I started Atkins to lose weight, but my husband (who is a natural twig) has several health problems that research online suggests STRONGLY would benefit from a low carb lifestyle. He's interested, but I'm concerned about getting enough good fats into his diet since he has a dairy allergy (even butter causes a severe reaction). He can't have cheese, cream, butter, etc - many of the fat source staples of my way of eating.

I know some standard sources... Avocados, olive oil, nuts, higher fat cuts of meat, etc.

I'm here asking for creative suggestions, so anyone out there who's figured out maintenance on a dairy free diet, please, let me know what you've found that gives you enough fat.

Thanks!

There's no need to get creative when it's all so simple. Just eat the fats that come naturally already in foods. Eggs and fatty cuts of meat contain plenty of good fats. I really don't think that anybody on a dairy free diet needs to make some special effort to get extra fats from elsewhere. As long as there is plenty of meat and eggs in the diet, then an avocado and some nuts here and there should be plenty. No need to make a special effort.
There's nothing special in dairy that somebody on a non dairy diet is going to be missing out on anyway.

You could substitute coconut milk for dairy.

You might check into the Paleo forum because many Paleos are both grain and dairy free.

The above, plus, he shouldn't have to worry about getting extra fat if he's not trying to lose weight. For a lot of folks here on the forum, they're specifically trying to lose weight, and the purpose of the extra fat is to get and stay in ketosis.

Also, since he doesn't need to lose weight, he can probably handle higher carb foods that a lot of us avoid.

Do you want to share what his health problems are? Sometimes, there are other nutritional strategies for specific problems such as eliminating gluten or taking certain supplements.

Good luck!

I agree, if he's not needing to lose weight, getting enough should come easily. I mean, what is he eating now for "good" fats? Why would that change much with going low carb?

If you're really worried about it, bacon and coconut oil should take care of it!

Thank you everyone for your responses. The fat issue is to make sure he doesn't lose weight, and in concern for taste and variety. He is 5'10", weighs 158. He has crohn's, colitis, dairy protein allergy, celiac, reactive hypoglycemia, psoriasis, yeast overgrowth, almost zero intestinal flora (per MDs lab work). His symptoms include fatigue, gas, bloating, swings between diarrhea and constipation, severe depressive episodes when he gets into gluten, skin lesions... He also has a family history of diabetes and cancer. Most of this we've slowly discovered over about the last 3 years, the period during which he's been ill.

Though this is his journey, I am here to help him, and I am the family cook, so I tend to be the creative food investigator.

Keep any and all suggestions coming, please. I really appreciate your help.

Does he like bacon? If so, it can be added to almost anything, and veggies cooked in bacon grease rock

Hi there - sorry, colitis is a nightmare (my dad has suffered since 16).

He was no good with dairy but could eat yogurt (which we think probably helps with the flora too).

I guess your husband might be a bid dodgy with beans too but try chick-peas as they have a reasonable number of calories and are far easier to digest (my dad was fine with these but no good with other pulses). They're easy to add as a side serving just for him, if you're avoiding pulses yourself (warm some olive oil or bacon fat, add crushed garlic and then the chick-peas).

Good luck, just keep his calories up as I know sufferers tend to absorb so little of what they eat, it is easy to be tired and run down.

I had several of those problems. Defintely check out the paleo forum (as suggested above). It's the simplest diet in the world and I'm sure it will do him a lot of good.

Does he take any probiotics? I suggest Primal Defense tablets. He could also take some fructooligosaccharide (aka. FOS) which helps the probiotics along.
Even though fruit and nuts are considered paleo I would suggest he lays off them for now until he gets the yeast overgrowth sorted out (the Primal Defense may sort this out eventually).

I get very little of my fat from dairy sources. I eat oily fish (mackerel, sardines, tuna, salmon, trout, etc.) plus olive oil, coconut oil and other healthy oils. Nuts have oils too, although I personally don't eat nuts because I find them difficult to digest. Some veggies like aubergines would probably supply oils too. Low carb is only restricting carbs - it doesn't really interfere much with anyone's fat/oil intake. If necessary he could avoid the lean cuts of meat, but I'd imagine that there wouldn't be any need to do that.

Do they eat more protein though?

I'm also thinking of cutting out or at least cutting down on the dairy. But I don't want to replace ounces of cream or butter with another chicken thigh or whatever.

http://www.scdiet.net/healingcrow/H...rohn/crohn.html

MammaLitts~it sounds like your husband's gut is in a really damaged state right now. i applaud you for being his 'creative food investigator'.

another idea you may want to consider is fecal transplant, especially since your husband has so little intestinal flora of his own.

also, anything you can do to make his food easier to digest is going to allow his damaged gut to absorb more nutrients from his food. ie pureed foods, juicing, enzymes, extra vites, fermented foods, smoothies, eggnogs, etc.

For probiotics you might want to get some "water kefir grains" and make kefir out of almond milk. It comes out really good!

It sounds like the Paleo diet might be really a good choice for you. The emphasis is on meats, veggies and fruit. For those who can tolerate them, Paleo starches are another food option. Things like sweet potatoes, squashes, plantains, and so on. Some folks include white rice and potatoes too.

Nuts are also paleo, but I can't tolerate them. I seem to be okay if I don't eat them more than a day in a row. I've had to do a lot of experimenting to figure out what my gut can digest well. My own avoid list includes gluten grains, nuts, chocolate, seeds, sesame oil, some raw veggies, parsley. My gut does better when I have some paleo-ish starches like potato or yam. I try to only eat the ones that don't send my blood sugar into orbit.

One thing I eat a lot of is Thai curry. Not 100% paleo, but it avoids gluten and dairy. Lots of SE Asian food is dairy free and it can be gluten free if you use wheat-free tamari instead of soy sauce.

It takes a lot of energy for the body to fix itself. It's no wonder the guy is fatigued when his body is trying to deal with all of these problems.

Somebody with a yeast overgrowth could really do themselves a favour by avoiding virtually all carbs until they get the yeast under control and then gradually reintroduce a small amount here and there. I had yeast problems in te past and tried to combat it while still eating some of the safer carbs but all it did was make it drag on for longer. Sometimes you just need to get brutal.