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LCHF Diet - Wary Of It

It's good to see posts from thorough people with differing approaches (who agree on certain points), as all this input really informs my own approach, and I am sure lots of people trying to work out what's best for them will gain from it. i reckon that we do all need to adapt and tailor our own personal diets to suit our own personal circumstances but, clearly, there are areas which are commonly shared and some things are clearly beneficial while others are less so. It's all good. Appreciated, people.
 
pleinster said:
Thanks. I do meet with renal doctors at a clinic (was three times a day post transplant and now every 6 weeks, but I find that they are no experts when it comes to diabetes (but are excellent in their own area). They give general dietary advice (as you'd expect) - eat a balanced diet, avoid sweet stuff. I talked at length with the last one and he said my low carb diet was fine and it was working well with all my levels, just to ...as you say..watch the amount of protein. I only have one portion of meat or fish or chicken a day (sometimes none at all), but I am trying to be vigilant while avoiding simple carbs. The last thing I need is diabetes (caused by anti-rejection drugs) to cause my kidney to reject! Your advice is appreciated.
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You have a balancing act, that most of us don't.
Fortunately, it's not overly complicated for the food groups, your transplant team can monitor your renal function, so you'll know if you have the protein right, you can measure your BG so you can tell if you have your carbs right, and the scales can tell you if you're getting the fat right.
Beyond that it's fine tuning.
You could try replacing the ice lollies with something else though.
 
NoCrbs4Me said:
I don't eat any fibre.
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(Gotta learn to tag!)

NoCarbs - you have a very impressive and interesting way of eating that has worked very well for you (and I personally have learnt heaps from you in this forum), in terms of your 'post diabetic' blood glucose readings (love that term). I can't remember the details - can you share in here? For me to remember, and for others reading?
 
A
SunnyExpat said:
You have a balancing act, that most of us don't.
Fortunately, it's not overly complicated for the food groups, your transplant team can monitor your renal function, so you'll know if you have the protein right, you can measure your BG so you can tell if you have your carbs right, and the scales can tell you if you're getting the fat right.
Beyond that it's fine tuning.
You could try replacing the ice lollies with something else though.
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Agreed. I have access to my medical results and trends on line. These are updated with each blood test. The most important level for me is called Creatinine, and it's now in the normal range (ie. its' 119, having been 185 a few months ago..and 700 plus before the transplant). So, the first thing I check is whether or not what I do has any impact on that. Then I check my urea level for signs of increased protein (it's just gone up a teeny bit but nothing alarming). I measure my glucose levels up top 6 times a day and record everything. I don't really put on weight...fortunately. You are absolutely right - it's all fine tuning. OMG - not the ice-lollies! My one remaining vice! As they say in Glasgow "Ah cannae dae it!". Thanks for your interest.
 
AloeSvea said:
(Gotta learn to tag!)

NoCarbs - you have a very impressive and interesting way of eating that has worked very well for you (and I personally have learnt heaps from you in this forum), in terms of your 'post diabetic' blood glucose readings (love that term). I can't remember the details - can you share in here? For me to remember, and for others reading?
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I got rid of my diabetic blood glucose levels by following the Diet Doctor's LCHF diet advice (www.dietdoctor.com). Now I eat only animal products (eggs, bacon, cheese, beef, occasionally fish and poultry). I do not eat any fruits, veg, grains, nuts, mushrooms, etc. If it didn't have a mother, I don't eat it.
 
pleinster said:
Thanks for that. Every bit of info is valuable as I establish what's best for me. After a chat with my wife, I realise I am eating a bit more fat than I had thought, as she uses a lot of butter and oil in cooking, and she tells me there's more fat in the meat I eat than I'm probably aware of. My protein is NOT low..I simply mean that I have been told to watch it doesn't get to high (due to my kidney having been transplanted in February). I eat plenty of meat (eg. steak, pork, good burgers, 90% meat sausages, bacon, ham, chicken...) and fish (salmon, haddock, cod, bass, blah blah), I also eat smoked cheese every day for breakfast with some dried bacon strips. I have eggs (fried or in omelette form). Veggies - cauliflower, spinach, broccoli, asparagus, leafy stuff, samphire...Fruit is limited to a few strawberries and and an avocado most days. I can'r resist ice lollies and 90% cocoa chocolate (every day). That's pretty much it. Do you think I need to up this in some way in terms of fat? I am maybe not having enough fibre. Thanks for taking the time to read this. Any advice at all would be greatly appreciated. I am still learning. I am definitely making progress with my levels and don't want to muck about with things unless I am taking risks I don't need to. I'm sure you'll understand that with a transplanted kidney, I don't want diabetic complications due to BS being too high - so currently, the kidney function and a low BS level are my priorities.
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I am no expert but I read that a lot of saturated fat reduces insulin sensitivity. You could consider adding nuts such as almonds, hazelnuts, etc. as an occasional alternative to the meat or cheese.
 
