First week of no carbs

[Rog]

Good start today 5.4. The no carbs thing is great but I'm pretty dehydrated which means drinking more which means more pees , is that par for the course? My vision is still a bit wonky two?

 

[sally and james]

Well done! Yep, upping your liquids and salt are both recommended at the start. Sugars will come down quite quickly, but, if I remember correctly from my husband's experience, blurry vision took a bit longer. Keep up the good work.
Sally

 

[Rog]

Thanks Sally , much appreciated.

 

[msmi1970]

what Sally said. water & salt are very critical.

good luck Rog!!

 

[Rog]

Well done! Yep, upping your liquids and salt are both recommended at the start. Sugars will come down quite quickly, but, if I remember correctly from my husband's experience, blurry vision took a bit longer. Keep up the good work.
Sally

 

[Rog]

Hi Sallly & James
You guys helped me alright the other day with my very low carb approach here , I am around 5.3 on most of my fasting tests now which is remarkable considering I was 16.3 on Wednesday.
I wonder if you wouldn't mind going in to James's blurry vision a little more .Mine started 3 days ago and I'd like to get back to normal people n that front as soon as possible. . I have had different opinions on it from its dangerous because I'm never t eating enough carbs to it will sort itself shortly to eat more carbs. Any hep would be appreciated/

 

[VinnyJames]

How old are you Rog?
I used to have 20/20 vision but I'm now down a bit but still good. I have 3 siblings that wear reading glasses but I don't - at least not yet!

 

[sally and james]

Hi @Rog , I'll give you James' story as far as the vision thing goes. Just over a couple of years ago he felt there was something going wrong with his vision - going blurred. An optician looked in his eyes, saw problems and told him he probably had diabetes and MUST do something about it. One blood test later (24mmol/l) and he had a very clear diagnosis. The doctor handed over a prescription for Metformin and a diet sheet advising regular consumption of carbohydrates.

While I had little clear knowledge of diabetes at the time, I knew what you ate had something to do with it. I also knew that the doctor's diet sheet (5 a day, lots of healthy whole grains, avoid saturated fats etc) was exactly what we had been eating for the past quarter century and it didn't appear to have done much good. I got my brain into gear and we, almost immediately, adopted Low Carb. (High Fat took a little longer).

As James's sugar levels dropped back to normal, (about nine days), his vision became more blurry. This, I think, is something to do with the optical qualities of the fluid in the eyes and the eye shape has to adjust to changing circumstances. He stopped driving for a few weeks and also stopped wearing his glasses - better without them. Then everything cleared. In due course he got new glasses and now his vision is very good. (He has worn glasses since childhood).
The above message is, "sit it out" and don't buy new glasses (if needed at all) until your eyes have settled.

However, there is another aspect to the story. Because of long held high sugar levels, he did have background retinopathy on diagnosis. Many will tell you that sudden drops in sugar levels make this go worse and this was my husband's initial experience, leading to laser treatment. A slow drop is said to be best. BUT the important thing is to get the sugar levels down. My understanding, and our experience, is that , yes, it does get worse before it gets better and, for those who do get their sugar levels right down and keep them there, the longer term prognosis is much, much better. James has had no further treatment, and the retinopathy has now regressed. The consultant describes his progress as "phenomenal" and is taking an increasing interest in Low Carb.

I would encourage you to stick with it - for life, but do consider tapering off your carb consumption, rather than complete cold turkey.
Sally

 

[Rog]

Hi @Rog , I'll give you James' story as far as the vision thing goes. Just over a couple of years ago he felt there was something going wrong with his vision - going blurred. An optician looked in his eyes, saw problems and told him he probably had diabetes and MUST do something about it. One blood test later (24mmol/l) and he had a very clear diagnosis. The doctor handed over a prescription for Metformin and a diet sheet advising regular consumption of carbohydrates.

While I had little clear knowledge of diabetes at the time, I knew what you ate had something to do with it. I also knew that the doctor's diet sheet (5 a day, lots of healthy whole grains, avoid saturated fats etc) was exactly what we had been eating for the past quarter century and it didn't appear to have done much good. I got my brain into gear and we, almost immediately, adopted Low Carb. (High Fat took a little longer).

As James's sugar levels dropped back to normal, (about nine days), his vision became more blurry. This, I think, is something to do with the optical qualities of the fluid in the eyes and the eye shape has to adjust to changing circumstances. He stopped driving for a few weeks and also stopped wearing his glasses - better without them. Then everything cleared. In due course he got new glasses and now his vision is very good. (He has worn glasses since childhood).
The above message is, "sit it out" and don't buy new glasses (if needed at all) until your eyes have settled.

