Hi Gudrun, I was wondering how much you have reduced your carbs by? I want to lose weight as well (about a stone) and I'm thinking of reducing my carbs to help with this and my glucose levels. I got my first meter last week and so far my average FBG has been 8.5. I'm very much in the early stages and would appreciate any advice you could give me. Yesterday I only had carbs at breakfast and lunchtime and my FBG this morning was 6.7
Hi Diamum,
to be honest, I do not measure my carbs at all. I saw the dietitian and her advice just wan't helpful (follow the Eat Well Plate and reduce portions), and I then started to follow the advice on this forum on Low Carb, Medium Fat eating on 6th April.
I stopped eating all bread, pasta, potatoes, rice and obviously anything made with flour or sugar (like biscuits, cake, chocolate, etc.). I eat pretty much whatever I wanted otherwise. Probably a bit less fruit (apart from strawberries, raspberries) and quite a bit more fish (salmon and mackerel).
Within just a few days my fasting blood sugar levels went down. It has been steadily rising since I started to measure it every morning and in March was an average of 6.22. Now my average fasting BS level is 5.2. I have a few times introduced some crispbread (3 slices with cheese, for example) when I felt particularly hungry and once or twice had a biscuit since the beginning of April. I also had new potatoes a couple of times, but I believe because I gave my pancreas 'a holiday' none of it raised my blood sugar levels again.
I initially lost some weight quite quickly (about half a stone or so), but then got stuck. I am now losing weight again, but slowly. Mostly because I am very busy at the moment and don't really have time to eat / be at home near the fridge. I've got a lot of weight to lose, but my main concern is bringing the BS levels down.
I have increased the fat slightly, using butter and a bit more olive oil than I used to, But generally, the best thing you can do is to cut out bread, potatoes, rice, pasta, pastry and obviously sweet things. Exercise is also very good in bringing down the BS levels. Try it for a few days and let us know how you get on.
Good luck.