Hypoglycemic response to protein diet

humpty said:

Just started high protein, low carbohydrate, low sugar diet today. My blood sugar levels have dropped drastically. Other literature says that this type diet is good for me. Should I try to stick it out?

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Yes you should, this is not a diet in the sense that it is a short term response to high blood glucose levels.
I've tagged @daisy1 to give you the newcomers welcome information.
Have a read at the great information, then have a look at the low carb forum and read the success stories. This is a lifestyle choice and it works!
Keep an open mind and ask any questions, there will be someone knowledgeable, will answer your question.

@humpty

Hello humpty and welcome to the forum Here is the information we give to new members and I hope it will help you with your diet. Ask all the questions you like and someone will be able to help.


BASIC INFORMATION FOR NEWLY DIAGNOSED DIABETICS

Diabetes is the general term to describe people who have blood that is sweeter than normal. A number of different types of diabetes exist.

A diagnosis of diabetes tends to be a big shock for most of us. It’s far from the end of the world though and on this forum you’ll find over 150,000 people who are demonstrating this.

On the forum we have found that with the number of new people being diagnosed with diabetes each day, sometimes the NHS is not being able to give all the advice it would perhaps like to deliver - particularly with regards to people with type 2 diabetes.

The role of carbohydrate

Carbohydrates are a factor in diabetes because they ultimately break down into sugar (glucose) within our blood. We then need enough insulin to either convert the blood sugar into energy for our body, or to store the blood sugar as body fat.

If the amount of carbohydrate we take in is more than our body’s own (or injected) insulin can cope with, then our blood sugar will rise.

The bad news

Research indicates that raised blood sugar levels over a period of years can lead to organ damage, commonly referred to as diabetic complications.

The good news

People on the forum here have shown that there is plenty of opportunity to keep blood sugar levels from going too high. It’s a daily task but it’s within our reach and it’s well worth the effort.

Controlling your carbs

The info below is primarily aimed at people with type 2 diabetes, however, it may also be of benefit for other types of diabetes as well.
There are two approaches to controlling your carbs:

• Reduce your carbohydrate intake
• Choose ‘better’ carbohydrates

Reduce your carbohydrates

A large number of people on this forum have chosen to reduce the amount of carbohydrates they eat as they have found this to be an effective way of improving (lowering) their blood sugar levels.

The carbohydrates which tend to have the most pronounced effect on blood sugar levels tend to be starchy carbohydrates such as rice, pasta, bread, potatoes and similar root vegetables, flour based products (pastry, cakes, biscuits, battered food etc) and certain fruits.

Choosing better carbohydrates

Another option is to replace ‘white carbohydrates’ (such as white bread, white rice, white flour etc) with whole grain varieties. The idea behind having whole grain varieties is that the carbohydrates get broken down slower than the white varieties –and these are said to have a lower glycaemic index.
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/food/diabetes-and-whole-grains.html

The low glycaemic index diet is often favoured by healthcare professionals but some people with diabetes find that low GI does not help their blood sugar enough and may wish to cut out these foods altogether.

Read more on carbohydrates and diabetes

Eating what works for you

Different people respond differently to different types of food. What works for one person may not work so well for another. The best way to see which foods are working for you is to test your blood sugar with a glucose meter.

To be able to see what effect a particular type of food or meal has on your blood sugar is to do a test before the meal and then test after the meal. A test 2 hours after the meal gives a good idea of how your body has reacted to the meal.

The blood sugar ranges recommended by NICE are as follows:

Blood glucose ranges for type 2 diabetes

• Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
• 2 hours after meals: under 8.5 mmol/l

Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (adults)

• Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
• 2 hours after meals: under 9 mmol/l

Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (children)

• Before meals: 4 to 8 mmol/l
• 2 hours after meals: under 10 mmol/l

However, those that are able to, may wish to keep blood sugar levels below the NICE after meal targets.

Access to blood glucose test strips

The NICE guidelines suggest that people newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes should be offered:

• structured education to every person and/or their carer at and around the time of diagnosis, with annual reinforcement and review
• self-monitoring of plasma glucose to a person newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes only as an integral part of his or her self-management education

Therefore both structured education and self-monitoring of blood glucose should be offered to people with type 2 diabetes. Read more on getting access to bloodglucose testing supplies.

You may also be interested to read questions to ask at a diabetic clinic

Note: This post has been edited from Sue/Ken's post to include up to date information.

humpty said:

Just started high protein, low carbohydrate, low sugar diet today. My blood sugar levels have dropped drastically. Other literature says that this type diet is good for me. Should I try to stick it out?

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I'm not sure high protein always is a wise choice. You may want to up your fat intake a bit instead.

Low carb will lower your BG though so you need to keep a close check on BG and probably also cut down on meds or you'll go hypo.

