Will an apple a day keep the doctor away? It certainly got Adam and Eve into trouble and it can get us into trouble too.
How much trouble depends on how sensitive to carbohydrates you are or, in other words, how insulin resistant you are.
What’s a good level of carbohydrates to begin with?
I generally recommend starting a LCHF lifestyle on 20 gms of carbohydrate (CHO) a day. In a medium sized humble, yet infamous apple there’s 25gms of carbohydrates. That’s already over the top.
The easiest way to work with carbohydrates at <20gms a day is to pay attention to how many grams in each meal. Limit that to 5 gms a meal if you are having three meals a day plus one snack. Or 10 gms a meal if you work fine on 2 meals a day with no snacks.
How do you find out your personal carbohydrate tolerance level?
I generally recommend people stay on this level until they get into a rhythm of successful weight loss or improved blood markers, if they don’t need to lose body fat. And once you are ready to test then to explore by adding 5 grams of CHO’s a day for a week. E.g. First week with more carb = 25gms a day. Second week = 30gms a day. 3rd week = 35gms a day. Etc, etc. When you do that you will reach a point where you stall your weight loss. That’s your personal level of carbohydrate tolerance and if you want to maintain weight or get back into losing body fat then you’ll need to come back down from that number.
Do I have to stay at that level?
For some people they’ll need to stay at below that 20 to not just lose but to maintain body fat loss. My personal limit is around 30 gms a day. If I go over that I’m gaining weight. If I stay under I’m losing /maintaining. By testing yourself like I suggested above, you’ll find your own personal level.
Some people, who aren’t as sensitive to carbohydrates/insulin resistant, find they can eat more carbohydrates and that’s when apples or pieces of an apple can come back on the menu.
Of course, to be sustainable as a lifestyle, this needs to be a satisfying process and that’s where the high/healthy fat comes in.
Related pages
http://daragrennie.com/