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Keto diet: what counts as keto? Can you do it l’on term?

J

johnrubinstein

Well-Known Member
Messages
83
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Am a 72 year-old type, two diabetes, diagnosed about five years ago. Control is with diet and exercise. Recently, after noticing a slight increase in my blood sugar, I decided to use a CGM solution, start intermittent fasting, and go on a keto diet. Question: can one do keto diet long-term? I see all sorts of articles about the hazards of doing so. Also, what county is keto? I am averaging 40 to 50 g of carbs a day. Is that keto? As always, thanks for any comments and suggestions. This forum is amazing.
 
I try to stay under 30 g carbs, but if you are getting good results where you are at, that may be low enough. My husband eats low carb, but not keto. He eats less fat, more veggies than me. He is off all meds and has normal A1C. I am doing keto and still take metformin.

You may want to check sources for the alarming articles. You can do keto long term. It can seem restrictive, though, but it is not unhealthy.

I am in US. My insurance won’t cover CGM. I did a trial of one for 2 weeks. It read lower than fingerstick. I guess you get used to it. I just started 16:8 fasting and it is helping with fasting glucose and weightloss. I was stalled for a long time.

If you have more questions after reading the link, ask. It can be confusing. Make sure to read about electrolytes.
 
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I am 19 months into keto and have every intention of staying that way. It's a lot easier than it sounds, and personally I don't find it a problem at all, though I am an omnivore, which opens up a huge list of food choices. Each of us differs slightly in how we find any life challenge, so I'm just offering my take on what it has done for me.

I saw a friend recently that I hadn't met since covid started. She put me to the blush, saying how good my skin was, and how clear my eyes. And I'm 4 clothes sizes smaller. So keto doesn't have to affect health in a negative manner, whatever the woebegoners say.
 
johnrubinstein said:
Am a 72 year-old type, two diabetes, diagnosed about five years ago. Control is with diet and exercise. Recently, after noticing a slight increase in my blood sugar, I decided to use a CGM solution, start intermittent fasting, and go on a keto diet. Question: can one do keto diet long-term? I see all sorts of articles about the hazards of doing so. Also, what county is keto? I am averaging 40 to 50 g of carbs a day. Is that keto? As always, thanks for any comments and suggestions. This forum is amazing.
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Hi, I have been eating ~20g carbs/day for the last three and a half years and have been in ketosis most of that time. I plan to continue doing so because it's excellent for my blood sugar and I've lost about 60lb. All my nasty diabetic symptoms have gone.

As far as I'm concerned a "keto diet" is one that induces and sustains ketosis. There's many possibilities.

I stick at 20g because that's what works for me, and it gives me a bit of headroom. I think I come out of ketosis around the 40g/day mark, but we are all a bit different. I know there are other forum members who sustain ketosis at higher carb levels.

I think a lot of people have money involved in claiming keto diets don't work. Eating for ketosis is simple, you don't need to join a club, and you don't need to use fancy additives.

best of luck!
 
I do vegan keto and it works for me. It’s a bit trickier than regular keto but can be done and stay healthy
 
johnrubinstein said:
Am a 72 year-old type, two diabetes, diagnosed about five years ago. Control is with diet and exercise. Recently, after noticing a slight increase in my blood sugar, I decided to use a CGM solution, start intermittent fasting, and go on a keto diet. Question: can one do keto diet long-term? I see all sorts of articles about the hazards of doing so. Also, what county is keto? I am averaging 40 to 50 g of carbs a day. Is that keto? As always, thanks for any comments and suggestions. This forum is amazing.
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Dig into those articles and examine the hazards they claim.
Some are plain daft like dehydration and issue related to that like kidneys etc Then ask why in keto would you need to be dehydrated as there’s nothing in it to prevent suitable hydration. Others are things like keto flu (temporary and solvable) or bad breath (same). Also check the ethical or financial association of the source of those claims (look at the references not just the article). Vegan activists feature highly or companies selling grain based products, etc. Are they really interested in your health or are their motivations elsewhere?

Once you are left with any that still concern you dig a bit deeper, ask in here do some research. I’m yet to find anything that worries me enough to avoid it on those grounds and without being untactful I hopefully have more years for those long term effects to strike being a couple of decades younger than you. (Sticking with it for my own motivational/life factors reasons is quite different)
 
A "keto" diet appears to be a more rigid/restrictive version of how I eat.... But For me (and many others on the forum) it is quite possible to eat this way long term.

