When you eat carbohydrate, your body has two ways of processing it:

1. You burn it as energy
2. Your body stores it away for a ‘rainy day’, by converting it to fat.

Unless we’re incredibly active, the volume of carbs we consume is never feasibly going to be burnt off. Much of it goes straight into the store-cupboard; for that rainy day, which never comes. In this way, we get fatter and fatter.

So if we end up stock-piling all excess carbs as fat; what it is that actually does the piling? Who stocks the larder? Yes, you’ve guessed it; insulin!

Insulin is your body’s OCD housekeeper. It keeps the shelves nice & stacked with flawless efficiency! Every time you eat, it’s ready and waiting; obsessively keen to ‘tidy up’ and pack the glucose away in a never ending spring-clean.

Things might be okay if insulin just left things at that. But no.

Like all good housekeepers, insulin is fanatical about keeping busy. When it’s gainfully employed, it sends the brain a message to say “All’s fine, I’ve got plenty to do. You’re nicely full!” But when it begins to sense a lull in work, it sends the opposite message upwards: “Better eat something! You must be hungry! I need more sugar to clean-up! Eat something quick!”. You then get hunger pangs and reach for the nearest snack.

How many times have you thought to yourself: “How can I be hungry? I only had breakfast an hour ago?” Or equally: “I’m absolutely stuffed, but I suppose I could just squeeze in that one last chocolate!” That’s your brain telling you “I need more fuel!” In actual fact, all that’s happening is your sugar-levels are starting to drop.

Insulin therefore has two functions. First of all, it’s the hormone which prevents fat-burning and promotes fat-storage. And secondly? It is a satiety hormone, sending messages to your brain that you’re either full, or need more glucose!

The truly destructive thing about insulin’s secondary function, is that the message somehow gets lost in translation. The message “you’re full” actually translates to “you have enough fuel, don’t worry” The message “I’m making good progress at stockpiling all this glucose” is interpreted by your brain as “Panic stations! You’re running out of energy!”.

There’s a distinct language-barrier between the two; one that ends up in mixed signals, and leaves you craving sugar, despite the fact you’ve just had lunch!

So how do we get around this confusion in meaning? Is there a way to stop your brain thinking it’s running out of energy as soon as your blood-sugars start to drop?

The answer is ketones and saturated fat.

Your brain can burn either of two fuels: glucose or ketone-bodies (it can even burn both!). Unlike glucose, ketones are a constant source of energy for the brain. They’re produced by the body, so are not dependent on your food-sources to keep the brain happily fueled. Ketones are only produced when glucose is unavailable. Therefore cut your carbs.

Because fat is far slower to metabolise than glucose, it slows down digestion when it enters the intestinal-tract. When you’re busy digesting, your brain knows that you’re full and your appetite is decreased.

This message is fundamentally different from the ‘drama-queen’ signals fired off by your OCD insulin-housekeeper! It’s a reliable message, where both parties speak the same language. To take advantage of this message, eat more fat.

A fat-metabolism prompts you to eat when you’re hungry, then stop when you’re full.

Glucose drives you to eat to when your sugar-levels drop; it has nothing to do with how much you’ve eaten or whether you need food.

In understanding this, lies to key to harnessing your metabolism and regaining control of your relationship with food.

The ketogenic-diet allows you to lose weight with no hunger pangs. There’s no desire to snack, nor do you suffer the roller-coaster ‘highs and lows’ associated with drops & spikes in blood-sugar.

For me, it’s time my OCD housekeeper took a holiday. And I’m going to do all I can to make sure it’s a permanent one.

And no; I don’t need a postcard!

Thank you for reading,

Adam.

Fibre is a wonderful thing! Not only does it ensure that the food we eat ‘keeps moving’ through the digestive-system; it can actually help lower cholesterol and aids the prevention of a whole host of nasties… (NHS states heart disease, diabetes, some cancers &tc).

