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An LCHF diet is dominated by consuming natural fats and proteins from animals, but it also includes natural carbohydrates from first and foremost vegetables grown above ground. It’s also a diet that consist of food that is as little industrially processed as possible and you should also avoid unnecessary additives and choose organic food as much as you can. The main point with a low carb diet is that you should swap the traditionally large amount of carbohydrates (sugar and starch) to natural fats.
Note for diabetics
Avoiding the carbohydrates that raise your blood sugar decreases your need for medication to lower it. Taking the same pre-low-carb diet dose of insulin might result in hypoglycemia (low blood sugar). You need to test your blood sugar frequently when starting this diet and adapt (lower) your medication. This should ideally be done with the assistance of a knowledgeable physician. If you’re healthy or a diabetic treated either by diet alone or just with Metformin there is no risk of hypoglycemia.
Eat & avoid
When following the LCHF diet it is important to remember to eat as clean food as possible. This is a basic and simple guideline to remember. With LCHF you don’t count calories or anything of the sort either, it´s a fairly simple diet actually! Eat when you are hungry until you are satisfied. No need to count calories or weigh your food.
YOU ARE ALLOWED TO EAT:
Meat – Preferably grass-fed, free-range &/or organic beef, pork, venison, veal, sausages, bacon, luncheon meats. There is no need to cut off the fat on the meat. If you want to eat sausages make sure to choose those with a high percentage of meat (+70%) and fat and low in carbs.
Fish – All kinds of fish can be eaten. It is to prefer if you choose those fish that are high in fat such as salmon, mackerel, sardines and herring. Avoid breading.
Shellfish – All kinds can be eaten of the shellfish as well. They should be eaten with fat sauces as they are very low in fat.
Poultry – Chicken, duck, turkey. Poultry is also low in fat so it is recommended to even eat the skin and the fat.
Fat – Animalistic fat is for sure the best. It should be as natural as possible, and should first of all focus on the whole fat alternatives and absolutely not the diet versions. Good examples are real butter, olive oil, coconut oil and rapeseed oil. Also use cream, fat crème fraiche, real mayo. You can make all kinds of fat sauces such as béarnaise and hollandaise.
Eggs – You can eat eggs of all kind and shape – boiled, poached, fried, scrambled, omelette.
Dairy – All kinds of fat cheeses are allowed, such as brie, camembert, gorgonzola, chévre, feta, mozzarella, halloumi, spread cheeses and parmesan to name a few. Other dairy products you can use are cottage cheese, sour cream and yogurt, full fat cream (40%), but bear in mind to choose the ones with the most fat in them. If you are dairy-free, try earth balance spread and almond milk.
Vegetables – The vegetables you eat with LCHF are those that are grown above ground. All kinds of lettuce (arugula, spinach, rosso etc), peppers, celery, asparagus, sugar peas, haricots verts, squash, aubergine, onion, mushroom, cucumber, tomatoes, broccoli, brussel sprouts, zucchini, eggplant, olives, avocado cauliflower, cabbage (all kinds).
Berries & nuts – You can eat a small amount of berries, 100 ml per day and a small amount of nuts, one handful.
YOU SHOULD AVOID:
Carbohydrates – You shouldn’t eat bread, pasta, rice, couscous, bulgur, quinoa, spelt, oats, beans, lentils, cereal, porridge, muesli, potatoes (and other root vegetables). The only carbohydrates you should eat come from vegetables.
Fruit – Fruit contains a lot of sugar. Even dried fruit should be avoided.
Unnatural products – These are all diet/light products and all margarines which contains a lot of superficial ingredients.
Sugar – It’s the worst of them all. There is sugar in plenty of things that you should avoid: sweets, ice cream, chips/crisps, cookies, crackers, juices, beer, sodas and everything that has been sweetened.
