Tips

  • Remember: This is not a high protein diet. It’s a high fat, medium protein, low carb way of eating.
  • Choose real foods that look like what they are, and cook them from scratch.
  • Fat is not the enemy. Enjoy it!
  • Eat only when you are hungry, eat until you are satisfied – then stop.
  • Don’t eat when you are not hungry. You won’t die if you occasionally skip a meal you don’t feel like eating.
  • Stop snacking. You won’t need to – it’s just a habit.
  • No Sugar. It’s an addiction, and it’s probably best to go cold turkey. But if you need to make it a transition, substitute with Stevia, Xylitol or Erythritol – NOT artificial sweeteners.
  • No Grains of any kind.
  • No (or very little) fruit. think of it ass a sweet rather than a healthy snack.
  • Embrace Eggs. They’re healthy, satisfying and very good for you.

2o Tips why you are not losing weight.

  • You’re not eating enough fat.
  • You could be overdoing the starchy veggies.
  • You’re eating too often because you’re anxious about feeling hungry.
  • You’re not giving your body a chance to go into fat-burning mode.
  • You’re eating too much protein.
  • You’re eating carbs you think are proteins.
  • You’re eating soy-based foods.
  • You’re eating out of boxes, bottles and cans.
  • You’re eating too much – plain and simple.
  • you’re eating off a huge plate.
  • You’re eating because it’s mealtime, not because you’re hungry.
  • You’re going back for second helpings.
  • You’re eating fruit.
  • You’re eating too many nuts.
  • You’re eating too much dairy.
  • You’re not eating enough.
  • You’re drinking alcohol.
  • You’re using too much olive oil and not enough saturated fat.
  • You’re using artificial sweeteners.
  • You’re drinking coffee.

100 Banting pointers to remember:

1. This is not a “diet” on which you go on & come off after weight loss. It’s not a quick fix diet. Eating the “Banting” way which means a Low Carb High Fat diet if a lifestyle. It becomes the new normal way of eating for you.
2. One of the signs of being carbohydrate intolerant includes getting drowsy after eating foods containing carbs or sugars – usually about 2 hours after eating. Most times this occurs after lunch – in the middle of the afternoon.
3. If you are sensitive to carbohydrates, you will most probably gain weight around your waist & not your hips & thighs.
4. If your weight goes up& down a lot, you most probably will benefit from changing your diet to a LCHF way of life.
5. Carbohydrates are addictive, so if you are carb intolerant you will find yourself reaching for them more & more, even though you are no longer hungry.
6. If you are a habitual smoker or emotional eater, you probably are sensitive to carbs & should follow he Banting way.
7. If obesity & weight gain around the waist is something your parents or grandparents struggled with, you most probably will struggle with it too. A lifestyle of low carbs will benefit you.
8. What’s your favourite food? If the answer is cake or carbs, you most probably are addicted & could be carbohydrate intolerant.
9. If there is diabetes in your family, you are at high risk for being insulin resistant & need to cut back on sugar & starch.
10. Premenstrual tension improves when you cut out carbs & sugar.

  1. Starting the day by drinking 2 glasses of water on an empty stomach can help in weight loss & helps prevent constipation.
    12. Eating a LCHF diet is NOT permission to eat as much as you want. You still need to employ some calorie counting & portion control.
    13. Before eating, think about exactly how you are feeling. The process of eating actually starts in the mind. Ask yourself if you are hungry, thirsty, bored, emotional. Eat when you are hungry – stop when you are full.
    14. The core principle of Banting is eating REAL food. These foods are foods that satisfy & they are the ones you want to focus on.
    15. Probably the most beneficial food to add to your diet is the one that contains all the nutrients, enzymes & protein to create a living creature – that’s a simple chicken egg. It’s a power packed high protein food bomb designed to enhance your health.
    16. Eating foods that are high in protein & fat are the answer to hunger satisfaction.
    17. When you fill up on carbohydrates such as bread, cereal and refined sugar laden pastries, you may feel full but that soon wears off & you can find yourself snacking all day long!
    18. Make sure you start your day with high protein & high fat foods. These include eggs, bacon, sausage, berries, full cream, double thick natural Greek yoghurt, avocado.
  2. Leave off the menu overt carbs such as rice, potatoes, pasta & bread.
    20. Replace sweet desserts with strawberries & cream.

The next 10 Banting pointers to follow:

21. One of the biggest challenges to controlling appetite is food cupboards & fridges stocked with tempting treats, guaranteed to ambush any attempt at resistance.If it is there, you will eat it.
22. Get rid of the high carb, high sugar items in your home – biscuits, rusks, ice cream, sweets, cake, chocolate. Don’t buy the stuff in the first place!
23. Don’t go shopping when you are hungry – that also leads to temptation of buying a quick snack to curb your hunger pangs.
24. Replace the carbs in your home with options you can eat – salad ingredients, cheese, olives, raw nuts, biltong, berries, cream.
25. Continually be aware that you must eat when you are hungry, and not when you are bored, stressed, thirsty or tired.
26. Keep occupied! If you are busy with a project that takes up time, energy & interest, you’ll find food takes a secondary place in your life.
27. Instead of constantly thinking about food, you’ll start thinking about something else. Find your passion & start working on it. It may be people, or music, or writing or it may even be food!
28. If food is your passion, start researching the healthy foods that will enhance your life & not make you sluggish.
29. If you find yourself bored & needing something to so to prevent yourself from eating for the sake of having nothing else to do, go for a walk, do a puzzle, read a book, visit a friend.
30. Stay hydrated! Replace fizzy drinks & alcohol with water. You don’t need to drink soda to be refreshed.

