Type1. What's the catch?

[terriellwood]

Hi all. After being a bit nosey on this part of the forum and investigating LCHF I decided to give it a go. Start Monday and all that. Well I did. I had a few naughty things, it was my first day after all, but I stuck to about 40g of carbs all day, compared to the massive amount i would usually have I felt very proud of myself. I notoriously wake up every morning with blood sugars never lower than 16... Well this morning I'm 8.6

I'm in shock. So what is the catch? Also I don't think I ate enough yesterday. I decided to look at low carb for the benefits to my blood sugars, I'm not looking to loose weight or gain weight but if I was to naturally loose a bit then I'm not complaining!

Breakfast was scrambled eggs with some smoked salmon. This was late so I skipped lunch and had an early dinner of a grill steak thing, a ton of vegetables and salad.
And then I had a naughty costa coffee cooler thing with a chocolate wafer bar. Rome wasn't built in a day....

What else should I be putting into my diet to try and sustain this longer term?

Thanks in advance

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[GrantGam]

Congratulations, looks like this is working for you.

The problem with LCHF (if not well planned out) is weight loss. As we typically use carbohydrates for fuel, when we reduce this intake - we burn body fat for energy and lose weight. If you don't substitute the lack of carbs with plenty fat then the body uses up it's stores instead.

You'll have to consume enough fat in order to have enough energy to function and to sustain your current weight. Things like olive oil, nuts and avocado are examples of healthy fats (I think). You should find lots of invaluable advise in the LCHF section of this forum.

Grant

 

[terriellwood]

Thanks grant. I'm still getting my head around the fact the rules suggest such high fat. Must say I completely fell off the wagon today due to work stress. I think it's going to be much harder when I get really busy at work. I'm determined to give it a go though.

Thanks again


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[ExD]

The amount of carbohydrate people can eat seems to fluctuate wildly so we have to find our own level. The trick is not to let yourself feel really really hungry or, as you put it, you fall off the wagon and binge on biscuits or something. I want to lose weight but never seem able to keep my carb level low enough - chocolate fingers are my downfall. I know someone who whips some cream and adds instant coffee granules and stevia, and eats it from a bowl - she calls it her coffee chiffon pudding, but I haven't tried it as it seems a step too far on the fats side.
Cheese or nuts seem a popular snack instead of biscuits that you can eat with a cup of coffee (cream is recommended instead of milk) and some folk like pork crackling, (but not much help when you're craving choc fingers).

 

[Robbity]

High fat doesn't necessarily have to be excessive fat - it can just be a matter of ditching the low fat high sugar stuff for lower carb full fat versions, replacing margarine with butter, or eating fatty meats or oily fish, full fat yoghurt, using good oils or butter for cooking and sauces. Avocados, olives, and nuts (and nut oils and butters) are also good sources of oils too, to say nothing of a little piece of high (75%+) coco dark chocolate. There's nothing wrong with it -and it was the way we used to eat before the current low fat "regime". You only need to include enough fats and oils to replace the energy you were previously getting from the carbs you're now cutting down on.

If you're type 1 you'll probably need to reduce your insulin too and there are a number of other type 1 low carbers ( and I believe also some type 2's on insuilin) who should be able to advise and help with this aspect if necessary.

Also have a look at some of the low carb nutritional calculators, as these can help you get your proportions of carbs. protein and fats correct for your height, weight, and other specific requirements - mainly to lose, maintain, or even gain weight. This is usually a matter of balancing your fat needs after determining the other two. Try http://www.phlaunt.com/diabetes/DietMakeupCalc.php, but there are others - some of which need much more data!

I know someone who whips some cream and adds instant coffee granules and stevia, and eats it from a bowl - she calls it her coffee chiffon pudding, but I haven't tried it as it seems a step too far on the fats side.

I do something similar but generally with a mix of soft or cream cheese with my cream and some sort of flavouring and sweetener - erythritol in my case. So coffee granules and chopped walnuts, cocoa powder with maybe peppermint or orange essences, or ground ginger, cinnamon & nutmeg to go with a low carb ginger biscuit, or soft cheese with coconut butter and zest and juice of a lime or two. A small bowl is plenty and it's not actually any worse than eating real ice cream!

Robbity