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Been to see the dietician

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whatashock

Well-Known Member
Messages
92
I know that this is probably going to start a new thread of arguments, but I have jut seen the dietician, and as everybody would expect, she does not think Low Carb is the best way.

Her reasoning was down to the fact that you need Carbs else you were burn away all the muscles, and the low carb option is not sustainable long term.

Having 'lowered' my carb for a number of weeks, and then slipping a bit (maybe a bit more than a bit) whilst on holiday, I did not notice any real differnece having been earing potatoes and rice - I still steered clear of bread and pasta.

Her main concenr for me now is weight loss, and this is her key over the next four weeks, and beleives it will be most achievable by low cal, not low carb.

Everything she said made sense, and my levels seem to have proved it.
 
exactly like all other things ,we as diabetics have to find what works for us whatever that maybe :D
 
Hi, I sincerely hope that you do not get any arguments from anyone, the forum is about sharing experiences, caring/supporting each otherl, offering advice when asked for. So dont be nervous.

If you are happy with what the dietician advised then go for it, you will see results soon enough, if the results are not what you expected/want then you can always say 'Ok, I tried this, gave it my best shot, it didnt work out so well, so I will go and try something else instead' - just stay flexible and open minded, there are other options out there to help you reach your goals.

Give us feedback please

All the best

Karen
 
whatashock said:
Her reasoning was down to the fact that you need Carbs else you were burn away all the muscles, and the low carb option is not sustainable long term.
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How curious, I've been doing it for the best part of five years now and I appear to have more muscles and a hell of a lot more energy. Less fat though.

Hint: you can generate all the glucose you need from protein, only slower, I mainly only hit the carbs if I need to manually adjust my BG upwards, and even that happens a lot less often than it used to did.
 
Whatever works for you is the way ahead, whatashock.

However,
Her reasoning was down to the fact that you need Carbs else you were burn away all the muscles, and the low carb option is not sustainable long term.
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You will only burn away muscle if you are insulin/calorie/protein deficient - 'nowt to do with low carb. And low carb has been perfectly sustainable for the last couple of million years of human evolution, up until the industrial revolution at least.

All the best,

fergus
 
Hi whatashock,
Whatever works for you! Hope this does work for you! It does sound good! I must admit i have had a bit of wild rice myself the other day! Raised my Bg by 1 mark, I enjoyed that so much!
I know that the best thing is that what ever can work for you as a person then use it!
To be honest if we were all the same and could eat all the same... Life would be so boring! as there would be nothing new to try!
I really hope it works for you! glad you enjoyed your holiday! Don't want to sound like a mother hen, But with the heat here as well don't forget your sun tan lotion and to drink regular!
Sandy
 
Hi, i'm due to see the dietician in august. The diabetic nurse gave me a list of foods the NHS like diabetics to eat and there is a lot of carbs on there. I'm confused, would I get enough sugar from non carb foods if i were to go on a low carb diet, or would my levels drop. Due to see nurse next week again.
 
whatashock said:
Her reasoning was down to the fact that you need Carbs else you were burn away all the muscles, and the low carb option is not sustainable long term.

Her main concenr for me now is weight loss, and this is her key over the next four weeks, and beleives it will be most achievable by low cal, not low carb.
Click to expand...

Hello,

When glycogen stores are not available in the cells (glycogen is primarily created when carbohydrates such as starch and sugar are consumed in the diet), fat (triacylglycerol) is cleaved to give 3 fatty acid chains and 1 glycerol molecule in a process called lipolysis. Which is by the way a key way to lower your blood lipids.

Most of the body is able to utilize fatty acids as an alternative source of energy in a process where fatty acid chains are cleaved to form acetyl-CoA, which can then be fed into the Krebs Cycle. It is important to note that acetyl-CoA can only enter the Krebs Cycle bound to oxaloacetate. When carbohydrate supplies are inadequate, however, the liver naturally converts oxaloacetate to glucose via gluconeogenesis for use by the brain and other tissues. When acetyl CoA does not bind with oxaloacetate, the liver converts it to ketones (or ketone bodies), leading to a state of ketosis.

