Time to wrap up my Diabetes Miracle by Diane Cress way of eating.
And report back on the outcome.
Sorry this is a bit of a marathon post, but I wanted to write it all out, so that I can come back and refer to it, if (when) I eventually start troughing carbs again in the future. Please skip it if you want to avoid the verbage!
Well, it has been a fascinating experience, and has taught me a great deal.
Was it worth it?
Yes and No.
The premise (in case anyone missed my earlier posts) was to minimalise all quick release carbs for 8 weeks (so 5g or less at meals and bedtime, none as snacks) for 8 weeks. There were additional, excellent, ideas and guidance. The premise is that by avoiding carbs you rest your liver and pancreas. And by eating regularly (every 5 hours) you avoid liver dumps.
It REALLY worked. I felt better. My bg dropped to truly normal levels for 8 weeks. Did I say I felt better? Scrap that. I felt BRILLIANT. This, apparently, is how non-diabetics and non-insulin resistent people feel like. And I envy them.
Was it hard? Not really. No carbs + feeling better = no carb cravings and great motivation.
I would recommend it to any type 2.
(with the proviso that Cress' recommendation is to go low fat for weight loss too, and I wouldn't recommend THAT part of the programme)
After 8 weeks, the idea is to slowly transition up to 15ish g carbs per meal and snack, allowing your rested liver and pancreas to ease back into action.
And this is where it started to go wrong for me. Turns out that re-introducing wheat revealed a wheat intolerance that had me feeling pretty cr*p for several days, and took 48 hrs to get out of my system after the last bit of wheat. 15 g carbs isn't really very much. 3 rice cakes. 1 mini wholewheat pitta, a couple of potatoes. I was OK with the rice, but better with the potatoes, but my goodness, after a few years of low carbing, eating that amount of quick release carbs was hassle. Had to remember. Had to drop my fat intake proportionally. Disappointing taste sensations. So I tried different grains, re-introduced 70% choc. increased my variety of things - hummus, taramasalata, the odd felafel...
And slowly became aware that there was a kind of niggle, in the vicinity of my ribs, after any of the grains. The merest hint of a carb craving. Just on the edge of awareness. I started to look forward to those rice cakes, thinking how I could load them up, to disguise their polystyrene nature...
I've always known that grains are a problem for me, but never had such clear evidence, consistently and reliably presented, ever before. My meter was fine, unless I ate wheat. My carb cravings were not, and seemed to be linked to ALL grains, and potatoes, to a lesser extent.
I've also discovered that I can identify the physical sensations of insulin resistence in the same way I can indentify the physical sensations of ketosis. Raising carbs from 5g to 15 g instantly raised my pre-prandial readings by nearly 1.5mmol/l. So I'm going to be able to monitor my body's varying insulin resistence level. Fecking AWESOME.
Weight gain happened slowly during this way of eating, stalled if I didn't have a decent daily walk, and reversed when I introduced wheat and grains. I lost 5lbs in 8 weeks. Regained 7.5lbs in 24 hours after reintroducing wheat. and have since lost 3.5 lbs since stopping the wheat. I have no idea how much of the remaining 4lb I put back on is fluid, or fat.
So the upshot is that I am tremendously glad that I did this Diabetes Miracle way of eating. It is brilliant, and for someone with a different body, less insulin resistence and without my additional 'issues' (prolactinoma and PCOS), I think this system of eating might be a really good, sustainable way of not getting trapped into very low carb eating, unable to eat carbs without bg spikes. But for me, the reintroduction of carbs has been problematic, and I am confident that trying to add more carbs (Cress' intention is that you eventually eat about 40g/meal carbs) would be a ticking time bomb of carb cravings, misery and weight gain.
I have learned that:
- Im convinced that my liver and pancreas had a great rest and are much the better for it. they are no longer over-reacting to the slightest whiff of a carb, or a hypo. My bg can go low, without the mad panic of hypo sweats, hollowness, anger and the shakes. that alone makes the last 3 months a triumph. lets hope I don't screw it all up and go back to the old problems!!!
- I can flourish, with normal bg levels on very low carb, and enough fat
- I have developed an awareness of how insulin resistence feels in my body
- 5g or less carbs/meal, with a walk every day, results in weight loss
- I can eat an enjoyable amount of carbs (choc, hummus, caramelised onion, popcorn (11g bag), 9 bars, mug cakes, low carb baking...) so long as they aren't grains
- Wheat, in any form, spikes me more than 30g of other carbs and MUST be avoided
- Grains cause me carb cravings, but now I know how much I can tolerate without losing control and going into a feeding frenzy
- Grains also cause me insulin resistence (fatigue, aching limbs, apathy, couch-potato-syndrome), and I know how much I can tolerate without losing control and going into a feeding frenzy.
Fab results, eh?
My plans for the future are, on order of importance:
- Enjoy life, delicious low carb high fat foods and ignore the diet police
- Avoid wheat
- Avoid grains
- eat other carbs, to my appetite, spread through the day, with an upper limit of approx 50g carbs. this is, I think, fully sustainable and enjoyable
- eat fatty meat, butter, cream, oils and cheese to my appetite
- celebrate if weight loss happens
- accept that weight loss is not to be relied upon, and is DEFINITELY not worth risking carb cravings due to fat reduction, to achieve.
