Is LCHF the same as Ketogenic approach?

What way of eating are you transitioning too? Is it LCHF or a ketogenic approach? And is LCHF the same as ketogenic eating?

In this blog, we provide you with an easy to understand information on the common (real food eating approaches) that many of you are faced with and are choosing to explore.

Here we begin…

Quit sugar, cut dairy or eat more fats, are all popular buzz words we hear these days when it comes to the ‘diet’ we should be on to reach our health goals.

The popularity of such diets has soared in recent years as the evidence base for lower carbohydrate diets is ever-growing with multiple health benefits identified.

The basis of all these diets is that they involve the limitation of carbohydrates and exclusion of all refined sugars and processed foods. They also provide a higher proportion of fat. But why is that? Isn’t fat bad for us and makes us fat if we eat too much?? Not the case! The body can get its energy from either carbohydrates or fats therefore when carbs are limited the body adapts to using fats for energy. You cannot expect your body to function properly without supplying enough fats when you are limiting carbohydrates. You would end up starving yourself! Fats provide a greater sense of fullness and therefore increasing them will keep those hunger pains at bay.

It is also important to note that all these approaches to eating are LOW CARB and not NO CARB. Unless you eat only meat and butter (which we would not recommend!) you will still have small amounts of carbohydrates in your diet. Carbs are present in vegetables and dairy products also and these food groups are extremely important components of our diets providing bulk micro-nutrients to help our bodies thrive.

This approach encourages a wide variety of whole unprocessed foods including lots of vegetables with moderate (not high) protein intake. Low carbohydrate is generally defined as consuming more than 50g of carbs per day but less than 130g.

LCHF eliminates all forms of sugar, grains, and wheat in a bid to reduce inflammation and prevent obesity, diabetes, dementia, and cardiovascular diseases. The other emphasis with this is approach is the consumption of good quality fats including some animal fats and the exclusion of highly processed vegetable and seed oils that are pro-inflammatory.

Banting

Banting is just another term for LCHF used more commonly in South Africa. It was introduced by Professor Tim Noakes after he published The Real Meal Revolution which is now a best-seller globally.

Ketogenic

This approach was originally developed to treat epilepsy in children but has gained traction recently for its ability to transform your body into a fat burning machine once a state of nutritional ketosis is achieved. It is similar to LCHF but far stricter with carbohydrate intake (aiming for less than 50g of carbs per day). This can require the restriction of all fruits, starchy vegetables, and dairy products and thus maintenance/compliance can be challenging.

Paleo

This diet is based on eating foods similar to what the cavemen would eat back in palaeolithic times. It is rich in high protein foods like meat, fish, and chicken and it similar to LCHF in that it eliminates refined sugars, grains and wheat. It differs from LCHF in that most paleo dieters will not consume any dairy products. All forms of fruit are also acceptable with the paleo approach whereas lower sugar fruits are preferred with LCHF. It is important to note paleo is not always ‘low carb.’ Many paleo recipes and products contain dried fruits, honey, maple syrup and other alternative sugar substitutes which at the end of the day will still drive appetite and perpetuate hunger like plain old white sugar does.

Atkins

The Atkins diet developed by Dr Robert Atkins back in the 1970’s is based on carbohydrate counting but allows processed foods including artificial sweeteners as long as they are low carb. Atkins branded products including shakes, bars, and frozen meals are still available on supermarket shelves today. The Atkins diet fails to encourage people to increase their intake of vegetables and whole unprocessed foods and was criticised for being too high in protein.

So how do you decide which diet is best for you?

We recommend anything that is firstly encouraging you to reduce processed foods high in carbohydrates and sugars along with nasty unhealthy fats, however, whilst a range of eating strategies do offer this, nothing can compare to a Low Carb Healthy Fat approach. It is simply the most well rounded and focused on offering you real food to the balance that you need. It can assist in the prevention and treatment of a number of health issues and it is sustainable to maintain.

We also highly recommend ketogenic eating as often there are specific reasons to follow this approach, especially in relation to managing Chronic and Autoimmune diseases.

Please note: If you are looking to change your eating approach we would love to offer you professional and qualified guidance and support.

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