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Atkins and Potassium supplements


What do you class as a very low carb diet? I consider myself to have a low to moderate carb diet, i eat to my meter so know what effects my BG levels. However, i am starting insulin on Monday as have big swings in my readings. I also have very high BP,( i take medication but still have very high levels), which is being investagated and has caused me as well as the BG swings to be very ill over the past month. Needing a hospital admission over night on one occasion, several trips to the GP and various other HCPs and 3 visits to A&E the last being only yesterday. I have been told by all these HCPs to avoid salt.
 
Personally, I consider less than 25g a very low carb diet; up to about 70g, low carb; 70g - 150g, moderate. Other people may have different ideas!

I don't think Canuck is advocating that we use half-a-pack of salt at every meal! Again speaking for myself, I have added about 400g to my food over the last 10 years. I know this because I have only just replaced the open part-used 480g pack that I brought with me when I moved up here. But I do use salted butter, and eat bacon and ham etc, so I don't think I'm lacking.

We need salt - particularly in this weather (25 degrees C in the shade at the moment). One tip is to lick your top lip (or taste your tears). If you can't taste salt, you need some! I used to give my diggers a free packet of crisps when excavating in really hot weather.

I for one am glad to see Canuck back; his previous posts interested me, and I think I can learn a lot in discussion with him.

The key word there is [i]discussion[/i], folks; let's keep it amicable, shall we? No need for insults from either side!

Viv 8)
 
I would fit into what you would consider moderate then Viv
I still eat bacon and ham but don't add salt to food when cooking or afterwards or eat salty snacks eg if i eat nuts they are unsalted.
 
Sid Bonkers said:
You make it sound so safe :roll: as if you can eat as much salt as you like when if fact current thinking states quite clearly that excessive salt in your diet can lead to high blood pressure/hypertension.
Click to expand...

Current thinking also wants diabetics to base their meals around starchy carbs. :roll:
 
As for adding salt afterwards - there is only one exception!

Fish and chips! Just a shake of salt and a dribble of malt vinegar . .

A rare pleasure now

Viv 8)
 
Hobnoblin said:
Current thinking also wants diabetics to base their meals around starchy carbs. :roll:
Click to expand...
I think you'll find that current thinking wants diabetics to eat a balanced diet containing all food groups eaten in smaller portions but some want to misinterpret this advice
 

Perhaps you should debate the topic not attack me as a person. You know nothing about me. If you are going to put yourself on a soapbox about how people are treated on here maybe you should follow your own advice?

How can I misinterpret 'base your meals around starchy carbs' which is EXACTLY what I was told by my dietitian? There is nothing wrong with my ability to interpret information Sid. It's not me who thought the body can convert fat to glucose for instance. Are you saying the eat starchy carbs advice is no longer being peddled? I bet there are a large number of members here that would disagree with you

Current thinking also tells me that eating a high fat diet will give me fatty liver disease, high cholesterol, hypertension, sleep apneoa. None of that is true either. So why would I believe nonsense about salt? I eat plenty of salt and maintain normal blood pressure just fine.
 
In all honesty Ray I have no interest in falling out with Sid. I do object to being referred to as 'people like you' by a complete stranger however. I really can't be bothered with this low carb/non carb war that goes on here. I couldn't care less what regimes people follow as long as their happy with it. I really don't want to be drawn into it by either side.

Thanks
 
Viv - your definitions are sensible. I would add that for type 2 diabetics, less than 50 g of carbs per day should be the maximum. For some, even lower would be better. The alternative is to take medications. Also, that achieving HbA1c's in the 5 range should be the target, not the 7.0% advocated by the authorities. I believe they move the goal posts because the recommended diet makes it very hard to actually achieve normal levels. As many will know, achieving 5's on no meds is entirely achievable on a very low carb diet.
 
Cannuck, I have to admit I don't think much about sodium so I was interested to look things up but the only specific trial I can find that specifically tested this was the Rabast metabolic ward study .
This found that sodium excretion after 7 days on the low carb diet was high but that by 28 days there was a higher excretion rate on the high carb diet.
 
A rather nasty post from you Ray!

Nigel
 
Phoenix - the Rabast study used diets that were extremely low in sodium. One would not expect to find much excreted in that case. A normal kidney would be expected to conserve sodium when the diet is deficient.

If you dig around you will find studies which show that both insulin and fructose act on the nephrons to cause sodium to be retained. With a very low carb diet, both these factors are significantly mitigated. Thus the tendency for the kidney to revert to normal homeostasis with sodium.
 
What brought my BP back down to normal wasn't lowering my salt intake, but dumping the carbs. Within a few weeks I was able to come off, and dump the BP tablets.

I consume around a teaspoonful of salt every day (but don't get any from any other source) and I believe it has been a considerable factor in my healing process.

What I do ensure is that all the salt I use is real celtic sea salt, not cheap refined table salt which is sodium chloride and nothing else (except a few chemicals to help it flow, including sodium ferrocyanide - yes, really!)

Celtic sea salt contains 98% SC and 2% other elements - up to 90 of them.

Some may say - it's only 2%, it's unimportant. But that 2% of elements act as buffers and support for the sodium chloride to enable to body to use it properly.

Air is 99% nitrogen and oxygen and only 1% trace gases. Within those trace gases are things like carbon dioxide which is instrumental in photosynthesis and atmospheric processes, water vapour which affects weather patterns and absorbs radiant energy from the earth, argon and other elements act as insulators preventing heat from the earth dissipating into space.

They may only make up 1%, but would anyone assume they are unimportant?
 

So how much salt are you suggesting that we should eat daily? I am not on a low carb diet, I am on what some call a "moderate-carb" diet. We never eat ready packaged food and takeaways once a month maybe. The only salt I eat is what's in the bread and what I put on my food after cooking. My BP is around 100/60 most of the time but raises to around 115/70 sometimes.

Should I be eating more than the RDA?
 
Hobnoblin said:
How can I misinterpret 'base your meals around starchy carbs' which is EXACTLY what I was told by my dietitian?
Click to expand...

What I meant and I'm sorry if you misunderstood me was that I don't think there is anything wrong with the sentence 'base your meals around starchy carbs' as I like so many other diabetics do indeed eat carbs with most if not all meals, but it is often misinterpreted by some (if the cap fits wear it) as eat huge amounts of carbs, eat lots of carbs, fill your plate with carbs.

There hope that explains that for you Honboblin and I am so sorry if I have upset you in any way, I certainly did not mean any personal attack, and I'm sorry too that someone of your genteel disposition took my remarks that way. There all friends again eh
 
Blimey, and I get accused of personal remarks :lol: :lol:

I really should change my name to Vic Inhaler as I clearly get up some peoples noses :wink: :wink: :wink:
 
I think a lot of us eat sodium containing foods without necessarily adding salt. If you eat fish, cheese, certainly anything preserved from olives to bacon, if you add soy to a stir fry . It all adds up.
I don't agree about the benefits of your salt Ali, but I know you've read all the arguments before but why pay for a made up name and marketing? Any salt collected on the Atlantic coasts of France and probably elsewhere will have similar properties . You can buy here in small containers for centimes and by the sackload for not much more (lots of people cure hams and confit duck at home) Might cost a little more in a UK supermarket but not by much.
 
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