• Guest - w'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »

Low carb doesn't work for me.

G

goose64

Well-Known Member
Messages
92
I tried low carbing - between 50 & 100g a day but my cholesterol went up from 5 to 6 , I've had stronger statins & it's starting to come down again - back to 5 in a month. I am now scared to try it again as heart problems run in the family. I don't know what it did to my BS as I'm on benefits and cannot afford test strips very often , I also found it was an expensive way to eat - it may seem cheap if you're working but on 50p for breakfasr , £1 for linch and £1.50 for an evening meal you don;t get too much quality food.
I have other health problems which preclude exercise, although an op is in the pipeline.

Any ideas on how I can middleground - to try to stop my BS rising but not raise cholesterol?

I've recently been put on metformin

so far today I've had

small piece wholemeal toast ( to take met)

whokemeak roll with small slice of ham, green salad & coleslaw


tonight we have west Indian curry which I will have with a small portion of wholegrain rice

also bearin mind it has to be cheap & suitable for my non diabetic OH
 
There is a difference between lowering your carbs and low carb, and very low carbing does work! In my experience you may have lowered your carbs but they are probably the wrong types of carbs, I appreciate that you don't have much to spend, neither do I, or I should say, I was!
You have to make sacrifices for your health and if your partner really cares, she would help you. You can do low carb shopping I do, you can make homemade soups, curries etc.
Have a look at the low carb forum for recipes. Ideas and find out which carbs which you can tolerate and those you can't!
Have another word with your GP to ask him for one on prescription. If you are determined and you can make a case for yourself, you may get one.
I'm not diabetic, but I got one, as my consultant insisted.

Have a read around the forum, don't give in to the carbs.
 
Low carb has, and continues to, work well for me and does not need to cost a lot. Learn to love cauliflower (if you don't already) as it is an amazing alternative to carbs and can be used for almost any purpose; delicious roasted, mashed, grated and fried (cauliflower rice) as well as cauliflower cheese. Look on the internet for cauliflower pizza base. A large cauliflower only costs £1 which does me for at least 6 dinners! LC does get more expensive if you are doing lots of baking using nut flour (eg almond, coconut). Eggs are another excellent LC meal and can be made into an omelette with anything you have left over for dinner or scrambled for an easy breakfast. Again, not expensive. Is there any possibility that you could grow your own veg? Or salad leaves on a window sill?
 
Sorry to hear your having problems with low carbs ... I started my LCHF diet just over a year ago... I have lost a ton of weight ... My cholesterol has reduced so much I am off the statins now .. My bs are well controlled and I feel great. We are vegetarian, and on a very tight budget, so it can be done. The wife plans our meals for the week, so we can control our budget. My food bill has not increase by going low carb high fat..if anything it's slightly better than before, cost wise. I am on around 30g of carbs a day and my high fat is just the full fat foods that used to be low fat ! Hope you find a way .. I don't know why your cholesterol has increased, are you getting enough fat in your diet ?

Edited to add .. The LCHF way of eating is good for non diabetics .. My wife eats the same as me.
 
Just a thought but frozen veg tends to be cheaper than fresh, lasts longer and you can use what you need to so there is less waste. Could maybe try an own brand crispbreads as a substitute for bread but has less carbs overall. Hope you find what works for you soon
 
I was a bit fearful of the effect on my cholesterol level by removing all bread, potatoes, pasta and rice (even the wholemeal versions recommended by by DN) and replacing some of them with cauliflower, celeriac, courgettes, peppers etc. and eating a lot more cheese and eggs. I also all changed my low fat food (mainly yoghurt) to full fat versions and stopped cutting all the fat off from bacon etc. However, I bit the bullet at the beginning of February and at my first check-up I was very surprised to see that my cholesterol level had actually decreased. OK, it only went from 3.9 in January to 3.6 at the end of April (a breakdown is available if you want it) but it certainly didn't rise. My hbA1c also went from 53 to 42 in the same time.

So it has certainly worked for me and I'm continuing with the changed meals and watching my portion size. Look at the 'Type 2s: What have you eaten today' thread for some great ideas and there's plenty of others in the Low Carb section.

