Only for LCHF?

[jack412]

True
But if we are p***ing up the wall, I'm on 1/3 the metformin you are, I'm on a half dose of sitagliptin, to be reduced to 0 shortly, and a half dose of Atoravastatin, and my HbA1c is better then yours.
I'm happy where I am.

you have also lost more weight, lower BMI than me. you missed my edit, I left out that you are very low fat

 

[Daibell]

Hi. There is no doubt that blood sugar with diabetes is increased by carb intake as carbs are converted to glucose and diabetes, by definition, is the inability of the body to handle carbs i.e. glucose properly. It's no coincidence, therefore that most of us find lowering the carbs helps with blood sugar; it also happens to help with weight reduction more so than reducing fat for most of us. Reducing portion sizes helps as it reduces all foods; in particular carbs. Low-GI carbs are always better than high-GI as it smooths blood sugar a bit and possibly less is digested by the body into glucose. As others have said and I have often posted, I never ever use the term LCHF but rather just LC. If you go LC, which for most of us helps, you need to increase the proteins and fats enough to give you the nutrients and energy you need but no more than that. You do not have to stuff yourself with fat! I'm sure the Mediterranean diet is fine and perhaps you are having more fat than you need or you need to move the carbs down a bit more?

 

[Susiespearish]

@jack412 .The LCHF diet is based on sending your body in to Ketosis to burn the fat .I am not prepared to do that under any circumstances so I will need to modify it to my own needs .Clearly douglas has lost a great deal of weight however he is handling his Diabetes and for other health concerns that is more important to me personally .

 

[douglas99]

you have also lost more weight, lower BMI than me. you missed my edit, I left out that you are very low fat

I lost over 4 stone.
About 1/4 of my body weight.
I intend to keep it off, and I have to be honest, it wasn't the easiest thing I've ever done.
It's the best though, and my options for the rest of my life are a lot better.

As I've said all the way through recently, I cant always choose what I eat, and sometimes I have to eat carbs, so I need to keep all my options open, which is why my diet suits me, even if others wouldn't consider it.
My diet isn't my life, it's part of it, so I wouldn't give up my sports, if they wouldn't fit into my diet. My diet fits into my life, and that includes my sport activities.

 

[jack412]

@jack412 .The LCHF diet is based on sending your body in to Ketosis to burn the fat .I am not prepared to do that under any circumstances so I will need to modify it to my own needs .Clearly douglas has lost a great deal of weight however he is handling his Diabetes and for other health concerns that is more important to me personally .

any weight loss involves ketosis and burning fat
LCHF isn't necessarily ketogenic, you have to be very low carb to do that

 

[Susiespearish]

Thank you @Daibell .That is what I've been telling people .Low carb has halved my bg in a very short time and made me take a good hard look at my eating but I DO need weight loss too .We can give it any name but the reality is when you cut out large portions of carbs you should be losing weight so I will continue with it

 

[jack412]

I lost over 4 stone.
About 1/4 of my body weight.
I intend to keep it off, and I have to be honest, it wasn't the easiest thing I've ever done.
It's the best though, and my options for the rest of my life are a lot better.

As Ive said all the way through recently, I cant always choose what I eat, and sometimes I have to eat carbs, so Ii need to keep all my p=options open, which is why my diet suits me

I agree, any of the recognised diets will lose weight and I have said this to you before, you have to do something you can stick to
I'm not the one teasing others and their choices

 

[Loobles]

I think the trick is to find what works for you. Personally, I like the LCHF diet, but I mix it up a bit for a few days if I get bored. Occasionally I get bored, more because of lack of preparation which means I just eat the same foods...boring. I'd be bored if I ate a bacon butty every day so it's nothing to do with LCHF. However, for a change, I sometimes switch to a day of higher carb to allow me to have other food stuffs...obviously my BG suffers, but it's still in accpetable limits. I'll also get a takeaway occasionally, but watch the carbs...it's nice not to have to cook sometimes. I've just created 3 weeks worth of menues (all LCHF), each with a slightly different theme, hoping to keep things interesting.

 

[douglas99]

Hi. There is no doubt that blood sugar with diabetes is increased by carb intake as carbs are converted to glucose and diabetes, by definition, is the inability of the body to handle carbs i.e. glucose properly. It's no coincidence, therefore that most of us find lowering the carbs helps with blood sugar; it also happens to help with weight reduction more so than reducing fat for most of us. Reducing portion sizes helps as it reduces all foods; in particular carbs. Low-GI carbs are always better than high-GI as it smooths blood sugar a bit and possibly less is digested by the body into glucose. As others have said and I have often posted, I never ever use the term LCHF but rather just LC. If you go LC, which for most of us helps, you need to increase the proteins and fats enough to give you the nutrients and energy you need but no more than that. You do not have to stuff yourself with fat! I'm sure the Mediterranean diet is fine and perhaps you are having more fat than you need or you need to move the carbs down a bit more?

