Low carb or sugar free. Which are you.?

Hi @lyn_lyn_1963 for me I never used to have direct sugar, honey or substitutes knowingly. I kept eating carbs due to a DESMOND (non) education session, but was working out too hard as I was burning muscle. A couple of months ago I started on low carb good fats.

_lyn_lyn_1963 said:

the funny thing is I didn't think I ate much sugar things, but have found out by reading the labels that the food manufacturers stuff it into everything, I only read the sugar bit didn't worry about carbs just avoided sugars. I read on the web that the Americans have the highest rate of obesity and you guessed it they consume the most sugar per head of population uk is 7 on the list, our children are getting more obese, is there a link between sugar consumption and obesity or are we all just eating to much carbohydrates. I eat lots but have still lost weight have never been on a diet in my life only lately this sugar diet, which I did because I was pre diabetic and the letter from the hospital, just said I have a 5 to 10 % chance of being diabetic in the next ten years , they gave me no advice so I tried to work it out myself the only way I thought how, and lucky for me it worked. why are we all getting obese, I don't think people eat too much as I eat plenty, it's just I think eating the wrong things over time that causes obesity, and I feel for me sugar free is the way to go. the western diet is the worst in the world.but we have to live here and bring our children up in a country that allows food manufacturers to put loads of bad stuff like sugar into our foods, I signed Jamie Oliver's campaign for a sugar tax it doesn't go half far enough in my humble opinion, our children deserve better. sorry to rant on.

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The U.S. uses a lot of high fructose corn syrup(HFCS) eg it's in many fizzy drinks there including coke. I've heard studies referred to that mention HFCS as being particularly bad for obesity (worse than sugar).

I like to base my own diet on fresh, unprocessed foods as much as I can, and include plenty of veg, healthy fats and good quality protein. I find if you concentrate on getting as many nutritious foods into your daily menu as you can, that helps a lot.

You've done very well to lose that weight so be proud

I don't believe that low carb and sugar free are mutually exclusive - sugar is just another form of carbohydrate so for me they're really more or less one and the same.

The first thing I did on diagnosis was to cut out all obviously sugary food, as that was what I was told to avoid. Other high carb starchy foods came a bit later when I realised that they were all part & parcel of the same thing. When I started a "proper" low carb high(er) fat diet I also started checking all possible added sugar/carbs sources by taking particular note of what nutritional labelling says. I definitely agree with @azure (and others) that eating as much fresh unprocessed (and low carb ) food as possible is the best way to go. For me low carb fruit and vegetables are an essential part of my diet - not for their carbs - but for the vitamins and minerals they contain, and we need.

I've never liked or used artificial sweeteners so initially wasn't prepared to consider them in my new diet anyway, but I discovered that - particularly in baking - sometimes a sugar substitute may be needed, so after some research I'll now use erythritol and/or stevia, both of which are considered "natural" and have no impact on glucose levels and very few or no side effects. These together with a very few processed foods that have a little added sugar or other carbs (when there's no available/suitable alternatives!) are a reluctant compromise but one I feel I need to make if I'm to continue low carbing comfortably long term. But this is a decision every diabetic needs to make for themselves and their particular situation, and I don''t believe that one option suits all. The very few times I've ever actually craved real sugar have been when my body has - sometimes mistakenly - told me my glucose levels are going too low.

And at the moment unless I'm very stressed or ill, I can keep my glucose levels down below mid 6s for the most part, and in the low pre-diabetics levels with my HbA1c results - which means that as far as I can see I'm managing more or less to get things right.

Robbity

Low Carb and Primal - no grains, minimal dairy, minimally processed foods.

_lyn_lyn_1963 said:

Hi did you go low carb as well or first or later than sugar free and artificial free?was sugar free your first choice or low carb or both together,

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Hello. First I cut out sweets, cakes, biscuits and puddings and my blood sugar readings continued to rise. Then I cut out bread, pasta, rice and high-carb veg (not just spuds) and my BS reduced but, never having been overweight to start with, I lost too much. Next I started eating lots more fat and my weight is now stable and I am pre-diabetic. However, my cholesterol is above 7. I am not taking statins. My GP says it's my life, which it is. I feel very well. I may have heart failure any time I suppose but hey, we all die of something and I'm already old.

_lyn_lyn_1963 said:

41 different names for sugar

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Is that Kate Bushes latest album?!