However, there is another aspect to the story. Because of long held high sugar levels, he did have background retinopathy on diagnosis. Many will tell you that sudden drops in sugar levels make this go worse and this was my husband's initial experience, leading to laser treatment. A slow drop is said to be best. BUT the important thing is to get the sugar levels down. My understanding, and our experience, is that , yes, it does get worse before it gets better and, for those who do get their sugar levels right down and keep them there, the longer term prognosis is much, much better. James has had no further treatment, and the retinopathy has now regressed. The consultant describes his progress as "phenomenal" and is taking an increasing interest in Low Carb.

I would encourage you to stick with it - for life, but do consider tapering off your carb consumption, rather than complete cold turkey.
Sally

Hi Sally
Thank you so much for your quick reply. I was starting to panic a bit but after more research temporary blurred vision goes hand in hand with an aggressive low carb diet . I'm on day five the weight is falling of and my average BS is 5.2 now and I'm starting to feel better , it just the blurred vision and the odd headache which I attribute both to the low carbs. I have an avocado in the morning , my snack is nuts, lunch is salad boiled eggs/cold meat, dinner fish, chicken, broccoli, cabbage cauliflower , I have many cups of t
Da during the day and someone suggested to switch from semi skimmed to full fat milk . Do you think I having enogh carbs and if not is it just a case of some rich tea biscuits , how many? Or what would you suggest to ad carbs wise to level out the purred vision a little.. Hope I'm not a pain. Regards Rog.

 

[sally and james]

Hi @Rog, You are not a pain, the purpose of the forum is so that people can ask questions.

Are you having enough carbs? Assuming you are quite literally eating just what you say, above, it sounds as if you are on very low carbs. But, if that fish is in batter and the chicken in a bought (sugary) sauce, then, maybe, you are having a a bit more. Now, if you do want to increase your carbs slightly, perhaps a rich tea biscuit is not the way to go. They do (if I remember correctly) taste sweet and you need to educate your palate away from sweetness, also, they come in packets of around 20 and we all know what happens to open packets of biscuits! My suggestion is Nairns oat biscuits. (available in Tesco etc). Inside the box, they are in sealed packs of five. Each biscuit contains 6.1g of carbs. If you nibble at a biscuit, you can make your 6g go quite a long way. But what is enough? If you haven't already, you will soon come across Dr Richard Bernstein, do look him up - an inspiration as well as an authority. He recommends 30g of carbs per day, 6g at breakfast, 12g at lunch and 12g in the evening as a maximum. I don't know if a slight increase in carbs now, will give you a quick fix for blurry vision. All I can say is try, have a tiny bit, see what happens.

Full fat milk: Your body will probably appreciate the full fat in milk. It's hard, at first, introducing more fat into your diet, after years of being threatened with almost instant death, but it can be done and you will live to tell the tale! Try double cream, it's lovely.

"… the odd headache" This could be dehydration, but also remember that carbs are addictive and you are going through a big change, so sit it out.

We have now both low-carbed, with higher fats, for approaching two years. We are both slimmer, happier, healthier. James' blood sugars have been normal (HbA1c's in the very low 30's) for around 20 months. All health markers are fine. Diabetic retinopathy "regressing". Life's a peach, except that we don't eat them anymore!

Sally

 

[Rog]

Dear Sally & James

Thanks for your suggestions early this morning . I thought you might like to no I picked up the pat cakes and did the 1-2-2 today and the two hour BS was 6.3 and 5.3 , will do another at 8.30pm tonight, so they have gone down nicely .
The even better news was the blurred vision took a turn for the better, still a while to go but I could make out people faces pretty clearly on the drive back from work today , compared to on the way in. I wondered if you could give me a sample of a daily intake of food at your end as u have been such a help to me?
Finally just another question if I may, my fasting seems to have settled at 5.3 more or less all the time now, what levels did you settle at and what happens next ?
ATB
Roger

 

[sally and james]

@Rog

What happens next? You keep going - for the rest of your life.

The figures deemed acceptable in this household are: Fasting/pre-meal, 5 or under. One hour after eating, 7 or under. Two hours after eating, 5 or under. James rarely tests now, but did a fasting test last week, it was 4.2. We know what we eat and what we don't eat, so continuous testing is unnecessary. Good levels are demonstrated by good health and HbA1c's in the very low 30's.

So, what is a typical day for us, food wise:
Breakfast: Poached egg/wilted spinach/butter and grated cheese.
Lunch: Home made mushroom soup. Home made chicken liver pate. Salad. A few nuts and seeds.
Dinner: Home made meatballs and kale.
Snacks: maybe a few nuts while preparing dinner.
Drinks: green tea, herb teas, coffee with cream, red wine, water.
All in all, probably within 30g carbs.
We have less carbs now, than we did 18 months ago, having gradually lost interest in breads/biscuits/porridge etc.

good news about the blurry vision improving. Keep up the good work!
Sally