what I wish some

[CollieBoy]

I was struck recently, by one of the low carbers (now banned) that they eat a diet that is mostly fat. The trouble is, that is simply not sustainable in the longer term - I mean, how boring the diet would actually be! After a while, you really do get sick of it. I got to say: no, not more bloody salami! :lol:

I know, You couldn't sustain it beyond ~100 years of age, then they'd cart you off to a "care" home where they'd kill you with carbs :lol:
Seriously, since I went LCHF I've found more & more great tasty food and i'm enjoying my food again. :thumbup: :thumbup:

 

[GraceK]

I was struck recently, by one of the low carbers (now banned) that they eat a diet that is mostly fat. The trouble is, that is simply not sustainable in the longer term - I mean, how boring the diet would actually be! After a while, you really do get sick of it. I got to say: no, not more bloody salami! :lol:

I know, You couldn't sustain it beyond ~100 years of age, then they'd cart you off to a "care" home where they'd kill you with carbs :lol:
Seriously, since I went LCHF I've found more & more great tasty food and i'm enjoying my food again. :thumbup: :thumbup:

Me too. I enjoy my food so much more since eating low carb. I also don't eat anywhere near as much as I did before. But oddly enough, it's a bit like when you stop smoking, suddenly my taste buds seem to have come alive and I can taste everything more strongly than before. Eyesight is also sharper and mind more alert. So the grains and flour were definitely not doing me much good, I may have an element of coeliac disease, I don't know. But I don't eat loads of fat, just as Paul said I use a wee bit of butter here and there and cream on my strawbs but I don't go out of my way to buy fatty foods.

Also, now that I've brought my HBA1C down to a fairly healthy level, I'm happy to adjust my diet and add a few more carbs and see what happens. But I already know that some carbs I can handle and others, like bread I just can't. Nothing is set in stone as far as I'm concerned.

 

[jopar]

over 24 years on I can still remember my diagnoses as though it was yesterday... The phone call, arriving at the hospital not knowing whether I was staying over night or what! Turned out I was there for 3 weeks..

Diabetes was pretty unusual back then, I knew nothing about it really was aware injection were involved... Information was about diabetes was sparse indeed, I did buy the then British Diabetic Association (now DUK) book 'The Complete Guide To Diabetes' which made a Stephen King Novel look like a nursery rhyme! As it described people who hadn't looked after themselves knocking their foot, then ending up having there leg amputated :shock: even after 24 years I still haven't found the courage to read through one of the chapters of the book!

24 years on after eating Starchy Carbs, I still have excellent control still have my legs, my kidneys are doing what they should at the level they should, and I have 20/20 vision without glasses! Apart from an average of 20 units of insulin a day, I take no other medication So I must be doing something Right!

 

[Daibell]

Hi Whelk. I don't quite understand the point you make in your quote:

The "low carbs" mantra misses the point rather. Restricting carbohydrates is a possible way of controlling your blood glucose but it does little to address the underlying situation and does not prevent poor diet choices.

As diabetes is the inability of the body to process glucose correctly anything that can improve that is starting to address the underlying situation? This can be a mix of diet, exercise, medication and so on and will be different from person to person. After exercise, then diet must surely be the most relevant next step before medication. Some find that reducing overall quantity of food helps and also the amount and type of carbs. In my case both regular exercise and reducing food quantity and high-GI carbs, but not ultra low-carbing, has not been enough hence my meds. I have a friend, however, who has a lower level of problem who can have slightly lower than normal carbs with Metformin and still maintain good HBa1C.

 

[GraceK]

over 24 years on I can still remember my diagnoses as though it was yesterday... The phone call, arriving at the hospital not knowing whether I was staying over night or what! Turned out I was there for 3 weeks..

Diabetes was pretty unusual back then, I knew nothing about it really was aware injection were involved... Information was about diabetes was sparse indeed, I did buy the then British Diabetic Association (now DUK) book 'The Complete Guide To Diabetes' which made a Stephen King Novel look like a nursery rhyme! As it described people who hadn't looked after themselves knocking their foot, then ending up having there leg amputated :shock: even after 24 years I still haven't found the courage to read through one of the chapters of the book!

24 years on after eating Starchy Carbs, I still have excellent control still have my legs, my kidneys are doing what they should at the level they should, and I have 20/20 vision without glasses! Apart from an average of 20 units of insulin a day, I take no other medication So I must be doing something Right!

Jopar ... that's a very inspiring and encouraging post. You seem to have things well under control and it's great to hear from people who've managed to do that. Please tell us what you are doing right!

I remember my uncle having diabetes and later on his daughter and we didn't know much about diabetes at all back then in the 60's. All I remember was he seemed to have a very sweet tooth and ate a lot of sugar and cake! He was type 2 but he seemed to think he needed to keep his sugar levels UP rather than down. He lived until a good old age, about 84 I think but his daughter wasn't so fortunate, she passed away around 72. Another friend of mine - his father was T2 and lived to be 94!

When I was diagnosed last August the receptionist at my GP surgery told me "You can't cut your own toenails any more, you have to have them done by a chiropodist." I said "Whaaaaaaaaat? I've been cutting my own toenails for years, I'm not having anyone cut them for me." When I had my foot check I asked the Podiatrist and he said that was a load of cobblers, of course I could cut them myself, just had to be careful.

 

[whelk]

Type 2 diabetes is a set of symptoms, one of which is flawed glucose metabolism. Simply treating the diet/glucose aspect may be missing something more fundamental. Obviously, raised blood glucose is a priority because of the damage it can do. If low carb lowers blood glucose, can you be sure that the underlying causes have been addressed?