Whilst I can’t comment on the ‘preventative’ health-qualities of fibre; I can tell you a little bit about it, and why it’s so important to the ketogenic-dieter or diabetic.

People are often surprised to learn that fibre is actually a form of carbohydrate (alarms bells ring for all low-carb readers everywhere!!!). Having said this; it comprises the parts of plants which we cannot digest and is therefore not absorbed by the body. As such; it’s not a nutrient and contains no calories or vitamins.

Examples of indigestible plant-fibres include cellulose (the plant’s cell-walls), lignin (derived from the Latin word for wood & the thing which makes vegetables crunchy); and suberin (a waxy, rubbery material which is water-resistant, therefore acting as a barrier to moisture-loss in roots, bark &tc). Such fibres are not absorbed in the small intestine and pass straight through to the large intestine intact.

Because fibre is ‘rough’ and combines with other foodstuffs to ‘shift’ them through the digestive-tracts; it contributes to feelings of ‘fullness’/ satiety. This is a major advantage to both dieters and weight-stable people alike! The fuller you feel, the less you’ll eat!

Fibre comes in two forms:

• Soluble fibre
• Insoluble fibre

So what’s the difference?

Soluble fibre does as the name suggests: it attracts water and dissolves into a form of ‘gel’ in the gut. This gel helps to slow-down the digestion of other foods, including (yes!) carbohydrate and sugar. This is particularly important for diabetics. Why?  The slower the rate of carbohydrate-absorption in your system, the more stable your blood-sugars, and the lower the risk of glucose-spikes in the blood-stream.

Stable blood-sugars = better insulin management = improved health!

Examples of soluble fibres include fruits, legumes, oats (all forms of fruit & vegetables to varying extents).

Insoluble fibre is equally aptly named. It’s made of the more structural parts of plant (the lignins &tc). As a result, it also attracts water, but instead of forming a gel; it ‘puffs up’ & adds bulk/softness to other less fibrous foods. In-so-doing, it regulates the passage of foodstuffs through the intestines, thereby promoting digestive health in general.

Examples of insoluble fibres include bran, beans, green leafy vegetables, nuts & seeds.

So we know what it is and what it does. But why is fibre of special importance to a low-carb diet?

Firstly, low carb diets often consume a higher proportion of meat & dairy products than other regimes. These require good levels of fibre to secure their transit through the digestive-system

Secondly (and of supreme interest!) – because dietary-fibre is a carbohydrate which comprises the indigestible parts of edible plants; fibre should be subtracted from the total carbohydrate-content of foods, because we cannot digest it!

Yes – we minus fibre from carbohydrate whenever we calculate the carb-value of what we’re eating. This reduced figure is termed the ‘Net Carbs’ (i.e. the true nutrient-value of the carbohydrate we’re consuming; not the parts which pass straight through intact).

For many foods, this will render what seems like a high carb-value into something that’s both acceptable, and can be eaten freely on a ketogenic-diet.

Example: Carbohydrate 10g minus fibre 8g = net carbs 2g.

Sugar-alcohols should also be subtracted, but these are often hard to distinguish on UK food packaging, so are omitted from this post.

Armed with this quick and easy ‘carb-counting-tool’; shopping, cooking & ‘living’ a low-carb diet all become instantly easier and more accessible!

I hope this helps and thanks for reading,

Adam.

‘Ketogenic Shopping’ is fairly straightforward.

At the start however, it can help to have a list of the good things to buy (keto-GO-GOs) and the things which are higher in carbs, thereby posing risks to ketosis (keto-NO-NOs)!

For specific foodstuffs, the New Atkins Carb Counter is a brilliant tool! It calculates the ‘net carbs’ of any food for you; which can often take away the guesswork! (More on ‘net carbs’ in a later post…)

In this blog, I aim to provide a quick reference-guide as to what to put into your shopping-basket; starting this week with vegetables.

