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LOW CARB SUCCESS STORIES

Hi there,Ive just discovered this site and would like to share something interesting.I was diagnosed with type 1 15 months ago at the age of 49 and have been taking novamix 30 twice daily.having noticed the remarkable impact carbs made on my glucose levels and consequent insulin requirements,i decided to cut down on my carbs and experiment with my insulin levels.as of last thursday i have been monitoring my glucose levels at least 8 times daily and they have varied between 5 and 7.no surprise you might say but this is with no insulin.i am not trying to appear reckless as i consider my health to be my top priority,but this does seem remarkable.i have porridge every morning and eat meat and veg and some fruit throughout the day,lots of water too.no bread,no rice potatoes pasta..you know the ones.has anyone else had this type of experience and am i doing myself any harm.i feel fine and dont seem to be suffering any negative symptoms.jeff
 
Wow jeff-g, I'm not type 1 but that sounds amazing. Are you sure you weren't secretly a type 2? because I thought type1 meant you couldn't produce any insulin, yet if you're eating as you say with no insulin, you must be producing some to achieve those BGs. I wouldn't say your diet was doing you any harm at all - sounds a bit like mine that I've been on for a while now, and I'm fitter than I've ever been! Wether the "no insulin" is doing you any harm - I don't know, but as its there to control sugar levels and you seem to be doing that anyway, I'd say you're O.k. Hopefully, an experienced type 1 will come along shortly and comment, but I'd be going back to the docs for tests!
 
Hi Jeff-G!

As Grazer says, back to the doc for tests! There are a number of reasons why you might react as you have, but the most likely are:

1. You are not type 1 - many cases of misdiagnosis are detailed on this forum
2. You are a form of Type 1 but still producing some insulin and the low carb diet is meaning that the insulin you are producing is adequate for the carbs you are eating (I have LADA and have similar reactions to low-carbing - although I can never eat porridge!!)
3. You have given your pancreas a break by not overloading it with carbs - this might only be temporary.

I do not believe your diet is doing you any harm - quite the opposite. At my last hospital visit, my consultant told me that there is no evidence that low carb diets are harmful long-term. As for the insulin, you should only take it if you need it., but keep testing and reintroduce it as soon as you show signs of needing it.

I hope your reprieve continues!

Smidge
 
hi guys,had smoked mackeral for tea,no veg as didn't feel like it and have just done my test...approx 2 hours after eating.Blood reading 4.4!!no alcohol,just water.what is going on cause that seems a bit low to me.a little concerned its that low before going to bed so had a little porridge for safety.excuse my ignorance but i'm just telling you how it is.jeff.
 
Hi Jeff,

4.4 is actually a very good BG in the normal range. If I hadn't taken any insulin, was sure no basal was left in my blood and hadn't taken any other BG-lowering medication, I'd definitely go to bed with BG at 4.4. If I had taken insulin or some other BG-lowering medication, i'd increase the BG into the 5s before bed.

Smidge
 

Hi again Jeff. Are you still off the insulin? if so, with those BG's, (normal!), you should definitely be back to the docs for more tests. Can't see how you can be type 1 diabetic unless others on this forum can explain.
 
Hiya Grazer, Jeff!

I am officially diagnosed as Type 1 (I'm LADA, but they classify it as Type 1). I do produce basal insulin and on a good pancreas day, I could get pre-food levels in the 4s without any insulin. Smoked mackeral has no carb, so it would be possible for my BG to return to the 4s two hours after eating that. This wouldn't last long for me, though - a couple of days at most and my pancreas would need the support of injected insulin. And any carb I had would definitely require my bolus. However, I still think you should get it checked out, Jeff!

Smidge
 
hi,just started the ducan diet yesterday and being type 1 i use the novamix insulin and take two injections daily , up until yesterday i was taking a huge 130 units in a morning and 120 units at night just trying to keep my BGL to around 10 , my diabetic nurse who i am in touch with every two weeks advice me to increase 3 units every three days to get it under 10 but by taking so much insulin has greatly increased my hunger and at the weekend i weighed over 26st and then i read about the ducan diet , and on the first morning i took my normal amount of insulin and also my slow release metformin 500mg and by mid afternoon i was having a Hypo so something sweet to adjust and bring back my BGL up to an acceptable level . But when due to take my evening jab i checked my BGL and found it to be 8.1 so decided not to take any insulin and just my metformin . On checking my morning BGL i found it to be 12.4 so decided to take only 30 units instead of 130 units and my metformin, after another day of the ducan diet i did check my BGL several times and at no time was it over 10 so this evening i did not take any insulin just my metformin and just recently checked my blood before replying to your message it was 11 , which i am extremely pleased with . and really looking forward to how this pans out . my GP had put me forward for a gastric band which looks like being given the go a head after several hospital visits for compatibility but i would really prefer to go down this road before i get a date for the operation and who knows may not need it . also my diabetic consultant did say if i did not want te gastric band opp he would prescribe the new once a week injection for type 1 diabetics as this will also help reduce your weight . i really think i will give the ducan diet all my dedication to make it a success so i will then go on the once a week only injection that acts in a different way to insulin and automatically controls your BGL for a full 7 days without any further injections until the following week . i hope to keep intouch re the diet and let you know how i do but the tip for you is to do lots of regular blood checks during the day and adjust your insulin accordingly but also give your diabetic nurse a call and you can also phone them on a daily basis if you wish and they should be able to help you with your doses of insulin , hope to speak to you again , kind regards lee.
 
