Losing weight by eating fat

Boy, it has been a long time since I got to blog here. My life has taken me into a whirlwind of a tornado and, not surprisingly, the things that I do for myself are the first to go. Still, I have been having internal conversations with CaveKitchen, creating a monologue of posts inside my head. It has helped, kept me company, been my unspoken companion during a challenging time.

I am here now to pay it back. Thanks to those who made comments and started following me on NetworkedBlogs, giving me little nudges to quit being a stranger.

Throughout this time the topic that has been most on my mind is FAT. Fat, fat and more fat. A long time ago I wrote about the importance of adding fat to one's meals and shared some tips for doing so. Today I would like to share what focusing on fat has done for me.

One of the common complaints I see about Paleo is hunger. Switching to paleo leaves a lot of people constantly craving food. I gained 10 lbs in the first two weeks of trying it and sought advice about what to do. Reducing sugar, not surprisingly, turned out to be an important step. But I had not mastered paleo, nor reaped one of its biggest benefits till I focused on fat.

Today, I usually eat one meal per day, often supplementing it with a light breakfast, small snack or nothing at all. The most astounding result is - I don't think about food. I am not raiding the refrigerator to see what I can find, plainly forgetting my favorite habit - munching - in favor of focusing on values in my life.

Every now and then I get on a scale and I am not surprised to see the numbers going down as I see improvements in my body, the fit of my jeans and a general feeling of well-being.

So what's the deal? Basically, fat calories satiate you like nothing else. They do not cause an insulin spike, which leads to a crash later in the day. When hungry, I no longer feel light-headed, or craving food.  I just feel... well... hungry - no other side effects. Because I have to rely on Granny (my mother-in-law) to do most of the cooking, I have to make sure I add enough fat to the meal to retain the peace the freedom from cravings brings. Bacon, butter, avocados, coconut are staples that I add liberally to the dried out and often flavorless meals that lean meat creates. On those days that I get lazy and forget to do what is required, I become aware of the sudden need to stock up on fruit, unexpected contemplation of a quick fix a bagel would bring. I always keep several packages of uncured bacon Trader Joe's offers to put those cravings to rest. (If you haven't seen my post on perfect bacon - you should look; this easy method of preparing bacon has changed my life!)

When I have a good meal, I know it, as the satiation sets in, bringing a burst of energy that radiates like heat all over my body. On those days, I know, I won't be tempted to watch TV instead of working late at night, have bed time conflicts with kids or become depressed about having taken on too many things. On such nights, I just am - caught up in the joy of living, pursuing my productive endeavors and enjoying life.

Five ways to add fat to your meal

Just in case you are new here, you might be wondering, "ADD FAT??"  Yes, Add Healthy Fat! This means:

•  saturated fat, the storage medium for pure energy employed by animals and humans alike. It is stable, easily accessible and, if you are trying to lose weight, represents the most filling calories you will encounter.  (In other words, replace 500 calories in sugar with 400 calories in fat - you'll be less hungry, avoid those cravings and lose weight. In other words, skip the 500 calorie Jamba Juice and enjoy10 pieces of bacon (40 calories each) - which of those will leave you feeling full?
• Omega 3 fat, available in grass-fed meat, fish oil, macademia nuts.

For more information on relative health value of fats (yes, some fats are actually bad!) see the definitive guide to fats.  A long time ago, when I was first getting started with paleo, I did a bit of digging on saturated fat and found that there is little evidence all the hatred is based on.

Sharing meals with family members who have not been convinced by the paleo argument, I am forced to find extra nutrition to add to meals,  which have been purposefully deprived of it.  Here are my tricks:

1. Home-made beef stock.  In Russia, the quality of the broth was judged by marbling one could see on the surface.  Real broth, not made from a box, will boast beautiful golden marble-lines on its surface.  Preparing it is super-easy:
   
   Buy soup bones at the grocery store, usually sold at $1-$1.50 a lb, optionally get additional bony meat or organ meat.  Place 3 lbs in a crockpot with two cups of water and your favorite spices. Remove the bones.  Strain.  Keep the meat for a future meal.
   
   You will wind up with the richest broth you have ever seen.  Freeze Add it to a lean soup. Thicken it with tapioca or arrowroot powder and use it as gravy for a lean meal.
   
   
2. Rendered bacon or salt pork. Remember bacon bits, that stuff apparently made out of cardboard and vaguely resembling bacon you get on top of salads? What you should do to create flavorful rich bacon to go on top of almost any meal: salad, mashed potatoes (I do sweet potatoes or mashed cauliflower), lean meat dishes, even steak sauce.
   
