• Guest - w'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »

Whisky as a meal chaser ?

Well I did see it recommended in a few places, hence asking the question. I also never suggested doing it before and after every meal, I requested people's experience of it, and in particular the idea of having it as an accompaniment to certain meals instead of as a stand alone evening drink. As a person that drinks maybe three or four units a week if I get round to it, taking the odd glass of whisky in the morning if it helps my blood sugars is not going to turn me into an alcoholic.

Ultimately adults can choose courses of action that they feel best for themselves. Just because "some" people are not capable of exercising restraint or for that matter using and sticking to a single shot glass, it does not mean that others, including me are not perfectly capable of having a single drink now and again at times when it might be most beneficial to them.

The whole concept that "people" are incapable of making rational decisions unless someone makes them do so, is one of the things that led to the entire " health plate" and "eating pyramid" catastrophes in the first place.
 
Whiskey is a strong spirit, your asking your body's digestive system to work harder than it needs too. Functioning alcoholics rarely see there is a problem. As a nation we have way too much alcohol. It's a toss up between diabetes and alcohol that costs NHS so much.
Eat well and pyramid plates seemed like a good idea, people have no clue on portion control, it may have worked if we weren't too far down the no clue what we need to be eating to be healthy road.
We have also forgotten the old good advice, my great granny was type 1 diabetic before the advent of insulin the only option then was to follow a LCHF diet, even after she got insulin, her diet didn't change hence her living for 96 years. Telling diabetics to follow LCHF died out with insulin being the new fix. Suddenly is back like a new thing.
You also have to look at commercial food production, food was local and what is now called organic but was just normal then.
Your staples didn't travel half way round the world, no additives or preservatives.
 
First time anyone in my life has called me a functioning alcoholic! I knew that AA would come back to haunt me. AA is my name not where I spend very Wednesday evening

Unfortunately there is money to be made from drugs and drug research and very little from advice that says don't eat processed foods and carbs. Many of our forefathers habits are ones's which grew out of an intuitive understanding of the way our bodies work. Interestingly that probably includes the idea of an aperitif before dinner, and the use of desert wines and dessert puddings at the end which will sweep up the secondary insulin responses of non diabetics.

I think we should all maybe pay more attention to what our grandparents told us and old wives tales !
 
Whisky was given to T1's before insulin as part of their diet to try and keep alive. Not much else besides lettuce leaves....this was fundamental medicine at the time.
 
@CherryAA , apologies I wasn't calling you a functioning alcoholic, just that there are people who don't realise that is the road their on. If anyone feels a benefit from alcohol then it is entirely their choice, I personally wouldn't make that choice but we are all individual and what helps one might not help another.
 
@Sha67 - I'm just kidding I'm not the sensitive type - I appreciate that for many alcohol is something that is a difficult substance and I am fully familiar with those who protest too much abut the fact that they don't need alcohol to function whilst clutching the daily drink. The existence of bottles going back 20 years in my own cupboards make me know I'm not one of them !

@dollellydogs- very interesting to hear .

I wonder if at some stage in the future we will start to classify sugar as the same kind of banned substance as we do narcotic drugs or view it with the same suspicion that we do alcohol. It's petty clear that for many of us it is just as dangerous.

Ultimately everything that you put in your body is " medicine" of one type or another . There is far too little education about nutrition anywhere - and way too many people who would not know what a carbohydrate was if it bit them . It is bizarre that we can have built an entire educational foundation without feeling the need to impart some basic knowledge to our children.
 
Breakfast whisky? I'll pass, thanks. The fact that the liver prioritises the metabolism of alcohol over sugar suggests to me that the body considers alcohol to be more toxic than sugar.

Daytime drinking is also at odds with my country's very strict drink-drive laws and my employer's health and safety policy. Will stick to a turmeric milk chaser at breakfast.
 
donnellysdogs said:
Whisky was given to T1's before insulin as part of their diet to try and keep alive. Not much else besides lettuce leaves....this was fundamental medicine at the time.
Click to expand...
Whisky and black coffee were the only components of the first phase of Allen's starvation diet published in 1915. Although the whisky was not administered for 'medicinal purposes' but to keep the patient "more comfortable" and to provide some energy whilst being starved. This was continued until there was no sugar in the urine, sometimes up to 10 days. After that whisky was out, replaced by 50g of low carb vegetables boiled for ages per meal. Not so appetising.
 
Well I Think it tastes fine even in the morning But it didn't help much This morning .I was 5.9 and 1 hour later 6.4 after a 3 km Walk so NOT lower like Yesterday But maybe lower than it would have been . I burned 1100 calories today did fitness almost 4 hours so dont Think there is Any alcohol left now
 
Given I'm retired and have no car, I don't need to worry too much abut the law, but in the end I'm just trying out stuff to see what happens. I agree that even if whiskey does work its more of an occasional help as opposed to a daily thing

to be honest, the whole " test each meal so you know what you can eat " process has me rather flummoxed at present

I can tell big picture that its coming down overall, though the mornings are being very stubborn. I am trying to stick to less than 30 net carbs per day ( actually less than 20 but I usually fail) but at present I don't really see a pattern in the actual choices of food I am making. Currently when I do "break my fast " it is effectively with the largest meal of the day with a smaller second one within about 6 hours so I am trying to stick to an 18 hour plus window overnight - but that does seem to give me these high morning readings, so I'm not sure the " fasting " approach is working for me.

