Right, so in the past few weeks, my Twitter feed, Face Book messages, mail box and even Instragram feed has been inundated with messages from online and IRL friends desperate to know the secret to my current LCHF success. Instead of repeating myself ten times a day, I thought I’d type up a blog summary and just keep referring information requests to it.

Before I give you my breakdown, I think it’s essential that EVERYONE watch this, if LCHF interests you in anyway, you really do need to watch this:

Also, if you can, spend the $5 and watch Cereal Killers, read Gary Taubes book, Why We Get Fat and put in your customer order NOW at your local books store for The Real Meal Revolution.

Right, and here is a bulleted run down of what I’m doing:

• No SUGAR! EVER! I’ve weaned myself off all sugars and learned to drink my tea and coffee without it.
• NO DIET DRINKS! I only drink tea, coffee, water and on occasion, dry white wine, which is considered a “green” list food, ie, allowed. On occassion when I feel like something flavoured to drink, I will have Low Cal cooldrink or a TAB, but keep this to an absolute minimum as the sweeteners used do impact on my weight loss.
• When I bake or cook and require sweetner, I only use Xylitol or Ertherytol as these are the only LCHF approved sweetners, aside from Stevia which is UTTERLY disgusting.
• NO FRUIT! The only fruit I do eat, and not regularly are berries. Being insulin resistant I’m very sensitive to any sugar, even in it’s natural form and carbs.
• NO CARBS! The only carbs I eat are the type of natural carbs hidden in foods like cream, milk, butternut etc. Even then I manage my carb intake and eat only 25g’s of carbs a day. I use Fat Secret to monitor my carb intake.
• Along with NO Carbs, this obviously includes all bread, pasta, rice, potatoes and includes any vegetables grown underground, sweet potato, carrots, turnips etc.
• I weight myself everyday! It’s the only way to analyse which foods affect me. For eg; I drink a glass of Chardonnay every day! Last night, I drank a glass of Sauv Blanc and today I’m up 100g’s. That was the ONLY thing different in my diet yesterday so I can only assume that it has something to do with the change in wine.
• Breakfast is eggs. Eggs ARE super food, regardless of what we’ve been indoctrinated into believing! We eat eggs every morning, with either grass fed, Greek Yoghurt or cured meats or bacon. YES BACON!
• I keep our freezer well stocked with lc breads from Get Slim, they freeze well and double up for all kinds of yummy goodies. We use the wraps to make our own pizza’s and the pita’s are delicious and bread is great for when you’re wanting toast.
• I cook extra in the evenings to ensure that I can pack us lunches. The secret to success with LCHF is to always be prepared.
• The biggest mistake many new banting’s make is they increase their protein portion, LCHF is NOT a high protein diet, it’s a high fat diet. So I always ensure my protein portion is no bigger than the palm of my hand and supplement my fats by cooking with coconut oil or butter and adding olives, olive oil, avo’s etc to my meals.
• We eat 3 meals a day, no snacking. LCHF stabilizes your blood sugar so you don’t need to snack and because the food is high in fat, I can also go for much longer stretches without getting hungry. If I’m not hungry I don’t eat, or have any desire to eat.
• My relationship with food has totally changed, it’s no longer about filling an emotional need or craving, its all about nourishing my body and because I am no longer addicted to sugar, I have no desire to cheat which makes sticking to the eating plan very easy.
• LCHF is a lifestyle choice, not a diet. It’s like being vegan or vegetarian, once you make the choice there’s no going back.
• When we eat out, I try to make the best choices possible, within the realm of the eating plan, it’s not always possible but I try where I can.
• I use the Real Meal Revolution to plan our meals. Every Sunday I make a meal list for the week followed by a groccery list based on our meal plan for the week.
• We drink Woolies Lactose free milk at home, it’s totally carb free.
• I read food labels and have gotten pretty good at recognising which foods have hidden carbs and/or sugar. Any food label with added sugar or Glycemic Carbs higher than 5g’s is a no go.
• We avoid ALL grains.

That’s about all I can think about for now. But I hope that helps all of you considering trying out LCHF. In 5 weeks, I lose 8.6kg’s and Walter has lost 12kg’s. In addition, both of us have seen tremendous improvements in our overall health. I no longer suffer with IBS, or coughing from an itchy allergy throat, I sleep better, the acid bumps on my arms are gone and my feet no longer hurt which I can only assume is a result of inflammation. Walter has no more constipation and his headaches, which were debiliating and had him working through a jumbo box of Myprodols in a month with on average 3-4 debilitating attacks a week, have gone!

Do lots of research, there are lots of great resources available online, if you’re on Twitter, be sure to follow Prof Tim Noakes and anyone using the hash tag #banting #lchf and most of all, get your mind right, it’s very hard to break the habit of years of false information and diet indoctrination.

If you have any other questions, leave them in the comments section and I’ll answer them as best I can. Remember, I am not a nutritionist, this is just what I have learned from my own LCHF experience.