On LCHF from yesterday but still high

I don't know how long it takes, but I would give it at least a week, maybe two. It's discouraging when you don't see results straight away but I think if you can keep up the good work you will see results soon.

I think at the beginning I wouldn't eat the brown rice, butter bean or sweetcorn, I didn't eat anything carby like that as it sent me higher than 7.8 and I am only pre diabetic.

My readings went down virtually straightaway, my aim was not to drift into diabetes and also to keep my levels always below 7.8 even after eating as I have read that if your blood sugar is above this level (over a long period of time) this is when damage occurs in your blood vessels which lead to all the bad side effects.

I stand to be corrected, but testing one hour after a meal is always going to show a big spike. I was advised to test 2 hours after. However, I've only been doing this for a couple of weeks so I'm no expert - just repeating what I've read/been told.

khorlo said:

As from yesterday i started to follow the advice on LCHF given in this guide http://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/threads/a-new-low-carb-guide-for-beginners.68695/.

My food yesterday only had around 55 grams of carbs in it (100 grams of brown rice, 80 grams of butter beans 50g of sweetcorn, 4 tomatoes) and the rest was dairy, greens and chicken and no fruit at all.
Based on this, my BS levels were in the 8's and 9's.

This morning at 9 i had a salad where the only carb was 40 g of sweetcorn a tomatoe and that is about around 6 carbs
An hour after, i checked the BS levels and it was 12.6 mmol
I have no idea what is going on.

How low do i have to go in carbs intake to be at 6 or bellow 6 mmol?
Or does it take weeks and months for the LCHF diet to work and reduce the sugar levels?

Click to expand...

Hi Khorlo,

Great that you are asking questions, lots of people will come around to give you advice and help, keep reading and keep asking.

Not all people reacts the same way to all carbohydrates. Neither is the low carb approach a quick fix, it can take some time.

I find that what worked for me was eat to my meter and to try each carb separately and see what my BG is before and after eating it, that way I can see that for me eating white bread is not the same as eating boiled sweet potato.

Some people can tolerate larger amounts of carbs than others, personally, for me, what you are describing as what you ate yesterday would have been very high carb (for me) and would have given me high BGs.

In any case, it takes some time and adjustment to bring down the BGs to the 6's and lower while low carbing, but it is possible, I managed to bring my down from 24.6 to 4.7 in about a month but everyone is different and it will also depend on how much carb your body can tolerate.

khorlo said:

So you're not having any carbs at all?
Can people survive like that ?

Click to expand...

I still had carbs, for breakfast I used to have egg and mushrooms, or plain soya yoghurt and berries.
For lunch I used to have a massive salad with some meat or fish, then some nuts, or home made soup with non carby veg.
Then dinner fish and loads of veg, or roast with no potatoes just loads of veg, or a curry with no rice just veg instead.
I would allow myself two pieces of 90% chocolate a day, and a dash of milk in tea and coffee.
I still had red wine. Never added up the carbs but there were still quite a few in that diet, but low enough to keep my blood sugar down. Five years down the line I eat a few more carbs, but am still very strict, my fear of diabetic complications keeps me on the straight and narrow!!!
And others have said test before and after you eat, we are all different, I would rather not have such a low carb diet but even a tablespoon of chick peas sent my blood glucose too high, testing enables you to find what you can eat without raising your blood glucose to high.

khorlo said:

So you're not having any carbs at all?
Can people survive like that ?

Click to expand...

You will find that some people in the forum can eat more carbs than others, and that different people react differently to different carbs. Some take medicines, some don't, some are overweight, some are not, it all makes a difference.

I eat less the 50grms of carbs a day and my BGs range between 4-5 when I stick to it.

The fluctuation you see in BGs can happen as your body adapts to your new eating style. The fact that you got a BG 12 doesn't necessarily mean you did something wrong in your breakfast or that you ate too many carbs. Some people, like me, can see a rise of the BG in the morning, others in the late afternoon, it varies. Do you have any weight to lose? That also affects how your BGs will change over time. Be patient and positive, you are in a great place for getting help and support

khorlo said:

As from yesterday i started to follow the advice on LCHF given in this guide http://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/threads/a-new-low-carb-guide-for-beginners.68695/.

