As you all know I have been giving the Royal Banting a whirl, as a sneaky Banting (aka Tim Noakes diet) taster. Two months in and this is what I have to say…..
My aim- to give my clients a subjective opinion on this type of diet.
My version- the Royal Banting- low carb (100g max), medium protein and high unsaturated fat. This works along similar principles to the Tim Noakes Diet however I just couldn’t face the saturated fats….yes yes I know, eating the saturated fats and increasing cholesterol is not the sole indicator of heart disease but I err on the side of caution and decided to give this a go on unsaturated fats.
I know that my opinion is based on my own version, but hopefully this will give you an idea about certain aspects. The fact that my diet is low carb and high fat, still gets me into ketogenisis which is the effect I was after in order to give my opinion…..
Energy
Initially I dipped in the afternoons and felt quite lethargic and moody. However after the first 7-10 days I was over the carb-flu symptoms. Now my energy levels are great. I wouldn’t say any better than when I was eating a high carb diet though. Training-wise, I’ve been eating nuts during my training or races and have been surprisingly fine. One triathlon involved 8 degree water and an ice-cream headache from hell so on the cycle I inhaled a quarter of a GU, but this was more in desperation to get caffeine into my body to get over the headache.
Appetite
This was my main point of interest when I started the diet because after the half ironman I was so sick and tired of always being starving and having to eat constantly….gaining weight in the interim, despite exercising for 2-4 hours a day.
So a quick physiology background- When you are in ketosis, the ketones signal to your brain saying that you are satisfied, so your appetite is reduced. In actual fact you are in the same state you would be in if you were starved. Hmmmm, okay so the jury is out on this point regarding long term safety…
But awesome news- my appetite definitely deminished. So yes ketosis worked in that sense but what are the chronic effects?
Weight
Initially I was quite strict and followed a well controlled Royal Banting diet. However as time progressed I started reaching for more and more nuts…eeeeek. So in the beginning I dropped 2 % body fat and gained 2 kg of muscle (oh yeah, but wait..). As I write this I am back to normal pre-diet. DAMN THOSE NUTS!
I will be posting more on my experiment tomorrow, so keep posted 🙂