Low-Carb Cruise | LCHF Made in Sweden

Independence of the Seas…

LCHF Cruise

In the last week of May I made my first trip to America, specifically to Florida along with 200 other people to take part in my first Low-Carb Cruise. A great way to meet many others with a similar interest in healthful food, listen to lectures, see a lot of the Caribbean archipelago and enjoy life.

In December I was interviewed by medical journalist Åsa Holstein for a Swedish magazine about my health benefits from a gluten free LCHF diet. We became quite close via email and when I decided to participate in the cruise I thought I’d take the opportunity to meet with Åsa, who lives in Fort Lauderdale. She decided to come along on the cruise and picked me up when I arrived at the airport.

I stayed at Åsa and her husband Pierre’s house for a few nights, a more hospitable couple than these two is hard to find.

They have lived in Florida for six years now, and the climate has been great for Åsa’s health. Like me, she too has had back surgery and a lot of problems with pain and fatigue.

Åsa, Pierre and I share a common interest in good and natural foods, health and exercise, so we had many long conversations on these topics.

They live just a ten-minute drive from the port so we arrived to the ship, Independence of the Seas, early Sunday afternoon. We didn’t have to stand in line while boarding, we just went directly to our beautiful cabin when we boarded the ship.

Me in the harbor of San Juan, Puerto Rico…

The food in the main dining room was easily adaptable to LCHF, butter was already out on all tables so it was easy to increase the fat content. The dishes on the menu, different every evening, were marked with symbols for different food allergies so many dishes could be served completely gluten-free on request.

The most delicious meal of the entire week was the lobster in garlic butter.

Lobster in garlic butter…

My lovely table mates at dinner, Kathie and Kerri…

Bernie and Janet…

Åsa Holstein…

Quite a few doctors were on the cruise and held lectures, so we were given a lot of interesting facts about the latest news on LCHF.

Low-carb diets have been popular in the US for many years, but now in recent years, high fat has also become a part of this, or as many call it, the ketogenic diet. Eating a high proportion of fat, a moderate amount of protein (about 18–20% of the daily intake) while cutting back drastically on carbohydrates by removing sugar and starches has proven to be successful for many people’s health and weight problems.

Jimmy and Christine Moore…

Dr. Keith Runyan and Dr. Eric Westman opened the first day of lectures with interesting facts about what LCHF and Ketogenic diet can do for patients with Diabetes, both Type 1 and Type 2. Our Swedish DietDoctor, Andreas Eenfeldt, was present with his team and video recorded all lectures, many of them will be available on DietDoctor’s Membersite.

DietDoctor…

Andreas held a very inspiring lecture on the health situation in the world and how we easily can turn many health problems and obesity around by using a diet with fewer carbs.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani held a very interesting lecture about the link between our hormones, thyroid problems and chronic pain and fatigue. Dr. Marchegiani has been suffering from these problems himself, now he helps many of his patients to get healthier by changing their diet. Here’s an article about gluten and the problems it can cause to the brain when you are living with gluten sensitivity.

A few others I could mention is Dr. Ann Childers who talked about the diet from an evolutionary perspective. Dr. Jose Lozada gave a very interesting lecture on the treatment of cancer patients with LCHF.

Andreas Eenfeldt, Simon Victor and Jimmy Moore preparing for video recording on the first day of lectures…

Dana Carpender, acclaimed low-carb cookbook author, living with an ADHD diagnosis, has improved her health with an LCHF diet. We talked for a while about our common interest in writing cookbooks. Unfortunately, the English edition of my Low Carb High Fat Barbecue didn’t arrive from my publisher in time for the cruise, but I had a Swedish copy to present. Dana was impressed by the pictures that Mikael Eriksson has taken for my cookbooks.

My first cookbook in English, now available at Amazon…

I had a long and very inspiring conversation with Dr. Philip Blair and his wife Aida. Philip support a lot of patients worldwide through consultations on the web. Aida has, like me, been suffering from fibromyalgia and she also has become healthier on a gluten free LCHF-diet.

For more reports, pictures and videos from the trip, just visit DietDoctor.com, Eatlowcarbhighfat.com and Livinlavidalowcarb.com

Independence of the Seas Formal Night. I’m dressed in a traditional costume from Offerdal, Jämtland, Sweden. Escorted to the dinner by Major Fredrik Söderlund…

Fort Lauderdale at sunrise…

Fresh coconut at St. Kitts…

Birgitta Höglund Photo Gunno Rask

Welcome to Sweden and my LCHF Blog

Hi! I’m Birgitta Höglund and I’m a retired restaurant chef living in Östersund, Jämtland, Sweden. It’s a mountainous county in the northern part of Sweden, close to the border with Norway. After eighteen years in many different restaurants I injured my back 15 years ago, which effectively ended my career and professional working life. After the back injury and a spinal fusion, I was also diagnosed with fibromyalgia.

I searched for something that would alleviate my problems and improve my health. I tried to remain as active as possible with daily physical therapy and long walks, but then a lecture by the physician Annika Dahlqvist, MD, made me change my eating habits completely (Dr Dahlqvist is the founder of the LCHF movement in Sweden). After a couple of years on this diet she was free from pain and fatigue brought on by fibromyalgia, and if she was able to cure herself, then perhaps I could too.

15 years ago

The day after the lecture I decided to exclude all unnecessary carbohydrates (such as sugar, starches and gluten-containing flours) from my daily meals. Instead, I began eating far more vegetables than I had ever done before, and they have proven themselves worthy complements to the varieties of fish, meat, shellfish and eggs that I now put on my plate. Instead of the carbohydrates I started to eat more fat, such as butter, coconut oil and olive oil. My food has become so much more natural and varied than it used to be, and tastes far better without all the various additives that are included in most commercially prepared foods.

I have now posted about 1,000 recipes on my Swedish blogs, Birgitta Höglund’s Food and Birgitta Höglund’s Paleo. I have so far written three cookbooks. The first one, Low Carb High Fat Cooking for Healthy Aging, I wrote together with Dr. Dahlqvist. Then followed Low Carb High Fat Barbecue and Low Carb High Fat and Paleo Slow Cooking. This summer all three will be published in English with Skyhorse Publishing, NY. You can find them here at Amazon.

Just in time for the release of LCHF Barbecue, I’m going to Florida in the last week of May to participate in the annual Low-Carb Cruise. It will be so exciting to meet so many others that share my interest in natural food. And of course to listen to the interesting lectures. Here’s the impressive list of speakers this year.

I’ll post a lot of pictures from the cruise in the Caribbean when I’m back home again. I will keep this blog very simple, just sharing my favorite recipes and many of my pictures from Sweden.

I also want to give my warm thanks to Gun Penhoat, Inger Swanberg and Maud Hedman all of whom have been very helpful with the translation and proofreading of my recipes.

Learn more about LCHF here: DietDoctor – LCHF for Beginners.

I hope you will enjoy my recipes and pictures. Eat, enjoy and feel good 🙂