FractalFragger
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i couldnt find if this hasalready been asked or not but is beetroot ok with Vivs modified Atkins Diet?
Viv's Modified Atkins Diet
- Thread starter viviennem
- Start Date
FractalFragger said:
Afraid not. Boiled beetroot has 8.6g carb per 90g of beetroot - doesn't take much to push your carb intake up. Like many root vegetables, it's full of "sugars". Have you tested to see how it affects your BGs?
If you want to stick at 25g to 30g carb per day, it's easiest to eat nothing that isn't on the list of foods that I - or rather, Dr Atkins - gives. If you want to eat beetroot, weigh it and count the carbs in your daily allowance. It's one good thing about the Atkins Induction - you can use it as a base and just add on extra carbs to the level you want to eat at. That's how the Atkins Diet works - very low carb Induction Phase (my diet) is for 2 weeks; then you increase your carb intake by 5g per day - Ongoing Weightloss Phase - until you start putting weight back on :shock: .
That's when you use the diet for weight loss. If you're using it for weight and diabetes, add on only Low GI carbs from fresh food (no processed) and test to see which foods you can tolerate without spiking your BGs. As a rule of thumb - stay away from cereals and root crops, and all flour-based products.
Viv 8)
FractalFragger
Active Member
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- Type of diabetes
- Type 2
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- Tablets (oral)
Havent eaten any since being diagnosed. really guttin on that front then coz i used to love beetrootviviennem said:
Great thread, can anybody add any more recipes to spice things up a bit just what I have been looking for.
just what I have been looking for.Have a look at the recipes on the Low Carb section of the forum. There are many very good ones there, including breads and puddings that are low-carb - though not really suitable if you want to go as low as 25g of carb per day.
I don't cook much (too lazy to be creative!), and don't do puds except for the occasional sugar-free jelly with cream, berries with cream or live yoghurt, and apricots, plums and all berries in season. I can also cope with the occasional apple - but it's too easy to let too many carbs creep in with fruit, so I tend to avoid it.
Mostly I survive on roast meat, casseroles, fish, salads and heaps of microwaved veg. And 2 eggs every morning.
Viv 8)
I don't cook much (too lazy to be creative!), and don't do puds except for the occasional sugar-free jelly with cream, berries with cream or live yoghurt, and apricots, plums and all berries in season. I can also cope with the occasional apple - but it's too easy to let too many carbs creep in with fruit, so I tend to avoid it.
Mostly I survive on roast meat, casseroles, fish, salads and heaps of microwaved veg. And 2 eggs every morning.
Viv 8)
hullo there, just come across your thread and reading the basics I have a couple of questions, 1:- Can a type 1 go on this, or is it more of a type 2 diety thing? 2:- Can a busy mum easily do this? 3:- Are you able to swap things around with the vegs (am allergic to peppers/chilli and I can't stand carrots, onion and most leafy greens! lol)
Sorry if these have already been covered but I cba to read through all the posts! :lol:
Ta in advance for all info given =)
Sarah
Sorry if these have already been covered but I cba to read through all the posts! :lol:
Ta in advance for all info given =)
Sarah
Hi Sarah,
I believe a Type 1 can do this diet, but obviously you'd have to adjust your insulin and I'm afraid I'm very ignorant about Type 1, so I can't help you there! Maybe ask again on the Type 1 bit of the forum? Have you read Dr Richard Bernstein's Diabetes book? That's all about low-carbing for all types, but he is a lifelong Type 1 himself, now well over 70. He also has a website, I believe - try Googling. He's a bit too extreme even for me, but his method works.
I would think a busy mum can do my diet - it will just take a bit of organising. There's no problem cooking meat, fish and casseroles for the family that you can eat too, and you can cook carbs eg potatoes, pasta etc for them - but you have to be very strong-willed to keep off those carbs yourself. Easy for me - I live alone, and I have nothing in the house that I can't eat.
I have an omelette for breakfast these days, but you can eat anything you're allowed at any time of day - I have even been known to eat chicken salad at 07:30 :shock: - delicious! If you're always rushed in the morning, prepare something the night before - cold meat, chunks of cheese, cherry toms, radishes, whatever - and grab a bit every time you pass. Or you could have plain yoghurt with a few berries, nuts and seeds.
Similarly with lunch - pack up a boxful of allowed food the night before, to take with you. Don't forget to get it out of the fridge!
If you can't eat many of the listed veg you're going to be pretty restricted in what you eat, and more importantly you'll miss out on some of your essential vitamins and minerals. Also your roughage/fibre is in the veg, so you may end up very constipated. The only thing you can do is trawl through a carb-counter book and substitute the lowest-carb veg you can find for the ones you can't eat. You may end up eating a few more carbs than the diet recommends, but it will still work.