Don't give up - it will work.
 
I've given up worrying about my cholesterol (over 5) and my minor heart condition and am concentrating on eating low carb food. I eat lots of it and don't count the total carbs. I am underweight and feel extremely well. I don't think the GP and nurse know any more about MY condition than I do. Mrs DeeJay supports me as long as I don't get any thinner.
If it all proves to have gone pear-shaped at my next cholesterol & HbA1c tests I'll do something else. Meanwhile what I've got and the way I live feels really good.
I agree it's barmy how expensive the right food can be but the advice already given on finding cheaper alternatives is good.
Try and treat it as an adventure rather than a punishment.
 
I don't mean to sound like a bad cop but 100 gr carbs is not that less.

Try having more recipes with more eggs, if you can eat. Don't worry about cholesterol, body produces less when cholesterol intake is increased. I eat 3 to 5 everyday for years. I am fine with it. Have more fat from cheese, meats, and olives, so that blood glucose will not increase.

Well, many others will input more info here, but that is how I handle less carbs. Do not forget to exercise 4-6 days a week. We need to keep metabolic rate high.

Good luck.
 
Hi do you know the breakdown of your cholesterol as just knowing the total cholesterol count really doesn't give a very good overall picture. It might not be as bad as you think. When I first attempted LCHF last year I found like you that it was quite expensive then I sat down and nutted it out and realised I was still in the old pattern of breakfast, lunch, and dinner instead of just eating when I was hungry. I now eat breakfast and dinner and if I get a bit hungry during the day maybe a handful of peanuts or a slice of cheese.so it is now much more affordable. I know that after a lifetime of eating whatever, whenever that it took me a long time to figure out exactly when I was actually hungry. Getting the carbs down to less than 50g a day would help to reduce your BS. There have already been some great suggestions above. I am the only one who eats LCHF in our household so please try not to let the fact that your OH is a non diabetic restrict you in managing your diabetes. In our house there is chips and biscuits, ice cream and everything else that I no longer eat all out right in front of me and it is up to my own willpower to stay away from them, if I give in and eat them who is it going to hurt, only myself. When we have dinner I just swap anything high carb with a lower carb alternative. Mashed potatoes with pureed cauli, rice with broccoli and cauli with a nice creamy sauce.
 


Several people have commented that their cholesterol levels rise for a short while, when they began low carbing, then they even themselves out as the body gets used to the new way of dealing with food. It is also quite common for the various elements of the total cholesterol readings to change, so although the total may go up, the actual "good"/"bad" cholesterol elements improve, and that's the important part. So it's critical to understand what makes that total of 5, 6 or whatever.

As far as low cost low carbing is concerned, I am fortunate to have a decent food budget, but I have been having fun recently, experimenting with cheaper cuts of meat. I've been utterly astonished by how much value can be out there, with an open mind. I do agree that often these "cheaper" cuts of meat require longer, slower cooking, which can have fuel cost implications, but it could be possible to have more than one thing in the oven at the same time?

Last weekend, the butchers was trying to shift a load of cheaper cuts he had been left with, after a run on BBQ style prime cuts, so I helped him out by picking up some bits and pieces. I picked up a small rack of ribs for around £2, a ginagerous pork hock that looks like it could have come from a dinosaur, some beef shin and my all time, irrespective of budget favourite, belly pork. That lot was under £10, and this is from a local butcher, not a supermarket.

From that batch I have only made a pork hock that gave me 3 full meals for £1.74, plus cooking costs. I've done slow cooker ribs many times before. They're just the ribs, some spices, a little oil and half a can of tomatoes. Again, enough meat on there for 2, and as they're slow cooker cooked, they're both easy and cheap to prepare.

My food is rarely bland, so over time, it may be a great idea to build up a decent spice rack.

I'm not sure if my post is helpful to you, but good luck with it all. It's surely a bit of a puzzle when we start making changes.
 

