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how to stay under 20gm carbs

N

nsh2111

Well-Known Member
Messages
321
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
So, I have been eating low carb generally for an year or so. Have had some success but not to the level others here.

My last hbac marginally improved as you can see in signature. No medication.

my typical day is morning tea with cream no sugar. Lunch is most days a chicken/tune salad with eggs , broccoli, cucumber, tomato, olives etc . dressing is generally olive oil or pesto.

No snacking in between , may be some peanuts.

Dinner is again some sort of protein like paneer or chicken with an avocado. as a treat then i eat mixed nuts ( pecan, almond,walnut) with cream and some raspberries.


Thats all i eat. I still cant go below 7 in morning and through out the day i generally stay in 6.5 to 7.5 range.

What else can i change or tweak as I feel like I am missing something key to make the difference.

Edit: I also do fair amount of exercise and over last year I have increased my weight steadily from 62 to 71 using strength training and some cardio.
 
The only things I can see here diet-wise are the peanuts and the raspberries... There might be a mite too much protein (paneer) in your diet, that can cause a slight rise too, contrary to fats, but.... Your diet looks fine to me. I wanted to suggest IF, but you already do that with breakfast... It may be time to get a C-pap and a GAD test done. Check how much insulin you still make, and whether the T2 diagnosis is correct. Heavy-duty training can raise bloodsugars, but I don't think that would affect fasting blood glucose in the morning? With the measures you've taken, things should be looking (even) better than they are right now.
 
JoKalsbeek said:
It may be time to get a C-pap and a GAD test done. Check how much insulin you still make, and whether the T2 diagnosis is correct.
Click to expand...

Just what I was going to suggest. No point struggling to reduce your carb intake further if in fact the problem is too little insulin, rather than too much.
 
Another thing you could try @nsh2111 is eating less often. So rather than 3 small meals a day, perhaps 2 slightly larger ones.

So if you were to skip breakfast and then just eat lunch and dinner at your normal times, you’d be giving your pancreas a rest and improving your sensitivity to insulin. Over time this will help bring your BG levels down further. If it’s easier for you then skipping dinner, or some other pattern where you ideally have at least a 16 hour period without eating each day would also do the same job.
 
Thanks. I had an insuline antibodies test last year and GP said the result came normal. Not sure what normal range is. There was no break down or any individual numbers.

I then had insuline test in India. Fasting was 4 and after 2 hr of eating carbs, it was 12.

INSULIN, FASTING (F) & POST PRANDIAL (PP)

Insulin, Fasting 4.00 µU/mL
Insulin, PP 12.20 µU/mL
 
That was last year though. If it's a case of having been in your honeymoon period, things may have changed by now. (Honeymoon is when a t1 or 1,5 still produces some insulin, but alas, that phase does come to an end eventually). And antibodies don't have to be present, from what I gather. Still... Well, you could go full carnivore, that's zero carbs... Just thinking out loud here though.
 
Hmm good point. I will ask my GP for such a test. Last time I asked he brushed me aside.according to him I am T2
 
Hello @nsh2111
I feel I am on a similar journey to you in regards to I just can not get my levels down any further, I am 6 months into my journey so not as long as you. My hba1c was 95 on diagnosis and I managed to get it down to 50 in 3 months but I'm not hopeful I've brought it down any more (next hba1c is next month) as my fbg is hardly ever less than 6 and usually between 6-7 sometimes even 8 after food during the day and that's not due to a spike
I follow the lchf woe, usually about 25-30 carbs per day sometimes less as I often only have 2 meals a day as I just have coffee and double cream for breakfast. I don't fully understand whats going on. I know stress can be an indicator!
The nurse that did my 3 month review was so pleased with my hab1c so there is no way they will agree to me having a C-peptide or GAD test yet so I just have to wait and see what happens at my next hba1c and hopefully they don't just try and push medication on me!
Anyway sorry for ranting on I just wanted you to know you're not alone
It's so disheartening when others doing Lchf are doing so well
Hugs hope you get answers soon
 
yes you are exactly like me. I know I am not always true to being LC and I do stray every now and then. But still I would have expected to be in 5's by now based on what I read here from others.

I am now going to do an experiment and increase carbs to ma be 100-120 grams. Reason being, when I was first diagnosed, I did't go LC, I simply stopped excess carbs and made heatlhy choices. That brought hbac from 50 at diagnosis to 42 in an year. Ofcourse it went back to 51 a year later but I want to see if my body works better with slightly more carbs and LCHF is actually making me more resistant. ( TBH, I dnt even know i am resistant or deficient in insulin)

Its all random
 
My own test results were not far from yours, and I have reached 42 - though I seem to be stuck there now - do not lose hope af better results - that was a big drop in the first months and I was distinctly pleased with myself to have done that.
The doctor's description of me as 'a very bad diabetic' was enough to keep me on track though.
 