I found increasing muscle, and using the muscles, improves glucose intolerance.
Exercise, even a few minutes, providing you increase your heart rate, get out of breath, and raise a sweat, can send your BS down by 2 or 3 points..Nothing complicated, even running up and down stairs for 10 minutes works for me, if there is nothing else to offer.

 

[douglas99]

I think the trick is to find what works for you. Personally, I like the LCHF diet, but I mix it up a bit for a few days if I get bored. Occasionally I get bored, more because of lack of preparation which means I just eat the same foods...boring. I'd be bored if I ate a bacon butty every day so it's nothing to do with LCHF. However, for a change, I sometimes switch to a day of higher carb to allow me to have other food stuffs...obviously my BG suffers, but it's still in accpetable limits. I'll also get a takeaway occasionally, but watch the carbs...it's nice not to have to cook sometimes. I've just created 3 weeks worth of menues (all LCHF), each with a slightly different theme, hoping to keep things interesting.

I tend to go in the opposite direction.
I love food (which is what got me here. )
But if I need to, I can switch into 'staying alive' mode.
So I can live on the same food, (providing it's good, day in, day out)
Won't enjoy it, won't spike me, won't die.
Equally, I can eat rubbish as a one off, won't enjoy it, won't spike me, won't die.
I'll just balance the amount to the scales.

 

[Susiespearish]

I think the trick is to find what works for you. Personally, I like the LCHF diet, but I mix it up a bit for a few days if I get bored. Occasionally I get bored, more because of lack of preparation which means I just eat the same foods...boring. I'd be bored if I ate a bacon butty every day so it's nothing to do with LCHF. However, for a change, I sometimes switch to a day of higher carb to allow me to have other food stuffs...obviously my BG suffers, but it's still in accpetable limits. I'll also get a takeaway occasionally, but watch the carbs...it's nice not to have to cook sometimes. I've just created 3 weeks worth of menues (all LCHF), each with a slightly different theme, hoping to keep things interesting.

Sounds like a good plan Loobles .
I'm not in anyway dissing anyones choices .We are all different and have different health problems that we have to weigh up in our diet plans .I'm very happy to have read such diverse choices from other members .Whatever works for any of us is clearly the right way but it has given me a lot of information if nothing else

 

[douglas99]

Sounds like a good plan Loobles .
I'm not in anyway dissing anyones choices .We are all different and have different health problems that we have to weigh up in our diet plans .I'm very happy to have read such diverse choices from other members .Whatever works for any of us is clearly the right way but it has given me a lot of information if nothing else

Do what I did.
Just nick the best bits of everyone's plan!

 

[Susiespearish]

I agree, any of the recognised diets will lose weight and I have said this to you before, you have to do something you can stick to
I'm not the one teasing others and their choices

I sincerely hope you weren't referring to me with that Jack .In no way was I "teasing" others with their choices .I am merely looking for information for my own personal circumstance and frankly I find you quite rude .

 

[Bluetit1802]

I think it is confusing on these forums when people say they do a LCHF diet. Undoubtedly some do, but I suspect not as many as you may think. The HF is misleading. I certainly don't do high fat. I do low carb for the sake of my blood glucose, but other than eating butter, cheese and yogurt, plus some fried things, I don't have anything else, and nothing in quantity. I don't use cream at all and only added cheese very recently when I reached my goal weight. On low carb/moderate fat/normal protein/portion and calorie controlled I lost 26% of my weight. I stuck to 1200 calories a day and counted them carefully. I have now added back a few things to increase my calories to 1500 or a little more. I have never had ketones as far as I am aware, possibly because I am not as low carb as some. (current average 64g a day)

 

[douglas99]

I think it is confusing on these forums when people say they do a LCHF diet. Undoubtedly some do, but I suspect not as many as you may think. The HF is misleading. I certainly don't do high fat. I do low carb for the sake of my blood glucose, but other than eating butter, cheese and yogurt, plus some fried things, I don't have anything else, and nothing in quantity. I don't use cream at all and only added cheese very recently when I reached my goal weight. On low carb/moderate fat/normal protein/portion and calorie controlled I lost 26% of my weight. I stuck to 1200 calories a day and counted them carefully. I have now added back a few things to increase my calories to 1500 or a little more. I have never had ketones as far as I am aware, possibly because I am not as low carb as some. (current average 64g a day)

Very true.
I was on 800 to 1200 calories a day.
I was described as low carb, simply because I had to be to get the calories down.

 

[Susiespearish]

I think it is confusing on these forums when people say they do a LCHF diet. Undoubtedly some do, but I suspect not as many as you may think. The HF is misleading. I certainly don't do high fat. I do low carb for the sake of my blood glucose, but other than eating butter, cheese and yogurt, plus some fried things, I don't have anything else, and nothing in quantity. I don't use cream at all and only added cheese very recently when I reached my goal weight. On low carb/moderate fat/normal protein/portion and calorie controlled I lost 26% of my weight. I stuck to 1200 calories a day and counted them carefully. I have now added back a few things to increase my calories to 1500 or a little more. I have never had ketones as far as I am aware, possibly because I am not as low carb as some. (current average 64g a day)

Yes I agree Bluetit it can be a little confusing .That's an amazing weight loss and your advice is always sensible .I'm learning so much from the forum .It is quite worrying going against the gp's and generally accepted NHS line so I think I'm wise to ask questions and think about my other health concerns but I'm getting my head around it all and think I've got an idea on what I need to do now that would suit me .

