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A Low Carb Diet Worked for Me

T

tmylward

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I decided to try the really low carb diet, not to loose wait, but because my HbA1c results were always on the slightly high side. I was already consuming only 35gms carb per meal + 15gms between meals (typically around 150gms per day). This still produced spikes occasionally and my HbA1c was generally around 7.2

I virtually cut carb completely. I stopped eating bread, pasta, potatoes and rice as suggested (eating only meat, cream, cheese and one apple per day). I supplemented with vitamins.

My sugar levels plummeted, as one would expect and after 3 months my weight reduced from 13.5 stone to 12 stone (a side affect that I didn’t really want, but hey).

My HbA1c was abnormally low at 4.2. I also became a bit frail. Getting a cold and being unable to shake it and having a real feeling of being worn out all the time. I decided that this was a good time to get back to normal and over the next month increased my sugar levels back to what I was eating prior to the experiment.

As an aside, I found that bread always pushed the blood sugar up more than anything else, and caused bad indigestion (strange).

Anyway, here I am, 4 months after starting the experiment.
Amazingly, my blood sugar comes down after eating much quicker than before and my body seems to deal with a diet of 150gms carb/day far better than before the experiment. I suppose indicates that my pancreas has improved as a result of the Limited Low Carb diet.

I can’t wait for my next HbA1c :¬)
 
Hi tmylward,

Interesting experiment! Many people find their insulin resistance reduces significantly when they lose weight which probably accounts for your improved blood sugar response on the old diet following your experiment. I'd guess the weight and insulin resistance might creep back if you've returned to the same diet as before and it would be interesting to see how long that takes.
The frailty and lethargy you describe are pretty atypical of most peoples experience of carb restriction - provided they eat enough calories. Do you think that might have been the issue?

All the best,

fergus
 
Sounds intriguing, I'm glad you found it of 'benefit' though it worries me that you became frail, most people flourish on low carb. Were you eating a good amount of fibrous veg and low carb fruit? It's important not to cut out all carbs just be careful in what you choose. Variety is also very important, lot's of oily fish, good oils, quality no processed meets, nuts and lots of fibrous veg, job done!

It has certainly worked for me, but I have no intention of going back to what I was eating previously :D
 
I should stress that I was a little irresponsible with the carb intake. I attempted to cut it out altogether with my only concession being a small apple once daily. Any other carbs came with the dairy produce. In fact I cut milk from my diet also due to its high carb value.

I think this is where the exhaustion came from. Within 2 weeks of returning to the 150gms diet the tiredness disappeared.

Irritatingly, I’ve picked up another cold now and my blood sugar has crept up.
Question: Is this extra sugar used by the body to fight the cold or will it show up in my HbA1c ?
 
Hi tmy.

When you went very low-carb, did you replace the carbs with anything else? Did you up your fat and protein intake to compensate?

That is the trap many fall into, they think that all they need to do is cut the carbs, but the body needs a certain amount of food to function. A bit extra protein will provide slow-release glycogen and fats will fuel the cells and keep the energy up.

A no, or very low carb diet is possible but you have to compensate for it.

Fats like medium-chain triglyceride coconut oil will also help boost the immune system and help to fight off unwanted bacteria and viruses. Coconut oil is a very powerful anti-bacterial, fungal and viral. Other good fats are butter (pref grass-fed organic), ghee, olive oil and even a bit of lard. Cold-pressed vegetable oils are ok on cold foods and in things like mayonnaise but are not suitable for heating as it changes their properties (ever tried to scrape congealed vegetable oil off a chip fryer?).

Low carbs from fruits like berries are ok and the vit C will help your immune system too.

As far as the HbA1c thing with your BS levels is concerned I couldn't answer that - maybe someone else can.
 
Thanks for your advice...

I did try to eat lots of fat although typically my diet comprised chicken, cream, yoghurt, raw eggs and bacon. The rest was just salad type foods. I did have some coconut cream in a chicken curry once weekly, but I didn't realise it was such a good choice :?

