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Confused by Dietician re Low Carb

yzzybella

Member
Messages
6
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Hi everyone,

I wanted to ask a question after seeing my dietician at the hospital today. I have been eating low carb for the last six weeks (whilst logging on MyFitnessPal) with much success and finally losing some weight after trying every diet over the sun.

When I had told the dietician this as it was the only thing I had changed since I had last seen her, she seemed upset that my carb count was so low (between 80-90g) and told me that vegetables and fruit do not count. She insisted that I have at least 30g of "actual Carbs" per meal plus two pieces of fruit and two sources of dairy.

I did say I was unsure after everything I'd read and the fact I was feeling so much less lethargic and brain-foggy and so it seemed to be working for me to which she said she was surprised as such low carb count would mean less energy. Other benefits have included blood glucose readings in the 4s and 5s, a lot less mood swings and being taken off one of my medications for high blood pressure.

So basically I guess I wanted to ask if you guys counted vegetables as I have or only counted things like bread, potatoes, rice, etc?

Thanks in advance for any replies.
 
Hi there. Yes we count vegetables but loosely stick to the lower carb above ground variety. Fruit is high in sugar, bananas and grapes are little bombs of sugar but a few berries are ok with cream or Greek yoghurt.

All this depends, though, on whether you take meds to lower your bg levels?

I will tag @daisy1 who will give advice offered to all newbies and a warm welcome to you.
 
i count everything - yes veggies are low carb but not no carb for me they all count - I eat a lot of veg and it can add up quite quickly- keep doing what your doing you can see from your results that it's working so why change it - well done by the way
 
I suspect that she has based her advice on the myth that we all 'need' 130 g carbs a day, 'because the brain needs it to function'

Many of us here should be dead by that reckoning. Personally, i have rarely eaten that many carbs in the last 10 years, and my brain still manages to limp along

The actual facts of the matter is that yes, the brain does need around that much glucose to function, but our bodies can make it out of all the protein, fats and veg that low carbers eat. So no, you do not need to eat that many carbs, your body is an awesomely wonderful, highly evolved mechanism that can generate fuel for your brain from other things than rice, pasta, bread and potato!

Besides, with all those other benefits - more energy, less brain fog, fewer moods swings, lower bgs, losing weight and lower blood pressure, i am very surprised she tried to derail you from a way of eating that seems to work so well for you!
 
I've been following the forum for a while and have read all the newbie stuff when I started which I found very useful.

I guess I was surprised at the dietician's reaction especially when she asked the source of my carbs and I said mainly vegetables and occasionally some berries/plums/yoghurt and said that low carb is purely things such as bread.

I'm currently on metformin (1000mg) and forxiga (10mg).
 

Thank you for your reply. This is exactly how I felt! I'm currently at my lowest weight since 2010 where I've been sitting at around 16st and this is the first time I've managed to actually lose weight. I did leave the appointment a little confused as if I've done something wrong but I guess ultimately I should go off how I feel?
 
Hi @yzzybella and welcome!

As others have said, I count all carbs - in fact the only carbs I’m getting are from veggies and some berries. The dietician’s views seem to be based on the Eatwell Plate. Since you’re feeling better on low carb and seeing some success, I’d be inclined to continue. Personally I feel better than I have in years, have dropped a lot of weight and improved all my health markers - as have many others here.
 
I don't carb count but anything I eat or drink may affect my blood sugars, my digestion does not distinguish and sometimes a technical fruit (eg tomato, cucumber) is eaten as a vegetable. Your body has stored a lot of excess carbs as fat against a time of famine, now it is converting that fat back into energy. As long as you feel energised and clear headed keep doing what you are doing. The tricky part comes when you no longer need to lose weight and then have to balance your diet with additional fats. If you look at diet sheets there are few foods that have no carbs at all.
 
Over a year of eating low carb with no bread, rice, pasta or potatoes and I am still buzzing with energy and my brain functions well. Your body is telling you that you are doing the right thing.
 
Maybe it's just me, but I wouldn't continue to see a dietitian who spouts dogma-driven nonsense at me. Maybe there are some decent ones around, but mostly they seem to spout rota-learned drivel that has no science to back it up. They are basically another form of quack.
 
@yzzybella - People do all sort of different things.

Many count everything, and others take a simpler approach; just removing the biggies, and ignore the veggies, provided they are non-starchy.

I think to be honest, if you are eating to your meter (if you have unacceptable spikes eat less of that food, or leave it out), then you are on a good path. For quite some time after diagnosis, I recorded every thing I ate in MyFitnessPal, and that pretty much meant I also recorded the carbs and cals, almost by the way the site/app works.

These days, not things are a bit more settled for me, I don't track everything, but I've never been a big snacker, so it's easy enough, on a day to day basis to have half a clue to know what I'm doing.

Good luck with it all. It takes a while to gain confidence in your chosen path, but something seems to be working for you.
 

It's hard as this one is with the diabetes ward and was assigned to me by my diabetes nurse at the hospital. I understand that she has to do her job and follow the guidelines but it seems so rigid. I have taken the NHS guidebook on low carb from her but I think I will stick to what I'm doing until my body tells me otherwise. As other people have said, everyone is different and only you know your own body.
 
I worked out that I put on weight when eating a normal amount of carbs way back in the 1970s, but doctors and nurses have constantly told me how terrible it is - sometimes moments after congratulating me after seeing how much weight I had lost - the weight I put on doing the crazy diets they prescribed. There have been people like William Banting and Dr Atkins who found out the same thing and wanted to tell people about it, but they were derided by the medical profession.
Thankfully there are now people willing to listen - if you can find them.
These days I eat so as to keep my BG low, which means counting all the carbohydrates. Eating hundreds of gm of carb a day as your dietician advises would put me back to where I was at diagnosis pretty quickly.
 
There are many threads on here just like this. It’s very distressing to read. What this HCP is suggesting is magical thinking not science. Food either has carbohydrates or it does not. All carbohydrates are just chains of glucose, some longer than others.

One’s body responds to glucose in exactly the same way irrespective of the source of that glucose. To say certain forms of glucose ‘do not count’ is the same as saying certain alcoholic drinks will not get you drunk (assuming strength of those drinks is the same). What you have been told is about as wrong a statement on diabetes that one could make.

This notion that there is a minimum level of carbohydrates is just as daft. Ask the dietician to name a carbohydrate deficiency disease if that is so. Don’t wait too long for an answer as there is none. There is a minimum requirement for glucose, which is a carbohydrate, but that can be manufactured by the liver if you are eating protein (or have muscles) by means of gluconeogenesis.

On the basis of what you’ve been told I’d take that as a clear instruction from this dietician to ignore everything they have to say.

Best

Dillinger
 
I count ALL carbs no matter where they come from because fruit is like eating sugar and blows my BG way up and gives me hunger pains and bloating so not counting it defeats the purpose of low carb in various ways..
 
The sad part is that they have to officially spout the utter twaddle about having carbs. The only time I saw the dietician she asked how I'd lost weight - to which I replied a low carb/Atkins. She congratulated me and didn't bat an eyelid. The problem is they can't officially endorse low carb so have to spout the utter nonsense even if they don't believe it. It's going to take a while for the message to get through is all I can say.
 
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