hi, being a type one for over 20 years and having BGL sometimes of over 20 i know its all about balance between you food intake and medication , and a big factor can be your own body weight the more carbs you have the more medication you need but again a major factor being how many carbs you burn during the day if you do some short but high intensity exercise your medication will be lower than if you are a couch potato and over the years i should know as i have been all these but due to a serious bike accident i have been left disabled and con no longer exercise to a reasonable effort , i have now started the ducan diet which is a low carb diet but if you try this you must follow the pland with multiple daily BGL checks your body also has a great way to let you know how your feeling, but i suppose the answer to your question is yes it is possible to lower your amount of medication by altering your diet and weight , you may be able to do this in the short term but to be able to keep this up for the rest of your life will take all your dedication to keep this up and all the factors involved , ie food , weight , exercise , sleep etc ,but if you can you can prove the medics wrong but also to give you hope you would not be on your own as many have committed themselves to this with great success . also for any reason you may find this too much of a commitment why not ask you consultant for the new once a week injection that replaces your twice daily or more injections and controls your BGL for one week . you can look this up on the Internet and see if its suitable for you , my diabetic consultant says its not on licence yet but that would not bother him and he would prescribe it. hope this helps kind regards lee.
 
diagnsed type 2 2002 blood sugars regularly 13-18, on max metformin and max glycicide twice a day, bp 220 over 195, weight 100kilos (early 16stone) mid fifties female co director with loads of stress things were looking and feeling bad, sold the company, moved to southern spain and 9 months ago was given a copy of the DUKAN diet, read half of it, thought, why not give it 5 days? lost 5 kilos in 1st week, now 30 kilos in nine months, back to size 12 feel wonderful, blood sugars below5.5 bp normal, i walk as part of the diet two hours every day, swim often, and....... best bit of all, doctor told me not to take any more medication, cholestral is normal, bp normal, blood sugars normal, however.... i am still diabetic i realise so i substitute oat bran for carbs, never have sweet things, or bread, rice, pasta, nor alcoholal but i am healthier than in past ten years. my attitude is: i foud a formula that works, and with all the fish, low fat dairy and eggs i am stronger and better looking than i can remember!! haha and my sense of humour has improved too. oh yes and the sleep apnoa has gone, bliss i can sleep through/
 
angecave - thanks for posting your story, I find it so encouraging to read success stories, they confirm that I am doing the right thing by sticking to my low carb way of eating.
Congratulations on your weight loss and all that you have achieved, WELL DONE :clap: :clap:
 
This story may be a bit 'previous' but I'm proud of my boy and want to share.

My low-carb lifestyle is 4 years old in June, it's a day younger than getting my diagnosis. Both children had left home by then and I was a Nana of two. I vividly remember going to see my son for a visit and the shocked look on his face when he saw how much thinner I was.
Fast forward to September 2011. He vacated his rented house to stay with me before moving back to London for a new job. The warning about bringing evil carbs into the house sparked off his competitive streak and he decided to eat my way until he found somewhere to live in London.

He's still eating low-carb and absolutely loving it. He's almost three stones lighter and we are amazed that he even had three stones to loose. I get lovely messages about what he's eating. Last night it was home-made venison burgers and Jarusalem chips. The things he can do with cream and bitter chocolate! He agrees that he simply does not eat as much as he used to and he is saving money, hence the venison. He loves foraging in farmers markets and expects me to give him a few recipes for the stuff he finds.