My food yesterday only had around 55 grams of carbs in it (100 grams of brown rice, 80 grams of butter beans 50g of sweetcorn, 4 tomatoes) and the rest was dairy, greens and chicken and no fruit at all.
Based on this, my BS levels were in the 8's and 9's.

This morning at 9 i had a salad where the only carb was 40 g of sweetcorn a tomatoe and that is about around 6 carbs
An hour after, i checked the BS levels and it was 12.6 mmol
I have no idea what is going on.

How low do i have to go in carbs intake to be at 6 or bellow 6 mmol?
Or does it take weeks and months for the LCHF diet to work and reduce the sugar levels?

Click to expand...

Hi khorlo. Remember that most dairy contains carbs too. A glass of milk contains about 10 to 12 grams. I still drink some (full fat) milk each day, I just make sure I count it as part of my carbs (and I actually take it in preference to grains).

Also, your body can convert excess dietary protein into glucose. So you may be making the mistake of avoiding fat too much, and that can make it difficult. Personally I had a hard time getting my head around this as well. I had firm ideas about what was healthy and what was not, and was also eating quiet similarly to what you've described but still having problems with BG levels.

For me the break though was just getting my head around the idea that I had replace carbs with fat, and not extra protein or other mythical "good" carbs - just more fat.

I completely removed grains in the beginning, and increased my intake of low carb vegetables like cauliflower and eggplant. Those two in particular are fantastic at replacing the "bulk" and fibre in your diet when you remove stuff like rice and pasta, they're basically my "staples" now. However, gram for gram they have a LOT less calories compared to grains, so I go out of my way to increase my fat intake to compensate. I know it sounds weird but it has really worked for me. I've lost some weight (without going hungry) and am definitely feeling better on this diet.

After several months on this diet I've found that I can now include a bit more carbs without spiking my BG levels, so there might even be a partial reversal of my diabetes happening. This means I now include a little more fruit and sometimes a small amount of grains, but I'm still sticking largely to LCHF because I've grown to like it and enjoy what I eat.

khorlo said:

So you're not having any carbs at all?
Can people survive like that ?

Click to expand...

I don't eat any carbs. To be more precise, I don't eat any plants or food made from plants, except some spices. Yes, people can survive like that. There are some communities of Inuit that survived for thousands of years without eating any plants. Not that I'm recommending it to anyone, but you can research it on-line by googling "zero carb" or "meat only diet".

khorlo said:

So are you not eating any dairy then

Click to expand...

No, I'm just reminding you that you may be missing some carbs in your count. It's easy to do. I've edited my previous post to make it clear that I don't shun dairy, I just make sure I count those carbs too.

And how do you replace the carbs with fat without using any protein ?

Click to expand...

I still get plenty of protein. I'm just being careful to replace the calories lost from carbs with more from fat instead of more from protein.

Give me some examples.

Click to expand...

Your own examples below are right on target.

I don't trim any fat off my meat. I have butter with my vegetables etc. I avoid most thing that are marked as "low" or "reduced" fat.

I know of saturated fats which can be found in

• fatty cuts of meat
• meat products, including sausages and pies
• butter, ghee and lard
• cheese, especially hard cheese
• cream, soured cream and ice cream
• palm oil

and some monounsaturated found in plants and nuts:

• olive oil, rapeseed oil and their spreads
• avocados
• some nuts, such as almonds, brazils and peanuts..

Click to expand...

khorlo said:

So what exactly do you eat?
Sorry for being direct.
But are we not in danger of entering breatharianism teritory https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inedia ?

Click to expand...

Yes, it goes against "common sense" and "conventional wisdom" and the NHS "healthy" plate. Mostly I eat bacon and eggs for breakfast and rib-eye steaks for lunch and dinner. There are no nutrients in plants that are necessary for optimal health that aren't in meat. As I mentioned, there are Inuit communities that thrived on a plant-free diet for generations. It was after they were introduced to a western diet that the health of these communities plummeted. Anyway, if you don't think it's a good idea than don't try it. It works for me and many other people and I am very healthy.