I am addicted to Pepsi Max, but it is the only sweet thing I have on a regular basis. Although at the moment I am going through a Cadbury's Flake craving. It's killing me. But if I had 5 Flakes that would be it for months and months (usually). But I think I will work my way through this one.

hankjam said:

never fancied sugar-free, the sweeteners just don't appeal, so having gone low carb my taste in sweet has gone to much more sensitive... some vegs are now nearly too sweet!

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I agree with you about more sensitive taste for natural sweetness. Also, the natural flavors are so much nicer than artificial chemicals.

_lyn_lyn_1963 said:

Hearing a lot about low carb on this forum but not much sugar free, does anyone still eat sugary foods? In moderation or avoid them like the plague. Interested to know what people eat and what they don't.when I say sugar free I mean all sugars, honey artificial etc.
Is diabetis a sugar problem or a carbohydrate problem if so which first or both together, I only tackled the sugar not altering any of my carbs and I have reversed my pre diabetes. Has any one just done low carb and still ate sugar and reversed their pre diabetis condition? Any research into either.?

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As a T1? Sugar= fast acting carb. Then there is the starchy stuff like potato which though a little less "octane" than sugar, still causes a hefty spike..
Now, even before the discovery of insulin for type one? (Pre 1920s?) They knew that protein only was the way to go cutting out sugar & bread with regards to prolonging the life of the patient.. (Such as it was back then..) The nature of all food is "fuel"..

For me? In short. As a "modern" insulin user (With my lifestyle/ "physical" career?) I can't be doing with the tail chasing of a "normal diet" (which in theory I could do?) if I had continued to follow the dietary advice set out by the NHS that was given me as a kid (& still hasn't changed all that much.) I'd be "Captain Yoyo" at work..
So I keep the carbs & thus the insulin to a healthy minimum... All the usual carby suspects just cause me trouble & uncertainty in an uncertain day regardless of how accurate I bolus & ge the timing right. Keep it simple! The insulin working profile don't always match the digestive process of a carbfest any how? (Which includes certain fruits too.) I might as well put 2 quid down on six numbers....

Yarp, abstaining from the sugar is always the first "port of call" when faced with any form of D diagnosis.. "I'll start tomorrow with sweeteners in my tea & a "healthy" bowl of Alpen."
Carbs & sugar. It's all the same..

High sugar levels after testing when only eating small amounts of carbs going to remove carbs completely to check if this helps

azure said:

I think part of the confusion (for people in general) is we talk about blood sugar so it's assumed that dietary sugar is the problem. Of course, it's also the fault of the media and people saying things like "If you eat too much sugar you'll get diabetes" etc

You should find a level of carbs that suits you and allows you to keep your blood sugar in range. Test two,hours after the start of your meal if you want to see what carbs do to your blood sugar

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This is something I'm having to try myself to see the correlation between carbs and rising sugar levels

hankjam said:

Straight to lowcarb me and it works for me.
you?

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I'm considering this action as eating even small amounts of carbs keeps raising my sugar levels, and having to increase my insulin dose starting at 22 in hospital to now 50 after taken in to hospital after my heart attack I'm only fifty and I so want to get a grip on the problem

Jamesb66 said:

I'm considering this action as eating even small amounts of carbs keeps raising my sugar levels, and having to increase my insulin dose starting at 22 in hospital to now 50 after taken in to hospital after my heart attack I'm only fifty and I so want to get a grip on the problem

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Hi,
Headbutting 50 myself...
I'm not knocking any thing you said.. (I Commend your efforts.) However. I notice you're on insulin..
Put your blood test meter into "overdrive"!! Keep a close eye on blood levels.. Adjusting insulin accordingly. Low carbing without adjusting a lower insulin level to suit, can be (definitely can be.) an issue with hypos....
Not knocking low carb.. I do it myself! For your own safety. Just be mindful that your " recomended" insulin dosage can "trundle" on regardless of diet choice...

I'm very low carb (ketogenic) and virtually sugar-free. There are only two exceptions to my no-sugar rule: 85% and above dark chocolate, and the sugar in the non-alcoholic communion wine my church uses.

I have two reasons for going sugar-free. The first is that sucrose is uniquely damaging and a direct cause of insulin resistance (I'm T2) - if you want to know the science behind that, Robert Lustig and Gary Taubes are the names to Google.

The second is that sugar is addictive - at least, it seems so for me. I start eating something with sugar, I want to go on and on. And on. And then back for more.

The first six weeks or so of keto, I didn't eat anything sweet at all. Now, I occasionally make or buy something containing an alternative natural sweetener such as xylitol or erithrytol. The odd mug cake has been known to be consumed. But, on a daily basis, biscuits and cakes and desserts and sweets are not part of my life.