As the guide is ‘quick reference’, it doesn’t detail the exact carb-count per item; rather groups them into three classifications:

• Keto-GO-GO-GO: 2g or less
• Keto-GO-GO: 5g or less
• Keto-GO: 8g or less
• Keto-NO-NO: 8g or more!

The below details ‘total carbs’ (not net). The reason for this? Net carbs will always be a lower figure. If you start with the higher of the two, you’ll never go wrong!

Keto-GO-GO-GO! – under 2g total carbs (not net) per 100g:

Bamboo Shoots

Broccoli (Green & Purple)

Cabbage (Green, Spring, Chinese not Red!)

Celery

Courgette

Kale

Cucumber

Chicory

Fennel

Lettuce (Romaine, Cos, Iceberg & other ‘Leafy Greens’)

Marrow

Radishes

Spinach

Watercress

Keto-GO-GO! – under 5g total carbs (not net) per 100g:

Artichoke (Globe – Boiled or Tinned)

Aubergine

Asparagus (Boiled & Canned)

Avacado

Beansprouts

Beetroot (Raw, not Pickled or Cooked)

Brussels Sprouts

Cabbage (Red, Savoy, White)

Chard

Green Beans

Green Peppers (Capsicum)

Cauliflower

Celeriac (Americans call Celery-Root)

Baby Sweetcorn (not Boiled or Tinned)

Endive

Kohlrabi

Leeks

Mushrooms

Okra

Olives

Peas

Pumpkin (Raw)

Tomatoes (Tinned, Cherry & Salad)

Turnips

Keto-GO! – under 8g total carbs (not net) per 100g:

Beetroot (Pickled)

Red Pepper (Capsicum)

Carrots (Boiled & Raw)

Onions

Butternut Squash

Water-Chestnuts (Tinned)

Keto-NO-NOs – over 8g total carbs (not net) per 100g. Best avoided on a ketogenic diet!:

Jerusalem Artichoke

Beetroot (Boiled)

Cassava

Sweetcorn (Tinned or Boiled, not Baby)

Potatoes (All)

Parsnip

Sweet Potato

Yam

If you look at the GO-GO sections, you’ll notice that anything green will pretty much be fine to eat!

How much of these should you eat?

GO-GO-GO: the name says it all! As much as you like!

GO-GO: a healthy portion-size (picture a handful), but don’t overdo it!

GO: be a little sparing. A small handful, especially when you’re trying to lose weight.

NO-NO: need I say more?

I hope this helps and thanks for reading,

Adam.

The science behind weight-loss can be a little intimidating! Every time I try to research the bits I don’t understand; the explanations uncover 50 more things I’ve yet to learn! The terminology is often complex & confusing; and the experts all disagree in their viewpoints. Never more so than with cholesterol.

This blog attempts to relay my own understanding of the science. It relates the basics from my own personal perspective & reading. I preclude the below with the statement that I have no medical or scientific training. If I’m wrong on any of this, then readers’ corrections will help improve my knowledge and are gratefully received!

So here goes…

Cholesterol is a fat (or lipid, to use the scientific term!). It’s present in all cells, in the form of cell-membranes. It also helps make vitamin D, hormones & bile acid for use in digesting fat in the intestines.  To reach all the places it’s needed, it travels around in the body’s own ‘high-speed motorway’; the bloodstream.

If you’ve ever tried to combine oil & water, you’ll have noticed that the two don’t mix. Because cholesterol is a fat & your blood is water-based; the very same principal applies. Fat would just be floating around in your blood-stream in lumps. We couldn’t utilise it for it’s purpose (the construction of cell-membranes, hormones & intestinal bile-acids) & I suspect our blood would become a little bit messy! (I’m picturing washing-up water, after pans have been soaking overnight).

To allow the fat to cohesively travel through the blood, the body encapsulates it in protein. This makes it a definitive ‘particle’, rather than just a blob of free-flowing oil. These particles of fat in ‘protein-wetsuits’ are called ‘lipoproteins’. The proteins which form the wetsuit have a rather pleasing name: apolipoproteins. The same process is applied to all fats in the bloodstream.

