Hi again, Thank you for all of what you’ve written back. I must say it concerns me that with the kind of diet that’s recommended for type 2 that you have described goes against every health rule I’ve learnt. Cured meats are processed and too much red meat including pork have been proven with a link to cancer. And cheese every day will push my cholesterol levels up again more than likely although I love cheddar cheese!! And more recently media says Ed should eat less meat/vegan diet is healthy etc. I wonder how a vegetarian type 2 copes. I’m intolerant to cram and yogurt so that rules out a lot of the ideas I’ve read on here. I worry that solving One problem and causing another if you get what a mean.
Also do you stick to this 100% religiously day in day out? Or do you have the odd normal meal or a take out or a pint down the pub or a birthday cake etc etc?
One of the issues with Type 2 and LCHF is that LCHF is thought to be something new - it's not. It's the way T2 diabetics managed their condition in the past. What's new is the current official insistence that a traditional diet is somehow bad for you, although I suspect that too is changing. A lot of what you say is "proven" is only what the media say. Worth thinking about how much you normally trust what the media claim. Why don't you have a look at (eg) Dr Verner Wheelock's book "Healthy Eating - the Big Mistake"? It covers many things - including the Ancel Keyes scandal - and if you haven't heard of that you should. You do know you make your own cholesterol, don't you? And that cholesterol is essential?
I do stick to this as my aim of ~20g carbs/day, but it's not "religiously" - I am not forced to do it and there is nothing other than my health riding on it. It's been a while since I've been able to have a pint down the pub but that is one of the things I do - alcohol lowers my blood sugar quite markedly. Doesn't happen for everyone. I do have meals with carbs in, very occasionally - maybe 4 or 5 times a year, and I notice the BG rise afterwards (unless alcohol) . Birthday cakes etc are right out for me - I experimented with an xmas pudding in 2019 and the sugar was just too much - I felt ill for about 36hrs. that's my experience, which will differ to other people's.
I used to eat the diet you describe - high carb, meat restriction, lots of fruit, all that. Plenty of exercise. I had increasingly severe and unpleasant diabetic symptoms from about 2010 on, with rising BG levels. In the fifteen months since diagnosis, my BG has returned to normal levels (took 3-4 months) and my symptoms have either gone or decreased considerably. Some I'm probably stuck with thanks to the damage done already. I should be officially "in remission" this month. I can't explain that other than as a direct result of commencing and staying on a low carb lifestyle.