Newly Diagnosed Type 2 - LCHF Diet

As I have only seen numbers going down when eating a low carb diet, I can only assume that the dire warnings about fat do not apply to me. My triglyceride level was 2 mmol/l after almost 3 months on low carb and 1.5 at 6 months, so 'all that fat' is not putting up my levels. My blood pressure is perfect, I have lost weight and my BG readings are normal so I could not have a better result - but I had a very bad reaction to Metformin and a statin, so I do without them and seem to get along just fine.

It's carbs that result in high triglyceride levels, not fat.

In your place I would avoid the statins also, my surgery tried to push these on me, now several years later my cholesterol (every measure) is better than pre-diagnosis (surgery's do get paid for dishing out statins). Although LCHF has "high fat" within the description, this is relative to carbohydrates; there is no requirement to over do this.

The aim is to get fat adapted so that your body looks at your fat stores and easily burns these in place of carbs. So for fats I would do around a matchbox size of cheese, cook in butter, olive oil (not too high a temperature) and coconut oil, maybe eat half an avocado with meals, eat oily fish 2 to 3 times a week and eat a mixture of nuts and seeds - there's plenty of healthy fats. Just as a heads up your cholesterol is likely to go high whilst you lose weight so may take around a year to stabilise, depends if you are what is called a hyper-responder. The trigs are related to carb ingestion, a good way to lower this is with exercise, some walking and some weights.

When your Trigs were tested, had you fasted for 10 hours at least? It is important to fast before a cholesterol test, even though your surgery may tell you it isn't necessary. If you don't fast your trigs are likely to be higher.

Metformin is a very mild drug and only helps to a very limited extent, so don't rely on it to make a great deal of difference to your levels. A low carb diet will do that. It can take a while for levels to come down. The fewer carbs you eat the quicker they will drop.

Are you only testing your BG in the morning? Is that when you are in double figures? Morning fasting is very deceptive. It is not a reliable way to see how you are doing because there are too many other factors that come in play (nothing to do with food) and over which we have very little control. If you have insulin resistance (which most T2s have) then you are likely to get liver dumps in the mornings. This is when your hormones think you have insufficient glucose in your cells for the energy needed to get up and start the day. So the liver dumps glucose from its stores into your blood stream but your insulin is unable to push it into your cells because the cells have become resistant to insulin. This means we can have elevated glucose levels when this happens. It is called Dawn Phenomenon. (although it can happen at any time of day, not just at dawn!)

It is a better plan to test before you eat and again 2 hours after first bite. This will give you a much better idea of what is happening, and will also show you whether your food choices are OK or not OK. At the 2 hour mark your levels should be less than 2mmol/l higher than they were before you ate, and preferably a lot less than that. More than 2mmol/l and there were too many carbs in that meal. If you also keep a food diary including portion sizes and record your levels alongside, you will soon see which foods your body isn't coping with and be able to either eliminate some or reduce the portion size.

mazza 2 said:

Hi Everyone

I was diagnosed Type 2 just over a week ago. It was quite a shock to be honest. I am just beginning to get my head around things, it's such a life changing event which affects not just me, but my husband too. Probably feeling a little sorry for myself lol. Anyway my results were as follows: Alc - 76mmoL (9.1) blood glucose - 14.4 and triglycerides - 6.16mmol. I have been on the low carb/high fat diet for the last 7 days and have lost 5lbs, my weight now is 8st 11lbs. I am determined to try and get my sugar levels down as soon as possible although they are still over 10 most of the time. I take one metformin per day but only been on them for 2 days so far. I wanted to ask about my trig levels. They are high as you can see and the diet says about eating cream, cheese and other satuated fats. Will that not increase my trig levels? The doctor wants me to go on statins from next week, but I really don't want to take them. My blood pressure is high at the moment and I have to take a tablet for that so I don't want to take anymore. Has anyone got any advice as to whether this diet will decrease my trig level.
I'm sorry if this post is a little all over the place but it's my first post and I'm not great at expressing myself in words.
Thanks
Mazza2

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You are fab at expressing yourself for starters. Have they said you are a definite type 2? My profile to begin with was similar to yours (my trigs were 0.5 though) and because I was slim/had a very high A1c and bg, they automatically did further tests. I know of course, that being slim does not mean you are not type 2 but I was told that that was cause for further tests at least. Maybe that's why your glucose levels won't come down (though again I know this can take a while).

mazza 2 said:

I'll be having another blood test at the end of March. Do you think that will be enough time for the diet to reflect better readings or am I being to impatient.

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So that is nearly two months from now. When diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes a year ago, it was a huge shock (just like it was for you). My A1c was 67 (8.3%). Yours, at diagnosis, was in about the same ballpark at 76 (9.1%). I went on a low-carb diet, no drugs -- see signature below for details. Two and a half months later my A1c was "non diabetic" at 37 (5.5%). It eventually settled at 30 (4.9%) a few months later. No, I do not think you are being too impatient although we are all different. We can only report from our own experience. Good luck!

