Eat enough animal fat. This is the main aim when Banting. Animal fat does not make you fat and you need to eat it and not fear it. Small amounts at a time will make you feel full and stop you from overeating. Eat real butter, lard, ghee, olive oil, macadamia oil and avocado oil. Avocados and oily fish like salmon and mackerel are also good sources of healthy fats.

Eat enough vegetables as this should be your bulk food and you should have vegetables with every meal. It is best to eat green vegetables as they are the lowest in carbs, but make sure that you have variety in your diet.

If you are doing Banting for weight loss, don’t snack for the first couple of weeks. If you do need to snack make sure it is a healthy snack such as a spoonful of almond butter, a few nuts or Banting seed crackers.

Never overeat or under eat. People that start Banting can get nervous when they think that they are not going to be able to snack and tend to go overboard when eating. Don’t worry too much. As long as there is enough fat in your diet, you will soon be eating correctly without any effort and this will carry you through to the next meal. Always stop eating when you are full.

Don’t eat too much protein. Banting is not a high protein lifestyle. No more than 80 or 90g of protein should be eaten with any meal. Off course if you do go out for dinner don’t choose the biggest steak that you can find on the menu. Your main aim is to cut carbs and to increase your fat.

Be alert and look at nutritional information on labels. Many ‘healthy’ products and meals are full of carbs. Five grams of carbs should be the cut-off. If the carb content is higher, just don’t buy it. Do avoid anything that says low-fat. The chances are that the product will be loaded with carbs to compensate for the loss of flavour.

Avoid too many fruits and nuts. Fruit is full of fructose (a natural sugar substance that makes it sweet). Fructose is perceived to be a good sugar, however there is no such thing as a good sugar. Sugar is sugar regardless of what it is called. If you want to eat fruit, it is best to eat berry fruits although you cannot eat a punnet by yourself. If you eat nuts it is best to eat Macadamia nuts, Pecan nuts or Almonds and no more than 30g a day.

Control your dairy. Dairy is good for you, however, it does contain carbs and can be a stumbling block for some people when they are trying to lose weight. When you start on a LCHF lifestyle try to avoid eating too much dairy for a couple of weeks. Limit your cheese intake as much as possible and use double cream yoghurt instead of low fat choices. If you do drink tea or coffee have cream in your drink, instead of milk.

Always be truthful to yourself. Eating legumes, baked beans, peanuts or even quinoa can be perceived to be proteins and can undermine your Banting attempts.

Watch what you drink. We are promoting a healthy lifestyle and alcohol is highly toxic and has carbs in it. Some alcoholic drinks are much higher in carbs than you realise. Therefore pay caution if you are drinking.