Now if someone could just pop over and gag me as it's that dangerous time of night for me where I just grab !

 

[jack412]

I sincerely hope you weren't referring to me with that Jack .In no way was I "teasing" others with their choices .I am merely looking for information for my own personal circumstance and frankly I find you quite rude .

no I was referring to doug and his teasing of the lchf guys, doug has chosen a very low fat diet, and a very low fat diet will lose weight, generally with a diabetic T2, its a 'healthy plate' style high carb low fat. doug is doing lower carb and low fat, which long term is unsustainable

 

[Harpar]

The term HF is very misleading, for most it doesn't mean eating loads of extra fats, creams, oils etc. my interpretation is that it simply indicates that the natural fat intake which comes from eating whole foods i.e. not throwing away the fat on meat, using butter not marg, simple oil salad dressing, full fat cheese instead of low-fat processed ones, will naturally increase your fat intake above the current government recommended guidelines, hence the title high fat. And don't forget that it isn't just any old fat - steer well clear of pressed vegetable oils - these are best used as machine oils!

Likewise, LC is simply a referral to the fact that your carb intake is again lower the the recommended government guidelines - you will find your own acceptable level.

You could well have been going a bit heavy with the fats if your weight loss has stopped, or maybe still a few too many carbs. The levels that are acceptable to you are when you get the meter readings that you are happy with. LCHF does not have to be ketogetic, this really only happens with those that are extremely low carb, this is not necessarily a goal to be achieved, so don't be put off. Pick and chose the bits that you think will work for you, remembering that you need adequate calorie intake (not excess), and enough protein, but be aware that excess protein can also be converted to glucose! so don't go overboard on that either.

Ask as many questions as you need. Its a juggling act for us all, trying to find the best solutions. Good luck.

 

[forge]

For weight loss all diets and exercise that allow us to lose weight appear equal after 1 year. And why not, if they make us lose weight i.e less in more out.

And after one year on any we should be closing in on a terminal weight.

So weight loss rate is not an issue other than too fast is probably not good (not sure why but probably something to do with maintaining a good metabolism)

So after one year our new status quo should be the same with HF or without HF.

The issue is what diet can we stick to for a whole year.

Not having to count and measure is one thing we could get rid of and another is being bored to death with like food and the third one doug is always on about is being able to eat what is available (but it would be interesting to relate it to how many dive trips per year he actually goes on).

Apparently no matter how we like to think of it at the end of the year it is how many calories we ate and what exercise and activity we did.

We have a status quo then 1 year later we have a new status quo. the difference between the two SQs will always be calorie in /exercise out for the year..

I am on no major carbs I lost 16 kg in 6 months and my weight loss is now stalled. I shall wait and see.

My no major carbs was for BS control and it is still doing the job. Weight loss is a bonus for me.

 

[AndBreathe]

Susie - I would agree with Harpar in her summary that it's a balancing act. I think it's fair to say that the key for most of us has been to reduce our carb intake. How we individually make up the balance of the calories we need in order to function healthily; whether that be to lose or maintain weight, is a matter of personal choice and lifestyle need.

Personally, I couldn't do the HIGH fat bit either. The prospect of bullet-proof coffee or adding fat to everything, just didn't do it for me. I'm fortunate. My body could metabolise those things, but it didn't appeal, and didn't feel like a way of eating that would fit with our household way of life. So, I've experimented and found my own way. Again, I am fortunate that I have always been able to eat some of the carbs others find challenging. I have been able to continue with my jumbo rolled oats, with a little added bran (ahem), and skimmed milk, for breakfast. In a "proper" LCHF world, I would give that up, but I don't have to and as my numbers are fine on it, I won't.

In my observation of you Susie, I observed initially resistance to almost any change; which is where we almost all start, then embracing the LCHF concept to an extent you weren't eating enough, and were constantly hungry? Then you added a bit more fat, and weight loss stalled?

The only thing I will say is, don't throw the baby out with the bath water. Tweak around the edges. Try adding or removing things as you go. Your bloods have improved, although I think you'd agree the numbers could do with being a bit lower still, but that should come. I eat lots of the stuff on the Med diet, but not all of it. I think Douglas suggested looking at a number of diabetic friendly ways of eating; LCHF, Med Diet, Low GI and even calorie controlled by reducing carbs, and highlight what you like in each of them, and see if it's possible to build a plan from there.

You've shown you want to make a difference; it's now just sticking with it, accepting that things don't always go according to Plan A, or B for that matter.

I know you cook for the family. Are you all eating the same things? What sort of feedback do you get from them?

It's not easy. As I've said a million times; if it was, we wouldn't all be here, feeling our ways forward into the next phases of our lives.