, and then burn the ketones for energy.
What is Keto Flue?
Upon starting the keto lifestyle, some people report symptoms like fatigue, headaches, and muscle aches. However, these short-lived symptoms are, in fact, a sign that the diet is working, and the body is switching over from burning glucose as fuel to burning fat. This transition involves upregulating certain enzymes and down-regulating others; it is a profound shift for the human body that can have uncomfortable symptoms. However, these side effects usually last only 3-4 weeks. They can be reduced in most cases, by drinking several cups of bone broth and electrolytes during the day until the transition is completed.
Is a ketogenic diet healthy for everyone, not just people with diabetes and weight issues?
“We humans are a very diverse lot, and there is no known diet that is perfect for everyone. Given its ability to reduce insulin resistance and inflammation, a well-formulated ketogenic diet has clear benefits for people with type 2 diabetes, prediabetes, metabolic syndrome, and in most cases obesity. There is also research being done to assess the benefits of nutritional ketosis in people with irritable bowel syndrome, Alzheimer’s, and cancer. And of course, there’s also almost a century of experience with the ketogenic diet healing or reducing seizures in children and adults”
– Dr. Stephen Phinney and the Virta Team
Does a ketogenic diet cause weight loss?
Being in nutritional ketosis will accelerate the rate at which the body burns fat, and this is a fundamental key to the short and long-term benefits of a ketogenic diet. However, if the extra fat that is burned is compensated by an increase in dietary fat, then no body fat loss will occur (but there can still be other benefits from sustained ketosis). Most people carrying excess fat tissue who achieve nutritional ketosis by eating natural low-carbohydrate foods initially feel more satiated, allowing them to eat less fat than they burn, which results in net fat loss. But eventually even when one is in sustained nutritional ketosis, our instincts prompt us to increase fat intake to meet our daily energy needs, resulting in a stable weight and body composition.
Do I need fiber supplements on a ketogenic diet?
There are clear benefits from fiber consumption for bowel function and blood sugar control in people consuming a diet high in carbohydrates. But when in nutritional ketosis, it appears that many of those same benefits are provided by the ketones you make in your liver, thus making dietary fiber less important when you are on a well-formulated ketogenic diet. There are times when fiber supplements may be useful, but it is on a case-by-case basis and only considered after ensuring that adequate sodium and fluids are consumed.
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