I am currently in Japan for a three week business trip.
Therefore eating only one meal a day and also eating a high fat low carb diet
is close to impossible. I am invited to mutual dinners regularly and have to
eat in restaurants that do not provide my preferred food items. Needless to say
that Japan is a country of high rice consumption and very low fat consumption.
They seem to fear fat more than people in Germany. So the options are very limited. Olive
oil for example is only available in plastic bottles (not good).
Only thing that comes close to being high fat and that is
plant based are soy products. But you can only eat so much soy before also that
becomes unhealthy. So I am currently on a diet experiment, even though
unwillingly. But it is interesting nonetheless.
I eat higher carb at the moment and also twice a day. I
thought that eating rice and higher carb again would not be so much of a deal.
But this is more of a problem than eating twice daily. I now experience again
why eating plant based low carb feels so good. Compared to carb meals I do not
get so tired afterwards.
I have days here where I have to eat carbs for lunch and the
afternoon tiredness is very bad and I also get hungry again pretty soon. My
legs feel heavy and even walking around becomes too much of an effort. The only
thing I want to do after eating carbs is lie down and take a nap. Whenever
possible I now try to avoid the rice and go with veggies and tofu. But that is
not always possible. So on a daily basis I can now evaluate the differences in
those two approaches (LCHF and HCLF) as I am switching between them regularly.
Outcome: I am always feeling better after a LCHF meal. But
sadly enough my energy levels are not as high as they were before when I was
consistently eating high fat. So I lost some of that fat adaptation and deeper
ketogenic status, because of the regular carb interruption.
Also Japan is a difficult place for eating a plant based
high fat low carb diet. Nuts and seeds are either not available or around
4-5times more expensive than in Germany. For example I have not found any
flaxseed here so far. And they have been a regular part of my diet in Germany. Only
thing that is comparable in price are avocados. And I will incorporate more of
them into my diet during the rest of my stay.
With the drop in fiber content my digestion took a hit and
stools are harder to pass and are not as regular. On the other hand
Shirataki-noodles (from the cognac-root) are widely available in japanese
grocery stores. They have almost no calories and provide soluble fiber which
seems to keep me full and provides some fermentable food for the microbiome in
the large intestine.