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Lchf how often do you eat?

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GazM

Member
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8
Hi,Apologies for long post in advance! Just newly diagnosed with T2 after bloods showed HbA1c of 99mmol/mol. Glucose was 12.3.
So Gp put me on metformin 500mg twice daily, with return appointment at end of October.
I did research online and read about Dr Unwin and decided to try the lchf way of life.
So in 6 days my glucose levels have gradually come down from 13.6 to 5.4 this morning!
Think I'm getting my head around all the info but I have been told that I should eat every 3 hours to keep my blood glucose levels stable. I think that this is 'old school' thought, more for people eating carbs and blood sugar spiking then dropping down again?
In the lchf community, as the glucose level is more or less stable anyway, should I have a snack between breakfast and lunch and again between lunch and my evening meal or should I just have breakfast, lunch and my evening meal?
Any advice welcome.
I
 
Old school thinking, yes... Because that way your pancreas never ever gets a break. (I started out with 3 meals and 3 snacks... So I got the same advice as you did at the start. That didn't work for me as well as one'd hope for.) I usually eat once or twice a day, sometimes three times on the weekend, when my husband is home and our activities are different from my week-day routine... You might want to read Dr. Jason Fung's the Diabetes Code, lots of good stuff in there too. Don't really snack anymore either. It's up to you, see what works best for your situation, but keep in mind that you really, REALLY shouldn't take metformin on an empty stomach, so careful if you want to give fasting a try. Going by the results you've recently seen though, and deciding for yourself whether this way of eating is for you, you might want to talk to your doc about going off of it. The progress you're making is really good.... So you could probably go diet-only just fine.

All in all... Congratulations! You're well on your way.
 
Thank you for quick reply.
I take the metformin with breakfast and my evening meal.
Will have a read of the Diabetes Code. Thank you so much!
 
Once or twice a day is fine. The longer you are comfortably able to go between meals, the better. Ideally no snacking. Just full meals to satiety when you're hungry and not before.
 
Hi @GazM,

Absolutely stellar progress. I'm impressed with how quickly your blood sugar levels dropped. Really well done.

Agree with @JoKalsbeek. Having 3 meals and 3 snacks a day is outdated advice. Eating low carb usually results in pretty stable blood sugars anyway, so no need to include additional food. Eat when you are hungry. And if you're not hungry, don't eat. IMO -- once we are past carb addiction, our natural mechanisms (ghrelin, insulin, glucagon, etc.) kick in and the body tells us what we need.

Personally, I often eat about two times a day within about 8 hours, but sometimes have more meals and a larger eating window if I feel hungry.

With respect to taking metformin and not eating -- I was fine with it, but everyone is different.
 
GazM said:
In the lchf community, as the glucose level is more or less stable anyway, should I have a snack between breakfast and lunch and again between lunch and my evening meal or should I just have breakfast, lunch and my evening meal?
Click to expand...
No snacks should be needed.. I eat one or two meals a day max. Never breakfast just late lunch.. just had some cold meat and pork scratchings then dinner at about 7 pm (tonight will be chicken and lamb tikka). Coffee with double cream will fuel the rest of my day from 8 am till bed.
 
I managed to avoid metformin, going straight onto low carb instead, so others on that drug may have different experiences. Metformin shouldn't cause hypos though, so why they would want you to eat so often is puzzling in view of research findings going back over 10 years.

I've always snacked in the past, preferring smaller meals, but have learned to extend my 'fasting' time by having breakfast much later or skipping it.
It works for me, as even if I still have 2 small meals and two snacks my body gets at least 12 hours off, sometimes longer.
 
I eat three meals a day, breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I do not eat snacks / treats in between as my meals are reasonably substantial.
 
I eat as and whenever normally like @Tipetoo three meals a day but do have the odd snack if I feel like it.
I also track and record my carbohydrate intake and make sure over those three meals I do not exceed my daily limit if I snack that comes off my allowance of carbs as well.
 
If you eat LCHF the fats in your diet will sustain you for far longer than if you're mainly eating carbs, so you shouldn't need to eat so frequently - and the fats will keep your glucose levels stable. It's worth trying to let your body decide when you need food to refuel, but you shouldn't really need more than three meals a day.

I usually eat three meals sometimes skipping one - generally breakfast. I very occasionally sneak in a bit of supper, but I can use the excuse that I'm an ancient decrepit old lady...

Robbity
 

Hi GazM,
Congratulations on your success in bringing down your BG levels. I wish that my fasting BG was as low as 5 something. (Usually mid to high 6's and low 7's). However it isn't just the fatting BG level which is important, I hope that you are also tracking your pre to post prandial BG levels - trying to keep the increase to less than 2.0mmol/L and the post-prandial readings below 7.8 mmol/L. These mean avoiding a 'Glucose spike' and also avoiding a BG level at which there is any chance at all of Diabetic damage to your body.

The idea of eating 3 snacks per day is not necessary with LCHF, as has already been said. I eat between 20gms to 50gms of carbs per day and I usually have 3 meals, with less than 1km of carbs for Breakfast (2 large eggs). There is a reasonable amount of evidence that our bodies handle carbs better later in the day than at Breakfast time (even the BBC program 'Trust me I'm a Doctor' agreed this is the case).

However I also 'eat to my meter' , so although my (effectively zero carb) breakfast will often reduce my BG level rather than raise it. if my fasting BG is high due either to over-doing it the night before, or even to a bigger Dawn Phenomenon, I will often skip breakfast.

Use your meter to find out what works best for your body, since we are all different in our carb tolerance.

Good luck in October - actually I'm confident that you won't need luck!
 
Thanks for that info Ian. That's really useful.
Am trying to get my head round it all.
 
Hi. GazM, I am T2 diabetic and have recently lost 11 kilos using LCHF diet and exercise!!!
I don't eat breakfast only light lunch around 12 noon and then dinner around 6 to 7 pm.
 
I was settled eating twice a day, morning and evening but suddenly I have lost my appetite and on some days eat only once.
It is a strange idea that a diabetic should want to keep their blood glucose levels stable and probably rather high, eating eating and eating again - but the thinking of health care professionals is beyond my understanding.
 
Oh I didn't realise carbs were better handled by bodies later in the day. I've been having low carb breakfast and evening meal, medium carb at lunchtime. I also find it hard to go without a snack, especially mid afternoon, so maybe have a piece of cheese, or veggies dipped in sour cream. But as I'm still prediabetic I don't get any equipment to track my blood glucose levels, so no way of telling for sure what's best for me.
 
I contacted Spirit Healthcare and bought a meter and supplies for it - The tee 2.
Testing showed me that I can eat more carbs in the evening, but should have a small amount with breakfast.
 
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