For the constipation - eat rhubarb with live yoghurt regularly, try taking flax-seed oil capsule, and try stirring oat or wheat bran into things such as yoghurt or casseroles.
Give it a try for 2 weeks and see what happens. I used to hate lettuce - now I eat it at least 7 times a week, and you know what? I enjoy it! All fresh and juicy and covered with mayonnaise :lol:
Good luck with it.
Viv 8)
I believe a Type 1 can do this diet, but obviously you'd have to adjust your insulin and I'm afraid I'm very ignorant about Type 1, so I can't help you there! Maybe ask again on the Type 1 bit of the forum? Have you read Dr Richard Bernstein's Diabetes book? That's all about low-carbing for all types, but he is a lifelong Type 1 himself, now well over 70. He also has a website, I believe - try Googling. He's a bit too extreme even for me, but his method works.
I would think a busy mum can do my diet - it will just take a bit of organising. There's no problem cooking meat, fish and casseroles for the family that you can eat too, and you can cook carbs eg potatoes, pasta etc for them - but you have to be very strong-willed to keep off those carbs yourself. Easy for me - I live alone, and I have nothing in the house that I can't eat.
I have an omelette for breakfast these days, but you can eat anything you're allowed at any time of day - I have even been known to eat chicken salad at 07:30 :shock: - delicious! If you're always rushed in the morning, prepare something the night before - cold meat, chunks of cheese, cherry toms, radishes, whatever - and grab a bit every time you pass. Or you could have plain yoghurt with a few berries, nuts and seeds.
Similarly with lunch - pack up a boxful of allowed food the night before, to take with you. Don't forget to get it out of the fridge!
If you can't eat many of the listed veg you're going to be pretty restricted in what you eat, and more importantly you'll miss out on some of your essential vitamins and minerals. Also your roughage/fibre is in the veg, so you may end up very constipated. The only thing you can do is trawl through a carb-counter book and substitute the lowest-carb veg you can find for the ones you can't eat. You may end up eating a few more carbs than the diet recommends, but it will still work.
For the constipation - eat rhubarb with live yoghurt regularly, try taking flax-seed oil capsule, and try stirring oat or wheat bran into things such as yoghurt or casseroles.
Give it a try for 2 weeks and see what happens. I used to hate lettuce - now I eat it at least 7 times a week, and you know what? I enjoy it!
All fresh and juicy and covered with mayonnaise :lol: Good luck with it.
Viv 8)
I am still not sure if I am type1 (LADA) or type 2 - but I am on insulin at least.
If you know your insulin:Carb ratio and don't mind spending the bit of time to get things readjusted, there's nothing preventing you from low carbing, really.
Just be aware that you may need to cut down on carbs first instead of going cold turkey depending on how stable your basal insulin is - if you use any of it for meal coverage you might find yourself going low, so use common sense.
It is already recommended, I think, that type1s reduce or at least watch their carb intake - what you have to be aware of is as I said above that as you have less carbs to cover, you will most likely need less insulin, especially bolus, perhaps also some basal.
I think that on insulin I would very much struggle to come up with a better way of losing weight without being hungry or lacking micro-nutritients - insulin will tend to store fat and most carbs (starch and sugar, really) will be 'empty calories' which tend to make you need more insulin, so over all, if you think first, I find it a good choice.
About the green leafy stuff, it all depends what you do to them - Atkins is not too fat-phobic, so you have options to more or less drown them in eggs, cream, oils etc - of course within reason, but we're not talking dry spinach with meatballs of air here I like adding green stuff to omelets for instance, do greek salads sometimes with garlic infused oil, stir fry's etc.
When I started basal/bolus a good month ago, doc wasn't aware of the effect of low carbing, so she had recommended I take so and so much insulin with a meal - 8 units I think it was - I landed in a bit of a hypo after being very careful and taking only 6. I find that now I only need about 2 or 3 units per meal. My basal still needs to be rather high though, but everyone is different - just want to make you aware of the difference it made to me so you don't land in any initial trouble - in the slightly longer term it has been a real blessing for me - lost about 2 stone in 2 months. My carb is low-moderate at around 50-75g day.
-M
If you know your insulin:Carb ratio and don't mind spending the bit of time to get things readjusted, there's nothing preventing you from low carbing, really.
Just be aware that you may need to cut down on carbs first instead of going cold turkey depending on how stable your basal insulin is - if you use any of it for meal coverage you might find yourself going low, so use common sense.
It is already recommended, I think, that type1s reduce or at least watch their carb intake - what you have to be aware of is as I said above that as you have less carbs to cover, you will most likely need less insulin, especially bolus, perhaps also some basal.
I think that on insulin I would very much struggle to come up with a better way of losing weight without being hungry or lacking micro-nutritients - insulin will tend to store fat and most carbs (starch and sugar, really) will be 'empty calories' which tend to make you need more insulin, so over all, if you think first, I find it a good choice.
