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Starting Low Carb

S

Spablauw_

Well-Known Member
Hi everyone,

I wanted to ask some advice regarding the LCHF diet.
I'm Type 1 diabetic and 18 years of age and right now I'm on a moderate/high carb diet with low fat and although I'm doing okay, I would like to try out the LCHF to get a better hold of my sugars.
I think that the high amount of carbs (around 250 a day) and insulin make it much harder to manage my Diabetes and I hope that with the LCHF diet I will have less spikes and achieve better BG control.

The only thing that's holding me off on it is the fact that most of the people do it to lose weight and since I'm really not wanting to lose weight because my weight is OK and so is my BMI.
I wonder if there is a way to still eat low carb with the benefits of it, which would be achieving better BG control and not losing any weight either.

Also, I am a fan of cycling and I go 2-3 times a week for a ride, during that I burn a lot of calories that I normally refill with extra carbs. So I don't know how that would do for me since I normally take very little fat before a ride because I feel like it makes me slower and slows down digestion of the carbs.
Could I replace that with Protein / Fat ?

So, I was wondering if I could somehow be on a LCHF diet with all the benefits and still be able to exercise.
 
Prof. Tim Noakes has great youtube lectures on sports/lchf.

I am T2 and was not overweight on dx. I started lchf to gain better management of bg and it worked. I did lose some weight and became quite concerned at one point but I am now maintaining my weight after regaining some of which I lost.

As an insulin dependant Diabetic I would caution a good understanding of lchf before you begin.
 
And also, You tube videos by Doctor Richard Bernstein, ‘The Diabetes University’. personally, I’d watch them all and construct a very detailed plan of action before you even start. It will be a major change and to do it safely will require careful planning.

Richard Bernstein’s book ‘the Diabetes Solution’ is also excellent but quite intense, but I would get it, he is ‘the man’.
 
Thankyou! I will definitely watch them all before starting with it.
Is a daily intake of 2500 calories (65% fat, 20% protein and 15% carbs) reasonable to start with?
I do not want to cut out completely on carbs to start because I think that will be very hard in the beginning, I think it's better to slowly eat less carbs than instantly <30 carbs right?
 
Spablauw_ said:
Thankyou! I will definitely watch them all before starting with it.
Is a daily intake of 2500 calories (65% fat, 20% protein and 15% carbs) reasonable to start with?
I do not want to cut out completely on carbs to start because I think that will be very hard in the beginning, I think it's better to slowly eat less carbs than instantly <30 carbs right?
Click to expand...

Can i suggest you transition onto lchf rather than switching to it abruptly?

The reason i say this is that some people find it challenging to switch from low fat to higher fat. Their body can feel queasy/claggy when a chunk of calories are swapped for fat.

Easing into it gives your tum time to adjust, and allows your tastebuds to wake up to the joys of butter ;)
 
Maybe take a look at the four stages of the Atkins diet as laid out in the New Diet Revolution books from about the turn on the century - they are available online from various sites.
If you look at how the amount of carbs you can eat to maintain weight is worked out then it might help you to keep your weight constant but alter your diet to reduce your carbs and insulin requirement.
I have found that my requirements for BG control in the normal range is my carb level for maintaining at the top end and my carb level for steady weight loss at the lower end.
I do have a carb level for losing ridiculous amounts of weight and going dizzy - but don't go there at all.
 
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