Let me know how you get on by eating more carbs. I'm very interested how you get on. I went straight very low carb when diagnosed so now I'm afraid to up my carbs. Sometimes when I do have something more carby (last week I braved having a small fish with batter from the chippy) I find I don't always spike but my bloods are higher for a few days afterwards, think I'm very insulin resistant.
I must admit when you try so hard and see no results its easy to want to stray from low carb, though I stayed strong but I sometimes think whats the point.
I do see 5s once in a while I was starting to see high 4s about 6 weeks ago but then my levels when right back up
It is all very random, its mind boggling
 
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I’m very interested in your results as well. When fist diagnosed, I just did “eat healthy” , which most certainly lowered my carbs, but also upped the quality. From MyFitnessPal, I was around 120g cabs per day. But I could never really get a low fasting BG, and couldn’t get A1c below 5.9%. So, letting the collective voices get to me, I dropped carbs around 50g a day or less. And it seemed like the lower my carbs, the higher my fasting (and between meal) blood glucose readings. So, I decided to up my carbs, really almost all through vegetables, and some fruits and whole grains. This caused my FBG to drop and my A1c along with it.

I think we each need to find our own personal balancing act. I eat anywhere from 100 to 175g of carbs per day, all high quality, low glycemic index carbs. My A1c sit around 30 with this approach. When I eat a LCHF meal (and I do from time to time), my BG just hangs at the upper end of normal for hours. My 2 hour mark will be the same as 1 hour.

For the record, in case it matters my C Peptide sits firmly in the middle of the in the “normal” range.
 
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Reactions: ert
Last night I had some carbs with during lunch and dinner. Nothing too crazy but just two toast at lunch and one Indian whole wheat chapati with dinner. Woke up with 7.6.

Note that I had had 7+ on low carbs too.

This morning had a toast again with breakfast and spike was only 1 point. From 7.2 to 8.2. just had lunch and had some carbs too. Will see how it goes
 

Hi, you have been a diagnosed Type 2 and on LCHF much longer than me, so perhaps your knowledge on what is acceptable in 'eating to the meter' is greater than mine.
If it were me, I would be seriously upset that I had toast with breakfast, since it is considered very important to keep the BG spikes down below 8.0 - or even 7.8 as I have read in some places that at around 7.6 to 7.8 is when the retinopathy and other damage is done. Surely you knew that having toast meant risking a spike above 8.0 ? How could you possibly expect toast to spike you by less than an additional 0.8?
I admit that I've had 2 spikes of over 8.0 (an 8.6 and a 10.7) but those were taken knowingly so as to prove to my wife that I really do need to cut all carbs, not just the high GI ones.
 
I woke with a 7.6 too this morning but I was awake for an hour before I tested
Bloods have been a bit higher all day today will see how I go
 
I have some tinkering ideas assuming you remain T2.

You could try adjusting your eating window maybe 18 / 6. I would actually reduce carbs and increase protein slightly. Check your sleep hygiene and blue light an hour before bed. Walk after every meal.

When you work out periodise, and hit it hard, really hard 1 week in 3 to exhaustion and 1 rep before failure (I say this as you are 39, and have a foundation).

So I am suggesting tweaks to what you are already doing.
 
I'm not doing very good sticking to the keto either, I am bored with it and always have a strong taste in my mouth and it is unpleasant, I am having treats daily because i am suffering depression (biploar ) , my morning tests are 7 .4 maybe 7 .
 
Hi @ianf0ster , yes I am aware of the spikes causing issue and also eating to meter is what I normally do.

When I was diagnosed, I was at 50 hbac . I have had three eye checks since then and luckily all came normal.

I don't deny that spiking above 8 is bad but I think it also matter how long you spike for. Right now I am back to under 7.

Also, I am doing this more as an experiment. Since being LC , I believe it takes few days for pancreas to kick in action again. Not sure though.

Reason for my experiment is because I managed to bring my hand to 44 in an year without going low carb after initial diagnosis. Just want to see for few days how moderate carb affect me. That's all. Thanks for concerns anyway and advics.
 
Yes this will be something I will attempt after this experiment. I find easy to skip breakfast. Just need to find alternate to morning tea with cream.

As for works out, yes currently I am 2 days strength and one day cardio. Any advice on what the optimal mix should be?
 
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