Confusion reigns

pretty much

the thing is not to starve yourself, so if your diet is made up of carbs, protein and fat and you reduce your carbs, then either protein or fat is going to go up.
I now eat about 8% carbs, 13-20% protein (I'm trying to increase this) and the rest is fat.

(for example, have just eaten Greek Yoghurt with a spoonful of clotted cream)

The great thing is that your appetite will reduce with the increase in the fat and protein intake. Your calorie intake is also likely to drop.

That's what works for me, though someone more technical will be along soon I'm sure..

S

Well, different people have different ideas on this. Some are worried about too much saturated fat. Others are worried about too much protein. One things certain for a diabetic on diet/metformin control - we CAN'T have too much carbs for certain, and we have to eat something. So I eat enough carbs to get my BGs right, then just eat as much dairy and protein as I want. That's my approach.

You may find that your reaction to pasta, potato .....etc is different according to what you eat. If you have a meter then you may find that you may be able to eat small amounts of those things. Remember it is likely to be the flour in the pasta, bread, cakes and biscuits so they can all be regarded as flour based products and dealt with similarly.

Some people say that carrots are OK and if you cut out all vegetables you will have nothing to eat at all.

Although it seems that I can eat lots of protein, when it comes to butter, cream and fat my nurse starts to look decidedly uncomfortable but then she is looking at the cholesterol diet sheet. A diabetes diet is different from the other diet sheets they often hand out at the surgery. One of them tells you to eat wholemeal bread but if you can't eat flour at all what kind of advice is that.

It has been said many times on this forum, "Eat to your meter". It's the only way you will find out what you can and can't eat.

angua said:

Wow I think I'm going nuts here trying to learn about carb content grams - deduct fibre content etc in the meantime... can anyone give me a simple answer in relation to my new diet ..

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You don't have to subtract the fibre content in the UK, that's only for the US, our "Total Carbohydrate" count has the fibre alrady subtracted. If you do it again, you'll be double accounting.

angua said:

If I eat no
pasta, potato, rice, bread, cakes, biscuits etc

If I only eat
vegetable from above ground

If I'm careful with fruit and milk

Can I eat as much butter, cream, fat, protein as I wish ?

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I think that the answer to this is "yes", but the important bit is "as you wish". Just eat until you are satisfied and then stop. Without carbohydrate induced sugar rushes, you'll find that your appetite is governed by your protein and fat needs.

I eat about 80% of my calories from fat, 15% from protein and about 5% from carbohydrates (max, some days I don't eat any). I've lost 60lbs in weight, have very low cholesterol, a HbA1c of 4.9% and normal BP. It kinda works for me, but your mileage may vary.

My strongly held opinion is that you evolved to eat a diet of mainly animal fats and proteins, with limited amounts of leafy veg and starchy roots. It's very difficult how a diet that served us for 99% of our evolutionary past could be more harmful than one based on 50% energy from grains (which we've eaten for about 1% of our evolutionary past).