The protein-wetsuit should potentially be termed a ‘submarine’, because it’s made to carry more than just cholesterol. Along for the ride are 2 other things: triglycerides (produced from the food we eat) & phospholipids (the ‘glue’ which holds the whole lot together).

Our lipoproteins contain varying ratios of fat to protein. Some have more, some have less. It’s the ‘density’ of this fat-to-protein which determines the type of cholesterol. There are many different forms of lipoprotein, but the two we shall focus on here are ‘High-Density Lipoproteins’ (HDLs) & ‘Low-Density Lipoproteins’ (LDLs). Particles with more fat and less protein have a lower density. Particles with more protein & less fat have a higher density. It’s therefore the ratio of protein to fat which determines whether the particle is HLD or LDL.

In most people, 60-70% of cholesterol is carried in LDLs. These act as a taxi-service; transporting the cholesterol to where it’s needed. The important part here, is the statement ‘where it’s needed!’. If we have too many LDLs then we effectively have more cholesterol than the body requires. What does it do with the excess? It dumps it in the arteries as plaque, which then builds up and can cause blockages. This is the link between cholesterol & heart-attacks. A blockage in the blood-supply to the heart.

Because of this, LDLs are typically termed the ‘bad cholesterol’. They carry more fat than protein, & therefore pose a risk of blocking arteries if we have more cholesterol than the body can use.

If LDLs are ‘bad’, then why does this post mention ‘good cholesterol’? Is there such a thing?

Every cloud has a silver-lining. The ‘cholesterol silver-lining’ is HDLs.

Because these contain more protein & less fat, the taxi still has room for a few more passengers! HDLs are like a taxi-driver on a sunny Wednesday afternoon. They cruise around, looking for work! When HDLs encounter a bit of excess cholesterol, they pick it up from the cells & tissues, and take it straight back to the liver. The liver then unpacks it and either uses it to make bile or recycles it. It’s a self-perpetuating process where the body conducts its own clean-up exercise. If only my washing-up did the same…

But what’s this got to do with the ketogenic diet?

A high-fat diet will naturally raise cholesterol-levels. What’s important to understand is that a high-fat diet also raises the good HDLs! Raising your HDL-levels increases your body’s ability to scour bad cholesterol from the bloodstream. This makes our bodies more efficient at removing excess fat and bad cholesterol. The higher your HDL level, the less ‘bad cholesterol’ you’ll have in your blood! And that means fewer blockages which cause heart disease.

But what about the bad cholesterol. Doesn’t this just go up too?

Remember our submarine? Cholesterol was not the only thing contained in our lipoproteins. We also have phospholipids & triglycerides.

If you remember from our introduction to ketosis; insulin enables the conversion of food into energy, and stores away what energy we don’t use in the form of fat. Well, that excess energy is derived from glucose. When your body has more glucose than it requires, insulin prompts the liver to convert glucose into triglycerides (the second passenger in our submarine).

If you restrict dietary-carbohydrate (thereby glucose); you decrease insulin-levels.

If you decrease insulin (which converts glucose to triglycerides); you decrease triglyceride-levels.

If bad cholesterol is made up of high fat lipoproteins (LDLs); then lower triglyceride-levels mean less bad cholesterol in the blood!

Restricting dietary-carbohydrate prevents the conversion of glucose into the fatty triglycerides which contribute to bad cholesterol. If you ‘up’ your fat levels & reduce your carbs; you raise HDL levels, which in turn removes bad cholesterol from the blood. LDLs are reduced because you’re not producing fat from glucose.

I hope that about covers it. The process is hugely complicated and I’ve gleaned this from many different sources (all of which seem to contradict one-another). I naturally have a lot more to learn, so any comments which can increase my understanding will be hugely welcome!

Thanks for reading,

Adam.