Low Carb advice needed

[Tinymus]

Hi Everyone,
New here and not at all familiar with how forums work, so apologies in advance for any "rookie mistakes." Diagnosed with Type 2 about 1 month ago and offered Metformin prolonged release tablets. With the Drs. agreement I wanted to see if a low carb diet would make a difference before I started on medication. I realised that my food intake was far too high in carbs even without diabetes! I'm a little wary of going full Keto and thought I might aim for around 100g of carbs daily.
I realise everyone's system is slightly different but from experience can anyone tell me if this would be effective? Also if not doing Keto how much fat would need to be eaten with 100g of carbs - is high fat still necessary? (I have slightly high cholesterol) How long before results might be seen?
Sorry for all the questions but any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

 

[Antje77]

Also if not doing Keto how much fat would need to be eaten with 100g of carbs - is high fat still necessary? (I have slightly high cholesterol)

Hi @Tinymus , welcome to the forum!

If you reduce one food group you'll have to increase another, you need calories after all.
I keep it simple, I skip the main carbs and eat the rest to satiety, I have no idea how much fat and protein I eat.
As for cholesterol, it may well be that your lipids improve together with your blood glucose, it certainly did for me after cutting the carbs and upping the fats.

How long before results might be seen?

If you use a glucose meter to test before and after meals you'll see results right after your first meal. Have a high carb meal and your glucose will have risen by a lot more than after a low carb meal.
A glucose meter is a very useful tool to find out what works for you, I find it much more useful than aiming for a specific amount of carbs.
You may also find that time of day makes a difference. Many people can handle carbs much better in the evening than in the morning.

I think you'll like to have a read of this short introduction to T2 and carbs, it's written by one of our members: https://josekalsbeek.blogspot.com/2019/11/the-nutritional-thingy.html

 

[KennyA]

Hi Everyone,
New here and not at all familiar with how forums work, so apologies in advance for any "rookie mistakes." Diagnosed with Type 2 about 1 month ago and offered Metformin prolonged release tablets. With the Drs. agreement I wanted to see if a low carb diet would make a difference before I started on medication. I realised that my food intake was far too high in carbs even without diabetes! I'm a little wary of going full Keto and thought I might aim for around 100g of carbs daily.
I realise everyone's system is slightly different but from experience can anyone tell me if this would be effective? Also if not doing Keto how much fat would need to be eaten with 100g of carbs - is high fat still necessary? (I have slightly high cholesterol) How long before results might be seen?
Sorry for all the questions but any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

I'd really endorse the advice to get a meter and to test before and at +2 hrs after eating - it shows very plainly which foods do what to your BG levels.

On carb level - the usual estimate is that 130g/day is the break point for low carb. Some people's personal level will be above or below that, and you'll need to find out where yours is - and it might well change.

If we assume that it is 130, if you stick below that you should, all being well, force your system into a) getting by with lower blood glucose levels and b) perhaps start using some bodyfat to make up for the glucose deficit. I haven't heard of anyone on 100g getting into full ketosis, though.

I'm a 20g/day ketosis person so I'm not really experienced with how things go at the 100g level. I didn't attempt that because the calculations and the "I can have a bit of that but not too much...what's too much?" was not something I wanted to do. 20g is comparatively easy - you just don't eat anything with carb in any amount and the 20g gets made up from the incidental amounts in veg, mainly. In the five years since I've seen no change in cholesterol levels (which were "good" in 1990, "too high" in 2020, both the same figure) while a bigger proportion of what I eat is natural animal and dairy fat.

If you drop carbs you've still got to get your energy from somewhere, and that will be from fats and proteins, most probably. At 100g/day there is much less scope for including processed and packaged foods, which to my mind is a good thing anyway.

You might find this an interesting read - the American College of Cardiology in 2020 abandoning the "saturated fat causes high cholesterol" hypothesis:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0735109720356874?via%3Dihub=&utm_source=arrow.proteinpower.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=the-arrow-188

I'd also recommend Dr David Cavan's book "How to reverse Type 2 Diabetes and Prediabetes". It's been recently rewritten and republished, and while it does feel a bit dated in places it does put together a pretty good plan for action.

best of luck. The forum is a great resource, and you are encouraged to ask as many questions as you like.

 

[Africanaussie]

100g is a solid place to start, manageable and still effective for many.

 

[xunchi]

Welcome! I also started around 100g of carbohydrates a day and it helped to lower my blood sugar without going full Keto. No need to force on fats if you eat a balanced diet, especially with a slightly high cholesterol. The first results I saw in 2-3 weeks. Everyone reacts differently, but you're on the right track!