I posted this on another forum, but it seems fairly dead and full of spam.
Hi, Im new to this forum, and I guess Keto/lchf as well and I'm struggling a lot. I will state that I am 27 year old Canadian, and ftm transgender (no medication/horomone treatment) I know its much harder for females on keot, from what I've read, and I know biology matters for stuff like this. I live with my husband, so that's who I mean when I saw 'we'.
Sorry for the somewhat long story, but the background info is a bit needed;
I cannot eat gluten, and I have severe allergic reactions to sweeteners (I only seem to be able to consume stevia, but i HATE the taste and it makes me feel like vomiting) So we were someone low carb to begin with, not low sugar. We'd down candy and soda like mad. But we almost never ate potatoes and GF food is expensive so we'd avoid it.
I grew up on a mostly soda/pop diet (I'd drink upwards of 4 l a day, sometimes 10 or 12 litres), and food was used as a punishment for me (would be taken away) and I grew up around a ton of teenage boys and meal times would be a fight (grab what you could, if you didnt eat fast/protect your food it was taken off your plate). I have a HUGE issue with cutting back on foods because of this. Eliminating foods, even slightly, throws me in to massive panic attacks. The soda was from ages 11 to, lets say 17, then diet sodas for a few years, then I was off for good for about a year, and went back on normal soda after noticing diet sent me in to anaphylaxis.
I believe I have been diabetic since I was a child, due to the symptoms, but I was never taken to a doctor until I was an adult. My sugars regularly were over 25, even fasting.
My husband and I tried to start Keto on Jan 1st, and I found it MUCH too cut back, and it just stressed me out and we had to switch to lchf without counting anything.
We decided to do it because every time I stopped eating carbs for a bit, my symptoms would get better, and he's overweight and has a skin rash that nothing seems to take care of, and a lot of joint pains, but is on a wait list for a doctor. (He's losing weight and his rash and pains are clearing up, yay!)
My sugars yesterday were 11.6 after eating. (12.6 this morning after getting up, 'dawn effect? or whatever its called?") My sugar/diabetes symptoms are clearing up as well! I am not medicated for it, and never have been, and I dont plan to.
I know I am not ready to count macros, or be extremely strict. Even today, thinking about everything just threw me in to a bad panic attack. So, here's a few things Im worrying about;
Am I eating enough?
I very rarely hungry. I get up between 11am and 2pm, and dont eat for at least 2 hours. I try not to eat passed midnight or 1am (we usually go to bed at 2 or 3am, sometimes later) Sometimes we just have a large salad. Im worried Im getting TOO LITTLE calories?
I snack a lot too, should I cut that out? (almond single serve pack, 2 net carbs, or pepperoni sticks/jerky single serves, both 2 carbs. or deli meats and cheese.) We just eat when we're hungry, and its often not a 'meal'. I've never eaten set meal times, and neither of us can eat when we wake (we get really upset tummies).
Too much meat?
When we do eat, it's usually meat. I cannot eat fish, except canned tuna with mayo. I've been pushing veggies lately, but its always with meat. I dont really like eggs except fried, and sometimes egg salad.
Not enough fat?
Im poor, really poor. 700$ a month total poor, so buying things like avocados (usually $2 a pop) or coconut oil ($25) is out of the question. We eat a lot of cheese and cream (half and half or table, heavy/whipping/35% is $7) We make a 'bread' with cheese and egg, and eat that quite often. (1 and 1/4 cup cheese, 1 egg, garlic powder, and parm cheese (kraft powdered))
Im cutting back on the cream; I usually get 3 cream in my teas (peppermint). Ive cut back drastically on coffee because I found it now gives me headache, and it didnt do this before Keto/lchf.
We walk quite a lot, maybe 3/4 days of the week, like shopping malls or walking around town, completed sedetary on weekends because it's my work days/desk job. I plan on swimming in the summer.
The only thing I thought might help is adding a spoon of coconut oil to my tea that I make at home (I usually have 1-5 cups of peppermint with cream a day) Im cutting back on the cream, my cup right now is 'black'. Which could up my fats and help with snacking? Would it be wise to do this whenever Im going to grab a snack? I feel the snacking is more part of my eating disorder and that Im not actually hungry.
I'll also say that my doctor approves of this diet, and I am waiting on a referral to a dietician (but Ive already seen a diabetes dietician around 18, and they told me to eat fruits and brown bread... /: ). I will, hopefully, have a referral to a phych to work through the eating issues and my anxiety and hopefully, eventually, counting macro and stuff will no longer stress me out to the point of breakdowns, but for now I guess I just need tips to help until then. The goal is basically just to lower my sugars, even though I am over weight, I am OK if I dont lose any, so weight loss isnt the primary goal here.
