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New To Forum, Just Starting Lchf

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tioca

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7
Hi

I'm a 60 year old female living in the UK, new to this forum although I have been aware of it for a while.

After nearly 40 years of hypoglycemia, with subsequent weight gain, I became diabetic 3 years ago. I've been diagnosed as Type 2, although some of the health professionals I've seen felt my long history of hypos might suggest something else.

I've not tolerated any of the meds I've been prescribed; everything I've taken has caused severe hypoglycemia on exercise (ie light walking) . My fourth consultant gave up and told me there was nothing more they could do drug-wise, and referred me to a tier 3 weight loss clinic which specialises in extreme calorie reduction, usually prior to bariatric surgery. Given that I'm not obese, it's not surprising that a year later they still haven't given me an appointment, so I've been trying to manage my glucose levels through diet and exercise. I've been losing weight steadily and feel amazing for the first time in my adult life, as diabetes feels so much better than uncontrolled hypoglycaemia. I can exercise safely now without collapsing or constantly keeping my glucose levels up.

However I've reached the point where it's clear that my attempts to control my (now very high) glucose levels through a GI type diet and no meds aren't working, and my very sympathetic diabetes specialist nurse suggested trying a LCHF diet when I saw her earlier this week. I went on it immediately, have felt pretty rubbish the last couple of days, but am very hopeful that I can make it work. I've already cooked some amazing food but I have a lot to learn, especially when it comes to eating out. I have a number of very severe allergies (including nuts) , and intolerances to many other things including eggs.

I have a lot of travel coming up, including 4 days on a train with limited luggage allowance. Because of my allergies I'm used to carrying snacks that don't spoil easily, in case I can't find suitable food, but they've all been pretty carby. Can anyone point me in the direction of advice on low carb high fat food that doesn't take up much room and doesn't spoil easily? I've been doing a lot of googling but am struggling to find nut-free ideas.

And I'm looking forward to learning from the community here, and hopefully feeding back some good HbA1c results in a couple of months.

Thanks for reading

Edited to add: pork rinds!!! Maybe that's the answer :)
 
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Hi tioca and welcome to the Forum. First let me tag @daisy1 for her welcome info post incase you haven’t come across it yet. My first thought was pork scratchings but you realised they’re a good low carb snack and easily portable. I recently discovered PhD high protein bars in Tesco, they don’t have egg or nuts listed in the ingredients (even the peanut butter flavour one!) however there is a ‘may contain nuts and eggs’ comment so may not be suitable for you? Then of course there’s high percentage dark chocolate.
 
Hey @tioca welcome to the Forum!! Keep reading around and you may find threads that are what you are looking for. Well done for DN to suggest LCHF and trust that the "carb flu" you are experiencing goes away soon and you start feeling good!! I would wonder if you could find some beef jerky that you might like - travels well and doesn't take up too much space. Perhaps you will be able to find salads in the diner car? Cheese and more cheese please!! It usually can keep for a few hours our of the fridge. Coconut chips, pumpkin seeds, and dark chocolate (over 75% is best) chipits or squares make a yummy portable snack. (too bad about the nuts because macadamias could have been your new BFF!! :() If you are a baker there are tons of low carb recipes for making squares, buns etc. that can be cut small and are stable for travel.....Red wine is good too:):)

Trust you get things sorted out and hypos are in the distant past for you and the the LCHF way of eating helps you avoid meds when you haven't had any success. Just remember that there are about 200 or more combinations of meds that can be tried for Type2. Don't what "they" have decided you have, but do take care. Stick with it and it sounds like you have a DN who is up on the latest info for diabetes and willing to help you.

You've been on this journey for a while by the sounds of it and know that it is a marathon, not a sprint.....even adjusting to LCHF. You will see that many of us are <20-30 gm of carbs a day and others are higher up to 100gm/day, or more.....You will have to experiment a bit to find your own personal level of carbs per day that works best for you, and your meter will be your best friend for that! Blessings/L
 
@tioca

Hello Tioca and welcome to the Forum :) Here is the Basic Information we give to new members and I hope you will find it helpful. Ask as many questions as you need to and someone will help.


BASIC INFORMATION FOR NEW MEMBERS

Diabetes is the general term to describe people who have blood that is sweeter than normal. A number of different types of diabetes exist.

