A few questions for a future Low carb

@Quantum I think the most important thing is to get a blood glucose meter and then test your levels on waking then before each meal and then 2 hours afterwards, this will let you know exactly what certain foods are doing to your blood sugar levels.

For a fantastic free resorce look at www.dietdoctor.com they do a two week low carb challenge which effectively tells you what to eat for that period and includes recipe's and is a really good introduction into this way of eating. Maybe do this in conjunction with testing your BG levels so that you can see the effect this way of eating is having.

To be honest most low carbers avoid rice, potatoes, bread and pasta but you very quickly lose your cravings for these, however you can but try them and test 2 hours after eating them if they raise your sugars up then probably best to avoid. There are some low carb breads and wraps available and you can always ask people which brands they use. Sorry I do not eat bread at all anymore so am not much help on this one

I am not a heavy athlete but do go to the gym every day and spend 45 mins in the gym (weights and resistance) and then have a 40 minute swim. Hopefully someone who does do more heavy workouts will be along soon to answer your questions.

Personally I have never felt so energised and well and my mood has lifted. As you can see from my signature I had a blood test on the 3rd march which showed I had an HbA1c level of 118 and a BG reading of 17.7. I had already been doing LCHF since the 10th Feb (hilariously I gave up carbs for lent, you have to laugh really!) but now a month after my test my weekly average BG reading is 6.3. So yes low carb really does work.

Other people to read are Zoe Harcombe and also Jason Fung (google them both) Janson Fung does work on the success of Intermittant Fasting which is something a lot of low carbers also incorporate. Either keeping it as simple as not eating breakfast so doing an 16/8 fast or having a couple of 24 hour fasts in a week, some even go further and fast for a few days. It is worth reading up on and seeing if it is something for you or not. The way I do fasting is I gave myself an 8 hour window to eat food so for example the kitchen opens at 12:00 and closes at 20:00.

Lots of information to read, I know I spent my first week after diagnosis with my head buried in the lap top reading and planning.

Keep asking questions this lot are really knowledageable and there are folks who have done really amazing things with their weight and BG levels.

Hello quantum welcome to the forum
There are no hard and fast rules with a low carb diet, how many carbs you eat and where you get them from is something you need to decide. All of the foods you mention are high carb and will probably make controlling your sugar levels difficult. The only way you can know for shure the impact different foods have on your sugar levels is by testing before you eat and again 2 hours later. If you keep a record of your meals and test results you will soon see what needs to be cut out or reduced. I'll tag @TorqPenderloin for you i think he will be able to help with your exercise question

Dear Cat in a Hat,

Yes, avoid means avoid for ever. In theory you could have the odd small splurge, but it doesn't work psychologically. You wouldn't be safe from the longings. It's cold turkey I'm afraid.

Beans: well, you have to test. Some people can tolerate lentils, chickpeas etc, but many (me for example) can't.

Courage.

As said there are many levels of low carbing which makes it fun

Avoid to me means mostly but I make exceptions and try to aim for 80% doing things right....

IE... if I am going out for a meal I dont stress over it , it is generally a family meal sunday lunch style so I have spuds etc but just dont go mad ......... and eat zero carb for the rest of the day to allow for it...

Portion size is often not mentioned, just because a food is high carb in of itself does not mean that it is high carb in the context of a meal...ie a bowl of rice is high carb but a teaspoonful on your plate is not going to raise your bloods much if at all.......



Test , test, test everyone is different . I can have a few small new potatoes and my bloods are fine you might not be able to....

I stick to less than 40g of carbs a day and my approach is working for me....



My advice (for what its worth ) is to start easy @ >100g a day of carbs and see how you go ......

How many carbs and which sort of carbs is very personal, and only a meter can give you the answer. We each have our own tolerance levels and it is a matter of finding that level. Some people find going cold turkey is the best way, whilst others (me included) reduced carb levels gradually. The decision is yours, but the real answer is eat to your meter and find a sustainable eating plan. It has to be sustainable for you personally as this is forever, not just a few months.

For me a low carb diet means just what it says - eating high carb foods (potatoes, pasta, cereal, rice, flour, cakes, jams, etc) on a low card diet is a contradiction in terms, and would be pointless...

But still being pedantic, we can eat a reduced carbs diet and still eat these high carb foods in moderation. Your meter will tell you what your body can cope with.

It's worth being aware that if you do go fairly low carb, eating high carb foods can take away from your chosen carbs allowance some of the healthy low carb alternatives that you ought be be eating instead. And it may keep you craving carbs which is really not such a good idea.

Robbity

Did someone say exercise?!? Haha, thanks for tagging me @catinahat

First of all, yes, all of this is extremely complicated and it's extremely difficult to change everything all at once. If you're worried you might not be able to do it all at once....then don't

When you count calories, you're limiting the total energy that enters/leaves your body. That's pretty easy to understand for the most part.

When you count carbs, you're causing your body to undergo a change in what it uses as energy (glycolysis to ketosis). That's a complicated topic to understand at first.

Either way, the end goal is to find something that works for you and that is sustainable, but for now the goal should be to start. You don't have to immediately have the perfect diet, workout 7 days a week and run a marathon before the month is over, but each day try to do something you're proud of.

Setting goals for yourself is also extremely important and vital to your success. The long-term goals are more obvious, but don't neglect to set some short-term goals either. You need to constantly remind yourself to stay on track and be conscious of when you're succeeding (but also when you're failing).

I realize this doesn't directly answer your questions, but I believe your mindset is 100x more important than having the perfect diet and exercise plan.

In my opinion, your first goal should be to start low-carbing TODAY rather than in a month. It doesn't need to be anything drastic, but set a simple goal and try to eat fewer carbs than you ate the day before.

The problem is, it's not going to get any easier in a month. You think it is, but it won't. There's always going to be an excuse or challenge that makes it difficult, but that's why if it were that easy we'd all have ripped abs and perfect physiques.

It's the awkward Yanks who insist on net carbs.

In the UK and Euroland the amount of Carbs shown in the nutritional information is the ACTUAL amount of Carbs the product contains.

Quanntum said:

Unforunately I'm not in the UK. I'm in America idk if that makes a difference but I think I will just count carbs and fiber as separate entities.

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Yep, in America everything is awkwardly different from here. Even the units on our glucose meters.

Quanntum said:

Unforunately I'm not in the UK. I'm in America idk if that makes a difference but I think I will just count carbs and fiber as separate entities.

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I'm in the US as well. Here all carbohydrates are counted in "Total carbohydrates" even those our bodies cannot digest (like sugar alcohols).

"Net carbs" refers to the number of carbs that, in theory, should affect your blood sugar.

It's my understanding that in the UK, fiber and sugar alcohols are excluded from the Total Carb count which makes the term "Net Carbs" redundant.

Yes: net carbs is what you want. Fibre that doesn't get digested is subtracted from total carb in US figures. That's already done in the UK. So UK carb = US net carb.

So not as bad as it looks.