I'm a fast approaching 81 year old T2 and I've eaten a very low carb/ketogenic style diet since I was diagnosed at the end of November 2013. To start with I simply cut out all the obvious high carb foods (I wasn't aware of the existence of glucose meters at first!) and my glucose levels came down from my diagnostic HbA1cs of 60-61 to pre-diabetic levels within 3 months, and they've generally remained at lower pre-diabetic levels since then, and without my needing diabetic meds since 2017. During those first few months I also lost around (a much needed) 20 kilos without trying, and have more recently lost another 10 kilos or so.

I limit my carbs to a maximum of 50g a day but often eat a lot less, sometimes more, and I regularly skip breakfast and very rarely snack. I use my meter, and for a while also used the original Libre 1 sensors, to check glucose and ketone levels/patterns, and those results are a guide to how I'm responding to various types/quantities of carbs. (My Libre reader can also act as both a glucose or ketone meter using appropriate test strips.)

I work on the basis that I require a fairly stable amount protein for my body's maintenance and repair, and then I do a balancing act with carbs and both dietary and body fats as fuel for energy. I believe that we are naturally dual fuel burners and for me my diet basically ensures that for most of the time I'm using fats/ketones as fuel instead of carbs/glucose, and my brain also definitely works best with ketones as its major fuel.

ETA : I believe it was eating too many carbs for several years that in part triggered my T2 and being able justify cutting them right back down has greatly improved my health. I've always eaten normal full fat food, so I never really had to deal with low carb / keto "flu" symptoms.
 
johnrubinstein said:
Am a 72 year-old type, two diabetes, diagnosed about five years ago. Control is with diet and exercise. Recently, after noticing a slight increase in my blood sugar, I decided to use a CGM solution, start intermittent fasting, and go on a keto diet. Question: can one do keto diet long-term? I see all sorts of articles about the hazards of doing so. Also, what county is keto? I am averaging 40 to 50 g of carbs a day. Is that keto? As always, thanks for any comments and suggestions. This forum is amazing.
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Yes you can do keto. Its high in quality nutrients and there's no human need for carbohydrates. At age 72 I'd be focussing on protein along with the fat that these foods naturally come with. See how you feel and be aware that you may get push back from doctors but if your blood sugars are good without needing medications and you feel fine, that speaks for itself. Keto is regarded as 20g and that 20g normally comes from vegetables.
 
johnrubinstein said:
Am a 72 year-old type, two diabetes, diagnosed about five years ago. Control is with diet and exercise. Recently, after noticing a slight increase in my blood sugar, I decided to use a CGM solution, start intermittent fasting, and go on a keto diet. Question: can one do keto diet long-term? I see all sorts of articles about the hazards of doing so. Also, what county is keto? I am averaging 40 to 50 g of carbs a day. Is that keto? As always, thanks for any comments and suggestions. This forum is amazing.
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A keto diet is just shorthand for a diet which causes the breakdown of fats for energy resulting in the production of ketones.
It varies from person to person and also the amount of exercise down as to what will result in ketosis or not. It is quite common for a person to switch in and out of ketosis any number of times in a day.
The number 50 seems to be very common in achieving good results for type 2 diabetics.
I used no more than 50gn of carbs per day as my guide until I decided to reduce down to 40 to try to lower my Hba1c. It remained exactly the same, but after a year I was settled on the diet, so did not increase.
 
Keto flu is because your body has used carbs for so long, that the transition to fat burning is basically forgotten. Once done with, the transition is rapid and unnoticeable. That's where Intermittent fasting comes into it's own. It is reckoned that after 11 - 12 hours, the body switches without you realising. So on a 16:8 fast you manage about 4 hours of fat burning. Everyones level at which they enter Ketosis is different, some can do it at 50 grams some have to go down to 20. General consensus is 40 - 75 grams should keep you there. Unless you're unlucky.
 
johnrubinstein said:
Am a 72 year-old type, two diabetes, diagnosed about five years ago. Control is with diet and exercise. Recently, after noticing a slight increase in my blood sugar, I decided to use a CGM solution, start intermittent fasting, and go on a keto diet. Question: can one do keto diet long-term? I see all sorts of articles about the hazards of doing so. Also, what county is keto? I am averaging 40 to 50 g of carbs a day. Is that keto? As always, thanks for any comments and suggestions. This forum is amazing.
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Sadly what you and I are often told is so often a load of tosh.

On diagnosis 6 or so years ago I was told I should do low carb by my gp. He also told me self testing created anxiety. Tosh absolute tosh.

It’s so difficult when you are at a low point to remain self confident and do your own research

All I can say now is that I test every day I stick to keto and guess what? The gp says I’m cured !

Becoming self empowered is no easy task.

Stay well !

Ps. I’m 70 - off all medication and feel fine
 
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