A diagnosis of diabetes tends to be a big shock for most of us. It’s far from the end of the world though and on this forum you'll find well over 235,000 people who are demonstrating this.

On the forum we have found that with the number of new people being diagnosed with diabetes each day, sometimes the NHS is not being able to give all the advice it would perhaps like to deliver - particularly with regards to people with type 2 diabetes.

The role of carbohydrate

Carbohydrates are a factor in diabetes because they ultimately break down into sugar (glucose) within our blood. We then need enough insulin to either convert the blood sugar into energy for our body, or to store the blood sugar as body fat.

If the amount of carbohydrate we take in is more than our body’s own (or injected) insulin can cope with, then our blood sugar will rise.

The bad news

Research indicates that raised blood sugar levels over a period of years can lead to organ damage, commonly referred to as diabetic complications.

The good news

People on the forum here have shown that there is plenty of opportunity to keep blood sugar levels from going too high. It’s a daily task but it’s within our reach and it’s well worth the effort.

Controlling your carbs

The info below is primarily aimed at people with type 2 diabetes, however, it may also be of benefit for other types of diabetes as well.

There are two approaches to controlling your carbs:
  • Reduce your carbohydrate intake
  • Choose ‘better’ carbohydrates
Reduce your carbohydrates

A large number of people on this forum have chosen to reduce the amount of carbohydrates they eat as they have found this to be an effective way of improving (lowering) their blood sugar levels.

The carbohydrates which tend to have the most pronounced effect on blood sugar levels tend to be starchy carbohydrates such as rice, pasta, bread, potatoes and similar root vegetables, flour based products (pastry, cakes, biscuits, battered food etc) and certain fruits.

Choosing better carbohydrates

The low glycaemic index diet is often favoured by healthcare professionals but some people with diabetes find that low GI does not help their blood sugar enough and may wish to cut out these foods altogether.

Read more on carbohydrates and diabetes.

Over 145,000 people have taken part in the Low Carb Program - a 10 week structured education course that is helping people lose weight and reduce medication dependency by explaining the science behind carbs, insulin and GI.

Eating what works for you

Different people respond differently to different types of food. What works for one person may not work so well for another. The best way to see which foods are working for you is to test your blood sugar with a glucose meter.

To be able to see what effect a particular type of food or meal has on your blood sugar is to do a test before the meal and then test after the meal. A test 2 hours after the meal gives a good idea of how your body has reacted to the meal.

The blood sugar ranges recommended by NICE are as follows:

Blood glucose ranges for type 2 diabetes
  • Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
  • 2 hours after meals: under 8.5 mmol/l
Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (adults)
  • Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
  • 2 hours after meals: under 9 mmol/l
Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (children)
  • Before meals: 4 to 8 mmol/l
  • 2 hours after meals: under 10 mmol/l
However, those that are able to, may wish to keep blood sugar levels below the NICE after meal targets.

Access to blood glucose test strips

The NICE guidelines suggest that people newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes should be offered:
  • structured education to every person and/or their carer at and around the time of diagnosis, with annual reinforcement and review
  • self-monitoring of plasma glucose to a person newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes only as an integral part of his or her self-management education

Therefore both structured education and self-monitoring of blood glucose should be offered to people with type 2 diabetes. Read more on getting access to blood glucose testing supplies.

You may also be interested to read questions to ask at a diabetic clinic.

Note: This post has been edited from Sue/Ken's post to include up to date information.
Take part in Diabetes.co.uk digital education programs and improve your understanding. Most of these are free.

  • Low Carb Program - it's made front-page news of the New Scientist and The Times. Developed with 20,000 people with type 2 diabetes; 96% of people who take part recommend it... find out why

  • Hypo Program - improve your understanding of hypos. There's a version for people with diabetes, parents/guardians of children with type 1, children with type 1 diabetes, teachers and HCPs.
 
Thank you for the lovely replies. It's good to feel part of a community.

Those are all great ideas, thanks. I feel a lot more confident about travelling if I've got safe fallback food, although today I'm wondering how much I might actually need as I haven't felt very hungry in the last 24 hours. And I had a reasonably good night's sleep for the first time since starting (on Monday) so I feel a lot more capable today. Whether I'm in ketosis yet is another matter, but I have a dual keto/glucose meter and a few strips (one of the benefits of going through so many investigations) so I'll test that out in a few days.