My Hba1c went from 91 to 47 in just about 80 days eating low carb, so you should see a significant change, with any luck, though I was fairly strict with my carb intake and once I had a meter I tried to stay below 8mmol/l after meals.

mazza 2 said:

It's great to see you have all done well on this diet. My results were from a fasting blood test. On waking my BG was 9.8. For breakfast I had half a protein roll (lots of people have said it was good for them on this site and I haven't had bread for days) with a fried egg in olive oil. 2 hours later my BG was 11.8. I had half an avocado for lunch at 1pm and at 2pm my BG is 10.2, so they are coming down but not enough. Anyway, I'll keep it up, thanks for all your help, such lovely people.

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I suggest that your liver was still dumping when you had breakfast, which would explain the relatively large rise for half a HP roll. A combination of liver dump and carbs, even though the carbs were slightly less than 5g. You can't differentiate between the two. A plan that may work (it works for me) is no carbs at breakfast, just something fatty such as at least 2 eggs (cooked any which way) or some cheese, or cold meats. Anything with no carbs to speak of. The fat is likely to stop the liver dump in its tracks, and best if eaten as soon as possible after getting up and before getting dressed etc. You could try it and see. My choice is just a coffee with double cream. No food. You could then have your roll at lunch time.

mazza 2 said:

Well, this morning by BG was 9.1. I had breakfast - 1 fried egg in olive oil, 1 grilled tomato and 2 grilled rashers of bacon and 2 cups of tea with a little semi-skimmed milk and 2.5 hours later my BG was 11.7. I did housework in-between so don't know why it's gone higher. Still, on another note it's my husband's birthday next week and I was going to ask what is the best non-alcoholic drink to have. I'm not ready to start the alcohol as I'm on metformin and it's early days for me. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

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It looks very like your liver is being over enthusiastic, and the housework would definitely not have helped me. Housework raises my levels no matter when I do it, but it is always worse in the mornings. (great excuse not to do any!).

Keep experimenting with different things keeping the carbs to as near zero as you can and upping the fat. A coffee with cream may have been a better choice than your tea, and try to avoid housework in that 2 hour period..... see what happens.

What sort of non-alcoholic drinks do you like?

mazza 2 said:

Thanks for that. The reason I'm a little concerned about cream etc is because my trig levels are quite high and I'm worried they might go higher, or is this not the case? Confused lol. I'll forget about the housework for a while!! As for drinks I was thinking of something which isn't too high in sugar or carbs. I like lime and soda but don't know if that is good for the diet? I'm not too fussy as I like most soft drinks, (I'll have to get drunk on the atmosphere this time though lol) Thanks

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I am not a soft drink lover, but when I do fancy one I have a Robinsons sugar free cordial, diluted with water as per the instructions on the bottle. I haven't tried it, but it may be just as nice with soda water if you prefer fizzy. They are very low carb. The pub/restaurant may well have sugar free soft drinks - you could ring and ask? I was also a lime and soda drinker when in a pub and the nominated driver. The lime they serve in pubs and restaurants is full of sugar so I would avoid that. Then there is sugar free coke but you would need to make sure it was in a bottle rather than from an optic. Sorry, I'm not an expert. I stick to wine myself!

I think the most reliable evidence is that it is the carbohydrates that make your trigs high. While you are adjusting and losing weight your cholesterol may go up but for most people it settles down over time. I eat eggs, mushrooms and spinach for breakfast cooked in live oil and a bit of butter. I walk after to lunch to lower my levels which works for me. Food like avocado tends to slow down the absorption of what you eat with it. have you looked at the diet doctor website. I find their information about low carb invaluable. You are doing well as it is very early days for you and your body (and your brain!) has a lot to adjust to. If you keep going you are likely to see your HbA1C come down in 3 months. I wouldn't worry about cholesterol until your weight stabilises and your body adapts to burning fat rather than carbs. I am now nearly 2 years eating low carb and I feel great so for me it has really been worth it.

Hello, I am just about to begin on low carb diet. To be honest, I did wonder if it was another fashionable fad diet. I have been told by my surgery that modern thinking says only test if you really need to so I can only have three tubs of testing strips per year, and my reading this morning was 9.3. I am going to have to do something!

Gadabout said:

Hello, I am just about to begin on low carb diet. To be honest, I did wonder if it was another fashionable fad diet. I have been told by my surgery that modern thinking says only test if you really need to so I can only have three tubs of testing strips per year, and my reading this morning was 9.3. I am going to have to do something!

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Low carb diets have been going for many, many years. Before insulin was available a low carb diet was all diabetic had, and it was prescribed for them. There are many books about it dating back to the 1800's. So not a fad! My advice is to ignore what you have been told about testing, buy a meter that has cheap strips such as the Codefree or Tee2, and use this to show you at a glance what your meals do to your levels, enabling you to tweak them according to how your body reacts. Good luck!