I don't eat a lot of dairy on my low-carb, high-fat (LCHF) diet, but when I do, it usually takes one of three forms: heavy cream in my coffee, shredded cheese in a recipe or on a salad, or yogurt. Of those forms, cream is the only dairy I ingest on an every day basis. I love freshly brewed coffee with a dollop of rich, organic heavy cream mixed in. (Heavy cream gets almost all of its calories from fat.) As you may have guessed, I'm not lactose-intolerant, and I'm also not a follower of … [Read more...]
Low carb blueberry pancakes revisited
I made -- and enjoyed -- these almond/ coconut flour blueberry pancakes for breakfast today, attempting to improve the recipe I posted a couple months ago. The basic ingredients remained the same: two tablespoons of coconut flour, six tablespoons of almond flour, and two whole eggs. I used vanilla and cinnamon as before, and of course some fresh blueberries. However, this time I used four tablespoons of water (a quarter-cup) instead of just two tablespoons, and I also added Stevia to the … [Read more...]
Avocado in the morning
Avocado in a low carb diet Pictured is my low-carb breakfast this morning: two eggs fried in coconut oil, three small and crispy strips of bacon, and the flesh of half an avocado. It's a fairly typical breakfast for me these days. I eat other things in the morning, including a goopy mixture of chia seeds, almond butter, walnuts and (LCHF purists avert your eyes!) oatmeal. But day in and day out, my breakfast is likely to include eggs. If I'm fortunate enough to have an avocado on hand, … [Read more...]
Great foods for a low-carb diet (part 5): eggs
Eggs aren't merely a great food for a low-carb diet. They're nearly the perfect food. You've got a whole potential chicken in that little spheroid, so an egg is jam-packed with the building blocks of life. Like most people, I've always eaten eggs, either as a main dish or inside of recipes, but for 30-plus years I limited my consumption to two or three eggs a week. Maybe four in a really wild week. Why did I do such a thing? Why did I foolishly limit this nearly perfect food? You know why. I … [Read more...]
Eric Westman on low-carb science and practice
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toLvGpk3HLE In this video produced by Duke University, Dr. Eric Westman discusses the "science and practice" of eating a low-carb diet. Westman is director of the Duke Lifestyle Medicine program, an expert on obesity, and co-author of The New Atkins for a New You. Westman worked with the late Dr. Robert Atkins, and has published studies on the use and effectiveness of low-carb diets. He sees the fear of dietary fat as at the root of our weight problems. He … [Read more...]
Net carbs defended
Calculating "Net Carbs" In following my low-carb, high-fat (LCHF) diet, I've always been guided by the concept of "net carbs." This is the notion that carbohydrates from fiber don't get used by the body to raise blood glucose levels, so therefore fiber content can be subtracted from total carbs. What's left, the net carbs, are what the LCHF dieter counts and pays attention to. Or so I have believed. I've lost weight by keeping my net carb intake to around 30 - 35 grams per day. For … [Read more...]
5 lessons for eating low-carb
What has worked and what hasn't in my low-carb, high-fat (LCHF) way of eating? Looking back, I glean five lessons for eating low-carb and losing weight. Last updated April 2017. It seems as good a time as any to look back and figure out what has worked and what hasn't in my low-carb, high-fat (LCHF) way of eating. I've been eating low-carb for four years now (since March 2011). Admittedly, I went off the reservation a bit from 2012 to 2014, and gained back about 25 hard-lost pounds. That would … [Read more...]
Going nuts on a low-carb diet
I like nuts. My favorites are almonds, macadamias, pistachios and walnuts. I like peanuts, too, and although I know they're a legume, it's hard not to lump them in with honest nuts. A handful of just about any kind of nut is a great snack, packing solid nutrition within a reasonable carb-count (although just how reasonable depends on the nut). Above all, nuts are tasty and easy to eat. And therein lies the problem for a dieter. Nuts are very, very easy to eat. (Pistachios are a little … [Read more...]
Cholesterol myths: free e-book
"Anyone who reads the literature in this field with an open mind soon discovers that the emperor has no clothes" -- Uffe Ravnskov. Noted Scandinavian cholesterol skeptic and author Dr. Uffe Ravnskov has made his first book on the subject free online and as an e-book download. Not only does Dr. Ravnskov make the entire book text available on his website, but he also provides a link to Smashwords where readers can download free copies as Kindle, epub, or pdf files. In this 2002 critique, the … [Read more...]
Lunch today: low-carb, yes, but is it high-fat?
For lunch today, I made salmon patties, which I ate with some canned spinach, butter, and a few olives. (Yes, canned spinach. I like fresh and frozen spinach, too, but canned spinach is what I ate as a kid -- what Popeye the Sailor ate to get strong -- so I have a soft spot for it. I like it, especially with melting butter on top.) The salmon patties were an experiment. I added a tablespoon of chia seeds to my usual recipe. I wanted to test the chia as a binding agent. It didn't work all that … [Read more...]