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Diet blues

Sixpence

Well-Known Member
Messages
53
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Hi, I'm looking for some support here to help me get my diet back on track. I was diagnosed T2 in Feb last year and went straight onto 800 cals a day for about a month and then went low carb. I lost just under 2 stones like this and my BS levels and HbA1c were normal. Hurrah!! Then before Christmas my fasting BS started to rise although I wasn't doing anything different. An X-Pert dietician told me I wasn't eating enough carb so my liver was pushing out glucose to get me up in the mornings and told me to try eating 130g carb a day. I rarely eat that much though, more like 100g because seeing my fasting BS still rising was scary. After Christmas I started going to the gym to try to regain some muscle and lose some more fat, hoping that would help my insulin resistance, but it doesn't seem to have. I can see that I've put muscle on my legs but I'm still fat round the middle and I've put on about 4 pounds since I started.

I've reached the point where I just don't know what to do. If I eat protein and salad weight drops off me but I'm starving all the time. If I eat more fat I'm not hungry but the weight loss stalls. Both play havoc with my digestion - constipation - and leave me tired and forgetful If I eat more carb and fibre I feel less tired but I pile weight on.

I don't know whether to go ketogenic again or to try to stay on 100-130g carb a day and count calories. I feel like I'm fighting a battle I just can't win whatever I do. I'm struggling to find a diet that works for me.
 
Sounds like poor advice from the X_pert dietician. You are kind of stuck between the rock and hard place of eating too many carbs for ketosis so not getting the benefits and not eating enough to feel satiated.
As you have had success with low carb my tuppence to your sixpence would be go try for the lowest carb you can and aim for ketosis. Try this for a couple of months at least. Your FBG is usually the last thing to "normalise" so record it but don't get freaked out by it.
Have you ever thought of fasting? It's a great tool and I'm convinced alongside a very low carb diet it has major benefits.
 
I have tried intermittent fasting before I was diagnosed but not since and I've not tried it alongside a very low carb diet. When I was first diagnosed I didn't eat until lunchtime so I did have a longer time without food every day. What pattern of fasting works for you @bulkbiker?
 
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I skip breakfast every day and don't usually eat until early afternoon (if then) but definitely have dinner. I fortify my mornings with tea and lactofree milk (lowest carb milk) and coffee with double cream(triple shot americano with a tablespoon of cream). That keeps me going until I break my fast (yesterday it was at 16.30 pm). Usually have dinner between 19:30 and 20:30 then no food until the following day. Kind of a modified 18:6 fasting regime with sometimes OMAD (one meal a day).
I eat large ketogenic meals.
 

Did she say how this would make any difference? We all have liver dumps in a morning. I've been LC for three years and it seems to work for me. My diet is mainly low carb leafy vegetables and I fill up with a little extra protein and dairy. The 130 g of carbs that were mentioned seem suspiciously like the 130g you are supposed to need for brain function. This is a myth.
 

Sounds like you've found what works for you. I think I'm going to go low carb again and try adding in fasting too
 

She said that being on very low carb (around 50g a day) meant I would have no glycogen stores in my muscles so my liver would have to push out glucose to keep me going. If the stores were replenished my BS would stabilise - but it didn't work for me.
 
Sixpence said:
She said that being on very low carb (around 50g a day) meant I would have no glycogen stores in my muscles so my liver would have to push out glucose to keep me going. If the stores were replenished my BS would stabilise - but it didn't work for me.
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My understanding is that glucose will be taken up again from the blood stream to replace what has been depleted, so that would help with BG levels - I'm not at all sure that you wouldn't have any glycogen stores to begin with. I'm sure more expert advice will be along shortly.
 
Sixpence said:
She said that being on very low carb (around 50g a day) meant I would have no glycogen stores in my muscles so my liver would have to push out glucose to keep me going. If the stores were replenished my BS would stabilise - but it didn't work for me.
Click to expand...

That is a new interpretation I have not heard before!
Sounds like she has gone rather off track with her info dispensing!

We all have glycogen stores in liver and large muscles for use when needed. The body raids those stores when/if blood glucose dips lower than usual, or in the mornings to give that ‘get up and go’. Nothing wrong with that. But also, no need to eat a set number of carbs to boost the glycogen stores. When not eating keto we can replenish those stores from veg-carbs and protein as well as starchy carbs.

When keto, the glycogen stores slowly run down and the body shifts to nutritional ketosis - using fat (ketones) as fuel, and the glycogen stores become largely redundant. Often people find their morning fasting readings reduce over time, as their body becomes fat adapted.

The X-pert tutors are supposed to refresh their training every couple of years, and the new training curriculum covers Low Carbing, high fat and keto as valid dietary choices that offer real benefits to type 2diabetics.

Sounds like your X-pert lady could do with that refresher!!!
 
Hi @Sixpence I find LCHF works for me. I fast 18/6 I don't eat after 20.00 and only have black tea, water and vitamin water until 14.00 next day I'm on 20% carbs per day. I don't count calories either. I find I'm not hungry at all and sometimes don't fancy any food. I have to eat something as I'm on Metformin and Glicazade . I'm sure you will find something that suits you.
 

It's not impossible that I misunderstood what she was saying to me but we definitely didn't cover low carb, high fat and keto on the course. Anyhow, her advice to increase my carbs hasn't worked for me, just left me confused an wondering what to do next. But I never discovered why my fasting BS began to rise last year despite poring over my food diary. Weird!
 
Hey @Sixpence there is a group of us that are going on our chosen fasting starting the night of May 21st if you want to give it a shotl Some are totally fasting, some 18/6, some others doing their own equation of fasting/eating.....There is a thread to sign up on if you take a look - May Fasting is part of the title.

Some people find they experience the keto flu if they cut right down to 20gm or less of carb. Many of us have started at around 100gm for a week or two and then cut to 75gm for a bit then lower and don't get that flu like horror. It's up to you, but I would wager that more than 100gm/day that was advised is too much....each to his own though!

Hope you can find what works best for you. Many of us are still tweaking our plans and have to take into account other health conditions, life in general throwing us a curve ball, and so forth. As said many times - it is a marathon, not a sprint - so there is time to refine your approach! Blessings/L
 
Thanks for all your help and advice yesterday because I think I can see a way forwards now. Cut back on carbs again, eat more fat, perhaps less protein, definitely fewer nuts and huge chunks of cheese as snacks and try 16/8 fasting again and perhaps 5:2 too. Here's hoping ...
 
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