Life After Carbs

A real person eating (mostly) real food

Great foods for a low-carb diet (part 5): eggs

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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

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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...]

My LCHF week in review: April 26 – May 2

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  Starting Weight = 221.4 lbs. Ending Weight = 220.6 lbs. Another week, another fraction of a pound in weight loss. We had an earthquake yesterday, a little one, no damage, but any earthquake is a big surprise in Michigan. The weather has turned pleasant, also a surprise in Michigan, with sunshine and temperatures in the 70s (F). I have the urge to take a walk. So far, I have resisted the urge manfully, but if the damned sun keeps shining, I may give in. I retired this week. Well, … [Read more...]

Net carbs defended

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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

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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...]

Busting the myth that you must exercise to lose weight

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From my personal experience, as well as my reading, I know that it simply isn't necessary to exercise to lose weight. I've lost plenty of pounds following my low carb, high fat (LCHF) way of eating without resorting to what Mark Twain called the "loathsome" practice of exercise. I wrote a blog post about it a few years ago, featuring Mr. Twain, which is one of my personal favorites even though no one else ever cared for it. Maybe readers thought I was advocating a sedentary lifestyle. In fact, … [Read more...]

My low-carb week in review: April 12 – April 18, 2015

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  The maddening logic of metabolism struck again this week. I ate according to my low carb diet all week -- no splurges, no wild indulgences, no day out of the norm. For the week, I averaged 1,727 calories, 139g fat, 26g net carbs, and 91g protein per day. That average daily calorie total was significantly lower than for past five weeks, and the macro-nutrient percentages were about the same. All in all, a great week  of sensible low-carb eating, and yet I gained a bit of weight, tipping … [Read more...]

A fat-added lunch

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Eating a low-carb high-fat (LCHF) diet as I do, it isn't good enough to avoid or reduce carbohydrates in my meals. I also need to eat plenty of healthy, tasty, satisfying fat. Ideally, I want the grams of fat in my meals to out-number the grams of carbs and protein combined, and I want the carbs to be minimal. (See my post on the fat-burning quotient.) Often, that means I need to find a way to add some extra fat. Take my lunch yesterday, pictured below. The base is three ounces of canned … [Read more...]

Book collects the evidence behind ketogenic diets

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If you're into the science of low-carbohydrate eating, and haven't already done so, you may want to pick up a copy of A. Simmonds' Principia Ketogenica: Low Carbohydrate And Ketogenic Diets - Compendium Of Science Literature On The Benefits. The Kindle version linked to here is currently selling for 99 cents. I'm not sure how long it will be available at that price. It's a fantastic deal -- over 300 pages of hardcore nutrition science for less than a buck! (Update: the price has gone up, but … [Read more...]