  1. Carry a bottle of water with you & drink to thirst. If you have water handy, you won’t be tempted to eat if it’s fluid you need. Some say to drink a glass of water before eating also helps prevent overeating at a meal.
    32. If you are carbohydrate intolerant, make sure you also cut back on fruit, as it is a primary source of sugar. Limit yourself to 1 serving per day, preferably strawberries.
    33. Fish is a great Banting food & it suits non-Banters too. Tuna, salmon, hake, haddock, yellowtail, sardines – all great protein foods that will satisfy you & keep your blood sugar levels stable.
    34. Avoid: bread, potatoes, rice, pasta, couscous – no overt carbs at all eg. cake, pizza, rusks, muffins etc. No peanuts!
    35. There are nuts you can eat: macadamia, almonds, cashews (avoid salted & roasted), pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds – really help with raised blood pressure.
    36. All vegetables grown above the round are Banting friendly, especially leafy greens like spinach, broccoli, cauliflower & cabbage.
    37. Gem squash, baby marrows are good as well as salads laden with lettuce, cherry tomatoes, peppers & mushrooms.
    38. When it comes to dairy, aim for high fat products.full cream (double if you like), Greek (unsweetened, unflavoured) yoghurt. Once you are off sugar, you will love it. Full cream milk, cheese, butter – no Butro or margarine)
    39. However, too much dairy will hinder weight loss, so find a balance with how much you can eat.
    40. LCHF eating has got to become a way of life. By eating LCHF, you may find you lose weight quickly, which if you need to, is great. But for your health you should view it as a marathon & not a sprint.
  2. Some people are thrilled at the idea that they can have seemingly unlimited fat, but don’t be misled by what that means. To start with, it doesn’t mean you can eat anything that you think is fattening”. Cake is fattening. You have to learn the difference between fat & carbohydrates.
    42. Carbohydrates (including sugar) are found in almost everything we eat.They are there in differing amounts. Some are high in carbs – others low. Learn to read labels on the food you buy.
    43. Most “health” products that come in tins for making up of meal substitute “shakes” are high in carbohydrate.
    44. Most weight loss programmes that include “low fat” anything, are high in carbohydrate.
    45. All “low fat” products in the sore fridges or on the shelves are high in carbohydrate. Avoid them!!
    46. Carbohydrates make you fat! Fat doesn’t!
    47. The basic principle is that when you eat a stack of carbs, your body uses those carbs for energy and stores the fat you eat…….where does it store it? Around your waist! The “beer belly”, the “big gut” – that’s where the fat is stored.
    48. To get rid of that fat, stop eating carbohydrates. Eat more good fat in your diet, so the body uses the fat for energy.
    49. Almost all food contains some carbs, so that’s why this lifestyle is called LOW CARB, because you can’t get away from eating some carbs.
    50. When it comes to oils, watch what you buy. Olive oil, avocado oil & coconut oil are the ones you want.
  3. Sunflower oil is out!!
    52. Fry food using butter or lard. Olive oil undergoes an unhealthy change when heated beyond a certain temperature. Dump margarine altogether. Butter is better.
    53. There are enough foods in the LCHF/Banting shopping basket to keep you satisfied. One of the great things about LCHF is you don’t go hungry. Do some research.
    54. When you pick something up in the supermarket that is packaged, read the label to see how much carbohydrate it contains per 100g. You’re aiming for food stuff that contains less than 7g/100. The less the better.
    55. The average person is aiming for around 50g carbs per day. If you are diabetic or Banting for Weight Loss, even less.
    56. Eating the Banting way is essential for Diabetics & that’s been proven by a Swedish study. Another study says that eating a low carb diet is best for treating both Type 1 & Type 2 diabetics.
    57. Artificial sweetener is not encouraged in this lifestyle. It is believed that non-caloric sweeteners still contribute to increasing hunger & result in continued craving for sweet food.
    58. What is surprising is that the pancreas starts secreting insulin at the anticipation of sugar arriving, so when no sugar comes, the blood sugar level drops & hunger pangs begin.
    59. Beer promotes fat storage as it contains more carbs and sugar than alcohol, resulting in a rush of insulin & a rise in blood sugar levels. It promotes fat storage around the belly – hence the term “beer boep:.
    60. Red or dry white wine does not have the same effect as beer because they contain less sugar and carbohydrates. Be careful though, too much alcohol will slow weight loss.
  4. Babies should not be raised on carbohydrates. The development of their brain requires fat & protein.
    62. When starting a baby on solids, avoid baby cereals & baby food that is laden with sugar. Rather process your own vegetables & meat and feed them that.
    63. Children who are obese at a young age are most likely already carbohydrate resistant & will benefit from changing to a LCHF lifestyle.
    64. A great breakfast for school going children is bacon & egg with sausage and perhaps even some of the previous night’s protein with adequate fat such as half an avocado. That will be sure to see them through to lunchtime.
