LCHF and Me

Earlier this year I started a diet. I have never followed any kind of diet before and it was aimed to be an experiment. It is starting to become a way of life.

This blog is aimed at documenting my progress on LCHF and its effect on my running; and also providing further information as to what it is all about. I may digress onto other subjects; we will see.

The more I read about LCHF the more I have become passionate about it. Perhaps it’s my mid-life state that has me taking health more seriously, or perhaps I am just getting angry about all the misinformation being peddled by the 'experts' and the drug and food companies – probably it is both. But I get angry about this stuff; it keeps me awake at nights. So this is my pressure release value.

I became interested in LCHF as a result of my wife’s research into the subject. Jane runs a Personal Training company (http://aspirefitnesssolutions.co.uk) and has been looking to provide reliable advice about weight management to her clients. She also insists on understanding things before passing them on; unlike many in her profession and the diet industry. Jane has been using LCHF for about 16 months now.

LCHF is different from other diets; it’s simple, and it takes us back to our natural state; the way we evolved before low-cost junk food became widely available. I like to hope that no one could successfully market a high-fat diet food range – but I suspect that I could be wrong! Most diets are full of restrictions, LCHF has just one. I love its simplicity; just cut out the only unnecessary macronutrient group and you’re done. After all carbs are the dull part of any good meal aren’t they?
When it comes to food our bodies are so much cleverer than our minds. In three weeks my body learned to do something that most registered dieticians would tell you is impossible. And in three months my body re-learned a way of fuelling itself that is as old as our history on earth. I can run a marathon on a couple of eggs and bacon for breakfast and a couple of salty cups of soup. And I can still run up steep hills as fast as I could 5 years ago when carbs ruled the world.
 
About Me

I am a 48 year-old with better than average health and fitness. Since turning 40 I have taken up running as a serious pastime. I run between 20 and 50 miles a week and I run for a local club. Sometimes (but not often) I win races. I put on a few pounds if I stop exercising and don’t cut back on food. I like food and drink. I eat home cooked food 95% of the time and I like to drink wine with dinner, usually more than I should.

What worries me is not so much my weight but the stuff that goes into my food. How will it affect my future health? I also worry about what other people eat. Why are so many people overweight? You would think that in this day and age we would know enough about how our bodies work to ensure that no one got to be obese unless they actually wanted to. But clearly we do not.

Lots of people make a living out of telling other people what to eat. Diet clubs make lots of money and we are getting fatter. Food companies produce low-fat food and we are getting fatter. The NHS suggests a balanced diet (whatever that means) and pays billions a year to keep diabetics from dying and provide gastric bypasses for the obese. And has this helped? No. In fact the situation is getting worse. I would like to help to change this situation.

I would also like to stay fit and healthy for as long as possible. I would like to beat my Beachy Head Marathon PB. This might sound a bit delusional (it is a good time set 4 years ago and I'm nearing 50) but there are aspects of LCHF that may well help me to do this. I planned to start with the London Marathon; I planned to cruise through comfortably and enjoy it with a shirt that reads ‘Fuelled By Fat’ on the back. If went well that it would be back to the hills and the BHM where my love of running began.

Read on if the subject appeals to you…..

The basics of LCHF

I am not about to try to describe the diet in detail as there are excellent references by folks much better qualified than me. Here is one of the best : http://www.dietdoctor.com/lchf

And here is another http://eatingacademy.com/how-a-low-carb-diet-affected-my-athletic-performance.

These two websites have fuelled my interest in the subject and led the me reading a number of very well written books, the best of which would be The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Living by Stephen Phinney and Jeff Volek.

And here is a rather amusing and straight to the point article that I like. http://www.news24.com/MyNews24/On-Tim-Noakes-and-Bullsht-20140113By the way, everyone should listen to Tim Noakes; he is just great and ought to receive a Nobel Prize or something suitably grand.

To summarise on LCHF. Fat used to be our primary energy source. In the absence of carbs our liver will turn fats and proteins into ketones which are the body's alternative energy source besides glycogen. Carbs used to be an infrequent luxury; ripe fruits found and gorged upon. Our bodies learned to make use of carbs; they may even have made us a bit better at chasing those fatty animals that we like to eat. Our Palaeolithic ancestors may have been short of some forms of nutrition but they were not short of energy.

Our bodies do not tolerate carbohydrates very well. Feed them too much and we store it as fat. Some of us develop nasty diseases as a result. But remove the carbs from our diet (carefully mind) and hey! Those diseases often go away – This is where Tim Noakes is such a superstar, along with Phinney and Volek. They are not just talking about LCHF diets; they are curing many ill people with them.

To my mind it is not the ability for folks like me to lead a healthier lifestyle and maybe beat an old PB that matters, it is the possibility that millions of people suffering diabetes and faced with a lifetime of drugs and pain might shake off those shackles and live a healthy and happy life.

I grew up in a world where carbs were king. I did not grow fat on them but my family were very active; many of my friends did get fat. Since I have worked and travelled around the world in my job I have seen the extent to which whole communities can become part of a culture where obesity has become the norm. I refer to this as the ‘Cakes in the Kitchen’ syndrome. We all know those cakes we bring in for a birthday treat are bad for us but for some reason unknown to anyone but Mr Kipling we do it every time.

In the time that I have been growing up there has been an epidemic of obesity, timed perfectly with an epidemic in the consumption of carbohydrates. Many people have suggested that the cause was a more sedentary lifestyle but that is only one part of the bigger picture. If I ate all those ‘cakes in the kitchen’ at work then no amount of running would prevent me from being fatter than I am.

It is only in the last few years that anyone has suggested that the problem might be due to carbohydrates; and many of these heretics have been burned at the cross of capitalism. But the proof is emerging fast; it is all around us in research papers, clinical results, hard evidence. And still big-pharma and big-food refuse to admit they are wrong. And governments refuse to admit they are wrong because they are sponsored and advised by big-pharma and big-food. But the foundations are crumbling and I hope that the tower of carbs will fall soon.