About the green leafy stuff, it all depends what you do to them - Atkins is not too fat-phobic, so you have options to more or less drown them in eggs, cream, oils etc - of course within reason, but we're not talking dry spinach with meatballs of air here
I like adding green stuff to omelets for instance, do greek salads sometimes with garlic infused oil, stir fry's etc.When I started basal/bolus a good month ago, doc wasn't aware of the effect of low carbing, so she had recommended I take so and so much insulin with a meal - 8 units I think it was - I landed in a bit of a hypo after being very careful and taking only 6. I find that now I only need about 2 or 3 units per meal. My basal still needs to be rather high though, but everyone is different - just want to make you aware of the difference it made to me so you don't land in any initial trouble - in the slightly longer term it has been a real blessing for me - lost about 2 stone in 2 months. My carb is low-moderate at around 50-75g day.
-M
Hi Viv, everyone, I have been doing the Atkins induction for the past 2 weeks and have only lost a couple of pounds. I have been eating well within the 20g carbs per day and drinking plenty of water but I have not been exercising. Do people think that lack of exercise is the reason that I am not losing as much weight as I perhaps should have. Advice please, many thanks x
Hi Diadeb,
Do you have much weight to lose? and what have you been eating prior to starting Atkins?
When I first went on to Atkins (pre-diabetes) I lost 15lb in the first 2 weeks. Most of that was water because I had previously been eating a "normal" diet. If you have been dieting for weight loss before trying Atkins, you may have already been through that initial fluid loss so won't show as much loss as I did.
Exercise is good for you and Dr Atkins recommends it - but I'd lost almost 2 stones from April 2004 to getting the "wolfhound exercise machine" in the June and starting regular exercise. Prior to that it was just housework and gardening. You should still lose without any exercise at all - it justs takes a bit longer.
I can't think why you haven't lost more if you've really been sticking to it. There are a few people it doesn't work as well for, but most people do lose. Have you been measuring yourself? It's a good idea to take a few base measurements - chest, waist, hips, upper arm, upper thigh - 'cos sometimes you lose size without it showing on the scales.
Have you noticed any difference in your blood glucose readings? If they're improving, do try to stick with it. I'm sure the weight loss will follow, though maybe a bit slower than with others.
SOrry I can't help more - it must be very frustrating. Concentrate on those BGs instead - and do try measuring.
Viv 8)
Do you have much weight to lose? and what have you been eating prior to starting Atkins?
When I first went on to Atkins (pre-diabetes) I lost 15lb in the first 2 weeks. Most of that was water because I had previously been eating a "normal" diet. If you have been dieting for weight loss before trying Atkins, you may have already been through that initial fluid loss so won't show as much loss as I did.
Exercise is good for you and Dr Atkins recommends it - but I'd lost almost 2 stones from April 2004 to getting the "wolfhound exercise machine" in the June and starting regular exercise. Prior to that it was just housework and gardening. You should still lose without any exercise at all - it justs takes a bit longer.
I can't think why you haven't lost more if you've really been sticking to it. There are a few people it doesn't work as well for, but most people do lose. Have you been measuring yourself? It's a good idea to take a few base measurements - chest, waist, hips, upper arm, upper thigh - 'cos sometimes you lose size without it showing on the scales.
Have you noticed any difference in your blood glucose readings? If they're improving, do try to stick with it. I'm sure the weight loss will follow, though maybe a bit slower than with others.
SOrry I can't help more - it must be very frustrating. Concentrate on those BGs instead - and do try measuring.
Viv 8)
Many thanks Viv, yes I am sticking with it and have today re-started walking so the weight loss has got to improve and my BG levels have improved, which is the main thing and also I am on a diuretic so I think that perhaps that is also why the weight hasn't seemed to come off too well, but hey-ho I will persevere but longing for red wine!, thanks again, deb x
Many thanks Viv, and all other posters on here, you have given credence to a diet I have advocated for 7-8 years. My HBA1C's and BG's are fairly good, my problem is scotch ! I can't get enough of the stuff, so consequently weight control is an issue.
Still, my other thing is I had a total heart transplant 18 years ago and I take the immnuosuppressants, but avoid the dreaded statins like the plague, got so I couldn't walk. I would definately say that IF you are reasonably happy with your weight ( I'm a bloke at 13st8lbs ) then eat a proper diet, including all meats (with fat),all fish, some veg, NO bread,pasta,potatoes and definately NO processed nonsense ( I was going to say Cr*p but I got moderated last time ! )
Thanks again Viv, you certainly started a very interesting thread here !
