Dec 2014 update: New research on the Low Carb Diet in general practice

Southport GP said:

I think the evidence is that however weight is lost diabetic controll improves So there are many roads to Damascus It's just that many folk seem to struggle with calorie counting but it does work

Click to expand...

Did you put patients on both calorie counting, and lchf then.
I agree both seem to work equally from the anecdotal evidence by the different posters on here.

Good luck with your study Dr Southport GP I'll be interested in reading the results. I do lchf it reduced my hba1c by 6% in 3 months normalised my cholesterol and blood pressure and I lost 4 stone in six months while never feeling particularly hungry. The more gps who recognise it's potential the better. It saves eyes limbs and lives so evangelise as much as you can.

Sent from the Diabetes Forum App

Oh and I hope you have a similar progressive outlook on test strips as many of us think they are just as important as diet. A good supply in the first few months after diagnosis is also a lifesaver.

Sent from the Diabetes Forum App

Southport GP said:

We didn't as the volunteers were interested in the lchf diet and liked not having to weigh anything, I think it's fair to say they had mostly tried calorie counting in the past . One of them explained 'a diet is a thing you are on and so eventually come off, thelow carb approach is not a diet but a way of life ' which I think put it rather well

Click to expand...

I'm sure it'll be interesting reading either way.

Southport GP said:

Thanks
I notice at the national diabetes conference in two weeks they are having a big debate on 'Is it time to stop telling diabetics to eat carbohydrates ' so I feel the subject is on the move now and won't be stopped

Click to expand...

THREE CHEERS!!
Great news.

Southport GP said:

This is such a hot debate at present Dr Malhotra in the British Medical Journal has cast some doubt on the whole cholesterol heart disease thing - but for your interest despite all the eggs and a higher fat diet the cholesterol tended to go down not up as weight fell

Click to expand...

Sounds like a revolutionary breakthrough.

Southport GP said:

This is such a hot debate at present Dr Malhotra in the British Medical Journal has cast some doubt on the whole cholesterol heart disease thing - but for your interest despite all the eggs and a higher fat diet the cholesterol tended to go down not up as weight fell

Click to expand...

Dr Malhotra wrote the article as an "opinion piece", not a study, but I can't access it on the BMJ unfortunately to have a read of it all.
But in the end didn't he advocate banning "added" sugars, and recommend the Mediterranean diet?

I have been doing LCHF for a long time, but with increased exercise (for 800 kcal swims a week) my weight has increased. I think that the problem is that I fixed the carb too low and upped my fat. With experimentation I have fixed my carb intake at 100g per day and my weight has fallen significantly. I suspect that for each individual there is an opimum level of fat/carb balance. At 30g of carb per day, I start pecking away at blocks of cheese.

Southport GP said:

there are many roads to Damascus

Click to expand...

You don't listen to current affairs do you

AnnieC said:

Yes Andy I don't really know if I went LCHF if I would loose any more weight but there does not seem to be any statistics or information at all as to how LCHF affects people who do not need to loose weight I have read plenty on here from the low carbers who needed to loose weight but not read anything from a low carber who did not need to loose weight when they started the LCHF diet
If I needed to loose weight I would have no hesitation on doing low carb but if it meant loosing more weight then that worries me so I would like more information about that

Click to expand...

Hi Annie,
I was prediabetic according to my blood test and was not overweight in that my BMI was normal. I did lose some weight at the beginning but now I am fairly static at about 9 stone 8 at 5ft 8 ins tall. I am happy with this weight although I have to say my stomach is still a bit flabby! I snack on loads of nuts, as when I first low carbed my ldl and my triglycerides increased! But my HBaic is normal now, though I still low carb.

When I was first diagnosed I went right into low carb and brought my glucose levels down so well I was told I didn't need metformin as long as I continued using low carb.

Southport GP said:

Thanks
I notice at the national diabetes conference in two weeks they are having a big debate on 'Is it time to stop telling diabetics to eat carbohydrates ' so I feel the subject is on the move now and won't be stopped

Click to expand...

Now that is very exciting indeed. I wonder how long it will take for that info, when (not if) it becomes official guidelines, to filter through to NZ though

Thanks for this post and power to the people!!

I'm really glad to have come across this forum and also look forward to seeing the results when published. I'm a dietitian from the south coast NSW and have been using a lower carb approach for clients with insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome for over 10 years. Before that I followed the usual 'healthy eating' guidelines but the personal experience of having a child with a weight problem changed everything for me. She was diagnosed with IR at 14 yo and has been eating low carb for the last 6-7 years. I have the support of GPs in my area because of the results they see in their clients but unfortunately the most negative responses come from dietitians. There may be more who use low carb but are not open about it because they are unwilling to face the backlash.

I was diagnosed as Type2 in late September of last year and after 2 weeks on the high carb diet I'd been told to follow I found this forum and I'd say that was the evening that changed, if not saved, my life. I found out about testing and low carb diets so I started both. I weighed 120KG, had hypertension, raised cholesterol, possible early renal damage and a 12% HbA1c. By the end of December, 10 weeks into the LCHF diet, I'd lowered my BP to 125/70, my cholesterol level was well within a normal range and the signs of renal problems had gone. My HbA1c was down to 6.2%. My weight today is 95kg. In real terms, that means that in 4 months I've dropped from wearing a size 28 dress and a BMI of 44.7 to a size 18 and a 35.9 BMI which is still far too high but a whole heap better than it was.

My GP has said he will halve my Metformin at the next review if all's still well, with a view to stopping it completely at the following one. But he and the DN at the practice still insist that I'm an anomaly, that their high carb advice is what works and that I 'didn't give it a fair chance'. I gave it more than a fair chance because from the way my body reacted to losing the carb intake, I'm sure it was the 'healthy eating' advice that made me fat and diabetic in the first place.

Thank you to Southport GP, low carb dietitian and any other HCPs who are listening, researching and swimming against the tide by speaking out. We need more like you.

In the end we all do what we think is right for us. I have low carbed by accident as I was doing this to reduce calories to lose wieght. I could not see how to do this without low carbing. High fat I don't understand. Good fat I do. Butter I don't. But then again I don't do butter anyway. I think because we cannot follow a clear set of rules for all of us because we are all different we end up doing what does not make us spike and if we have high cholesterol and triglocerides and had a heart stack and all that stuff we go a route that works for us. Well at least we do if we can test. I have the luxury of being able to do this. So what about pill??? That's my next one to tackle. Not ready in the head for that yet. No side effects so in no hurry. Yeh yeh I know I could be having them but don't know bit the head is not in the right place yet.