You haven't said what your glucose levels were and are now.
Or if you are on any medication.
All of those are very relevant.

In general, the diet you describe will have a beneficial effect on bg levels, but it depends on the starting point and how well formulated the diet is.

Totto said:

I'm not sure high protein always is a wise choice. You may want to up your fat intake a bit instead.

Low carb will lower your BG though so you need to keep a close check on BG and probably also cut down on meds or you'll go hypo.

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@NoCrbs4Me
70% fat, 30% protein, would be classed as highish protein, and is having excellent results.

High fat, high protein. No carbs.

Brunneria said:

You haven't said what your glucose levels were and are now.
Or if you are on any medication.
All of those are very relevant.

In general, the diet you describe will have a beneficial effect on bg levels, but it depends on the starting point and how well formulated the diet is.

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That you for asking questions and providing information the way you did. It deeply concerns me that so many people blindly offer advice without asking a single question, and/or without any medical credentials. It's fine to offer opinions (I certainly do), but make sure they're stated as opinions rather than facts.

There have been several recent stories from members sharing close calls or one where a member collapsed and lost consciousness. Understand that I'm not suggesting a LCHF was the cause. What I am suggesting is that this is a very serious disease that affects each person differently. Furthermore, a LCHF diet is very complex and very few people truly understand more than the basic concept.

Remember that we have many members who are in poor health or are older in age. In addition, many people asking diet questions are recently diagnosed, may be desperate, and willing to listen to the first thing they hear. Blindly offering advice to the wrong person could have catastrophic consequences. "Carb Flu" may be a pain to some, but to the wrong person, it could mean a fall, a broken hip, and never recovering.

TorqPenderloin said:

That you for asking questions and providing information the way you did. It deeply concerns me that so many people blindly offer advice without asking a single question, and/or without any medical credentials. It's fine to offer opinions (I certainly do), but make sure they're stated as opinions rather than facts.

There have been several recent stories from members sharing close calls or one where a member collapsed and lost consciousness. Understand that I'm not suggesting a LCHF was the cause. What I am suggesting is that this is a very serious disease that affects each person differently. Furthermore, a LCHF diet is very complex and very few people truly understand more than the basic concept.

Remember that we have many members who are in poor health or are older in age. In addition, many people asking diet questions are recently diagnosed, may be desperate, and willing to listen to the first thing they hear. Blindly offering advice to the wrong person could have catastrophic consequences. "Carb Flu" may be a pain to some, but to the wrong person, it could mean a fall, a broken hip, and never recovering.

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I've read your response to @Brunneria and really struggling to see your context as to why you choose that post.
The OP gave very little information, numbers.
Brunneria then asked:
What the BG's were
What meds

and then wrote a comment prefaced by In general, indicating that the following comment might not always be the case.

That was it

It is hard to actually see how much advice was wrapped up in her post.

Maybe I need to read it again.

hankjam said:

I've read your response to @Brunneria and really struggling to see your context as to why you choose that post.
The OP gave very little information, numbers.
Brunneria then asked:
What the BG's were
What meds

and then wrote a comment prefaced by In general, indicating that the following comment might not always be the case.

That was it

It is hard to actually see how much advice was wrapped up in her post.

Maybe I need to read it again.

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My previous post wasn't sarcasm. I was being serious when I said I appreciated him/her asking questions.

To be nice, I didn't call anyone out, but I was concerned with nosher8355's response among many others I've seen in the past several days on this forum.

It conerns me when I see some members eager to offer advice without asking questions or bothering to understand someone's situation. Not only that, but I highly doubt the majority (including myself) are qualified to offer medical advice.

[QUOTE="TorqPenderloin, post: 962291, member: 211504"

To be nice, I didn't call anyone out, but I was concerned with nosher8355's response among many others I've seen in the past several days on this forum.

. Not only that, but I highly doubt the majority (including myself) are qualified to offer medical advice.[/QUOTE]

I have apologised for the mistake, I am not going to have you call me out or select my post as an example! On glucose tolerance, how many tests have you had?
I have experience and I do try to understand, I have never been banned, I have a lot of experience otherwise I wouldn't have over 5000 posts.
I post replies on newbies all the time and have a thread which I answer on RH. Which is a blood glucose disorders, which you have no idea about, as it is rare and the only way to treat it is by lifestyle, not diet, I am permanently in ketosis and I have experienced an awful lot of what low carb does to your body and how to counteract them. The necessary limits to how much carbohydrate to eat and what foods contain and in sport and how to be in total control of blood sugars without medication.
I have knowledge that is my experience. You should not be using examples of what other posters post to prove a point.
Hope that helps!
Apologies to the op and for someone as well as me for derailing the thread.