I avoid saturated fats, meat, butter, I eat mainly unsaturated oils, like fish, and olive oil.
 
SunnyExpat said:
I avoid saturated fats, meat, butter, I eat mainly unsaturated oils, like fish, and olive oil.
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The same here. Saturated fats cause my LDL cholesterol shoot up. Clearly, many people do not have such issues and so can enjoy the cream, etc...
 
I also find I can tolerate carbs better, when I can't/don't avoid them.
So definitely decreased my insulin resistance, as well as hitting normal BG levels.
 
NoCrbs4Me said:
I got rid of my diabetic blood glucose levels by following the Diet Doctor's LCHF diet advice (www.dietdoctor.com). Now I eat only animal products (eggs, bacon, cheese, beef, occasionally fish and poultry). I do not eat any fruits, veg, grains, nuts, mushrooms, etc. If it didn't have a mother, I don't eat it.
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I hear you @NoCrbs4Me! Interesting and impressive.
 
And yes, re us all having different levels of insulin resistance, fat tolerance, carb tolerance (dairy and grain tolerance also I would add). And I guess - protein tolerance.
 
cz_dave said:
I am no expert but I read that a lot of saturated fat reduces insulin sensitivity. You could consider adding nuts such as almonds, hazelnuts, etc. as an occasional alternative to the meat or cheese.
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I think it depends on the insulinemic nature of the fat you are consuming (ie raising insulin levels by eating such food increases insulin resistance generally and in particular T2 diabetics of course). As far as I know - that is dairy products. Hence me personally needing to have a look at my cream intake. (Sigh. I love whipped cream.) But generally the beauty of fats is the fact they do not raise our insulin and glucose. Therefore insulin resistance. Fats do affect that hormone leptin positively, is my understanding. (We should not forget leptin as the leader of all hormones apparently, at least around food and the gut. We want healthy levels of leptin in order to keep our appetites under control.)

I did a quick re-read of the chapter in the Volek and Phinney particularly directed at we diabetics, and I couldn't find anything per se about fat and insulin resistance/sensitivity - that seems pretty squarely in the arena of carbs, and somewhat in protein, as discussed in here. (They talk about inflammation and CRP and IL-6, and lipogenesis biomarker POA in the serum cholesterol ester fraction - for the chemists and biologists out there.) In summary, they say :

"So absent a better explanation of the root cause of this disease [note - our disease - proud to have a whole chapter!], it makes sense that it is driven by inflammation and the diversion of dietary carbohydrate into secondary disposal pathways. [ That's - you know - bodily fat, and fat on the organs, is my understanding.] Furthermore, as we discussed in Chapter 9, these two processes are mechanistically linked together by increased ROS production damaging membranes, leading to insulin resistance."

And - aren't y'all delighted I have this book on the table and it's not due back to the library for a way long time? ;) :).

Please know, as a fellow diabetic, I would never finish off with the usual limbs and kidney thing - I'm sorry about that! (It's one of the ways you can often tell if the people commentating on health issues to us are diabetic themselves. We don't tend to repeat such, and especially in take-home points - who wants to live with that and to take home to boot ALL the time??!! After all.) Excuse the different sized pages also. But here it is - Volek and Phinney's take away points for diabetics:

V & P 1.jpg V & P 2.jpg V & P 3.jpg
 
AloeSvea said:
I hear you @NoCrbs4Me! Interesting and impressive.
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If you're interested in reading more about a zero carb diet, I suggest "Fat of the Land":

http://highsteaks.com/the-fat-of-the-land-not-by-bread-alone-vilhjalmur-stefansson.pdf

The book chronicles a year during which two arctic explorers ate only meat while under intense medical observation in the US. Previously they had lived many years (not continuously) living with and eating the same diet as Inuit, which is virtually devoid of plants and high in fat. Spoiler alert: they didn't get scurvy and were extremely healthy at the end of the year.
 
The real question is what are the results from following a particular diet for a few decades.
An answer to this question can only be obtained in a reasonable time frame by studying a large group of older diabetics who have already used those diets long term.
Unfortunately that research is not being done because the world is full of doctors who think they already know the answer,
t1diabetesafter55.blogspot.com.au
 
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