Hi, Im new to this forum, and I guess Keto/lchf as well and I'm struggling a lot. I will state that I am 27 year old Canadian, and ftm transgender (no medication/horomone treatment) I know its much harder for females on keot, from what I've read, and I know biology matters for stuff like this. I live with my husband, so that's who I mean when I saw 'we'.
Sorry for the somewhat long story, but the background info is a bit needed;
I cannot eat gluten, and I have severe allergic reactions to sweeteners (I only seem to be able to consume stevia, but i HATE the taste and it makes me feel like vomiting) So we were someone low carb to begin with, not low sugar. We'd down candy and soda like mad. But we almost never ate potatoes and GF food is expensive so we'd avoid it.
I grew up on a mostly soda/pop diet (I'd drink upwards of 4 l a day, sometimes 10 or 12 litres), and food was used as a punishment for me (would be taken away) and I grew up around a ton of teenage boys and meal times would be a fight (grab what you could, if you didnt eat fast/protect your food it was taken off your plate). I have a HUGE issue with cutting back on foods because of this. Eliminating foods, even slightly, throws me in to massive panic attacks. The soda was from ages 11 to, lets say 17, then diet sodas for a few years, then I was off for good for about a year, and went back on normal soda after noticing diet sent me in to anaphylaxis.
I believe I have been diabetic since I was a child, due to the symptoms, but I was never taken to a doctor until I was an adult. My sugars regularly were over 25, even fasting.
My husband and I tried to start Keto on Jan 1st, and I found it MUCH too cut back, and it just stressed me out and we had to switch to lchf without counting anything.
We decided to do it because every time I stopped eating carbs for a bit, my symptoms would get better, and he's overweight and has a skin rash that nothing seems to take care of, and a lot of joint pains, but is on a wait list for a doctor. (He's losing weight and his rash and pains are clearing up, yay!)
My sugars yesterday were 11.6 after eating. (12.6 this morning after getting up, 'dawn effect? or whatever its called?") My sugar/diabetes symptoms are clearing up as well! I am not medicated for it, and never have been, and I dont plan to.
I know I am not ready to count macros, or be extremely strict. Even today, thinking about everything just threw me in to a bad panic attack. So, here's a few things Im worrying about;
Am I eating enough?
I very rarely hungry. I get up between 11am and 2pm, and dont eat for at least 2 hours. I try not to eat passed midnight or 1am (we usually go to bed at 2 or 3am, sometimes later) Sometimes we just have a large salad. Im worried Im getting TOO LITTLE calories?
I snack a lot too, should I cut that out? (almond single serve pack, 2 net carbs, or pepperoni sticks/jerky single serves, both 2 carbs. or deli meats and cheese.) We just eat when we're hungry, and its often not a 'meal'. I've never eaten set meal times, and neither of us can eat when we wake (we get really upset tummies).
Too much meat?
When we do eat, it's usually meat. I cannot eat fish, except canned tuna with mayo. I've been pushing veggies lately, but its always with meat. I dont really like eggs except fried, and sometimes egg salad.
Not enough fat?
Im poor, really poor. 700$ a month total poor, so buying things like avocados (usually $2 a pop) or coconut oil ($25) is out of the question. We eat a lot of cheese and cream (half and half or table, heavy/whipping/35% is $7) We make a 'bread' with cheese and egg, and eat that quite often. (1 and 1/4 cup cheese, 1 egg, garlic powder, and parm cheese (kraft powdered))
Im cutting back on the cream; I usually get 3 cream in my teas (peppermint). Ive cut back drastically on coffee because I found it now gives me headache, and it didnt do this before Keto/lchf.
We walk quite a lot, maybe 3/4 days of the week, like shopping malls or walking around town, completed sedetary on weekends because it's my work days/desk job. I plan on swimming in the summer.
The only thing I thought might help is adding a spoon of coconut oil to my tea that I make at home (I usually have 1-5 cups of peppermint with cream a day) Im cutting back on the cream, my cup right now is 'black'. Which could up my fats and help with snacking? Would it be wise to do this whenever Im going to grab a snack? I feel the snacking is more part of my eating disorder and that Im not actually hungry.
I'll also say that my doctor approves of this diet, and I am waiting on a referral to a dietician (but Ive already seen a diabetes dietician around 18, and they told me to eat fruits and brown bread... /: ). I will, hopefully, have a referral to a phych to work through the eating issues and my anxiety and hopefully, eventually, counting macro and stuff will no longer stress me out to the point of breakdowns, but for now I guess I just need tips to help until then. The goal is basically just to lower my sugars, even though I am over weight, I am OK if I dont lose any, so weight loss isnt the primary goal here.