Superchip
Still, my other thing is I had a total heart transplant 18 years ago and I take the immnuosuppressants, but avoid the dreaded statins like the plague, got so I couldn't walk. I would definately say that IF you are reasonably happy with your weight ( I'm a bloke at 13st8lbs ) then eat a proper diet, including all meats (with fat),all fish, some veg, NO bread,pasta,potatoes and definately NO processed nonsense ( I was going to say Cr*p but I got moderated last time ! )
Thanks again Viv, you certainly started a very interesting thread here !
Superchip
xyzzy
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Viv's modified Atkins diet is a brilliant way of controlling diabetes. It is one of a number of low carb regimes that forum members have shown to be very successful. Using it and similar regimes many newly diagnosed T2's have been able to effectively put their condition "in remission" as my own GP describes it. If other non low carb ways were as successful then I'm sure most members would be very open to hearing about them. The question does arise why oppose something like Viv's diet that has such a brilliant track record? I owe a great deal of gratitude to people like Viv and other low carb advocates who allowed me to get my life back.
It's a brilliant baseline diet that depending on how far you you need to cut the carbs to 'eat to your meter' that members can tweak to their own requirements using the foodgroups that are the backbone of the diet! :thumbup: This thread,diet and many other members teachings have really helped me and opened my eyes and added years to my life! :clap:
Paul1976 said:
I agree. I used Viv's plan in the very early days, then tweaked it. Now I still use the basics, but have also cut out wheat, grains and milk as well as taken my carbs to less than 30g a day. It works, and because it is meant as a baseline it is easy to tweak. I have the Atkins diet book as well now, and although my diet is more paleo (with dairy except milk) it is very much still based around Viv's initial modifications.
modesty007
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Enjoy frying some cauliflower or broccoli in loads of butter yummy or make you own cole slow with mainly white cabbage mix creme fraiche, mayonnaise and french mustard.
This is all fantastic information. I'm gonna be taking lots of notes and have a very good look at going on the Atkins diet. I've been diagnosed with type 2 for 2.5 years and have just been in total denial. I've still ate what I wanted and things have gotten worse. I've tried diets and the gym (which lasted all of two weeks. I hate it) but I love meat so it seems the best thing to do.
Best of luck with it, Marishka . I have no trouble sticking to it as far as the food goes, except in summer when I tend to eat too much fruit and cream. Red wine is my downfall , but I'm going to take control again after this weekend and see if I can get another 20lbs off by Christmas. That will take my loss this time, over 2.5 years, to 80lb - 5st 10lbs.
Let us know how you get on!
Viv 8)
. I have no trouble sticking to it as far as the food goes, except in summer when I tend to eat too much fruit and cream. Red wine is my downfall , but I'm going to take control again after this weekend and see if I can get another 20lbs off by Christmas. That will take my loss this time, over 2.5 years, to 80lb - 5st 10lbs.Let us know how you get on!
Viv 8)
Hi All
Newbie to the forum here and having read Gary Taubes book - why we get fat and what we can do about it, I then checked out Andreas Eenfeldt. It all seems to make a lot of sense so I am giving it a go. I am not due to see the diabetes nurse again till December so figured from now till then would be a fair trial. I am on Metformin 2 x 2 tablets per day and was put straight on this dosage from diagnosis earlier this year (well, with the relevant build up increasing the dosage weekly of course) my bg was around 16 at that time. I do not have a blood sugar meter so it's a bit of blind faith really.
I have now been on LCHF for all of 5 days and have lost 6 lbs in weight and noticed a big reduction in the swelling in my ankles, but I guess that could also be accounted for by the colder weather! I am eating huge amounts of fat in butter, cream, meat etc. but also worry that I might be overdosing on the protein. At the moment it is trial and error really - just me and my carb counter!
Well, that's enough of an introduction from me. I just wanted to say thanks to Viv for giving us complete newbies a guide to go by.
Lesley
Newbie to the forum here and having read Gary Taubes book - why we get fat and what we can do about it, I then checked out Andreas Eenfeldt. It all seems to make a lot of sense so I am giving it a go. I am not due to see the diabetes nurse again till December so figured from now till then would be a fair trial. I am on Metformin 2 x 2 tablets per day and was put straight on this dosage from diagnosis earlier this year (well, with the relevant build up increasing the dosage weekly of course) my bg was around 16 at that time. I do not have a blood sugar meter so it's a bit of blind faith really.
I have now been on LCHF for all of 5 days and have lost 6 lbs in weight and noticed a big reduction in the swelling in my ankles, but I guess that could also be accounted for by the colder weather! I am eating huge amounts of fat in butter, cream, meat etc. but also worry that I might be overdosing on the protein. At the moment it is trial and error really - just me and my carb counter!
Well, that's enough of an introduction from me. I just wanted to say thanks to Viv for giving us complete newbies a guide to go by.
Lesley
