Thanks to everyone who wrote on this. By way of explanation I should add that all my medical advisers tell me that my problems are largely caused by obesity and losing weight has to be a priority. That is a family inheritance made much worse in the last six years when I went on to insulin and then got into an 'insulin--weight increase spiral.' It seemed hopeless and getting ever worse. Early this summer I was offered bariatric surgery but did not fancy that option. That is the background to my going LC and the results have been better than I anticipated. Actually I knew from successful dieting earlier in my life -- and reading the works of John Yudkin -- that control of carbohydrates worked but during the decade and a half I have had diabetes the line that 'you must have some carbohydrates' had sunk into me. That was about all that did sink in. Diabetic education was minimal as was monitoring of blood sugar. When my sugar levels soared above 12.0 two years ago, my GP simply said 'If your blood sugar carries on at this level, your eyesight will be affected.' No changes in my medication and dosage were even suggested. I did not know this site and was desperate. No one seemed available to advise me. A couple of months later I had a heart attack while travelling in Europe. It was investigated a lot more than in the UK (I think) and it seems my arteries are in pretty good order. (Thanks to years of statins? That was the result of good advice by an earlier GP.) My insulin levels (already raised sharply not by my UK doctor but another I consulted while travelling) were raised further -- and two or three weeks later, I was down to 5s and even 4s (and having to watch out again for hypos.) And there, thanks to control of my diet, they have remained, (4.8 yesterday 4.7 this morning.) But the weight was still getting worse. Then I read up on "The Bitter Truth about Sugar" and similar sites, discovered this site, and though at first I had no idea about how to bring down my carbohydrates further (I had cut most of them out already but didn't realise the high sugar content of fruit of which I am very fond and which the dieticians did not warn me against), I recorded everything on FatSecret-- and voila! The weight peeled away and though the curve has flattened, it is still doing so.
I do get on well with all my health professionals though I do find it disturbing that they are confined to repeating NHS guidelines--and going for cost cuts on consultants. When a kidney consultant recommended I see a diabetic consultant, my GP vetoed the idea. I accidentally met the diabetic nurse in the local hospital and she gave me good advice on insulin dosage and when I consulted her about this, did not oppose me. Insulin intake has plummeted (despite the stable low levels of blood sugar) from 40 Lantus and 3x18 Novorapid to simply 11 Lantus each day. (Each time I make a big cut, I consult the diabetic nurse first.) She anticipates that if things carry on like this, I will not need insulin much longer. (That isn't the whole story, for the last six months I have been taking 2 x Metformin a day.)
So after all that, it was a bit of a shock to get a phone call this from a dietician nurse I have never even spoken to before, enquiring whether I am looking after my nutrition properly and sending me instructions to raise my carbohydrate intake. (She had been reading up the notes on my conversation with her colleague a week or two back informating her that I was on an LC diet.)
To be fair to my present GP (whom I have informed in detail about the diet) I don't think he will press this issue, and since I am clearly doing better than I was at the beginning of the summer, let alone a year or two years ago, I guess he won't be alone.
Yes of course I do wonder if there might be a downside to a low carbohydrate diet and scan the web for possible evidence, though I haven't found any so far or nothing that begins to compare to the previous risks and costs of my obesity. I had 24g of carbs yesterday and usually stay well below 40g. But it seems to me that the immediate benefits of losing 13 kg and being set to lose a good deal more, painlessly, and of tight blood sugar control (Hba1c was 5.1 in May even before the start of the diet thanks to measures I had already taken in avoiding starches) outweigh any risks I turn out have several neighbours who turn out to be long term LC diet followers, as far as I can see the results are good.
Yet turn to Wikipedia and you will see that the information there is all slanted against low carb diets: "results minimal or unproven." The Atkins diet (of which I disapprove) is dismissed as a just 'fad diet' which is clearly a silly over-simplification and ignores the components of it which actually do operate and need to be understood. This is suppressing debate and understanding rather than assisting it. (And it would help if British nutrition academics would share with us the reasons why their consensus differs so sharply from that which is emerging among most of their American colleagues.)
The biggest hazard of low carb dieting seems to be turning into a low carb bore who can talk about nothing else. Apologies if the posting above is a symptom of this. And thanks again for all the useful replies.