During this process a high concentration of glucagon is present in the serum and this inactivates hexokinase and phosphofructokinase-1 (regulators of glycolysis) indirectly, causing most cells in the body to use fatty acids as their primary energy source. At the same time, glucose is synthesized in the liver from lactic acid, glucogenic amino acids, and glycerol, in a process called gluconeogenesis. This glucose is used for energy by cells such as neurons and red blood cells.

If the diet is changed from a highly glycemic diet to a diet that does not provide sufficient carbohydrate to replenish glycogen stores, the body goes through a set of stages to enter ketosis. During the initial stages of this process the adult brain does not burn ketones, however the brain makes immediate use of this important substrate for lipid synthesis in the brain. After about 48 hours of this process, the brain starts burning ketones in order to more directly utilize the energy from the fat stores that are being depended upon, and to reserve the glucose only for its absolute needs, thus avoiding the depletion of the body's protein store in the muscles.

So a low carb diet will mean that your body breaks down fatty acids primarilly and not protein (this happens in ketoacidosis and not ketosis) and synthesises its own glucose in the liver for the use in the brain, etc.,

A lot of diabetic nurses and especially dieticians don't seem to understand or be interested in this distinction, and how do I know about it? Wikipedia of course, doesn't make it wrong though... :wink:

The point about weight loss is also dealt with on a low-carb diet with suitable exercise.

Dillinger
 
I think the OP was reporting on a medical visit, and on what is working for him / her.

I don't believe a lecture was asked for or necessary
 
That wasn't a lecture - that was an informative post, giving evidence that disproved the HCPs advice.

Nobody was forcing a point across, and now YOU'VE doomed this thread to the same fate as so many others around here.
 
Please No fighting not again!
There are too many people who are coming for advice! There has been alot of visitors to the forum!
Please lets not fight here! Lets work together as a team!
Please no fighting and lets keep it together! we all have different minds, if we were the same it would be boring! What works for one may not work for another!
Lets just work together to keep a nice forum together and keep it running like it has been! we all have different views! what works for one may not work for another!
But if we inform in a gentle way what works for us, then someone can make their own mind up as they have been informed by people what works for them!
Sandy
 
Let's take Dillinger's post in the spirit it was offered - shedding a bit of light on the science that seems to have escaped the dietician, that carbs are not essential for human health. It wasn't a lecture and shouldn't be taken that way.

The forum's been peaceful and helpful of late, let's keep it that way.

fergus
 
I hope my post didn't come accross as trying to start a fight - that's not what I intended. if anything I thought I was stepping in to stop one happening. I loved Dillingers post...
 
Guys I wasn't spoiling for a fight either, nor do I appreciate that particular accusation.
I too am entitled to put across my opinion.
 
viv1969 said:
I think the OP was reporting on a medical visit, and on what is working for him / her.

I don't believe a lecture was asked for or necessary
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I was just trying to be helpful... :cry:

Also, my new avatar is a bit rubbish. :cry:

If eating a bit of carbs is ok for Watashock; god speed to him or her, but the dietician got it wrong about the carb / metabolic requirement bit and I was addressing that. Also this is the 'Ask The Experts' thread and without holding out for a second that I am an expert it does kind of imply posts here are looking for answers doesn't it Viv?

Lastly, it can't have been a lecture as there were no poor quality Power Point slides to go with it :twisted:
 
By the way - thank you Patch and Fergus for your posts !
 
well, that was an interesting couple of minutes read.

I knew when I went to the dietician (and then posting) that people would think she was wrong.

What I do know is that she is not 'just a dietician' but has done a lot of her own research, and gave me a lot of confidence.

her point is for me to loose weight, whcih I am doing, and she wants me to get rid of the 'obese' tag.

if this works, I will be happy and so will she.

She did say that there is nothing wrong with low carbing, but she would like me to try this as she knows that it works, and therfore even thoguh I have spent 6 weeks reading this forum, I - and my wife - want to try it the 'professionals' way.

If it works, great - and so far in two days my levels have not gone up (or down)

Once I go back to her in 4 weeks, I can see what the results are (I am also waiting for my HBA results whcih I get in two weeks)

I know that it is a learnign curve. That is why it is a curve (or a very wavey line). I have years of this to look forwards to, so I have a long time to try, try, try again until I get it right (or the best I can)

thnaks for all the posts, and,

STOP ARGUING (Joke)
 
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