What is LCHF?

LCHF stands for Low Carbohydrates and High Fat diet or as many would refer to it – a better lifestyle.

This is how it works:
By eating minimal amounts of carbohydrates your blood sugar will not spike and your insulin production will stay low. The insulin works by lowering the high blood sugar as fast as possible. This means that if you eat carbohydrates your insulin production will raise to lower your blood sugar, leaving you feeling hungry soon after you just ate.

The insulin also stores your fat and blocks the fat burning process, while it at the same time transforms unused carbohydrates into fat. Eating carbohydrates results in higher amounts of insulin – resulting in higher amounts of stored body fat and your body will have a harder time burning the fat it already carries.

The body is able to produce the blood sugar it needs from protein and fat from the food we eat. And by doing so the blood sugar levels will stay stable and you will never feel the sugar spikes of high’s and low’s that the carbohydrates give you.

Burning fat gives your muscles energy and your brain can also use the fat burning products as energy. If you eat normal amounts of fat, protein and vegetables the total amount of calories will stay low and you can start loosing weight without feeling hungry. Research also shows that it is not dangerous to increase the amount of fats and protein in your daily diet.

A low carbohydrate diet is perfect for people with Type II diabetes because the blood sugar will stay at a normal level even right after eating. If taking medicine for your diabetes you should gradually work your way down to a low carbohydrate diet while watching your blood sugar levels closely, so that you can lower your medication as well without reaching too low levels of blood sugar. A recommendation is to work out a plan with your doctor regarding this.

Most over weight people have tried to diet many times with the previous recommended low fat diets without succeeding. Their time is now; they will succeed with the low carbohydrate and high fat diet.

Cholesterol is always in focus when people start to talk about fat and what types of fat to eat and so on. To make it clear the amount of cholesterol in food has almost no effect on the cholesterol in your blood, because your body makes its own cholesterol when it needs to. So if you choose to eat no cholesterol your body will produce more, if you choose to eat more cholesterol high foods your body will make less.

So how do we get cholesterol and plaque blockage in our blood stream then if it is not from the fat and cholesterol we eat?

The answer goes ones again back to the insulin and the effect of eating carbohydrates and sugars. The insulin also spikes something called the HMGR activity, this is the activity that tells the body to make more cholesterol. With low amounts of insulin the HMGR activity will stay low too; telling the body to produce less cholesterol. So once again the fat in our diet is not the culprit, the carbohydrates are!

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