I love butter but no longer eat bread. It's the only food I can't get back into. It causes severe acidity and makes me vomit. This only happened after I stopped eating it for 3 months. I still don't understand it. I had olive oil in the salad dressing and also ate spoon-fulls of duck fat,which I now quite like :D
 
If you read my posts you will see that I am pretty anti gluten-foods. I believe very strongly that what has been done to the wheat et al has turned it into a food that has become pretty indigestible for our digestive systems.

I am very gluten-intolerant myself, but didn't realise how much until I stopped eating it. I am in contact with a lot of other people who either have Coeliac Disease or who have also realised that they are gluten intolerant and it is a rapidly growing and worrying awareness.

Most who are suffering because of it are completely oblivious to the damage it is causing to their bodies.

It's funny how you get used to these 'background' niggling health issues and it is not until they are gone that any subsequent reaction seems much more heightened.

My issues with gluten, apart from the carb connection were years of stomach problems and IBS culminating in awful stomach pain and the eventual collapse of my digestion, and neurological/ataxia issues like raging restless legs and burning feet.

My husband stopped eating it too as an experiment and his depression and brain-fog are much improved and he is considerably less debilitated with his Fibromaylgia. He still has dairy and I suspect he would improve even more if he dumped that too.

But that is probably why your reaction to bread seems to be more acute now because it is 'coming out of nowhere' rather than being there in the background all the time!

Don't forget too that losing weight can release stored toxins, also if Candida or other unwanted 'beasties' are lurking in your system lowering the carbs depletes them of food and they can release toxins as they die which can also make us feel pretty rough. It seems that viruses can live inside bacteria and other organisms and when they die the viruses are released - so it is possible that the 'cold' actually came from inside rather than outside!

So yes, going low-carb can sometimes affect people that way, but usually it is not permanent! I am still struggling with toxins myself but I refuse to up the carbs and feed the little beggars! I was very much a walking fungus-factory, and the signs of that are much improved so I know I am heading in the right direction.
 
I actually went to the doctor when I was a mere 18 years and was supected of having an ulcer. Tests proved that I didn't but I've always suffered from acidity, especially in bed.

Only after my low carb diet that excluded all bread did it improve, now it's much worse... or as you suggest, it appears that way because I had not experienced it for 3 months.

Whatever, it is so good to be free of it I shall not go back. Are there other foods that have high gluten which I should avoid ?
 
Tmy,

I used to devour bottles of antacids, rennies and pints of skimmed milk and was told I probably had a hiatus hernia. My night time heart burn was chronic. Only had 1 slight episode siince low carbing and that was after I put some West Indian pepper sauce on my beef!!. :lol:

Steve.
 
Anything with wheat, barley, rye or oats will contain gluten. The gluten in oats is slightly different from the others and doesn't usually cause problems although those who are very intolerant can sometimes be affected from cross-contamination because oats are often processed through the same machinery as wheat et al. Gluten is also present in beer, as thickeners, sweeteners (some dextrose is derived from wheat), hydrolysed vegetable protein, MSG - it can masquerade in many guises. For those who are extremely sensitive (just one crumb can put them out for weeks) it can be a bit of a nightmare until they have established which foods are 'safe'.

If you are not too sensitive then you might 'get away' with some carbs other than bread. I do wonder with bread, particularly certain brands, if they add even more gluten than has already been expansively (and indigestibly) bred into the wheat so that they can get more product per pound out of it, and that may be why you react to it.

Also, apart from perhaps stoneground baked wholemeal bread, the white stuff, particularly the 'pap' bread, often has extra yeast added to it to make it rise quicker, and flour 'improvers' which can include data esters made from petrochemicals. Whereas traditonally baked bread usually takes several hours from start to finish, the pap stuff can be in one end and out the other within 45 minutes! That ain't natural!