   Cut bacon into 1/4 inch strips. Stir-fry in a pan until bacon is somewhat crispy and golden-brown. You don't have to get those as crispy as you might a full piece of bacon as with a greater total surface area, less worry about bubbles that never reach the pan, etc, you get far more crispiness even while preserving much of the body that would be absent in a crumbly-crisp piece of bacon.
   
   
3. Coconut! Yes, it's the greatest source of pick-me-up one can have in a diet. Unlike caffeine, it does not leave me jittery, but makes a real difference in what I can accomplish in my day
   
   Add coconut cream or milk to curries, sauces, gravies. Try substituting dairy milk & cream for coconut. Despite similarly hated fat content, coconut just seems to do more for my body than cream can hope for. I am starting to suspect that perhaps non-dairy paleo crowd isn't far off from the truth.
   
   Sprinkle shredded coconut, raw or roasted, on top of any meal that can benefit from a little crunch in its texture. It's particularly good in place of granola on your yogurt. And on those days when you absolutely must have chocolate, make an instant mounds of joy (with much less sugar) by melting the chocolate with shredded coconut.  Or, to skip the mess and make a coconut/chocolate sandwich.
   
   
4. Avocado/ Guacamole. Personally, I think avocado is boring.  It's ok chopped up in salads, but does little for most meals.  Guacamole, on the other hand, is hard.  But it works as a great side/sauce/dip for a lot of different meals, from steak & roast to veggies or crock pot creations. Here is a simplified version that works quite well:
   
   Mash an avocado with a fork. To peel an avocado, cut it into quarters, around the pit, then pull the corners of the peels down, while popping the meat up.  Add several drops of lemon juice, plenty of cumin, salt & pepper. This will do in a pinch, though throwing in chopped onions & tomatoes will go all the way.
   
   
5. Ghee.  What's that?  Clarified butter. It is healthier, a much better grease that tolerates higher
   temperatures and lasts longer and it happens to have greater saturated fat content than butter (you get it by separating the oil from everything else butter contains).  Rub ghee on your steak prior to placing it in a pan; add it to gravies in place of butter, use it to cook or heat up left-overs.  (Oh, and while we are at it - despite everyone being afraid of the fat content in ghee, some studies have shown it actually reduces cholesterol, according to this wikipedia article on ghee).

Each one of these things makes a difference between a meal that leaves me feeling ok and one after which I feel I can fly.

Why I stuck with the paleo diet

Paleo has been tough for me.  I've been on it for about 9 months now.  The start was extremely rough: I was hungry all the time and couldn't figure out why. I found that my kids were not used to eating a lot of meat, and neither was I.  Mealtimes, never a problem before that, became a disaster.  My husband thought I was misguided and to top it all off, I had to learn how to cook!  Eventually, while still technically paleo, my diet deteriorated, and I was simply sick of it. I gave up and ate bagels till my heart was content for two weeks!  The result? I had to go back and do it right this time.

Here is why.  Here is a list of things that happened to me while on Paleo:

1. I quit getting sick.  My kids come down with colds monthly - but I seem nearly immune, getting minor symptoms from time to time.
2. I have a high level of energy, often feeling like I can move mountains after a good healthy meal.
3. My teeth are white!  This is the most surprising of all the results.  I am horrible to my teeth and they've always shown it.  Suddenly, I have a smile I am proud of!
4. I no longer get heart burn when eating onions.  Now, that's unexpected!  I've had a hard time with raw onions since I got pregnant the first time.  Now I can eat them with a spoon. Neat! (When I went off paleo for two weeks, the heart burn was back. How do you like that?)
5. My taste preferences seem to shift away from the unhealthy: sweet things seem too sweet to enjoy, potatoes too bland. I am beginning to trust my taste buds to lead me in the healthy direction for my body.

Losing all that overnight made me realize how much this diet has come to mean to my body and to my lifestyle.  I just couldn't stand the idea of walking away and back to where I had been a year ago: lethargic, constantly fighting off a cold, trying to get through the day, drinking a cup after cup of coffee with little to no effect.

There is another localized symptom that helps me guide myself in the right direction.  After a "right" meal, I feel like one of those super-heros in my son's cartoons after drinking a special power potion.  I can't describe it in terms even I can understand...  I feel happy to be alive.  But the feeling kicks in suddenly, like from a drug, minutes after I am done eating.  As far as I can tell, the following are the key ingredients for making it happen:

   * beef - no other meat has done it (I am hypothesizing, it's the amount of iron)
   * high fat content (not surprising, it's where the energy comes from)
   * low amount of carbohydrates: just a small side of veggies (high-carb meals always weigh me down)

I love the feeling and love the evenings that follow after the dinner that makes it happen.  I can work late into the night and feel like a million bucks.  Today is one of those. I can't wait to get to work and kick butt!