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Eating Fat

Patch

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,981
Location
Bristol
Type of diabetes
Treatment type
Insulin
Bear with me on this one - I am going somewhere(!)

I do strict lo-carbing. Very strict - I aim for zero (complex) carbs a day (I get my carbs from veg, and occasioanlly from berries). That way - I can cheat a little and still maintain a very lo-carb diet. ;-)

Now - I eat plenty of fat. Saturated fat from meat and cheese. Healthy oils, etc... Now - I'm happy to eat fat, because I know that my body will be in ketosis, and thus using that fat for energy.

My question is: for those that DON'T lo-carb strictly (and I'm thinking of those that eat 30+ grams complex carbs a day) - how is the fat in the diet metabolised? I say 30grams because this is widely accepted as the maximum amount of carbs that canbe eaten and still maintain a state of ketosis.

If eating 30+ carbs a day is enought o keep you out of ketosis - is any of the fat you eat getting converted to energy, or is it being stored?

I never go hungry - but I worry that people doing lo (ish) carbing are not reducing their carb intake enough to benfit from ketosis, and so are still hungry. I believe this is one of the reasons some people find it hard to stay on a lo carb regimen...

ALSO - if people are reducing their carb intake (but not enough to enter ketosis), and also upping their intake of fat, are they causing damage to themselves? We all know that CARBS+FAT=VERY BAD!

(Lets not let this thread turn into a debate about the difference between ketosis and ketoacidosis - just assume that as a result of lo-carbing the effect of ketosis IS A GOOD ONE).

Phew... Hope that made sense!
 
Patch.
I eat cheese and cream and so on, but have been keeping to about 50 carbs per day, for the last year or so. I haven't lost any more weight( already lost 18kg), but I keep steady. In addition my Bgs are all in the 4s &5s, I am not in ketosis at this level.
I've taken the easy road and don't weigh food. I just avoid any obvious carbs most of the time. since I need to lose more weight, I shall keep much tighter,( below 30carbs) for a bit and see if I'm getting more weight off.
 
Hi hanadr - I'm not even that concerned with weight gain/weight loss. It's the health implications I'm concerned with when it comes to eating increased levels of fat when not in ketosis.

In my mind (and I might be wrong here...) - you seem to be okay if you go low fat/and eat carbs, and okay if you eat hi fat/and don't eat carbs.

It's the combination of fat & carbs that frightens me...
 
I stick to low ish carbs but can not eat a lot of fat .I am now losing weight again and have lost another 8 pounds just by resizing my portions.
 
I was dx April 27 HBA1C of 10.3
I went on to a lo-carb at 50g per day immediately and ever since
Have lost 3 stones in 3 months, so must be ketosis in there? and feel at my physical best in 20 years
Diabetic review on 13th August

Steve
 
3stone in 3months??? That's some good going there, mate!!! Tell me all about it (PM if you like...)
 
Hi Patch,

I was 17 stone 5 at first weigh in (I was 18 stone 4 last Christmas!!). I had lost some weight due to New Year exercising and a few pounds more I suspect due to the undiagnosed T2. Am now 14 stone 7.
When I went to my GP for my new diabetics review, my HBA1C was 10.3. I had suspected T2 due to symtpoms of mad thirsts which I had "proven" by my company's Occ Health nurse.
At the GP I had to bypass the diabetic specialist and see the "chronic diseases" specialist as my results and the fact I had "symptoms" were deemed ominous. The doctor told me to lose as much weight as I could and to avoid anything with high sugar content. She petrified me into thinking I should pay a visit to the local funeral parlour and initially, the induced blind panic just took away my appetite!. I quickly discovered this forum (thank goodness) as part of my Web research and decided to lo-carb. My trigs were "dangerously" high at 7.7, so I decided to eat 4 x 140g oily fish per week and a daily Omega3. An interim test for gout showed my trigs had reduced to 1.1 in 2 months.
I initially lost 5-6 pounds per week but has now levelled to 1-2 pounds, though I do exercise daily.
I have just returned from a 10 day all inclusive holiday, which was great as I could simply pick tons of high fat and lo-carb options. I also overdid the fruit, however my BG's were raised by about 1 as opposed to normal and I only gained a pound in 10 days. (My highest post meal BG for the last 10 weeks is 6.5). I strictly avoid cereals, breads, pastas, potatoes, rice and refined carbs such as cakes, pastries sweets etc. I take 2 x 500 Metformin daily which I am advised help to suppress carb yearnings! As stated, I have my 3 month review on the 13th and pray that I have a success story to tell....

Steve.
 

Have you noticed a lot of muscle gain? Just normal cycling and low carbing seems to have built muscles I never knew I had.

No visit to that funeral parlour for you.
 
I am very interested in this topic Patch. I have been following a low carb plan for several weeks and during the week stick to a very low carb regime - like you less than 30g per day. I know when I am in ketosis as my wife says she can smell it on my breath - has a certain sweetness which luckily she seems to like. Anyway if I up the carbs for a day or two - usually over the weekend - I believe I quickly come out of Ketosis - so I would be very interested to know if this could be doing me more harm than good.

Fletch.

Ps. I am Type 1 on Levemir & Humulin S & Novorapid. (Humulin S when strictly low carbing - Novorapid for any blow out)
 
Hi, I don't count carbs as such but just don't regularly eat any food with more than 5% carbs - I still get a little hungry but only like once a day, as opposed to all the time before.

I do eat some fat, basically my diet consists of meat, fish, eggs, cheese and green vegetables, with a few berrries and some unsweetened soya milk.

I lost 1 1/2 stone in four months, about three weeks ago I decided to cut the carbs and the calories, and up the exercise and I've just lost a further half stone bringing the total to 2 st.

So personally speaking I've found that I lose weight slowly on low carb hi fat, but more quickly on low carb low(er) fat, reducing cals to around 1200 per day.

On both regimes I am not often hungry, but find that when I am a little fatty food such as cheese really takes the edge of it.

Hope that helps!

AC
 
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