So far my fasting BG has changed from 16+ on Tuesday to 14.1 today, but I imagine that would have happened to me anyway if I'd just reduced my carbs rather than doing LCHF. So rather than hoping for quick miracles I'm looking forward to seeing what happens over the next few weeks.
 
Hi. Can I clarify a few things about your post? What is your BMI? It's not clear the degree of excess weight you have had or may still have. Other than unusual medical conditions having a low-carb diet is the start point to maintain a normal weight. You should also have enough fats, proteins , veg and fruit to keep you feeling full. I don't understand why the consultant should say there is nothing to be done drug-wise. As well as having a low-carb diet, there are several drugs to be given depending on whether you have low insulin production and normally slim thru to insulin resistance due to excess weight. Your allergies will obviously make the choice of food more difficult and it may take a while to find the right things. Can you have cheese? How about fish? I assume you are having regular diabetic reviews with an HBA1C check and also have a glucose meter? There are other less common diabetic conditions such as MODY and Reactive Hyperglycaemia which may be worth investigation as frequent hypos when not on insulin points to one of the rarer conditions
 
I seem to manage very well on just two meals a day - breakfast and dinner, and it makes me far less dependent upon finding food when away from home just for a day.
For longer periods away when I might need to feed myself I take things such as rock hard avocados, cream cheese and celery sticks, home made 'crackers' and easy opening tins of tuna - though only if it is possible to dispose of rubbish or keep until the last day of the journey.
 
Hi @tioca welcome to the forum. Great that you have started LCHF. I started on 30th April and after a few days of settling in got things going. I'm doing 18/6 fasting no food after 20.00 till 14.00 next day, with only black tea, coffee, water and vitamin water as needed during fast. I also have less than 15 - 20% carbs per day. I find this easy now I have settled down and learnt a lot more of what I can eat. Most of the info has come from the forum and other members. Only problem I had was some leg cramps, this is often the case with low carb, but a class of salt water per day has sorted that out.
After first month I have lost 8.4kg and fetched my Bg down from 16.6 to 7.0 (currently running 4-6) and feeling great.
There is a thread on forum called "Low Carb Diet" also "What have you eaten today?" these may help and give you some other ideas for meals.
You are in the right place for help, advice and support. So any questions ask away! Good luck :)
 
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Thanks for all your very helpful replies.

So, I'm on day 11 of doing LCHF. Apart from 1 water biscuit a day with loads of butter on days 1 and 2 (due to initial hunger), I haven't slipped. I'm enjoying my food (apart from 'cloud bread', which the birds enjoyed) and not missing carbs apart from milk chocolate. 85% chocolate is fine but it's hard to limit myself to 2 squares.

My BG is now around 10 first thing in the morning, down from 17-18. It's lower before I go to bed - around 8, And it's down to around 6-7 during the day. So that's a huge improvement but fairly predictable, I guess, given I'm eating very few carbs.

I don't get up to use the loo several times a night any more, so I'm sleeping better now the initial insomnia has passed.

I've put on a kilo so I need to watch my calories, although it is early days. Pork scratchings are very addictive.

The brain fog and initial fatigue has passed. My digestion is fine,

My eyesight has improved (I'm short-sighted) so I'm struggling to read with my current glasses and contact lenses. I don't know how long I should wait before getting a new prescription, as I guess it could improve even further, or settle back to what it was. I'm safe to drive, which is good, but I can't read text messages on my phone, and it's impossible to read the carb counts on food when I'm shopping so I'm doing most of my shopping online at the moment.

My gums have stopped bleeding, something I've found difficult to control in the past. My dentist had said I was probably just predisposed to it. So if my gums are no longer inflamed I'm guessing that any inflammation in the rest of my body has reduced too.

It's still difficult to feel OK about the amount of fat (and salt) that I'm eating, despite everything I've read. My annual blood tests are due in a couple of months so it will be interesting to see how my cholesterol and liver function is doing.

To sum up, I'm in the middle of week 2, I'm feeling healthy, I don't feel deprived in any way, and anything I'm able to measure myself looks good.

I'm off to get a bowl of raspberries and double cream now :)
 
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