low carb diet

Its really all about testing to see whats right for you. Cutting out the obvious carbs, like spuds, pasta and rice and bread.

Do you have a meter? If so you should test before eating and 2 hours after.

you can LC successfully on insulin, lots of us do it. do you carb count?

@hognose The amount of carbs can be down to the individual. I get by on around 50g per day.

Have a look here as a starting point: http://www.diabetes.co.uk/diet/low-carb-diabetes-diet.html

As Engineer88 said - a lot of people on insulin are successful with lcfh. Regular testing will help.

Good luck

hognose said:

• Moderate carbohydrate: 130 to 225g of carbs
• Low carbohydrate: under 130g of carbs
• Very low carbohydrate: under 30g of carbs

would you agree with that
thank you ,

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Not really. I would agree with very low carb but the others are too high (for me personally) My low carb is 80g a day.

To start though you might be better of reducing carbs like you say tea and so on.

Those figures are a useful guideline, but your meter and your body are the best guides to how many carbs you can manage - and that 's more important than any terminology.

And don't forget that you should replace those carbs with a bit more protein and plenty of fat for your energy needs, so don't go down the low/reduced fat route.

Robbity

I was able to lose weight on less than 100 grams a day, but my blood sugar didn't drop low enough. So, I had to go lower with my carb count.

Like everyone said, eating to your meter is the best way to determine how many carbs your body can tolerate to drop your BS and keep it there.

I'm a T2 on a combination insulin and I low carb. I probably do about 50-60g/day on a weekday, but more at weekends.

I had a conversation with my DN last week at my annual review and we decided to keep a few carbs in the meals when I take my insulin as it needs something to work with when on a fixed combination dose. I'd not done well on the days when I'd dropped carbs from breakfast and had false hypos late morning. If you have mainly protein and fat at breakfast when you have your insulin, it might digest slower than the applied insulin works, so you can go too low.

So I have a slice of bread with my eggs, yogurt or whatever at breakfast, very few carbs at lunch and then a small portion of brown rice or potato with my evening meal.

This pattern works for me - and you will need to find the regime that works for you - it's very personal, there simply is no standard formula, and you'll need to establish for yourself which foods are most suitable to keep your numbers stable.

What I would suggest is to lower your carb intake gradually, if you're already on insulin you don't want to drop too dramatically, a gradual decline will make you feel much better as you go along and allow you to better assess what works for you. When I went on insulin, around the same time I started lower carbing, my DN said that it can take six months to get fully settled on it and find the right dose, type of insulin etc., so I knew it wasn't going to be overnight, so was prepared to invest the time into getting it right. I'll hit the 3 month mark next week and am delighted with the stage I'm at now, I'm just starting to actually feel properly better and my numbers are getting close to the ultimate targets we set.

So it can work really well on insulin, just take it steadily and test religiously.

Full fat milk is better than semi skimmed and for coffee I'd plump for double cream ! Never tried soya or almond milk etc in coffee....yet

Welshgooner said:

Full fat milk is better than semi skimmed and for coffee I'd plump for double cream ! Never tried soya or almond milk etc in coffee....yet

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I tend to use Lactofree as its virtually carb free and easier to digest (i eat a lot of cheese and cream anyway!)

hognose said:

how many g of carb per meal or day ,is there a max/min level to reach?

and can you do lchf diet whilst on insulin

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Yes, LCHF works really well for the T2 on insulin, because it keeps your BGL more stable while at the same time reducing your insulin requirements. Reduced insulin requirements can help a lot with weight control in the T2 case. This in turn improves your prospects for better ongoing T2 management.

Just don't forget that you'll need to adjust your insulin dose downwards once you start low carbing. Otherwise you'll have lots of hypos.

As for a daily carb target, it kind of depends on what you're currently consuming, and may involve experimenting a bit with what works for you. (And most importantly what levels allow you to reduce your insulin demand while maintaining good BGL control.) Personally I think a target around 60 to 80 grams per day is probably a good starting point. Try sticking to that for a few weeks and see what response you get out of your body.