Why I'm Living Low Carb High Fat

I've posted quite a bit on this blog about low carb high fat (LCHF), Paleo, Primal, Wheat free diets. I tend to write quite frequently about it. I also tend to talk quite frequently about it. I'm actually quite certain that many of you friends and family are probably sick of hearing about it.  You probably look at me, still overweight, and think to yourself, yeah, he'll get over it eventually.

I won't get over it. And, I will probably continue to preach it. I have to. Maybe what I'm about to post will help you to understand why I've become passionate about this.

Back in 2002 I tipped the scales at 265lbs.  For someone 5'7" tall, that's 100lbs overweight (according to some sources, even more so). I would turn 40 next year.  That's me over to the right. 

My doctor prescribed me lisinopril for hypertension, and a statin for cholesterol. I took myself off the statin after only a few months, fortunately, because I probably would have been fired if I had kept taking it any longer.  I couldn't think straight anymore, and it showed in my work. Please read my other post on statins if you're taking one.

On the plus side, I was also sent to talk to a dietician.  She suggested that my IBS might in fact be celiac. Additionally, she also told me that the biggest reason I gave up on the only successful diet I had ever tried, might not have been the diet, but actually have been an allergy to soy (she was right about the soy).

Following her advice, I went wheat free.  I also gave up drinking everything except coffee, tea, and water.  Following this advice, I dropped to 248 lbs. There I stopped. Of course, at that time I was still eating plenty of carbs.  Corn and rice especially. I had chosen not to again try the Atkins diet, even though I had successfully lost weight in the past with it.  I just didn't quite believe that soy could be the problem, after all, that's a health food, isn't it? Or, that's what we're told.  Of course, we're also told grains are healthy, but I digress.

Then in 2008 I married Kristen.  She introduced me to real food.  She had read a book called Nourishing Traditionsthat changed her way of thinking about food.  She also insists she wants to keep me healthy for a good long time, something about seeing our children grow up and have kids.  We now have five of them. 

No  more foods that were created in a lab for me.  We also discovered Mark's Daily Apple and bought The Primal Blueprint.  We put me back on a low-carb diet. My weight moved slowly down to 212 lbs. And, stopped. 

My weight was not where I want it.  The good news, however, was that my blood pressure was.  As a matter of fact, my doctor (a new one, my old one having decided he wanted to work exclusively with geriatric patients) was actually a little alarmed that my blood pressure was 106/60. She suggested I should stop taking lisinopril that I had been taking daily for five years.

This was right around the time that Galen was born.  A little over 3 years ago.  My weight fluctuated up and down between 212 and 220.  Refusing to budge lower.  This continued pretty much until Honor was conceived.

Frustrated with my lack of progress, and (no, I'm not blaming you Kristen) giving into the temptations of Kristen's pregnancy cravings, I stopped being low-carb and rocketed back up to 240 lbs. 

Honor was born In May, and Kristen put us both on a low-carb, and this time high fat, diet about two weeks after.  

Here's why I'm passionate about LCHF.  Three years ago, when I was down to 212 lbs. my lipid panel was still not great, triglycerides were 203.  That's the number that I've learned is actually most important.  Additionally, I was stalled at 212 lbs.  It was as if I were still eating sugar or something.

This fall my lipid panel came back with a triglyceride reading of 74.  That's awesome!  The difference?  High fat diet!  Real fats, no frankenoils.  I've also dropped back to 220 lbs.  All arthritis is gone.  Gout is gone.  Acne is gone.  All these things came back during Kristen's pregnancy with Honor.

I'm convinced.  LCHF is not a diet, it's now the way I eat.  We'll see if it also gets me past that 212 lb. barrier. I suspect it might, as the high fat part of the diet satisfies my hunger better, and our continuing studies in nutrition have taught us that your body can actually turn proteins into glucose (sugar), which I suspect is what my body was doing, which is why I was finding it harder and harder to resist eating carbohydrate heavy foods.

 ~Scott