Lower carb. question

Redirected from the Success Stories thread:

Hi PRINNY,

I'm sorry I missed your post on the Success Stories thread - took my eye off the ball there I'm afraid!

I think your looking in exactly the right place for a chief suspect for your weight gain problem. As you have probably already read on the forum, insulin is the principal fat building hormone in the human body. At raised levels it also prevents the body from accessing fat reserves as a source of fuel.
When insulin levels are reduced, the body can't create as much fat and can also begin to burn stored fat reserves for fuel instead.

Interestingly, I've recently been reading on the subject of cancer and was intrigued to learn that, while the body's cells can use glucose or fatty acids for fuel, cancer cells can only use glucose. There is speculation that diets high in refined carbs are therefore more likely to create a bodily environment suitable for cancers to grow.

If you're using 68(?) units per day, that's quite a bit and will be used partly to address your insulin resistance and also to metabolise the carbs in your diet. If you reduce your dose it will make you less insulin resistant in time and help to lose a few excess pounds in the process.

What does a typical day's diet look like for you? I'd be glad to give you some advice if I can.

Best wishes,

Fergus

Diverted and re-posted from the Success Stories thread:

Re: Success stories
by PRINNY on Sat Feb 28, 2009 5:10 pm

hi fergus i managed to read your message this afternoon with help from my son who told me what to do, it sounds like i may be fighting a losing battle i so want to get the weight off, my daughter gets married in september and i dont want to look like the fat mum in the photos! my typical diet goes like this-breakfast porridge or a small amount of sugar free musesli which i make myself, mid morning a piece of fruit like an apple or bannana but i am cutting down on those as i think they are high in carbs, lunch a mixed salad with some kind of meat ham or chicken i also have fish like mackrel if i am not having meat, a yoghurt and another piece of friut like a plum or orange, afternoon i have about half a dozen brazil nuts, for tea i have either meat and veg, or a casarole or fish with veg or salad a yoghurt for pudd, for supper i have a small bowl of cereal as my diabetes nurse said i should have some to help me through the night, i didnt have any a few weeks ago and had a terrible hypo in the night my bs levels went down to 2mml, i hope this helps obviously my diet does vary from time to time but i am trying to keep to a healthy regime, i am out tonight my son is celebrating his 30th birthday so i am feeling quite ancient at the moment, just going for a drink though not eating! thanks a lot, all the best from prinny.

Hi PRINNY,

Your diet looks very good in many ways. If you're looking to reduce your insulin needs, and yes I think that is crucial for healthy permanent weight loss, there are a few items that stand out.

Foods such as porridge, muesli and fruit are still relatively high in carbohydrates, which require very much more insulin than proteins and fats. For example if you were to have eggs for breakfast instead of porridge you might notice a significant drop in your insulin needs.

Fruit also is high in fructose and occasionally glucose. Glucose needs insulin of course and fructose is processed by the liver which makes triglycerides as a by-product. The beneficial aspects of fruit (vitamin c etc.) can equally be found in vegetables but without the same demand for insulin.

Cereal for supper isn't a great idea to be honest. Again, lots of carbohydrate which is feeding the insulin and promoting fat storage. The other way to look at it might be to use less insulin so that you don't ned the cereal?

So you aren't fighting a losing battle at all! There's much you can do to reduce your insulin needs and hopefully the weight loss will follow.

All the best,

fergus

I think baby steps are the way forward when you have insulin injections to deal with. Where you know you are eating less carbohydrate - scrambled eggs instead of muesli for example - you can reduce your insulin to suit. Then test afterwards to see how your blood sugars respond. Gradually you can make these small changes to your diet and reduce your insulin doses accordingly.
When I first started out, it took me a few months of small changes to get from 80 units per day to 20 and it isn't something you want to try and change overnight.
Nuts are a great choice as a snack by the way, just be careful with peanuts and cashews as they are a bit higher in carbs than the others (macadamias are a favourite!)

All the best,

fergus