That's good advice about drinks. That's where testing with a glucometer is helpful. Better to stick to plain water.
However, you don't need to eat carbs to have enough glucose for brain function. That's a myth. Your liver will produce enough glucose from fat and protein to keep you going. After all, even if you eat no carbs, I bet you will still need to inject insulin to keep your blood glucose from going high. One of the things insulin does is signal your liver to stop producing so much glucose.
I think everybody is different enough that some people do need carbs to be able to focus properly, whereas others don't. (I now that I can be a wreck if I don't have enough carbs, especially on active days.) To illustrate the point, some people have lived for decades on a strict vegan diet while others get horribly ill from it and get better when eating meat and animal products like eggs and dairy. Carbs are no different. Some people do very poorly on LCHF even when they do everything right, while others thrive on it. Please don't invalidate someone's personal experience even if science has debunked some myths. I think as diabetics we all know that the disease and our bodies don't always do what science says they should.
I do think everyone should give everything a try to see how it works out for them. I've certainly found a lot of surprises in what my body does when I change medication and diet around a little here and there.
Thanks again, everyone. I've lost another stone in a week as I haven't been eating much, scared to eat anything other than chicken, tuna and salad. I have a meter but I don't want to test. It feels too overwhelming. I just want to lose the weight and it'll all go away.
I had half a banana and some cream and berries yesterday so that was good, faced my fears. I know we shouldn't eat bananas but they're good for potassium and I feel like I'll be doing myself damage if I don't have half of one, will that be ok?
Hi Melanie! First off I want to say welcome to the site, and good riddance of that awful group. Second, I am a little worried about your perspective on food and eating. Please don't starve yourself. Please eat a varied diet. Not eating because you're scared of losing control is the first sign of an eating disorder, and those are no joke. You could be doing more damage to your body by losing weight too fast and not getting all the nutrients you need, than if you were to have some wider varieties of food in your daily intake and slowly drop the pounds and get good glucose control.
I understand you're scared. I understand there's a lot of bogus info on the internet that can be maddening. I have a panic disorder myself so I know more or less what's happening in your head, but I also want you to know that the only way to get past this is by facing the things that invoke your anxiety.
Bananas can be added to your diet depending on how your body responds. You will need to test 1.5-2 hours after eating one to see what happens, and then decide whether or not it's something you can have. This is the only way to decide which foods you can and can't eat, as many of us respond differently to the same things. The greener the banana, the better most people can tolerate them though. If you want to have some ripe banana, it's probably best to only eat 1/3 or half of one and save the rest for later.
One thing I noticed from personal experience is that you can influence your glucose levels by eating a combo of things. For example, I can eat a cheeseburger (no condiments) without any issues, but only if I have a nice big salad with little or no dressing and no croutons first, wait 15 minutes,
then eat the burger. Not only do I stay full for a very long time, the fiber from the salad helps level out the carbs in the burger so that the absorption is spread out over a longer period of time. Fat also has this effect, as does a lot of protein. My dinner meals usually consist of even amount of meat, potatoes and greens, for example: a whole chicken breast, 150 grams of potatoes (boiled/mashed/baked) and 200 grams of vegetables. No sauces, usually only a bit of mayo. Despite having a lot of carbs in the meal, the protein and veggies outweigh the carbs by a lot, so the carbs don't spike me 9 out of 10 times.
As for consistent glucose levels, well... diabetes does whatever it wants sometimes. There will be days that you're doing everything right, but you still get whack results. This is
normal and you should do your best not to let it upset you. Doing your best is really all you can do, realistically speaking. Those random fluctuations will not end up killing us if you are managing your diabetes well 99% of the time.
Again, the only way to figure out how this works out for you is by trying it out. There's no one size that fits them all, and sometimes our bodies have very specific needs and responses. Experimentation is not only part of diabetes, it's vital to get a good understanding of what's going on. I think the most important part of diabetes is being knowledgeable on your condition and your body. Only then can you make informed decisions on diet and treatment. Over the next year, you should realistically be the one to tell your doctor where you want your treatment to go and what you can and can't change in your diet. Most of us end up knowing more about the medication and diabetes as a whole than our doctors do, and that's a good thing!
I've found immense help on here that's guided me to make decisions on my own treatment. I found out that LCHF is not an option for me at this time, but I do want to try it when I can do it safely. In the meantime I do what works for my body.
I hope the comments on your topic have been helpful and that you'll be able to work with your anxiety and deal with this. Diabetes is overwhelming at first, but you'll soon come to realize that it isn't defining of who we are, and we can live a good life with it. Before you know it you can make good guesses as to how much to eat of something without having to check your glucose because you know exactly how your body reacts.