He follows three generations of T2 diabetics and, as we watched my Dad slowly rot away and die in November, I'm hoping he will now have the knowledge and power to avoid that particular path.

wiflib
 
just to update everyone on my progress so far

i was diagnosed type 2 at the end of october 2011 and was given the usual advice, luckily i found this forum and commenced a very low carb diet in conjunction with a moderate increase in activity

have just received the results of my latest hba1c :

oct 2011 hba1c 10% , total cholesterol 5.0 , weight 18 st 8 lbs
jan 2012 hba1c 5.8%, total cholesterol 4.4 , weight 14 st 10 lbs

still want to lose 2 stone more and will be tested again in 6 months time

i very much doubt i'd have these results if i'd followed the advice i was given re carb intake


thanks
 
In october 2011, my BG was measured at 3.23g/l, my HbA1C at 11.3%, my triglycerides at 3.34g/l.
I suffered conspicuously a severe metabolic syndrome with very high cardiovascular risks.
I began immediatly a low carbs diet, 30g of carbohydrates a day, no wine or alcool at all.
I ate only low carbs vegetables (salad, tomatoes, cumcumber, endive), fish, olive oil.
6 weeks later my BG was 1.27g/l and I lost 5kg
3 months later my HbA1C was at 5.6%, triglycerides down 45%, HDL up 30%.
No more signs of the metabolic syndrome that was going to kill me.
I also took metformine 850, 2/day now reduced at 1/day that I will stop next week.
Hope this will help newcomers. Try it !

04/10/2011 04/01/2012
Poids <82 kg 94 85
Tension 16 - 7 13,5 - 7
Glycémie <1,04 g/l 3,23 1,02
HbA1C % <6% 11,3 5,6
Triglycérides<1,40 g/l 3,34 2,01
CH total <6 mmol/l 5,3 5,4
HDL >0,91 1 1,3
LDL <3,80 3,27? 3,05
Chtot/HDL <4 5,3 4,2

Bernard Pargamin 67 years old. Paris
 
Those are brilliant results Bernard well done! Not sure what all the other numbers are about but getting an HbA1c of 11.3 to drop to 5.6 in 3 months is really impressive stuff.

My only question is that of stopping the Metformin. I can see from my own BG readings that the Metformin definitely helps with spikes even if (in my opinion) it isn't doing a great deal to reduce base BG levels once you get them down low through low carbing. I'm averaging 50g carbs / day so a bit more than you.

I hope to be in your position in a few weeks but time will tell!
 
I have been low carbing for several years with only beneficial effectsHbA1cs consistently in the 5s and a loss of about 3 stones. However, the weight loss has stopped and I'm finding it difficut to lose any more. .It's a battle to lose 1/2 a kilo in a week. I keep trying.
My last but one single nephew is getting married in April and I want to wear a fairly dashing outfit [remembering i'm 65!]
I've ried changing the diet a bit and weight piles on and I havve to struggle hard to get to square one.
Meat, veggies and dairy are the core of my eating.
Hana
 
Maybe slightly early days to say complete success but yesterday I got my first 5 reading. I started this lowish (70-90 carb) diet in January after being diagnosed in December 2012. Usual bad advice from nurse, but I read about you all and decided to have a go and see what it did. Well from a fasting level on diagnosis of 12 and spikes up to 18 after eating and eating what I thought was a " healthy" diet for a month where the readings really did not change much, I decided the NHS way was not my way. Over the last 10 weeks I have been trying hard to reduce my carbs and and as low GI as I can, can't quite manage the really low stuff everyday although the odd day I get down to 50 carbs. My reading last night before bed was 5.6. and my average for the last seven days was 7.6 I call that a success story. Ok I am not steady yet and still have spikes after eating of plus 2-3 on some days, not quite got the diet down to a T yet, but getting there. This learning curve is a steep one and every day is a new challenge, DIY is the way forward it seems IT WORKS. :clap: :thumbup:
 
Hi everyone,

I'd just like to add my endorsement to this thread. I was diagnosed about 9 months ago with type II and have battled my way through all the various meds with, in my opinion, little or no effect. Despite being on metformin and injecting insulin 4 times a day my fasting BG tests were probably on average 12 to 13 (other tests during the day showing much higher and hugely erratic results). The DESMOND course plugged away at the usual dietary advice given in the UK and my reaction was, I eat like that anyway so no need to change anything there! How wrong can you be? After reading on this forum I thought, sod it, I'm going to try this as nothing else is working. Massive surprise, after only one month, like so many other converts out there I feel much better and my fasting BG's are now down to 9 on average and are still decreasing steadily. I really hope I can gain some form of control by doing this. I confess I'm not fastidious about it and I doubt I ever will be but the results speak for themselves. I'm sorry I don't have any figures to show and all I am aware of is that my HBA1c is consistently around the 9 mark. I have only been following this diet for one month but I will be disappointed if that doesn't go down with my next test.

Ultimately it is up to the individual but I can certainly say I've had no bad side effects and I feel much much better, give it a try and you may be pleasantly surprised. I know it flies in the face of all the advice you are given but I've yet to hear a convincing argument why low carbing is 'wrong'.

Go on, give it a try...............

cheers
kevvy

1m78, 84 kg's bmi 26ish or 5'11", 13stone 3lbs in old money
 
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