NFI diet - 2 week summary

[target6point4]

This is the summary of my general experience after the first two weeks on the NFI diet. This thread is a follow up to this thread.
Here is a list of my fasting sugars for the past 14 days, 1 week at a time:

201 175 161 150 130 130 116
119 114 103 127 113 137 121

I am on 2 x 1000mg Metformin and 12 units of bolus. For the next phase I have discontinued the insulin.

General impressions: From the sixth day on, I have been experiencing regular hypos around lunch. This was one of the factors for dropping the insulin. The diet has around 100g of carbs every day and I have had a small portion of carbs almost every evening. There has been the odd slip up in the diet during the day but the results have been a mixed bag. Having a piece of cake for e.g. has not had any adverse effect on my follow up readings. I have however had a large spike when I chose to have white rice. I guess the portion size also played a role. The diet seems to make it possible for my body to handle decent sized portions of high fiber carbs.

 

[bulkbiker]

Are you measuring ketones at all?
With only 100g of carbs only per day from a diet of veg and nuts you can't be eating much and are probably in ketosis even with the carbs. Any idea what your calorie intake is?

 

[target6point4]

@bulkbiker The carbs from grains, veggied and legumes. I don't have those ketone strips so I am not measuring my ketone levels. I am guessing my calore intake is around 1200 calories a day. Given the foods I am eating though, it does not feel like it. I have been on the Newcastle diet in the past and the tiny portions were a real test of my will power which i eventually failed

 

[bulkbiker]

Please keep up the commentary.. very interested to see what happens when you stop the insulin.

 

[target6point4]

The reason to drop the insulin was a little bit of reading that I could do about the Randle cycle. The idea that the body has to switch between sugar and fat as sources is fascinating. My multiple hypos are probably down to too much insulin in more than one way. Not only is the insulin helping me take up all the sugar but at the same time it is preventing my body from utilising my fat reserves as energy.

Given the complexity of the system, there could be a lot of things that might be wrong. I could be producing excess insulin which prevents me from utilising fat. At the same time, all the fat is preventing other systems from functioning the way they should be. Adding extra insulin to my body makes little sense in this scenario.

I saw a wonderful presentation by Dr. Catherine Crofts about how glucagon also plays an important role in the metabolic cycle and more importantly how it counters insulin and its effects. As a result I plan to add low intensity workouts to my schedule and see what happens.

 

[bulkbiker]

The reason to drop the insulin was a little bit of reading that I could do about the Randle cycle. The idea that the body has to switch between sugar and fat as sources is fascinating. My multiple hypos are probably down to too much insulin in more than one way. Not only is the insulin helping me take up all the sugar but at the same time it is preventing my body from utilising my fat reserves as energy.

Given the complexity of the system, there could be a lot of things that might be wrong. I could be producing excess insulin which prevents me from utilising fat. At the same time, all the fat is preventing other systems from functioning the way they should be. Adding extra insulin to my body makes little sense in this scenario.

I saw a wonderful presentation by Dr. Catherine Crofts about how glucagon also plays an important role in the metabolic cycle and more importantly how it counters insulin and its effects. As a result I plan to add low intensity workouts to my schedule and see what happens.

Hypos are almost always due to an excess of exogenous insulin, certainly in T1 and T2.

As T2's are insulin over producers anyway it has always seemed strange to me that we shove yet more in to "treat" the condition.

Access to fat reserves can be slightly dependent on carbohydrate restriction (at least that's what anyone following a ketogenic diet finds) though so it will be interesting to see if you can lose and maintain weight loss with the amount of carbs you are ingesting.

 

[Oldvatr]

@target6point4 are you ok? You have not posted since the 18th and this thread has gone very quiet.

 

[target6point4]

@Oldvatr Hi, all is well here. I have just been waiting till the next two weeks are up so that I can post my summary again. You will hear from me in about two days.

 

[annmcs]

Loving this post as i am learning a lot. I don't know half the things like Randle cycle etc. I have t2 and was on Metformin for years but Dr has now put me on Gliclazide meds and for the first time in 6yrs i have to take my Bloods twice a day. They go up and down like a yo yo going to try lo carb see how that goes but my problem is night time eating after 8pm

ed. By mod to comply with forum rules on acceptable language

 

[target6point4]

So, my next set of readings is here. I was running low on strips so I did not test before every meal. I did my fasting sugars regularly and checked before lunch only if my fasting sugars were high to make sure that they had come down before lunch.

I have taken a 7 day break from the protocol on account of being lazy but will be back on it starting Friday. Also, the first 14 days were without any Insulin. Pre lunch levels when checked were below 150. Having stopped the Insulin, there was not a single hypo episode. I have lost a kilo in the 4 weeks since I have started. Might not sound much but I was 1,82 and 70,5 kg when I began.

17/9 - 147
18/9 - 134
19/9 - 121
20/9 - 129
21/9 - 169
22/9 - 158
23/9 - 138
24/9 - 133
25/9 - 150
26/9 - 141
27/9 - 180 (Slept only for 5 hours that night, probably a bit stress induced)
28/9 - 142
29/9 - 142
30/9 - 179 (Ate too many carbs the nigt before)
1/10 - 153 (Eating off plan for a week this day on and it shows )
2/10 - 162
3/10 - 147
4/10 - 155
5/10 - 168
6/10 - 172
7/10 - 155