The thing is that if you do have a sensitivity to gluten, then even consumed at low level it can still be causing damage in your digestive system without you realising. I may be over-egging it in your case, but as you are still consuming gluten at the moment (you have to either be, or have been within the last 3 months consuming gluten for it to work), albeit a fairly low level, I wonder if it might be worth you asking for a Coeliac panel test. Even if it comes back 'negative' (it is not considered as possible Coeliac unless it is over 10), any positive reading, even a low one will at least show that there is definitely gluten intolerance going on.

I had to educate my Doctor about Coeliac and she has since done research and now knows a lot more about it. Most are still stuck in the dark ages with their understanding and think it only affects children who have a 'failure to thrive'. In reality it can manifest at any age and can be responsible for both under, and overweight along with a host of other health issues. Often by the time people start getting symptoms, damage is already established and malabsorption issues usually are present.

My Doctor said that she often has to repeat the test several times before getting positive results with some people - the testing process throws up an awful lot of false negatives. The reason they set the 'positive' at anything greater than 10 is because so many of the 'healthy' controls were showing a positive reading. They didn't seem to twig that not everyone displays symptoms of gluten intolerance, and that even seemingly 'normal' things like bloating and flatulence can indicate a problem. If they set the positive at anything above 0 then at least a third of the population would have Coeliac Disease and that would frighten the life out of them!

If diagnosed Coeliac you can get gluten-free foods on prescription, but to be quite honest, as most of them are very carb-dense there is not much point to that.

Of course, the best thing you can do by far is to stay away from processed carbs. The low-carb diet is good for that as the carbs you do get tend to be from natural foods, fruit and veg, maybe a little rice, pulses, etc., if your body can cope with them ok.

I have had digestive issues most of my adult life - I would get so weak sometimes that it would take all my strength not to just lay down in the street! Thinking back, it was usually after eating carbs of some kind, although I didn't twig the connection at the time. I used to get backache that I thought was because of my weight and now know was my liver and/or pancreas reacting. I would get acid reflux, hernias, bloating, gas, indigestion, you name it. Eventually I had IBS, mainly D, and the culmination was the awful, awful stomach pains every time I ate which was followed by the collapse of my digestion. In a way I was fortunate because I had symptoms and was able to figure it out (yes, me, myself and I - the Medical Profession were useless), but some can end up with 'silent' Coeliac like my Mum did - a host of (as I now know) linked symptoms, but no real digestive problems until a year or two before she died.

After dumping the gluten and most dairy all those, and other symptoms have either gone or have virtually gone.
 
Wow. You certainly know your onions (or should I say Gluton :D ).

One question before I go down the glute-free route. My reaction to bread seemed much worse after not eating any for 3 months. If I understand correctly, the suggestion is that I had simply learned to live with the discomfort prior to diet and was shocked by the effects of a sudden re-introduction.

Could it possibly be that removing gluton from my diet actually caused me to become less tolerent?

It's just that I'd hate to quit and in a couple of years accidentally consume some gluton bla, bla, bla, if you get my meaning.
 
Accidental 'glutenings' are all too common, particularly when eating out. If I have been 'glutened' I get 'gluten ataxia' which manifests as thrashing restless legs and burning feet (I had that for years and didn't realise what was causing it!). Other people get different reactions. It just depends where the damage is in their gut and which part of the body is affected.

My husband descends into the 'black dog' (depression) - you can almost see the 'brain fog' hanging over him!

Although we are married, we are obviously not blood relatives, yet we both are affected by the stuffin different ways.

No, I don't think that you are any less tolerant. I am sure that you are just much more aware of the reaction/s. I also had IBS-D for some years (I think my body was just desperately trying to get the stuff out of me as quickly as it could!) along with the restless legs, etc. As soon as I gave up the gluten (I also dropped dairy as I knew I was intolerant of that), the IBS went away never to return. When I had the RLS and burning feet every night as well as the IBS, I just sort of got used to it - well, as much as you can, but if I get it now, it is such a rare occurrence that it is very obvious.