@Avocado Sevenfold, have you been able to identify the actual benefits of your turmeric milk chaser? and what is the recipe you use? I'm interested in anything I can do to get my morning readings down, Once I have got past 2 hours post breakfast whenever that is, I seem to be able to get within the 6- 7 something range most of the time, but mornings it still stubbornly 7-9 no matter what I do so any ideas would be most welcome.
has anyone seen a correlation between a late night walk ( say at 10.00 to 10.30 pm) and better morning readings?
 
@ Jan Marc - that is fascinating - where did you find that ?
 
Talfryn said:
Whisky is known to thin the blood, but personally I would not want a fry up. We really need to eat healthy foods. Although the Whisky sounds good. Another one in moderation, is a small glass of red wine.
Click to expand...
Yes, I'm conducting extensive experiments myself.
 

Hi again If I drink turmeric milk for breakfast alone, I feel better throughout the day. It is a virtually carb free way to start the day, is enough to tell my liver I am awake and the fat in it keeps me going until lunchtime. Since I started drinking it a few weeks ago, I see more 4s on my meter, but we are all different. I also feel more bendy, for want of a better word lol, as it is supposed to be a good anti-inflammatory.

Here is the recipe I use http://www.whereismyspoon.co/turmeric-paste-for-golden-milk/ I have a jar of paste in the fridge and mix a teaspoon of paste with a cup of unsweetened almond milk and a quarter teaspoon of Truvia. Heat gently and mix with a balloon whisk. You don't want it hot. It sounds like a lot of black pepper, but trust me, it's delicious. I have read that you shouldn't take this if you are on anticoagulants. A recent study suggests that the addition of heat and fat to turmeric makes it more beneficial http://www.ncl.ac.uk/press/news/2016/09/turmeric/

I used to stress about my waking bg numbers, but now I don't bother. Many people on this forum report that the fasting bg numbers are the last to come down so you just have to be patient I reckon. Your numbers will drop throughout the night and your liver is just giving you a wee boost. I would be more worried if it didn't to be honest. All the best.
 


thanks Avocado,
I will give it a try !
 
CherryAA said:
@ Jan Marc - that is fascinating - where did you find that ?
Click to expand...
You can read a 1916 paper on the starvation diet for diabetes here.

This is from a time when there were no effective drug treatments available and before there was any proper understanding of the different types of diabetes or the mechanisms of them. Low carbohydrate diets were the norm, but this was in effect also an ultra low calorie diet as well and became somewhat of a short lived fad, killed off by the discovery of insulin in the 1920s. This 21st century review looks as to why this for a short time got promoted over a low carb diet when it didn't seem any more successful - although nothing really was for T1 patients pre-insulin. Also points out that after insulin there hasn't been "evidence-based consensus on proper diabetic diets".
 
Last edited:

Thanks...I've always had an interest on how long T1s survived and their food etc...

@Avocado Sevenfold.. thanks for link to recipe. Sounds better than my turmeric tablet each day.. my gastro chap totally agrees with taking turmeric, and says he wishes they had more research on it for its benefits so they could encourage patients to try having it regularly...
 
I spend 6 months a year in southern Spain. While there I would normally have a glass or two of wine with a meal - and even a whisky in the evening. No doubt I eat more carbs and use less insulin while there - but that could be due to more exercise when not avoiding rain. Back in the UK much less alcohol and my glucose levels go up.

One downside of more alcohol - glucose levels can go way down in the middle of the night. Not tried breakfast tipple but may experiment this winter. My major highs are always mornings even though almost no carbs then. Wine seems to nicely balance tapas for lunch.
 
Well the turmeric milk didn't go well . I've done without milk at all since diagnosis. Instead of opening the new hemp milk I had bought, I decided to use 200g of the opened Jersey Gold top full fat tasty milk in the fridge . The result a spike of 11.3 within 20 minutes.
A 30 minute walk and 2 hours later I'm still at 8.5. The remaining Jersey Gold has now gone down the sink, I'm thinking that instead of eating it as a milk drink, I might try stirring it into some courgette spaghetti as part of my next meal and see what happens - if I need to make that a " sauce" I will add the hemp milk instead.

I'll try again with some proper LC milk alternative tomorrow. [sigh]
 
@CherryAA That's weird as there are no carbs in the turmeric paste. Perhaps your body was disagreeing with the sudden reintroduction of dairy. Some people don't tolerate it well but don't realise until they give it up. Better luck tomorrow.

Edited to add: I have just looked up the Jersey full fat and it is 4.7% carbs. So 9.4g of liquid carbs on an empty belly.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Menu
Log in
Register
Cookies are required to use this site. You must accept them to continue using the site. Learn More.…