(I pay for some strange blood tests which tell me about me, but not necessarily about everyone else.)

 

[GraceK]

Type 2 diabetes is a set of symptoms, one of which is flawed glucose metabolism. Simply treating the diet/glucose aspect may be missing something more fundamental. Obviously, raised blood glucose is a priority because of the damage it can do. If low carb lowers blood glucose, can you be sure that the underlying causes have been addressed?

(I pay for some strange blood tests which tell me about me, but not necessarily about everyone else.)

I quite agree with you Whelk, and I'd like to get to the bottom of what's causing my pancreas and the islets of langerhans to misbehave. I recently gave 3 phials of blood at my local GPs and was gobsmacked when no less than 30 results came back for all manner of things - some of which were high and I need to see my GP about them tomorrow. However, my HBA1C was noted as 'excellent control'.

I made my BS my priority, now I'm going to work my way through these other nuisances and try to get to the bottom of it all.

I'm interested to know more about the blood tests you're having done that are specific to you. I also see a homeopath who takes blood and tests it in front of me while it's still live. He pointed out that my cells were piling up like coins and my blood was 'sticky' long before I was diagnosed by the NHS with diabetes. But I think by law he's not allowed to diagnose, he's only allowed to treat symptoms.

 

[Bob67]

Type 2 diabetes is a set of symptoms, one of which is flawed glucose metabolism. Simply treating the diet/glucose aspect may be missing something more fundamental. Obviously, raised blood glucose is a priority because of the damage it can do. If low carb lowers blood glucose, can you be sure that the underlying causes have been addressed?

(I pay for some strange blood tests which tell me about me, but not necessarily about everyone else.)

I'll bite, what strange blood tests do you get? And what do they tell you?

 

[Daibell]

Hi Whelk. I agree with you that the diet, medication and so on that we all use in varying ways does not directly adress the cause of the illness. This is why there is so much research going on. I'd really like to know why I have diabetes when I have never been overweight, have exercised for years before diagnosis and so on. I'm possibly LADA which would be antibodies but that leads to the next question i.e. why and then we might move on to genetics. So, I think many of us would dearly love to know our particular cause which might help highlight another form of treatment, but until that time of further knowledge we can only do the things that many others have found provide some level of control. My low-carbing certanly doesn't directly address the underlying cause of my poor glucose control but I probably have few islet cells left so what do I do until some research finds a way of restoring them?

I think I get your point about your blood tests and yes we are all different hence I'm not a 'normal' T2, but the current range of treatment options remains similar for most of us.

 

[jopar]

Grace

What have I done right,

A lot is surrounding educating myself and in not 'follow' the leader fashion..

You need to educate yourself so you can find out what works for you as a individual in your lifestyle. But never lose the sight that diabetes is dynamic, so what works today may not work later... When I say dynamic I don't mean progressive but that different parts of you life can change how your diabetes responds, which requires a different tactic to maintain control.

To me simply saying that because carbs impact on your blood glucose then if you cut out this food group, problem solved isn't the answer, As first you need to learn how each type of carbs basic reaction, then you need to find how they react in you and your lifestyle... As how they react in me may well be different to you. Then you decide how you may counter react that action to maintain control... Be it with meds or deciding to avoid them.

And sometimes it's not the answer, I tried Bernstein 'Solution' around 10 years ago, and for me it actually caused more problems than it solved... Only the pump has resolved my Dawn P and overcome my insulin sensitivity... And if I thought that my first regime, where upon I was prescribed a carb amount that I had to eat every day, small amount at the same time of the day was soul destroying, leaving me gagging on my food etc... Being denied them was even worse, never thought I would ever hanker after a slice of bread!

 

[WhippetyGirl]

I feel like I'm going through the whole newbie thing again having just been moved from oral meds to basal/bolus dosing with insulin. It's not that I didn't take being a diabetic seriously 9 years ago, it's just, having bipolar (manic depression) I'm already on a cocktail of meds and a couple more didn't seem to make a difference, especially as bgs were only discussed once a year at my annual review.

After being recently hospitalised with ketoacidosis (you know you've got a problem when your meter says 'hi'), I'm now entering the world of injecting and dipping my toe into the pool of carb counting. Low carb looks like an option I'd like to pursue. I had, however, underestimated how much I would want to:
a) cry
b) have a very petulant tantrum
c) eat all the wrong things
d) hide the information from people so I wouldn't be judged
e) have someone tell me that, yeah it's s***, but it's going to be ok and there is life after bread!

Hope I've come to the right place ......

 

[Anonymous]

2 months done the line, you will be 11lbs lighter and your readings will be between 4 and 5.9 and that you will get use to doing the injections and sugar testing .you have to find different foods to eat as you get bored eating the same food every day. :clap:
you will be putting medication in your body one way or another 19x per day with other medications you are taking and will no longer become over welm. who knew!. Take medication you are given and see if you get side effects, don't just think because others say you will doesn't mean you will in my case sivastaim.

 

[Anonymous]

This thread has been hijacked so much that its lost the original meaning. It's gone from a thread to allow newly diagnose people to see there is light at the end of the tunnel to being a carb v low carb battle. Disgrace full. Admin can you please delete this thread. I though other people explaining how they felt would help others, how wrong I was. I wanted to response to a newbie linking this topic but after reading it I felt they would think it was a topic about carbs and would not read to the end.


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