    65. The reason why children get fat is not because they have occasional sweet snacks for a treat over their birthday or Christmas, but rather that we are filling their lunch boxes with sugary treats, which falsely suggest they use for energy.
    66. Lunch box treats for children could include biltong, dry wors, boiled eggs or nuts & seeds. Replace sandwiches with low carb bread or seed crackers.
    67. Embracing a LCHF lifestyle during pregnancy is absolutely possible. In fact is is probably beneficial & may even prevent gestational diabetes & extra weight gain.
    68. Ditch margarine. Use butter. Why? Butter is made from cow’s milk. The fatty part of cow’s milk is churned until it becomes butter! End of story. Margarine is made with vegetable oil, which is liquid at room temperature. To make it harder it has to be processed & this is done by “hydrogenation”. Hydrogenated fat is bad for you.
    69. Margarine also contains colourants, emulsifiers & other artificial ingredients.
    70. Butter is high in calories & if you need to watch your calorie intake, you may prefer to use olive or coconut oil as a substitute.
  5. It is becoming known that animal fats do not influence your cholesterol as much as previously believed. If you have a family history of high cholesterol, you do need o watch your intake of dietary cholesterol.
    72. Banting is a low carbohydrate & high fat way of eating. It is not high protein, but rather moderate protein.
    73. Best foods to eat are those that grow on a tree or plant and look like what they are.
    74. Try to avoid anything that is in a box, a tin, or a packet. If it has a long shelf life, it’s probably loaded with preservatives.
    75. If you want to get a good idea of whether you are pre-diabetic ask your P to test you HBA1c. It measures the percentage of glucose in your blood over the last 3 months. Drive for 5%.
    76. Don’t be afraid of fat – the fat of grass-fed free range animals is fine to eat.
    77. When choosing food, choose from free range organic variety.
    78. Try not to snack. It is easy to do when you are bored. Train yourself not to.
    79. Don’t eat when you are not hungry!
    80. Cut sugar out of your diet. Do not add it to tea or coffee. Drink water instead of fizzy drinks laden with sugar or aspartane. It’s amazing how your taste buds adjust – very soon you learn to appreciate the taste of real food.
  6. Honey is sugar – avoid it.
    82. We tend to eat far more than is necessary to sustain us. When you have got your appetite under control, you will discover that you can live energetically without grazing through the day.
    83. Most people are attracted the LCHF lifestyle because of the hope it will result in weight loss, but that’s not the only reward. Cuttingout sugar results in much clearer skin. Stomach ailments such as pre-ulcers have been known to clear up. Irritable bowel syndrome is helped by the diet & skin irritations such as eczema have also been seen to improve.
    84. You don’t get hungry eating LCHF – the food is filling & the lifestyle is sustainable.
    85. Use full cream in tea or coffee instead of milk to cut down on the amount of sugar.
    86. Bulletproof coffee is usually 1 tbsp unsalted butter melted with 1 tbsp coconut oil, whisked well & added to a cup of black coffee. Guaranteed to give you a boost that will last for several hours!
    87. For baking, look out for coconut flour or almond flour as low carb substitutes for wheat flour.
    88. Make use of cauliflower to make cauli-rice or cauli-mash to substitute for rice & mashed potato.
    89. You can also use cauliflower mashed with a little almond flour to create a pizza base.
    90. It is very difficult to get your head around the idea of going through life without cake – there are loads of wonderful “sweet treat” LCHF recipes out there – look on Facebook or google.
  7. Dark chocolate is acceptable – the darker the better, so aim for 70% at least & none of the flavoured varieties.
    92. Regular peanut butter is loaded with sugar & processed (in sunflower oil) peanuts, so it’s off the Banting list. Do look out for macadamia / almond nut butter or you can even make your own by processing the nuts until they are smooth & “spreadable”. Then at least you will know what you are eating!
    93. Fruit is laden with sugar so use it sparingly. But a nice lunchtime snack, is 2 thin slices of apple, spread with macadamia nut butter & a piece of cheese.
    94. Keep left over dinner for breakfast the next day.
    95. Try to find a nutritionist (yours truly) or dietician who follows this lifestyle – go for at least one consultation to assess your needs.
    96. Expect some opposition if you start following this lifestyle. Not everyone believes that it is beneficial. Be patient & find common ground that everyone can enjoy such as Greek salads, vegetable dishes, fish, ostrich meat & meals using avocados, olives & feta cheese.
    97. Do as much research as you can online to find recipes & new exciting creative Banting meals.
    98. Eating this way takes some initial discipline to be successful. Once you have seen the results & renewed energy, you will be more motivated to continue.
    99. LCHF/Banting is individual to each & every person who tries it. Each one of us is unique. There is balance to be had in embracing this lifestyle. You are responsible for finding it.
    100. Last & not least, make this lifestyle FUN!