I took a walk this morning, swinging around the city cemetery (always inspirational), and came loping home with an appetite. That, of course, is the rub for all those who think they can work-out to lose weight. The more you work, the hungrier you get. Having eaten a modest breakfast four-and-a-half hours earlier, I figured a low-carb brunch was in order. Here's what I made myself: Pictured are two eggs scrambled in coconut oil, a salmon patty, and five halved fresh strawberries. The salmon is wild-caught Alaskan, full of protein and omega-3 oil, and reputed to be an excellent food for reducing inflammation. (Have you noticed how inflammation has become the new health bogeyman, replacing high cholesterol?) … [Read more ...]
Another look at protein (LCN 61)
Reconsidering my protein target Low Carb Nugget 61 Dietary protein intake is an important number to get right. If you eat too little protein over a long stretch, your body will suffer. If you eat too much protein, you could be at greater risk for kidney problems, and your blood glucose may rise, requiring a release of insulin. Exactly how much protein you should eat depends on several factors. Your size and activity level are two. Show Links "How Much Protein Should You Eat Per Day?" Kris Gunnars. HealthLine. June 8, 2017. "Keto targets for fat, protein & carbs (LCN 60)." The Art … [Read more ...]
Why we cheat on an LCHF diet (LCN 59)
Cheating on an LCHF diet Low Carb Nugget 59 A little cheating may be helpful. True, you can't cheat with a sweet or carby treat every day, even if you do it mindfully. You won't get in or stay in ketosis that way. But a rare, planned indulgence is acceptable if it keeps you eating LCHF for the long-run. … [Read more ...]
Beliefs can cause inflammation of the brain
How dangerous is that beef-steak? Beliefs, dogmas and habits of mind are powerful things. I'd sooner have them on my side in an argument than the puny forces of reason and evidence. Take the belief that saturated fat is the source of all evil in the modern diet. It's a deeply and widely held notion in the Western World. Somehow, we all just know that eating red meat will kill us by clogging up our arteries with its saturated fat. Doctors, nutritionists, media pundits and ordinary people have repeated the idea so often that it has taken on the aura of folk wisdom. You could hardly be blamed … [Read more ...]
Chowing down low-carb style at Red Robin
I try to be a food-snob, I really do, but it seldom works for long. Despite years of education, and my wife's best attempts to refine me, I remain a regular guy with regular guy tastes -- such as, for instance, the Bacon Cheeseburger at our local Red Robin. (For the record, I get nothing from that restaurant chain except the food I pay for.) Red Robin calls this a "Gourmet" burger. I'm not sure what criteria a gourmet burger has to meet, or even if I care. It's a good sandwich -- a hefty low-carb meal you can hold in your hand. However, I recommend the two-handed approach. It's safer that … [Read more ...]
First, cut the carbs
Early weight loss I'm five days in to my Keto Diet Reboot, and feeling fine. The pounds are melting away -- two of them, so far. At my weigh-in this morning, I tipped the scales at 225.6 pounds. That's about what I weighed in May of this year, so I'm not too excited. In fact, for the next 20 pounds, I'm just going to be losing fat pounds that I've already lost one or two times over my years of LCHF living. That's how it is in the real world. But I've never come close to regaining ALL the weight I lost, and my waist circumference today is five or six inches less than in early 2011. Protein … [Read more ...]
Walnuts in a healthy low-carb diet
Walnuts are a good low-carb food. Like peanuts and almonds, walnuts provide protein, fat and fiber with relatively few net-carbs per serving. For instance, a quarter cup of walnuts has two grams of net-carbs (four grams of total carbohydrates minus two grams of fiber). Taste and Cost Some people find walnuts bitter. I admit I prefer the taste of roasted almonds and peanuts, and seldom eat walnuts as a stand-alone snack. The big drawback to walnuts is cost. Many consumers only encounter walnuts in one-cup bags in the supermarket's baking aisle, and that isn't a good way to buy them if you … [Read more ...]
Cauliflower: the better mashed potato
You can do a lot of things with "cabbage flower" on a low-carb, high-fat (LCHF) diet: steam it, roast it, mash it, rice it, or just eat it raw. Of course, one drawback to raw veggies, including cauliflower, is that they're harder to fatten up that way. But a good, fatty dip will do the trick. I've never had cauliflower deep-fried or baked, but I suppose those are possibilities, too. I'm not sure what you'd bread it in, though -- crumbled pork rinds, perhaps? Oh -- you can also eat cauliflower pickled. (I don't, but you can.) … [Read more ...]
A real person eating (mostly) real food
One day, in a fit of flexibility, I changed the tag-line of my blog from whatever it used to be to "a real person eating (mostly) real food." I feel I ought to explain -- to define my terms, or at least try to. First, what do I mean by a "real person"? I mean me, of course, good ol' Jim Anderson -- as ordinary a guy as you will ever meet, with an ordinary name, the son of a factory-working man and a home-making woman. A guy born in a city whose name denotes a hard, sharp, slivered rock -- the ideal material for sparking fires or shaping arrow-heads. I don't think any of that makes me … [Read more ...]
Low-carb omnivores of the world, unite!
Over the months that I've been eating a low-carb diet, my views on what that diet is have evolved considerably. First, at the start, I thought my goal was simply to lose weight, and that any improvements in my health would be the result of eliminating the beach ball of blubber that was my middle. Second, I thought that eating a low-carbohydrate diet meant eating lots of meat relative to other kinds of foods. In other words, being more carnivore than omnivore. Now I see better health as my ultimate goal, and weight-loss (especially the loss of stubborn belly-fat) as one means to that end, and … [Read more ...]
Great foods for a low-carb diet (part 1): almonds, avocados, macadamias
If you're like me (which you probably aren't, but let's pretend), you may find your food tastes expanding as you adapt to a low carb way of eating. Over the last few months, I have added several foods to my dietary repertoire, and I have eaten more of some other great foods than I ever did in the past. In general, I eat more whole foods now than processed/ packaged foods. Nuts, seeds, berries and fish are classes of foods that I always liked, but eat significantly more of on my low-carb plan. Of course, I eat somewhat more meat, cheese and eggs now than in my high-carb days, but that … [Read more ...]