The FastDay Forum

Thanks @cgspainfor resurrecting this thread!
How am I doing? well the changes I have made to my diet so far mean I now rarely eat potatoes, pasta, rice and bread but must admit to still having a sweet tooth and enjoying a dessert or mostly home made 'healthy' cake (i.e made with ground almonds/coconut flour/ and sweetened with dried fruit, spices etc rather than white flour and sugar.
I already ate a lot of veggies and salads so that hasn't changed apart from trying different ones such as celeriac.
I lost several pounds by reducing my carb intake, in fact after a nasty stomach bug a few weeks ago when I was being constantly sick and couldn't keep any food down my weight dropped again and I haven't been able to put it back on so I am currently at my lowest ever and probably underweight to be honest.
As for upping my fat intake I have changed my low fat yogurt to the full fat variety, eat more nuts and cheese but still cannot bring myself to eat anything fatty or greasy. I do use EVOO and coconut oil in cooking and baking but that's as far as it goes.
When shopping I still find myself automatically looking for the 'lower fat' alternatives as this WOE seems to be firmly ingrained in my brain and it's really hard to change the habits of a lifetime.
Would love to hear how anyone else has changed their diet or managed to balance higher fat/low carb/calorie dilemma.

The changes I've made have been small so far. I also can't imagine wanting to eat the skin on the chicken, or anything else obviously fatty. I serve rice and potatoes less frequently at home, but certainly haven't reduced carbs to the level that some forumites have. March is the only time that I can buy Irish soda bread, which is one of the tastiest foods EVER, so I've been ODing on that just a bit. Who cares if it's just a bunch of white flour and sugar, anyway

I've been buying 1% milk instead of nonfat, and getting lattes lowfat instead of nonfat. I've been enjoying more cheese and nuts as well.

But given that I'm not one of those people who have noticed sluggishness or other side effects from eating carbs, and given that I'm comfortable with my weight at this point, I don't intend to change my diet much more for the foreseeable future. After all, isn't that what 5:2 is all about? Two days of semi-fasting, five of eating mindfully, which in my case includes all sorts of foods, as long as they taste good!

How's that for an answer, @Callyanna?

From Callyanna 'home made 'healthy' cake (i.e made with ground almonds/coconut flour/ and sweetened with dried fruit, spices etc'
Could I please get your recipe for this thank you kindly :0)

From Callyanna 'home made 'healthy' cake (i.e made with ground almonds/coconut flour/ and sweetened with dried fruit, spices etc'
Could I please get your recipe for this thank you kindly :0)

This afternoon I've actually made for the umpteenth time one of my favourite recipes for pumpkin bread originally posted by @rawkaren. I use butternut squash instead of pumpkin and the recipe has no sugar but tastes really sweet thanks to the spices. Will have a look for the link now
Here you go, it's scrummy!
5-2-diet-recipes-f5/low-carb-pumpkin-bread-t9498.html?hilit=pumpkin bread

They just had a man on BBC Breakfast who has made a documentary on High fat low carb called Cereal killers.
http://www.watchcerealkillers.com/docum ... tAodIAMAgQ

You have to purchase it to watch it.

Looks interesting. He was saying that wheat has changed since the 1970's and is not the same as what our parents/ grandparents use to eat.

Hi Brand-ie

This sounds like the same info given by Dr William Davis in his Wheat Belly book. If you Google him he has a web site and some talks on YouTube.

I have always 'sworn' that eating butter, cream and other natural fats is far better than the artificial stuff...in fact anything refined or manufactured to the nth degree can't be that good for you. That's my mantra these days and I am not afraid of eating the skin on the chicken. Yesterday there was an article in 'The Telegraph' about a recent study coming out of Cambridge University involving 600,000 participants which has said, 'Fat does not cause heart attacks'. So now you know.

I have never been able to get on the low carb high fat eating way of life I have tried but I don't enjoy that way of eating. I like cereals in the morning, I like lunches of crackers/ rolls and vegemite and cheese . I like dinners that include carbs too. I have a mother that used to have irritible bowel and was told to got low fat to get rid of that and she has eaten that way for years she is so skinny she is under weight actually and could do with putting on weight , so a carb diet has not caused heavy weight for her. My sister also eats a high carb diet and is very thin. I have never seen the high carb coalation with weight gain in my family. . Of course I read again and again about the low fat diets are not the best and everyone is low carb these days but for myself I just can't go there. I can't get over the dislike factor . Having said that I have taken the canola oils out of our cupboard we have butter, olive oil and rice bran oil now. I regularly take small amounts of coconut oil in my coffee which I like. My husband was a huge coke drinker and that is now gone from our cupboards. I take stevia in my coffee . So we have made some changes that way.

