Please do not concern yourself with such labels as low fat, high carb, low carb etc. Convenient labels is all they are.
Everything is relative anyway! What is low carb to one is high carb to another. If you asked people on this forum how many grams of carb is low carb you would get almost as many different replies as there are people on the forum.
And they would all be irrelevant!
The only thing that should be relevant to you is how many carbs are right for you to keep your blood sugars under control.
Taking a step back for a minute then, I think that what everyone is agreed upon is that in order to control your diabetes what you need to do is introduce lifestyle changes that will allow you to do so and these will include all or a combination of:
- medication as prescribed by your doctor
-increased physical activity
- dietary changes
Medication is strictly a matter for your doctor to prescribe, and for you to stick to as long as you trust it. I consider all medication as a necessary evil, as it introduces the risk of side effects, but I am willing to take it if I consider the risk of not taking it to be higher. Tend to trust older drugs such as metformin more than the latest wonder drugs, the long term safety of which is more uncertain.
Physical activity is also not controversial. If you can increase your physical level of activity then your general health including your blood glucose levels will benefit. Walking is my activity of choice as it can be done anywhere, does not require specialist equipment and is low impact, so unlikely to lead to injury, no matter the level of fitness or how overweight one may be. A pedometer really helps in keeping oneself motivated and setting personal targets. Remember though that the only person you need to better is the person you were yesterday.
When it comes to diet things start to get more controversial, opinions differ and confusion results.
Most nutritionists and the majority of medical practitioners advocate the healthy plate approach whereby diabetics, like the rest of the population, should take meals comprising of carbohydrates, proteins and fats in the ratio of 55/20/25 in terms of calorific intake. A rough guide is that half your plate should be salad/green vegetables, a quarter of your plate should be protein such as lean meat (about the size of a deck of cards) and the last quarter should be carbs such as rice, pasta or potatoes. Fats should be mostly monounsaturated or polyunsaturated plant fats rather than saturated animal fats such as cream and butter.
Some scientists question the validity of the above advise and argue that it is better to reduce the percentage of calories from carbohydrates and, as the percentage from proteins can not be increased much without risking kidney problems, increase the percentage from fats, more controversially saturated fats in order to make up the missing calories.
There are scientific studies to support both theories and I have neither the training nor the inclination to judge which are right.
The latter "theory" known as Low Carb High Fat appears especially attractive to diabetics as it is known that it is carbs that primarily cause blood glucose to rise. Many of the people on this forum are very enthusiastic and vociferous followers.
While almost all agree that you need to reduce carbs to help make control of your sugars easier, the same can not be said about the amount of carbs that you need to reduce carbs by or to.
So what should you do?
You should let your body guide you through your glucose meter. Test your glucose levels early in the morning and before and two hours after each meal and adjust the level of carbs you consume so as keep your after glucose levels within 2 mmol of your before count. Keep at it for a few weeks and you should see an improving trend in your before meal counts as well.
Remember that this is a process that will take time. Do not expect overnight miracles, set yourself achievable targets and do not be disheartened if there are small setbacks along the way.
What is important is to arrive at a diet, exercise and medication regime that is effective for you and that you are happy to stick to in the long run.
I know that this post is very long but I set out to make it as clear as possible, hopefully removing some confusion for the newly diagnosed along the way, and unfortunately I do lot know how to do this using less words!
Final bit of advise is to always keep your spirits up, diabetes is serious, but as long as you respect it, it will not keep you from a full and satisfying life.... And there is so much in this life that makes staying healthy for, worth it.
All the best
Pavlos
Sent from the
Diabetes Forum App
