Low carb for a food idiot like me

[captainscapegoat]

Okay, so I've read the theory: low carb, keto, induction flu, dietdoctor side effects etc.
I have a possible (read probable) diagnosis of impaired glucose metabolism/reactive hypo-glycemia.
(bloods show fine but waiting on a 5hr OGTT)
At some point, I need to man up and sort out my diet or WhateverThisIs will eat my life. Its already gone a fair way.

1. I'm a food idiot. When I was well and functioning, my kitchen skills involved making a sandwich at home and eating in the canteen at work. Which is probably why I'm here.
2. My life has collapsed. I won't bore you with the sob story, but even getting out of the house anymore is difficult. Surviving day to day is tough work these days.
3. I need to change. However, I'm petrified of making things even worse by a diet that I'm a) likely to screw up b) unlikely to stick to c) could have long term consequences and short term side effects that I can't deal with.
4. Yes, it's true, I'm a difficult person.

Keeping the above points in mind, does anyone have any tips on starting a low carb diet, by easing into it gradually?

Keto seems like the ideal, it just appears to be so extreme to me. Don't think I can do it, especially not in my current state of health.
Or will simply reducing carbs, say for example, starting with cutting down grains and then cutting them out, leave me in a grey area, not committed to ketosis, but not enough carbs to live off?

5. I may be seeking answers that just don't exist. Maybe I'm after reassurance, but mostly I just need a workable plan.

 

[bulkbiker]

May I suggest (unless you are vegetarian).. eggs and bacon cook and repeat as per necessary.

 

[Resurgam]

You do not need carbs to live. Many people do eat something like 50 to 60 gym of carbs each day and can control diabetes, returning to normal readings forHba1c and blood glucose.
The low carb diet is not difficult to do, it tastes great so it is easy to stick to.

 

[wiflib]

Go to LIDL or ALDI* and buy packets of meat, bacon, eggs, cheese, nuts, butter, pate, bratwurst, bags of salad, frozen green veg, celery.....

Eat.

You only really have to cook the bratties and that's easy. Use the celery to spread butter and pate on, wrap meat and cheese in lettuce leaves. Heat the green beans and put cheese and butter on the top. Low carb is really simple if you want it to be.

*other supermarkets available.

 

[Brunneria]

There are several recurring themes that crop up time and time again amongst the Reactive Hypoglycaemics who apear on the forum - and my personal experience as an RHer confirms these are very common.

They include:
- a great deal of anxiety and distress about changing the way of eating
- general life anxiety and depression
- physical and mental experiences that are (or resemble) panic attacks or episodes of anxiety
- fear of hunger
- fear and helplessness overwhelming any belief that things may improve in future
- absolute terror that life is going to carry on in its current unbearable fashion

See? I just described what you are going through, didn't I?

If you have a read through past threads in the RH section you will find that nearly every RHer rocks up to the forum with a variation of the above.

Those of us (who do have RH) find that by making the dietary changes necessary to control our blood glucose, most of those fears/anxieties and symptoms fade away as our RH comes under control and we begin to come out from under the smothering blanket of stress hormones.
- worth remembering that every time an RHer has an RH episode, their entire body is flooded with huge amounts of stress hormones, because it is those stress hormones which kick the body to release emergency glucose from storage in the liver in order to bring the blood glucose back up.
So it isn't just blood glucose fluctuations that an RHer has to deal with. It is blood glucose AND being swamped with Fight or Flight hormones almost every time they eat.

Just as a comparison, it would be like a 'normal' person going through their day in the sure knowledge that sometime during the day they will have a near miss car crash, or fall downstairs, or narrowly miss a brick falling off a building - with the attendant shocky adrenalin surge and shaky recovery period. Every day. Several times a day. As a result of eating a snack, or their lunch sandwich, or a bowl of cereal. Sounds dramatic? Well, that is because it IS!!!

So please, cut yourself some slack. The emotional state in which you find yourself is NOT lack of moral fibre, or cowardice, or insecurity, or any one of a hundred other things - it is a perfectly understandable consequence of spending months or years on a rollercoaster of stress hormones (and blood glucose spikes and drops) to rival the experience of a War Correspondant in the middle of a long term bombing campaign.

The good news:
- If you do have RH, and
- If you do manage to cut the carbs and increase fats and proteins and veg and salad,
then you will start to feel better soon. And sleep better. And feel more confident.

As for transitioning to a LC diet... If you don't like cooking, then buy sliced cheese and ham, and have that for breakfast. Or buy some low carb granola from one of the internet suppliers, like Amazon. Then get bags of salad, pots of coleslaw, cold meat, egg mayonnaise, tomatoes, cucumber etc, and have them for lunch.

For dinner, tell us which supermarket you shop at. Nearly all of them have a few low carb ready meals which can just be thrown into the oven and eaten with microwaved veg.

 

[ringi]

I like Rid Eye Steak, fried for a few minutes on each side with some fried green veg. Using two frying pans, it takes under 10 minutes including the time for the pans to heat up.

Eggs are very good, add cheese, olives, bits of cooked meat etc.

 

[captainscapegoat]

See? I just described what you are going through, didn't I?

Yes. Its like having a personality transplant! Someone understands!

I've tried swapping out my normal porridge and yoghurt breakfast for a spinach omelet plus salad for a few days running as a start. Trouble is it makes my already bad constipation even worse! I'm trying to make small changes to start.

I don't think I can manage a full keto diet, but I've heard that LCHF without going keto can leave you in 'low carb limbo'.
I currently shop at Lidl. I'm having chicken or fish for dinner with veg.

 

[Brunneria]

Eggs bind me something rotten.
So if I'm going to have a lot of eggs i try and add in a fair few veg as well. So I would probably add tomato and mushrooms to that spinach too.

There are some really expensive low carb cereals and granolas available (Amazon and other online stores), ordered there are recipes. Even home made, they don't end up cheap.

You could try having greek yoghurt and berries, or Lidl protein rolls (they are triangular and in the fresh baked bread baskets) for breakfast.

Also, why not start a thread on low carbing at Lidl's and ask for people's advice on shopping there. I don't shop there often (Aldi's is closer! Lol), but if it is anything like Aldi's then there should be quite a few frozen meat and fish options, and lots of frozen veg in portions, and their cheese, cold meat and dairy are excellent.

 

[LittleGreyCat]

Coffee with double cream in is a good start to the day.
Slightly more hard core is "bullet resistant" coffee with double cream and butter.
Bullet proof coffee is coffee, butter, double cream and coconut oil.

Gets you off to a good high fat start to the day.