Has anyone else notice that when you increase the good fats – avocado, humous, feta cheese that they get better results??

Hummus is a good fat? Chickpeas are quite low in fat and very high in carbs which is why I don’t eat them or any other beans despite the claims made about their ostensibly low glycemic impact. Grass-fed ruminant meat, wild-caught salmon, nuts and seeds, especially hemp seeds, are the best sources of good fats as far as I know.

I did increase my fat intake and lower my protein when I was first figuring out my daily macronutrient goals. Obviously it worked for me overall, but I can’t say 20 grams more a day of fat was the reason for my weight loss.

I was referring to the oil content in n the humous. I make mine with olive oil.

Oh, I see. Well, it’s a tradeoff, I suppose. The proportions of carb to fat in hummus would be a problem for me because there are a lot more of the former from the chickpeas than the latter from the olive oil. Plenty of other people seem to do great eating beans and pulses, so it’s all about knowing what works for you.

On the general question of whether increasing fat consumption can improve weight loss, ketogenic diet followers eat fat bombs, small snacks extremely high in healthy fats with no carbs and very little protein, in the belief that it keeps them in a fat-burning state (ketosis) because it ensures that burning body fat is the sole source of fuel. The process of gluconeogenesis creates glucose from protein, so keeping the protein and carbs very low while upping the fats keeps your body reliant on ketone bodies from burned fat stores to function.

The thing is, fat is the highest calorie of all macronutrients, so if you’re doing the BSD and counting cals rather than the full keto diet which very explicitly does not count calories, then you don’t really have the leeway to go nuts (so to speak) on fat intake.

Do you record all your food? If so, maybe tweak your macros and see how your body reacts to an increase in healthy fats. Everyone is different.

Ah that’s really useful, thank you. I haven’t had lots of extra fat. I’ve just added a little avocado to my chicken salads or an extra bit of feta and it appears to have made a difference. I’ll experiment this week and see how it goes. I really don’t want to do the full keto diet. I really like that you don’t have to give up any food group with this WOE.

Onamission: Moderate or higher fat wholefoods (such as the ones you describe) are also rich in certain essential minerals and/ or rich in prebiotic fibre and/ or rich in probiotic bacteria/ yeasts, not just rich in fats.

There has long been evidence that wholefoods are superior to individual components in improving health, including achieving and maintaining a healthy weight. But it is only now that researchers are starting to understand why that is. So your experiences and experiments are pretty much at the cutting edge of science! 😉