HCLF Diet

Hello carb-friends!

Have you ever heard the term HCLF? Surely, because it is currently on everyone's lips. HCLF stands for High Carb Low Fat, a diet that is especially appreciated by vegans. You will find out exactly what it is about if you keep reading.

The High Carb Low Fat diet is practiced largely by vegans and followers of a “Whole Food-Plantbased” diet. This is about getting the majority of your calories from carbohydrates and only consuming a small or adequate amount of fat and protein. The distribution of nutrients varies slightly here, some follow the 80/10/10 rule (carbohydrates/fat/protein), others live by the 60/20/20 principle, there is no fixed guideline to follow, but rather it is about listening to your body and adjusting the protein and fat intake depending on your lifestyle. Some may need a little more fat and protein to feel well due to certain life circumstances, others only very little.

The fact is that you should be somewhere between the above values to be able to call your diet HCLF and benefit from its advantages.

What needs to be considered, however, is that carbohydrates are not all the same, there are “good” and “bad” carbohydrates. An HCLF diet should exclusively contain healthy carbohydrates. This means you get most of your energy from fruit and vegetables (= the healthiest carbohydrate source). Refined flour products such as conventional bread, cakes, pastries, muffins, as well as industrial sugar should definitely be avoided.

Isolated oils must also be completely removed from the diet to achieve optimal health benefits. (Read my article about fat here too!).

So what exactly does an HCLF diet look like?

You eat a lot of fruit, also in the form of juice, smoothies, and smoothie bowls.

Green leafy vegetables and fruit vegetables (cucumbers, zucchini, tomatoes, bell peppers, okra) (ideally raw), can also be on the menu.

Additionally, foods such as dried fruit (especially dates) and “superfoods” (maca, mesquite, baobab, chlorella, spirulina…) can be incorporated.

A small amount of whole fats can also make sense depending on your life situation.
Healthy fat sources are, for example:
Avocados, hemp seeds, coconut, cashews, almonds, macadamias, Brazil nuts, pecans, walnuts, flaxseeds, chia seeds, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, sesame, olives, etc…

The idea behind this diet is that you get full on fresh, plant-based foods, you should under no circumstances restrict your calorie intake or count calories, because if you eat exclusively plant-based foods, weight gain is very, very unlikely. The high fiber content provides good satiety, while simultaneously having a relatively low calorie density. Due to the large proportion of vegetables and fruit, optimal nutrient supply is ensured (if consumed raw) and you do not need to worry about deficiencies.

Below I list some foods that fit into an HCLF diet:

• Green leafy vegetables (spinach, kale, chard, purslane, lamb's lettuce…)
• Low-calorie vegetables such as zucchini, cucumber, fennel, bell pepper, tomatoes, celery stalks…
• Root vegetables such as parsnips, beets, parsley root, carrots, celeriac…
• Starchy vegetables such as pumpkin, sweet potatoes, corn…. (optional, not optimal in the long term!)
• Gluten-free “grains” such as amaranth and buckwheat (raw and sprouted or soaked) (optional, not optimal!)
• Sprouts made from chickpeas, lentils, mung beans… (raw and sprouted) (optional, not optimal!)
• Sweet fruit such as bananas, grapes, figs, mango, dates…
• Semi-sweet fruit such as berries, watermelon, prickly pear, apricots, apples…
• Sour fruit such as oranges, lemons, mandarins, pineapple…
• Dried fruit, preferably dates and figs, but also dried mango, apples, raisins, pineapple, cranberries.
• Nuts, kernels, seeds such as almonds, cashews, walnuts, Brazil nuts, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, pine nuts, coconut.
• Filtered water, herbal teas.
• Fresh, cold-pressed juices.
• Herbs such as parsley, basil, mint, chives, rosemary, thyme, sage…
• Spices such as nutmeg, turmeric, cardamom, cinnamon, vanilla, coriander, pepper, paprika, ginger, chili…

Basically, the HCLF diet does not prescribe that all foods should be consumed in raw food quality. Nevertheless, I highly recommend this, because when foods are heated above 42C°, nutrients are always destroyed and toxins are formed.
I hope that was helpful and I wish you lots and lots of fun with a healthy high-carb diet.