Low Carb, High Fatting??

Discussion in 'Health and Fitness' started by Victoria, Apr 12, 2008.

  1. Victoria

    Victoria Pretzel In Training

    Low carb diets are hardly fresh news. But something I've come across a lot lately is people already on low carb diets, switching to even lower carbs with lower protein and even higher fat, called "high-fatting". These people aren't necessarily fitness fanatics, a lot of them are actually inactive Joe Bloggs (women :rolleyes: ).

    The theory behind this seems to be that by eating all that fat, you'll actually lose more fat than you would on lower fat diets.

    Typical values per day as follows:

    Low carb - 20g
    Lower protein - 60g
    With 80% of your days calories coming from FAT.

    Here's the recommended sources for fat:
    Butter, lard, bacon grease and other animal fats, olive oil, coconut and other vegetable oils, mayonnaise, cream cheese, hard cheese, nuts.

    I'm no expert on good fats and bad fats, but they don't all look like the good sources to me, and many people on this diet are unable to distinguish between good and bad fats, it's all fat to them.



    At first glance this looks insane to me, 20g carbohydrate is too low IMO even for a low carb diet, and all that fat can't be healthy surely?
    But, I'm willing to stand corrected. In fact I'd love someone to tell me this diet is healthy, works for weight loss, and that these dieters aren't mad!



    So firstly, how low do you think is too low for a low carb diet? 20g? 100g?

    And secondly, do you think that 80% of your calories coming fat, whether good or bad fat, is healthy as a method of weight loss?

    Maybe someone here is on a similar diet or familiar with the concept?

    I'm baffled.
     
  2. flaming

    flaming Valued Member

    Omega 3 is the best type of fat. Whats healthier polyunsaturated fat or saturated fat?
     
  3. Victoria

    Victoria Pretzel In Training

    You may want to stay away from saturated fat.

    Omega 3 is an essential fatty acid, and is err, essential :D
     
  4. Gary

    Gary Vs The Irresistible Farce Supporter

    I've been on something like this for a while, I'm on about 3/5ths fat and 2/5ths protein with negligible carbs. It's not too dissimilar to most low carb diets, in fact ketosis is easier to reach if your body has a good supply of fat.

    Personally my fat comes from olive/walnut/pumpkin oil, coconut milk, eggs, fish oil (and oily fish!) as well as fats from decent meat cuts. The majority of my carbs come from vegetables. It's pretty important on this diet to watch your nitrite intake, since a lot of processed meats are packed with it.

    I'm also in the process of trialling a swap from high sugar PWO drinks since I'm not entirely sure how much I need that much sugar for recovery.

    I think the 80/20 split is too much for someone weight training, I need/love my protein intake and that would be either a tiny protein intake or an insane calorie intake!
     
  5. Victoria

    Victoria Pretzel In Training

    What about your average sofa lounger who does no exercise, packing in the lard? I can't see this being healthy nor effective for weight loss :confused:
     
  6. Gary

    Gary Vs The Irresistible Farce Supporter

    Couldn't comment, I don't have any experience, :D

    I've anecdotally heard of fairly overweight people eating three fry ups a day and losing weight fast, whether this has more to do with the low carb diet or the fact that they've stopped snacking and have somewhat more control over their diet and calorie intake I couldn't say.

    There is a fair bit of evidence at the moment that the health risk of high fat/negligible carb diets is minimal, which makes sense when you consider what kind of diet we are evolved to eat. There's still a huge hangover of fat=bad from the eighties and nineties when it was the diet of choice. Here's a pretty decent article about fats, if anything you want a balance of fats instead of concentrating on any particular healthy fat.
     
  7. Victoria

    Victoria Pretzel In Training

    What about calorie intake, is a significant increase acceptable as long as 80% of the calories are from fat? (another point women make that I think is mad)
     

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