Newly diagnosed and wanting some advice

[bulkbiker]

Then you can reward yourself with a hand full of berries or a small mandarin orange.

Using food as reward is what got many of us into trouble in the first place...

I'd be wary about recommending it to anyone especially those who may have addiction problems.

 

[JoKalsbeek]

Hi Jo
I've been diagnosed with high cholesterol along with T2 so I suppose I am mixing up diets as I want low fat and low carbs. I guess I've got to find a balance that will work for both conditions?

High cholesterol is part & parcel of something called Metabolic Syndrome. It also includes conditions like diabetes, high blood pressure, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and obesity. You don't usually get one without a bunch of the others as well. The only box I personally couldn't tick was high blood pressure, and I now have to add in extra salt or I go low. Thing is, when you low carb, you tackle *all of the above*. I was told there was no coming back from NAFLD, that it'd kill me eventually, and yet... Eating more fats and ditching the carbs, my liver's back to functioning like nothing ever happened. Handle the blood sugar issue, and the rest will follow suit. And as was stated, total cholesterol doesn't say much, it's the ratio's that matter, plus statins can up blood sugars or even cause diabetes. The problem with cutting both fats and carbs; you're effectively following a crash diet. It might get you some quick results in weight loss, but it's not sustainable in the long run. Malnourishment can become an issue. You do need fuel to run on, as well as vitamins, minerals... You can't live off air, not for long, anyway, without developing problems. With two out of three macro-nutrients in the dog house, you only would have protein left to feed you, and that alone isn't likely to cut it.

Embrace the bacon. Might as well experiment and see what it gets you, right?

 

[Resurgam]

Hi Jo
I've been diagnosed with high cholesterol along with T2 so I suppose I am mixing up diets as I want low fat and low carbs. I guess I've got to find a balance that will work for both conditions?

I had been on a high carb 'cholesterol lowering' diet before diagnosis, not only was I almost spherical, my cholesterol had not gone down.
At diagnosis I changed to low carb, and ate the fat which came with the foods - and my cholesterol went down.
Others have reported the same thing - Dr Atkins said the same thing in his 'New Diet Revolution' - but for some reason it isn't believed. The nurse told me it must be a delayed reaction. Somehow I doubt it.

 

[jjraak]

Avoiding fat isn't a good idea.. fat helps to keep us feeling full. Also porridge for many causes large blood glucose spikes so that would definitely be worth testing a couple of times.. before eating and at 1 and 2 hours to see if you are spiking.

Egg yolks are far more nutritious than whites so have a 3 full egg omelette.
Fruit can be problematic too especially very sweet fruit so raspberries and strawberries are fairly low carb other sweeter fruits aren't.

https://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb/keto/u6#food

That will give you some great info on what is good to eat.

Double cream goes in my coffee and tea!

Whilst 100g of carbs a day can be considered low carb many of us have found we need to cut even more to get the best results.

I try and aim for between 10-20g per day (mainly from double cream and some berries, maybe a bit of dark chocolate).

Edit to add .. what was your HbA1c on diagnosis.. that can be very helpful so we can see where on the T2 "spectrum" you are.. thanks.

What a great link

So informative.

I usually use the visual displays, they made so much sense to me starting out

I lowered my intake down to 60/50 g a day,
And perhaps wouldn't like to go as low as 20g.


But the fact other condition might benefit from going down to actual keto of 20g or less, interesting

Epilepsy certainly wasn't one I expected.

Trying to engage daughter, who has IBS to perhaps try parts of the LCHF, but she's been reluctant to date

I'll be showing her that link, for definite.

Thanks

 

[jjraak]

Hello
I was diagnosed with T2 just over a week ago and have started taking metformin.
As I'm a bit of a numbers and data nerd I like to see my progress and I've invested in a glucose testing device, but I'm a bit clueless as to what time of day I should be doing them? I've done 1 pre-breakfast this morning and another 2 hours after dinner tonight based on info in an app I downloaded, but I've no idea if this is right? Should they be more frequent? Is twice a day too much?
Also does anyone have any recommendations as to the best blood sugar app?
Thanks in advance and I'm really glad I found this forum - I've got a feeling I'll be asking a lot of questions so hopefully I'm in the right place

Hi @Mersey_Mol .

Welcome to the club no one wants to join

All great advice from previous posters.

I'll only add on my own personal note.

While we all have to make our own risk assessments daily.
And diet & foods are no different in that respect

My personal experience might be of some use ?

Had a scare way back in 2010, so had blood tests done, and began eating a "better" diet, low cal, low fats etc

Got DX as T2D aug 2018.
57 HBA1c.

By June 2019 I got the down to 40 HBA1c, lost 3 stone and felt great, all from eating LCHF

I became more geeky about what all the blood tests meant, so took more notice of previous ones.

Since found out it's less the cholesterol numbers & more the ratios that are most important

I tracked mine from 2010 to 2018 (DX)
My ratios where .

Chol/HDL at risk
HDL/LDL at risk
TRIG/HDL..v high risk

While they improved ever so slightly over 8 years, it wasn't by much so overall the markers stayed the same for 8 years of eating a low calories diet ...yes I wasn't a saint, but I was trying hard

At DX I carefully went LCHF until I saw the benefits, then began using daily.

By 8 months in my markers were .

Chol/HDL good
HDL/LDL good
TRIG/HDL..ideal

No expert, only offering as my personal experience

Hope that provides a spur to dig a little deeper into the facts about cholesterol, rather then what we all get told is "healthy" levels

Good luck on your journey

You get to choose how much effort you make
And the joy is, YOU get ALL the rewards.

Travel Safe

 

[KennyA]

Hi Jo
I've been diagnosed with high cholesterol along with T2 so I suppose I am mixing up diets as I want low fat and low carbs. I guess I've got to find a balance that will work for both conditions?

I have supposedly "high cholesterol" which doesn't cause me any problems and which appears to have come down ( a little) since going on to a high fat diet. We make our own cholesterol, it's essential for your system to function.

 

[Grannypat]

High cholesterol is part & parcel of something called Metabolic Syndrome. It also includes conditions like diabetes, high blood pressure, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and obesity. You don't usually get one without a bunch of the others as well. The only box I personally couldn't tick was high blood pressure, and I now have to add in extra salt or I go low. Thing is, when you low carb, you tackle *all of the above*. I was told there was no coming back from NAFLD, that it'd kill me eventually, and yet... Eating more fats and ditching the carbs, my liver's back to functioning like nothing ever happened. Handle the blood sugar issue, and the rest will follow suit. And as was stated, total cholesterol doesn't say much, it's the ratio's that matter, plus statins can up blood sugars or even cause diabetes. The problem with cutting both fats and carbs; you're effectively following a crash diet. It might get you some quick results in weight loss, but it's not sustainable in the long run. Malnourishment can become an issue. You do need fuel to run on, as well as vitamins, minerals... You can't live off air, not for long, anyway, without developing problems. With two out of three macro-nutrients in the dog house, you only would have protein left to feed you, and that alone isn't likely to cut it.

Embrace the bacon. Might as well experiment and see what it gets you, right?