I am enjoying embracing the LCHFway of eating after my over 20 years of LFHC eating @callyanna. Like @Ballerina I'm not eliminating anything just increasing some foods and decreasing others.
Here are some changes I've made mostly in the last 4 months-
- reduced bread. Now I usually have a piece of bread ' with integrity' on Saturday and Sunday brunch ( sourdough)
- when having a curry I now have 1/3 cup of medium grain white rice ( my favorite) instead of 1 cup.
-when eating at a restaurant I choose something without bread,rice,pasta( this is inexpensive for the restaurant/cafe to prepare and the we pay the premium) last night for example I had chilli fried squid with 2 dipping sauces and Asian coleslaw salad. Last time I went I had steak with prawns and hollandaise sauce with veges and Ihad about 1/3 serve of mashed potatoes. At a Mexican cafe I had a naked burrito ( everything in it except the burrito.
- buy butter from grass fed cows and use it on my weekend toast ad well as to fry mushrooms
- I used coconut oil to stir fry stuff
- I've always used EVOO but since listening to a podcast about fats they'd said you shouldn't heat it as it changes something (dont know who to believe)so now I'm trying new oils for frying (macadamia oil at the moment).
- introduced nuts into my life - yum. A couple of walnuts most non fast days
- eat pork cracking, skin on chicken
- lunches consist of chicken,walnuts,avocado lots of salad and homemade dressing with oil and fig balsamic vinegar and I'm usually full for 5-6 hours after this.
-I don't have a sweet tooth but once a week we have raspberries and cream for dessert.
I've been aiming to look at each meal I eat as 'where's the protein?where's the fat?,where's the healthy carbs from veges? I aim for around 30℅ of each. Afterwards I feel satisfied but light . after a white carb heavy meal I used to feel sluggish and tired and I just don't want to feel that way anymore so this new WOE works well for me. ( I've borrowed the 30:30:30 thing from listenening to a podcast '. Primal diet, modern health' by Beverley Meyer ( a holistic nutritionist). I am defo not primal/paleo but am eating more this way because what I am listening to makes a lot of sense to me. Im also listening to ' fat burning man' on the pod cast while driving ( ear candy!) On the free app my hubs put on phone called 'iPP podcasts'
Just with me making these changes MFP says I'm consuming just under 100 grams of carbs a day and I've been losing weight again so I'll keep going.
Xxx julianna

@julianna thanks for that info it is helpful.

Good morning @Ally as Julianna says, I eat all the same things that I always have just in differing quantities. Not everyone is carb sensitive and @TML13 has always stated that a no/low carb is not for her and it doesn't seem to have the same result for her as for a lot of others so, just eat what you want but in sensible quantities, lost of fresh foods and it sounds like you have made good changes already.

Ballerina x

Hi, Ally!
Indeed low carb/high fat would be a nightmare for me (and my bowels, LOL). I grew up eating meat once a week and pasta/rice/bread every day. I did do a few no-carb/lowfat (Dukan attack) days in order to lose weight when I realised that 5:2 was not working but that was just a few days and that was it.
To be honest, I now eat more carbs and more fat than I used to, LOL!

Regarding artificial sweeteners, I did fall for the "confusing the brain" and similar theories for a while. I tried adding sugar to my coffee and I quit my favourite sweets. The result was that my coffee was disgusting, my stomach was protesting and I was missing my sweets.
What I think now is that sweeteners might cause problems to those who aren't used to them and just start eating them because of a diet. I use sweeteners for more than 20 years so I guess my brain is OK with them and so is probably the brain of those who are used to them as well.
Keep in mind that Greeks use Stevia for eons... Not everything that we eat was present forever yet our bodies get used to newer food, such as sweeteners.

I read all these posts with interest - the different ways we all eat. I think the thing is (as someone has probably already said) is that 'one size' DOESN'T fit all, and what works well for one won't necessarily be the same for someone else. I have lost 50lbs ish on this WOE and in doing so I have dropped my carb consumption quite drastically and it works for me BUT my brother is type 2 diabetic on insulin (and I think I was heading towards pre diabetes myself) so there's a problem with metabolising carbs somewhere in my family. Now I've dropped the weight (and haven't finished yet) my blood sugars are normal (no matter what I seem to eat); I eat more healthily than I ever have, and I feel great BUT just because it works for me doesn't mean I think everyone should do the same. The beauty of this way of eating is that you can tweak it to what works for you

I have cut carbs in that I am not eating the cakes and biscuits that were creeping in but other than that I haven't changed my eating habits. I eat what I enjoy because for me that is the only sustainable way and if it doesn't match current food trends I am sure it will only be a matter of time before it will again. I don't like fatty foods and see no point in forcing myself to eat them.
I am very un PC but I don't care!

Yes! There is no one way for everyone! We must all find the WOE suits the individual best (All I can hear in my ears is "We are ALL individuals" fromMonty Python 'Life of Brian"!!) This is so true. My last post on this thread seems virtuous but keep in mind, although I for the most part avoid things in boxes and packets ( refined carbs) I did just enjoy a small packet of plain Smiths chips and/or cheetos cheese and bacon balls and do on a weekly basis ( guilt free)
Xxx