That is great to use cheaper cuts of meat and slow cooking if you like that sort of food but not everyone can even afford that Pasta, bread, baked beans and potatoes are usually the main staples of their diets especially if there is a family to feed and meat is quite low on the menu not ideal for diabetics we know but some have no option as feeding the family has to be their priority
 

Oh, I understand that, but so often on here, we read of folks, including me to be fair, eating prime cuts and full roast dinners etc. I'm just trying to reinforce that there are some great value cuts that can be used for days when meat may be on the menu.

The pork hock I did, by firstly boiling it for a short while (bonus remainder from that was some excellent stock, made from fresh bones, not a cube), scored, then roasted for an hour or so, made 3 hearty meals for me. I may be a skinny little thing, but my appetite is more hearty than my OH, and I got three meals out of it - 1 "roast dinner", with loads of crackling, cold cuts next evening and a lunch, with salad. That hock cost less than £2. Clearly that's very different to me suggesting a prime leg of lamb at £15.
 
Perhaps a thread where people could put tips on how to make good cheaper meals for those on a low income would be good especially anyone on a budget already doing it successfully
 
Pinkorchid said:
Perhaps a thread where people could put tips on how to make good cheaper meals for those on a low income would be good especially anyone on a budget already doing it successfully
Click to expand...

Feel free to start one.
 
Pinkorchid said:
Perhaps a thread where people could put tips on how to make good cheaper meals for those on a low income would be good especially anyone on a budget already doing it successfully
Click to expand...

Yes, we've had several of those, over the last year.
Lots of fantastic suggestions in them, too.
 

I'm not sure how you get from that to a sweeping generalisation of 'Low carb doesn't work' as a title

How is your low carbing affecting your BGs?

As for cholesterol, the total figure is pretty meaningless in isolation. What are the other figures in your lipid profile (HDL and triglycerides especially)? My total cholesterol has stayed fairly stable with low carbing but my constituent ratios have improved no end (see my first year story linked below).
 
As regards the cholesterol aspect, I am in full agreement with others that have posted. There is no need to be concerned that your total cholesterol has increased without knowing what the component parts are. My total has increased a bit, but only because my good cholesterol (HDL) increased. My LDL (so called bad cholesterol) reduced a lot, as did my triglycerides. You really need to know these and I would ask your GP for a full print out.
 
It is a fact that 'real low carb diet' reduces blood sugar levels. However, we need to examine various conditions under which the total system is operating and then find why low carb diet is not giving desired results.

1. What is the current physical condition ? Height, weight, body fat percentage, age, gender
2. What are the other problems besides T2D? like hyper tension
3. What medicines/ drugs are taken and the corresponding impact on the body?
4. Is the person indulging in high intensity exercise beyond 45minutes regularly?
5. What is the 'actual composition' of the diet/ portion sizes? providing the complete list of everything would help members determine and advise effectively. Is it the case of high/low protein or high/low fat diet

If OP can provide answers then senior members on this forum will provide very good answers. Please note that I am no expert and I myself will not be able to provide guidance as I am still learning. BUT.... I had lots of doubts, asked questions here, provided required details - got great results. Sometimes, just google the internet/ this forum to see solutions for problems like this.

Let me explain the specific help I got. See the thread - http://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/threads/why-do-blood-sugar-levels-rise-after-some-sport.20892/ I had the same problem of high BS despite the fact that I was doing exercises, but when I googled, this thread came up and that is it; no looking back!

Yesterday routine: 40 min of low intensity jogging in the morning/ heavy breakfast [carb: 40% protein 30%, fat 30%]; limited portion lunch [boiled red beans, 2 eggs, veg salad - no dressing]. I tested 'Random BS' after 2 hours of lunch - BS is 114 mg/dl [ 6.3]
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Hi. As others have said, ignore the total cholesterol and note the LDL and HDL ratio which I suspect will or did improve with low-carbing. I also suspect your blood sugar improved but obviously you were unable to measure it. High blood sugar can be far more damaging than high total cholesterol. Have you looked at sourcing test strips on eBay? You have to take a view on the ethics of buying ex-prescription strips, but if you need them to manage the diabetes then it's important.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Menu
Log in
Register
Cookies are required to use this site. You must accept them to continue using the site. Learn More.…