Paleo/I Quit Sugar/Sugar Free Diets

I consider my diet to be a Primal (ie some dairy allowed), low carb version of Paleo - all pretty similar in many ways. I eat mostly whole foods, no added sugars, no grains, minimally processed with as few ingredients as possible. If you're looking for recipes, you might look into the latest CSIRO published low carb diet book. Pete Evans' Paleo recipes books would probably work as well.

I also don't consider my diet high fat, except in percentage terms. I eat the fat that naturally comes with meat or fish, I eat full fat version yoghurt, butter, cream, cheese, etc., I don't go out of my way to add additional fat to my diet.

I'd be very surprised if your cholesterol is higher than mine (see below), but since I'm still alive, I'm not bothered by it and refuse to be treated for "risk factors". Statins - no way, Jose. Being alive is a risk factor for death after all

Indy51 said:

I consider my diet to be a Primal (ie some dairy allowed), low carb version of Paleo - all pretty similar in many ways. I eat mostly whole foods, no added sugars, no grains, minimally processed with as few ingredients as possible. If you're looking for recipes, you might look into the latest CSIRO published low carb diet book. Pete Evans' Paleo recipes books would probably work as well.

I also don't consider my diet high fat, except in percentage terms. I eat the fat that naturally comes with meat or fish, I eat full fat version yoghurt, butter, cream, cheese, etc., I don't go out of my way to add additional fat to my diet.

I'd be very surprised if your cholesterol is higher than mine (see below), but since I'm still alive, I'm not bothered by it and refuse to be treated for "risk factors". Statins - no way, Jose. Being alive is a risk factor for death after all

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Your figures seem to fit rather well with the " hyper responders" cholesterol theory
http://cholesterolcode.com/are-you-a-lean-mass-hyper-responder/

MRSROK said:

Thanks Indy51

Yeah that's what I was thinking about Pete Evans, Lola Berry and the likes......I was looking at a Diabetes cookbook in Target today and some of the recipes were 42g carbs in 100g! WOW!!

So it got me thinking about what cookbooks would be good to get. I'm pretty good at working out what is good for me as I actually teach kids how to cook healthily and I am a Health Promotion Officer. Some things are just in the grey area for me at the moment like recipes which have quinoa and pumpkin and other stuff I'd think was high carb.

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One of the best things about living in Oz is that we get access to glucometers and low cost strips for at least 6 months after diagnosis. Following the 'eat to your meter' method is a great way of working out how many carbs you can have at each meal (I initially found breakfast had to be the lowest carb). I usually try to stay between 25g-35g per meal these days. If you haven't already run across this method, this link explains it pretty well:

http://www.phlaunt.com/diabetes/14045524.php (except that I included a pre-meal level as if you don't, you don't really know how much the meal has raised your BG in total)

The only grain I eat (rarely) is rice, either white or wild or occasional buckwheat crackers - but like you, the amount of carbs per 100g puts me right off. Same with potatoes. Keeping to Paleo principles is pretty easy, really. I occasionally eat legumes, but they don't feature as regular foods, except for peanuts. I don't think I've ever eaten quinoa (I went low carb before it became the latest and greatest "superfood").

Way to find out what suits you is to test - I find pumpkin works well for me (under 100g per serve), likewise sweet potatoes. I prefer them to regular potatoes anyway.

Sorry I was a bit facetious re. the cholesterol, but there are too many political influences on food guidelines and cholesterol for me to buy into the whole "cholesterol is dangerous" story. Higher cholesterol seems to have a protective factor for post-menopausal women and I find that quite reassuring

CherryAA said:

Your figures seem to fit rather well with the " hyper responders" cholesterol theory
http://cholesterolcode.com/are-you-a-lean-mass-hyper-responder/

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Yep, though it's not because I'm lean - my eyes and the pinch test tell me I have quite a bit of body fat. I'm also not an athetic type. So I don't fit @DaveKeto's theory about the lean mass hyper-responders.

I personally think it's genetic - I was a lot more reassured when I saw the number of SNPs I have for high cholesterol (especially HDL) in my DNA analysis. My HDL levels have been higher than average for years - even in the years when I was still smoking, drinking, fatter, thinner, high carb, low carb, low fat, high sugar, etc. It's gone higher since LCHF, but so have most of the other measurements - except for trigs which have gone way down and the trigs/HDL ratio which is very low now - thankfully!

I'll try the high saturated fat diet for 3 days before my next lipid test. Should be interesting to see if it lowers my LDL.

CherryAA said:

Your figures seem to fit rather well with the " hyper responders" cholesterol theory
http://cholesterolcode.com/are-you-a-lean-mass-hyper-responder/

Click to expand...

Hi,

Just tagging in @CathP because I think the quoted link may be of interest to her, especially the last paragraph.

MRSROK said:

but not much in the way of diabetic specific.

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The more I read on this forum (and more), confirms my belief that there is no such thing as a diabetic specific diet.
The target is not to raise your BG too high and that is something which is personal.

Sure, there are diabetic sweets. diabetic chocolate and, I think I have seen, diabetic jam. However, I have never read anything good about these: they don't taste great, they work as a laxative and they encourage us to develop/maintain a taste for sweet things.

So, to the original question about diabetic specific diet, there isn't one. A low carb diet seems to be preferred by people of this forum and seems to work for them.

Brunneria said:

Hi,

Just tagging in @CathP because I think the quoted link may be of interest to her, especially the last paragraph.

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Thanks @Brunneria , very interesting, and I think my daughter is one of the three children mentioned! It seems likely she's a hyper responder, as recent blood tests show neither my husband or I have elevated cholesterol. We're still waiting to hear the thoughts of her lipid consultant though. I think he's probably confused by the result as they were convinced it's FH.

MRSROK said:

Thanks Indy51

Yeah that's what I was thinking about Pete Evans, Lola Berry and the likes......I was looking at a Diabetes cookbook in Target today and some of the recipes were 42g carbs in 100g! WOW!!

So it got me thinking about what cookbooks would be good to get. I'm pretty good at working out what is good for me as I actually teach kids how to cook healthily and I am a Health Promotion Officer. Some things are just in the grey area for me at the moment like recipes which have quinoa and pumpkin and other stuff I'd think was high carb.

Click to expand...

Hopefully you have a blood glucose meter and test to see what causes you to spike? A lot of us keep a food and blood sugar readings diary so can see the effect of various foods on our blood sugar levels. Obviously things that cause spikes are best avoided...! Some people can eat foods that cause high spike in others so its generally a case of try it and see when eating carbs. I make it easier for myself by only having above ground veg these days so don't really worry so much.

I eat a low carb paleo diet. Paleo cook books are good but just leave the starches and sugars off ( like honey or whatever they allow) I don't follow recipes, I just make my Whole Foods simple with herbs and spices. If there is a low carb recipe I'm interested in I just tweak it if it's has sugars, starches or anything that raises my bs.

Like @Indy51 I eat a high fat diet percentage wise but don't add additional fat just for eating more fat. I eat fatty fish ( salmon and tuna) with mayo but I don't gob it. I eat an avocado every day, the bigger the better. I use mayo & olive oil. (I just started making my own mayo again with macadamia oil ) and I can make different flavored aoli with it. Although you can do that with regular.
I do trim visible fat off lamb and beef. I eat poultry but not the skin and use no additional fat to cook.

As far as cholesterol, many find eating a higher plant fat vs animal fat diet straightens that out. Fats like avocado , olive oil, olives, some nuts and seeds rather than dairy ( cheese, butter, cream, yogurt) and animal fats.

Avocado and minimizing fatty meats and dairy straightened my cholesterol right out