What I Eat Now

People often ask what I actually eat when they see or hear that I am running fueled by fat. So here is a brief summary of my current approach to food and energy.

I generally do not eat sugar, cereal products, pasta, rice or potatoes; this is not an absolute rule but the exceptions are rare.


Breakfast

A cup of tea, with milk. 2 eggs cooked in butter with either bacon, chorizo, salmon or sausages; fried mushrooms and/or tomatoes and a cup of coffee with full cream.

Morning Snack

Either some cheese or some nuts (walnuts, brazils, almonds or macadamias) and another full-cream coffee.

Lunch

Normally a mixed salad with chicken or cured ham,  cheese, avocados, beetroot and any other bits and pieces that are lying around.  Seasonal home-made soups are popular too.

It I am at all hungry or I've just run then I’ll often have a pudding of 50:50 Greek Yogurt and thick double cream, this has some mixed nuts scattered on top and perhaps even a small dribble of honey. A glass of water.

Afternoon Snack

Same as morning snack if I happen to feel peckish. 

Dinner

The same home-made meals as we ate before LCHF but with the carbs replaced by more of the same veg we give the kids (this will be served with butter) or a carb-substitute like cauli-rice, courgette and carrot tagliatelle or cauliflower mash. Most meals will be based around a serving of about 150 grams of meat or fish. Up to 3 glasses of wine and/or water.


10 o’clock news snack.

I may have another coffee with some cheese and a couple of squares of 85% chocolate for a late evening snack.


My guess is that this amounts to about 50 grams of carbs per day. This is the general target for nutritional ketosis but I am not counting. Clearly it is working fine as I can run for 3-4 hours on a light breakfast and not feel particularly hungry afterwards.

My weight is pretty stable at 11 stone 8 pounds. If I want to lose weight then I will cut down on the cream and snacks; if I want to gain weight I will increase these.






4 comments:

  1. HI, I am enjoying reading your blog. I am a new runner since April. I am 48 years old and plan to run my first marathon in Feb. I hit a wall on a 12 mile run and started researching and quickly found the LCHF diet. My question is, if you don't mind... I run in the morning, do I run with just some water or tea in my stomach? And, question 2 on long runs 12-20 miles, do I fuel in the morning? Do I fuel while running? What do I fuel on?

    I appreciate any advice, I know everyone's body is different, but the old way was a piece of toast with peanut butter and a banana and I can't find any info on fueling for long runs.

    Best,
    Lisa Franchot

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    Replies
    1. Hi Lisa
      I've very sorry for not replying to your post. My old email address died and I forgot to update my blog with the new one.
      For morning running I tend to have just a cup of tea, otherwise I will need at least an hour to let a breakfast go down before I can run without risking a stich.
      For longer runs of up to 4 hours I will have a breakfast of eggs & bacon about 90 minutes before I run. I don't then need more fuel as I run but I will take water if it is a warm day.
      When running longer than 4 hours I do tend to take some fuel; perhaps a cup of creamy coffee or an a boiled egg. I've even been seen drinking olive oil from a small water bottle. The key here is to experiment and see what works for you.
      I hope you are still running well.
      Regards,
      Malcolm

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  2. Hi! Great blog. I'm a runner and new to LCHF. I have been on LCHF diet for about 4 weeks now and this weekend I am running a half marathon. My longest training session on this diet was 11 miles and I felt good overall. On mile 8 I was really tired and for one full mile I was running really slow, but then I felt a surge of energy and finished strong. What would you recommend to have for breakfast the morning of the race? When I run during the week in the morning (shorter runs) I don't eat anything simply because I am not hungry. On the weekends for my longer runs, I eat 1-2 hrs before I run. I usually eat eggs, bacon, avocado and strawberries or almonds. I know that I won't have that much time for digestion so I was wondering if you have any suggestions for my first race on LCHF!
    Thank you,
    Erika

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  3. Hi Erika
    If I eat before a run then I tend to eat just the kind of breakfast that you have described, although perhaps a little lighter (I might drop the stawberries and almonds).
    The experience that you had at mile 8 was intereting, when I am 'coming back' to the diet after a while on carbs (typicallu due to a camping holiday in France) I often find that I am lethargi for a while and may have similar periods of low energy, followed by a strng resurgence after 30-40 minutes. I put this down to not having fully adapted to fat burning at that point. I wrote about this experience here (http://lchf4runners.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/heres-idea.html). I would hope that these experiences go away soon so long as you are on a consistently low carb intake.
    I hope the run went well.
    Malcolm

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