A Cautionary Tale

[LinsT]

I started following the LCHF diet when I was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes in September last year. The results have been fantastic. Excellent glucose control, great weight loss and massive improvements in well-being. Recently, I decided to try adding some carbs back into my diet. I ate a sandwich - no spikes. Ate chocolate - no spikes. I ate a sandwich and a cake - no spikes. On Saturday I ate a whole pizza and 3/4 tub of ice cream - no spikes. Woohooo I thought - I have this cracked - I'm not diabeteic anymore.
Last night at dinner I had a bowl of spaghetti - a controlled sensible portion - BAM Bg soaring up over 10! Tonight, I ate 1 bowl of muesli because I have a slight cold, felt tired and didn't feel like cooking - BAM BG over 10 again!
So its back to the low carb diet for me. Just goes to show that testing is soooo important even when you're getting consistently low readings and things seem to be rolling along wonderfully.
And the high readings are not due to the cold - it's mild and the readings have been just fine cold and all when I'm not eating carbs.
Thanks again for this forum - so incredibly useful for newly diagnosed and those of us needing a little motivation to get back on track!

 

[GrantGam]

By the sounds of things the LCHF is working well with you and your BGL control. I've been reading a lot about it over the past couple of weeks and the general concensus is only positive!

Continuous testing is something that benefits every diabetic and helps us get a better understanding of what works and what doesn't.

Well done and good luck

 

[Daphne917]

Hi @LinsT I have similar results - I can now eat most things in moderation including bread, bran flakes, pasta, potatoes even dates but my nemesis foods are still rice, tortillas, Scampi and Thins which still spike my BS although not as much as they did so hopefully, one day....

 

[Bluetit1802]

I think this emphasises the need for us all to keep testing even if we think we have reversed our diabetes and not to fall in to complacency. Similar things happened to me when I ate a single plum (double figures) and again when I had a bread roll sandwich (double figures again), , yet new and roast potatoes, and chips, are absolutely fine in modest portions. We all have our nemesis foods.

 

[AndBreathe]

I started following the LCHF diet when I was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes in September last year. The results have been fantastic. Excellent glucose control, great weight loss and massive improvements in well-being. Recently, I decided to try adding some carbs back into my diet. I ate a sandwich - no spikes. Ate chocolate - no spikes. I ate a sandwich and a cake - no spikes. On Saturday I ate a whole pizza and 3/4 tub of ice cream - no spikes. Woohooo I thought - I have this cracked - I'm not diabeteic anymore.
Last night at dinner I had a bowl of spaghetti - a controlled sensible portion - BAM Bg soaring up over 10! Tonight, I ate 1 bowl of muesli because I have a slight cold, felt tired and didn't feel like cooking - BAM BG over 10 again!
So its back to the low carb diet for me. Just goes to show that testing is soooo important even when you're getting consistently low readings and things seem to be rolling along wonderfully.
And the high readings are not due to the cold - it's mild and the readings have been just fine cold and all when I'm not eating carbs.
Thanks again for this forum - so incredibly useful for newly diagnosed and those of us needing a little motivation to get back on track!

Well done for continuing to test as you did Lins. It looks like you made a very valuable discovery.

Like you, I can eat pretty normally, with no issues, but in many ways some of that carb-tastic stuff no longer excites me, so I don't bother sustaining, or trying to sustain it.

It was pretty useful on a recent long haul flight, when I'd had a very busy and active day prior to heading for the airport, so was hungry. I ate the whole, "normal" meals, so that included rice, a creamy, coconut-y pudding (it was outrageously sweet!), crackers, then the brekkers included croisant, fruit low fat yoghurt.

Although I go for a few strolls over the long haul, it could hardly be described as exercise. No blips. No rises in numbers, and thankfully, no hangover carb cravings over the next few days.

But, from what I had, the only thing I really enjoyed was the West Indian style rice and peas that went along with the Jerk Chicken, but in a restaurant, I'd have some of that anyway.

Back in UK, I'm quite happily back on my reduced carb routine. I have read of a number of folks who describe pretty much exactly as you experienced. It's almost like their system can cope with it once or twice, then either gets exhausted and can't keep up that level of intervention (coping with the carbs), or it sends out a bit warning signal, via the blood sugars.

In many ways, I see it as a reverse of what happens when we're at the other end of the timeline, reducing carbs. Initially, our bloods don't reduce as much as we'd like them to, despite reducing the baddies. Our bodies try to maintain those higher blood sugars, because that's what it's used to. Our bodies like routines.

Perhaps what you saw was your body valiantly fighting to maintain your lower numbers, until it no longer could, by being "flooded" by sugars.

That's just my theory I've been thinking about for ages, but for me it makes sense. Please don't ask me to provide 79 scientific papers because I couldn't. I don't know if any exist, but it works, in my mind, for me.

 

[LinsT]

Perhaps what you saw was your body valiantly fighting to maintain your lower numbers, until it no longer could, by being "flooded" by sugars.

Yes I'm pretty much convinced this is what happened.
I also think that my current cold is a result of the 'sugar flood'. I haven't had any carb hangovers, but over time I've seen a dip in energy levels. Useful experiment in some ways though. Makes you realise how well the low carb approach makes you feel. Well, it has me anyways. So I'm happy to get back on plan