If you get by with just losing bread then you may be ok. We are happy just to have the odd rice cake or oat cracker, and apart from an occasional wistful longing, don't miss bread that much. Following the low-carb route helps because bread and other wheat-based products are not things that would be eaten in any quantity anyway.

I do wonder about things like Candida and SIBO and whether they contribute to a lot of these issues - but that is a subject for another thread!

I hope this helps you make a decision one way or another.
 
You've convinced me. I'll start with just wheat products that I know cause a problem and see how it goes.

One other thing, my blood sugar seems to be fine even when consuming much larger quantities of carb than before, provided I drop the bread. 1 slice of bread and my sugar takes hours to get down.

Many thanks for sharing your knowledge. I'll update again in 3 months.
 
When I came home from hospital with my Son I thought carbs ... he must eat loads of them!! then I wondered why his bs went so high again! after finally chillin with a cuppa I read a few books and internet and learned altho carbs are needed ... but in moderation. Now I try to stay about 170g carbs and his bs is roughly between 4 and 7
 
For years have suffered from acid stomach, heartburn and IBS, and prescribed Peptac after each meal, but after getting diabetes and my diet had to change I was eating a lot of bread to fill me up , my blood sugar is average at 6.5 now , I eat only bread called SPELT & RYE BREAD , Spelt flour has been going from Bibical days and i no longer get pains , heartburn or suffeer with IBS, and no longer take peptic except at bed time. To anyone who suffers , Try the bread .
 
Yes, some people cope ok with Spelt and Rye - they are lower in gluten so if your reaction is not too bad you might be ok with it. I tried it and got my normal gluten reaction so that didn't work for me, but I wouldn't put anyone else off trying it.
 
I'm finding your posts really interesting reading AliB! I have IBS which is made worse by bread and basically anything else containing ingredients like that. My belly swells up like I'm more than 9 mth pregnant if I eat anyting like that!

I am keen to research all things stomach and digestion myself as the doctors are no help with things like this. I have been tested for coeliac which came back negative. I read somewhere that you need to be eating a lot of gluten over 6 weeks or so before you have this test to get the most accurate result. I wouldn't be prepared to do that though (unless I could stay in the house for 6 weeks!)

I am finding the symptoms I am getting are becoming gradually worse but because I haven't been diagnosed with anything I think people sometimes think I am over-reacting or just trying to find imaginary food intolerances to be deliberately picky.

It's reassuring to know that there are verying degrees of intolerances and just because your doctor is no help doesn't mean there isn't an explanation out there somewhere..!

Thank you
x
 
Hi Feebie.

Yes, I'd had problems for years, not realising it was gluten that was the culprit.

Having said that, although I do feel that the wheat and grains have been mucked about with and our digestive systems don't cope with them as well as they should, I also feel that a big contributor is gut bugs.

I have been battling Candida most of my life (and not winning!) but am really getting to grips with it now. I suspect that the problem comes down to 'leaky gut' and the gluten proteins getting through the wall of the gut into the bloodstream (where they shouldn't be) and causing issues.

One thing I have just started taking is Oregano Oil. It, along with the coconut oil I am already taking, is a potent natural anti-fungal and anti-biotic - certainly they didn't like the first dose I took yesterday! Lots of grumbling going on down there!

My aim is to get rid of the beasties - how ever long it takes, and then hopefully my gut will be able to repair itself. Whether I ever become gluten tolerant again remains to be seen, but in any case I would never go back to eating it in any quantity, and certainly nothing processed, perhaps sticking to spelt bread or something similar.

I am sure that our high carb Western diet is a big contributory factor in getting these things int he first place - that and the destruction of the natural bacterial protectors in our guts by things like antibiotic drugs so the yeasts have nothing left to stop them taking over. Certainly Candida and other fungal issues are a big problem these days. The other problem is that many don't get any external signs so they are unaware that it is yeasts that are causing their gas and bloating and other digestive issues. The Medical Profession seem totally uninterested and in any case, their drug treatments don't last as the bugs become resistant to them.

healingnaturallybybee.com/articles/anti6.php (Oregano Oil)
 
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