Low carb keto

gowest12 said:

I have read that keto is harmful in the long run along with very low carb for heart health as there is too much fat being consumed.

Click to expand...

Let me guess this was from a site promoting "plant based " eating?
It's nonsense of course but very much "mainstream" at the moment.

gowest12 said:

we know to be bad for the heart.

Click to expand...

Except that they aren't of course "bad for the heart".

gowest12 said:

My doctor is against low carb and said all the extra. Fat I eat will cause me many heart problems in the future

Click to expand...

I'm afraid that is nonsense. Your doctor should know better.

gowest12 said:

I did very low carb keto type of diet in may of this year and was eating fish olive oil meats of all kinds butter on some veg lots of salads lots of olive oil and some hard cheeses and cream and my cholesterol was tested and triglycerides were lower than I’ve ever seen them however my doctor wasn’t happy coz my ldl shot up a lot! So he told me not to continue and that I need some slow release carbs like wholewheat pasta and lentils chickpeas beans. Now I did try to incorporate these into my diet but my blood glucose is rising. I don’t know what to do as I said my total cholesterol went up from 6.4 to 7.4 and ldl shot up alot too. And my doctor said I will be getting heart problems on top of the diabetes if I carry on low carb. Also my hdl was up nicely too. What do you think should I carry on with the low carb??? I am almost underweight so I do need to eat fats which I do from avocados olive oil nuts some hard cheeses I put on salad and cook my fish with some butter and lemon is this ok or am I doing something wrong.

Click to expand...

Sounds like you were doing everything fine and it's your doctor who is wrong.
Check out my cholesterol numbers in my signature!
Eating carbs is far more likely to cause damage than fat and protein in my opinion and experience so...
Concentrate on lowering your HbA1c that's the most important thing for the time being. Cholesterol numbers will likely "normalise" over time but even if they don't it's the Trig/HDL ratio that is considered more important than the "total cholesterol" number or the calculated LDL number.
If you have low trigs and good HDL you'll likely be fine.

My G.P will only do Total. So until we have a proper profile. Also they know exactly what I am doing as far as Keto is concerned.
I will not take statins for a number of reasons.
For years I did what the 'doctors' told me and it put me into the diabetic range. Through doing Keto everything including my weight is coming down. In fact I feel my weight coming down is the most important thing at the moment. Everything else should follow.
Have you read Jason Fung Diabetes Code. Very informative and should put your mind to rest.
Don't forget the NHS has a mantra and they want us to follow it. Doesn't mean it is the right one for us as an individual.

gowest12 said:

Ok we we control our blood sugars but our condition is being band aided over as fats and proteins don’t raise blood glucose but it doesn’t deal
With the underlying problem of insulin resistance

Click to expand...

Says who? The same people who say it will damage your heart? Always check the source of the “information“ and what their affiliations are and where they are drawing their information from. Many have some very obvious financial or morality based bias to consider or some very questionable methodology.

There is, and always was, a lack of solid evidence that fat actually does do what they claim it will and increasing data from numerous studies that prove the assumptions are wrong outright or at best unevidenced and fat is neutral. Much of the “evidence” relies on a house of cards of assumptions with a very unstable base of flimsy or biased “evidence”.

many members find their tolerance of carbs (insulin sensitivity, the opposite of insulin resistance) improves after a period on keto/low carb. Some have even tracked their progress with private insulin testing (as the nhs won’t do it) and found improvements, even to the point of normal IR, or lack of more specifically.

I think a person has to focus on reducing either carbs or fats, recognising that a reduction in one will automatically mean an increase in the other. A person has to eat something, particularly when she cannot afford to lose weight. Low fat + low carb = weight loss. That’s just how it works. That has certainly been my experience, and that is why I have chosen to make my peace with fat. But that’s just my personal situation and of course your doctor knows you and your situation best. I am sorry that you are faced with such a conundrum.

gowest12 said:

What sort of things do you eat? I get stuck with what to eat everyday

Click to expand...

Here's a thread where some of post what we eat
There are other similar threads too
Might give you a few ideas. Worth scrolling back through too. Few of us are perfect. This is real life

Hi all, I'm back to the debate with my new diabetic nurse regarding her plea to get me on statins. According to her calculations, my chance of death stroke or heart attack in the next 10 years is very high.

Apparently, my score is 30 and 20 is considered high, my trig numbers at my latest HbA1c test were 0.8 and HDL 1.5 which looks like a healthy score of 0.53 on the tg/hdl scale to me.

I have also noticed recently that the NHS is promoting this https://www.lowcarbprogram.com/ while some of the staff are still of the mind that all fat is bad.

Most people, including "qualified" dieticians, will tell us that fat is bad. It's something that has its origins in biased research financed by (who would have thought it?) companies making low-fat versions of normal food, those selling diet plans, and also promoting certain drugs. Remember too that text-books are always out of date by the time they reach the classroom. We are told this rubbish in good faith, accompanied by nodding and eye-rolling to indicate that it is all true and we need to follow the "guidance" that makes others rich and fills us with inappropriate food. Medical staff don't know what they don't know - they only believe what they have been told.

As a lifelong low-calorie dieter, I believed all this nonsense too.

As a year into keto, eating healthy fats from real food, I am the right side of the drag curve, and then some. I've never felt so well. We are all different, but it's an easy regime to try. It's great that some medical staff are beginning to change horses in this debate.

That is so helpful! I have asked my nurse to refer me to the low carb program as it would help me such a lot.

victronnix said:

That is so helpful! I have asked my nurse to refer me to the low carb program as it would help me such a lot.

Click to expand...

There is lots of help out there, here is a few links to sites that will give you all the info you need, and it won't cost you a penny.
https://lowcarbfreshwell.co.uk/
https://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb
https://www.ditchthecarbs.com/howtostart/

gowest12 said:

The thing is I don’t have weight to lose so I know I have to add fats to keep me full and to stop me losing weight im just scared of the fats yet I need to eat them. What sort of things do you eat? I get stuck with what to eat everyday

Click to expand...

If you are not overweight and your LDL goes up sharply on a low carb / high fat diet and your other numbers are good you may well be what is known as a lean mass hyper-responder. This is nothing to worry about, it is your body using LDL as an energy transport medium. This is currently evolving science your doctor is very likely unaware of.

This presentation will explain what is going on better than I ever could...


Also is is good to get the relative risks of diabetes vs raised cholesterol in perspective. Raising cholesterol carries a risk ratio of about 1.1 to 1.2 for CVD. For all cause mortality there is little to no excess mortality with increasing cholesterol. In some groups such as older women higher cholesterol is associated with LOWER all cause mortality. Compare that with diabetes which carries a massively increased risk for CVD. A quick scan of the internet and the first paper I found puts the relative risk factor for CVD in those with diabetes at between 2 and 4. That means it is 10 to 40 times worse for your heart than raised cholesterol. I've seen studies that put it a lot higher than that too. And that is before you look at all cause mortality. Diabetes has many ways to kill you, cholesterol appears to have as many ways to save your life as kill you.

For those of us with diabetes (you don't say you have so I won't presume) getting the HbA1c under control MUST be our priority. After that I'd keep an eye on the HDL/triglycerides ratio. The various low carb diets work well for both of those. If those two numbers are good the rest will (largely) take care of themselves.