First week on Low Carbs

Hi folks,

I joined the forum a week ago, after spending time browsing around on and off over the past 3 months or so, (more off than on I regret to say). My GP had told me last November that I was prediabetic, but not to worry – so I didn’t. But reading the information, advice and support that is given so freely here, I realized diabetes wasn’t something I should take lightly, not if I want to avoid becoming T2 and/or on meds for years. So I bought myself a meter, joined the forum, and have just started testing this past week. A bit sporadic, and I’m not sure what this is telling me, but this is my record for the week:

Waking readings: 5.9 - 7.2
Breakfast: 6.5 - 7.0: 1 hr after; 6.1 - 7.0: 2 hrs after (only 3 days)
Lunch: 6.2 - 11.9: 1 hr after; 5.4 - 6.6: 2 hrs after
Dinner: 6.8 - 10.0: 1 hr after; 6.3 - 9.2: 2 hrs after

I did the 1hr and 2hr readings because there’s some advice on here about finding when the spikes happen, and what causes them. These numbers don’t seem too bad, but they’re over the recommended levels so I guess I have some work to do. Tues looks the worst day, (highs of 11.9 & 10.0) but that’s because I was testing to see what happens if I have mousse and banana. On reflection perhaps I should have just carried on with my ‘normal’ diet to see what it was doing to my blood sugars but too late now.

I’ve only had breakfast 3 days, because I don’t normally have anything till about 2-3p.m., so had to force myself to eat. It felt bloated afterwards for quite a long time (eggs scrambled or poached). Is this something that’s a must for people watching their BG levels? Can I safely give breakfast a miss most days?

Lunch time food has been ham, salmon, sardines with salad, and similar in the evenings with chicken, pork loin, cheese, again with salad. A bit restricted but I don’t know what I’m doing yet.

I did manage to drink 2 litres of water on one day, but the other days have been between 1-2 litres.

One thing that is worrying me though. Since Thursday I’ve been feeling lightheaded and “fuzzy”. Today it’s been particularly bad, so I’ve had a banana to see if it’s the lack of carbs and change from normally eating bread and pots, and biscuits, to none. Could that be the reason? Had the banana at 5.30p.m. and I still feel dizzy.

Would welcome any thoughts, on my numbers as well as the lightheadedness.


Salvia

Thanks for the advice NoCrbs4Me, and for the reassurance. I wondered if the light headed feeling was because of the change from high carb to very little, that's why I had the banana, but it didn't seem to have any effect. I hope that the dizzyness is because of the change in diet, and nothing to worry about. Hopefully it will pass in a day or so.

bulkbiker said:

You can definitely miss out breakfast and that will help you get into an intermittent fasting mode which seems to help some of us too by giving our livers a rest from insulin production. The reduced eating window is where you eat in an 8 hour window and don't eat for the other 16 hours in the day. Have you stopped drinking tea or coffee as well? you don't need to and it may cause the lightheadedness too? Keep it up it all becomes much easier as you see what causes your sugar to spike and avoid those foods. Good luck you can do it!
Regards
Mark

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Thank you so much for this info @Mark, the fasting mode is something I'll really look into, coz I don't normally eat very early anyway and it would fit in quite well with my normal life patterns. I haven't exactly given up tea or coffe; it's just that in trying to drink so much water I didn't very often feel like having a cup of tea, so I can see that the sudden absence of the caffeine might be the reason. I'll keep that in mind as well. Thanks for you well-wishes

Daphne917 said:

Hi @Salvia just a thought re the light headiness - are you on statins?

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Hello @Daphne917 - no, not on any medication for this, though I do have to take antihistamines twice daily for itchy arms, but that's a separate thing.

AtkinsMo said:

I am writing this from a long term low-carber perspective. I know a lot about low carbing. What you are describing is classic Low Carb flu. It comes about because when you get to below, say 40g carbs a day, the diet is a natural diuretic, you will probably notice that you are peeing more. When I am down to my normal 20g a day I usually need 3 pees a night (tmi I know, but it's relevant). So I do try to incorporate plenty of clear fluids, weak black tea, herbal tea, water etc. You can check if you are getting enough fluids by the colour of your pee, it needs to stay very pale 'normal' looking. Too dark and you are dehydrated. But the other thing you are losing is salt, and you need to replace it. I use natural sea salt, from the salt pans on the West coast of France. As well as Sodiun Chloride (salt) it contains as many as 80 different trace elements that are good for health. There is no need to restrict it, it is a 'health food' use this liberally in cooking and on the table, and if I get at all light headed (don't now, fully adapted to LCHF) I simply put half a teaspoonful in a glass of water, with a squeeze of lemon and drink it, another alternative is just to dissolve an oxo in water and drink that. You can buy natural, unrefined, grey sea salt from Holland and Barrett, I think, if you're not planning a trip to the Ile De Re any time soon! Or if all else fails, most supermarkets sell Himalayan Pink Salt, also good, or Celtic Sea salt. It needs to be unrefined.

If I was you, personally, I'd go strict low carb till all your readings are normal, then gradually introduce slightly higher carb stuff until your meter tells you you've gone too far, then cut back. Most importantly, experiment with low carb cooking / food to make it interesting and flavoursome, this needs to be something you can do for life, not just for a short time. If you don't want a meal, just skip it, I only ever have 2 meals a day (in my case breakfast and dinner) because lacks of peaks and troughs in BG / insulin levels eliminates hunger (another big advantage of LCHF).

Good luck.

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Thanks for your very full and helpful advice @AtkinsMo; there's plenty there for me to follow up on - and I shall do so; no point asking for advice and then ignoring it.

I stopped adding salt to food years ago, so adding this now will be a new thing for me, I can only try it and see.

Will carry on with the low carbs and see how I go. I've seen plenty of recipes on the site and I plan to try out a few of those, once I've got into some sort of rhythm and feel a bit more confident about things.

Cheers

britishpub said:

I think this is the best advice you can offer someone starting out on the LC journey.

Just concentrate on cutting the Carbs for few weeks, rather than delaying the effects by trying to find out what you can or can't eat, or trying to find substitutes for high carb treats.

Get the control that Low Carbing offers first, and then from that position of strength you can start to experiment.

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Many thanks @britishpub, will do