Yes, CherryAA and the things she's done are awesome. I have to check myself because I've had good success with LC for my FBG and weight loss. I'm prone to the one size fits all. But I realize that's only true of my old pants.
Thanks for the compliment
I have nowhere near resolved my own situation and for some reason I am finding it increasingly hard to stick to my diet in terms of not overeating - though thankfully at present that has been limited to more proteins rather than actually wanting to eat sugar.
Eating to your meter
It is true that eating to the meter will definitely keep down glucose and that is measurable. However other research even amongst non diabetic people shows that the amount of insulin response we get to individual foods varies enormously by individual, so whilst eating to the meter may help, it may not be enough if insulin levels are really volatile depending on food intake. ( hence the popularity of fasting as a means of overcoming weight stalls)
In terms of PCOS - then I've seen a fair bit of literature that suggests that sticking to an LCHF diet is still a good way to go in terms of ameliorating the symptoms.
In terms of actual numbers the OP started off with - the current "normal " range for fasting insulin is 2- 25 iUi/ml so actually ALL of your figures are in the normal range. It is true though that normal is not optimal so lower is better.
Composition of cholesterol
Can I suggest to the OP that they also take a look at the composition of their cholesterol. If HDL is low and Triglycerides are high, then regardless of glucose or Hba1C results, that is an indication that there are too many carbohydrates in the diet. Studies show that the ratio can be improved by less carbs and more saturated fats. - that is what happened to me.
Time of Eating
One thing I can say with certainty is that for me, my blood sugar profile is completely different and MUCH worse, if I snack compared to eating just two meals a day even with the same calories and foods. I think I still have a propensity to create far too much insulin in response to food in general not just carbs but also proteins and that may be why its so hard to lose weight I seem to have got to the stage where my mind knows I am not going to give in on the sugar, so its driving me to put in more proteins instead. Thus I KNOW that for me little and often, lots of protein, drives up my responses compared to more fats and less frequently.
I also know that it is not enough to simply eat LCHF to lose weight. Instead it has to be LCHF with calorific restriction . I have effectively stayed the same wight (89kg) for a year now using LCHF and various types of experimentation. I can lose a few kilos but my body then returns me back to 89kg - which seems extraordinary but its true. Sometimes I get rather depressed about it, but then I think.I have never before managed to lose weight ( 26kg) AND the KEEP it off for a long period afterwards. I have never managed to keep in control of what I eat in terms of quality before. I have therefore decided that sticking with natural foods eaten infrequently is the lifestyle that makes most sense for me and is most likely to keep me as healthy as possible. When I then feel able to give myself a new "Push" - ( classic 1 January LOL then I will )
Insulin Resistance
I continue to research the "insulinaemia" theory - .i.e its too much insulin that underlies a huge proportion of diseases, and that is refined carbs coupled with industrial seed oils that does it. Every day something new comes up that continues to add weight to that theory, I post the details to that on my blog - Unifying theory.
As part of that I have now appreciated how significant vitamin D and K are to the overall process and I am deliberately trying to correct that with supplements of both. My knowledge of how important Vitamin D is to the human body then led me to look up Acanthosis Nigricans (AN) and Vitamin D and sure enough I found this.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25010776
This basically says ( I think- though its very muddled) that the severity of AN is correlated to the extent of vitamin D deficiency and that that is a stronger correlation than AN and Homa IR. Thus if you have your vitamin D levels checked you may find that you are severely deficient there. If so then this may be corrected by vitamin D ( plus K2) supplements . I treated myself to a Vitamin D sunlamp for xmas to try to improve this further. ( nearly all of those with diabetes have vitamin D deficiency)
Seed Oils
There continues to be a lot of backlash into LCHF amongst the research community , in particular Keto coming under fire. One thing that strikes me about much of the research is that because of the fear of saturated fats, many of these keto experiments include limiting sat fats and thus increasing PUFA om 6 oils. As that is in my view a prime cause of insulin resistance - I think that may also be why there is such a division of opinion about the benefits of the LCHF way of life and its effects on health.
I am therefore very firmly of the opinion that for me - cutting out all vegetable seed oils and not fearing butter and the fats from natural food is the way to go whilst eating real foods not very often.
I have also looked into other types of insulin resistance and posted here about Type B Insulin resistance . I provide the details again below because it includes acanthosis nigricans as an indicator . so it may be that the OP can consider if they fit any of the criteria in that study.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2913034/
Background: Type B insulin resistance belongs to a class of diseases caused by an autoantibody to a cell surface receptor. Blockade of insulin action results in hyperglycemia, hypercatabolism, severe acanthosis nigricans, and hyperandrogenism in women. This rare autoimmune disorder has been treated with various forms of immunosuppression with mixed success.
Methods: We describe 14 patients with type B insulin resistance referred to the National Institutes of Health, adding to an existing cohort of 24 patients. This report focuses on seven patients who were treated with an intensive combination protocol of rituximab, cyclophosphamide, and pulse corticosteroids aimed at control of pathogenic autoantibody production. Hematological, metabolic, and endocrine parameters, including fasting glucose, glycated hemoglobin, insulin dose, lipids, and testosterone, were monitored before and after treatment.
Results: All seven treated patients achieved remission, defined as amelioration of hyperglycemia, discontinuation of insulin therapy, and resolution of hyperandrogenism. Glycated hemoglobin has normalized in all seven treated patients. Remission was achieved on average in 8 months from initiation of treatment. The medication regimen was well tolerated, with no serious adverse events.
Conclusions: In seven patients with type B insulin resistance, standardized treatment with rituximab, cyclophosphamide, and pulse steroids results in remission of the disease. Future studies will determine whether this treatment protocol can be applied to other autoantibody/cell surface receptor disease states.
In summary if it were me in your position I would - check my HDL and trig figures to see if current food intakes were giving me optimal lipids. Continue with intermittent fasting but make the foods low carb and low vegetable oils as well
Check my vitamin D levels and supplement as necessary. ( with D3 and K2 - it only works in the presence of K2) If all of the above figures are already optimal, then I would think about getting some more specialist help from an endocrinologist.
good luck !
