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Wife got diagnosed 4 weeks ago, she is now converted, this is the way

Ronancastled

Ronancastled

Well-Known Member
Messages
1,234
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Knew it was coming but she never listened.
Weight ballooned since last child which she'd had GD on, completely sedentary, awful diet, increasing pills for BP.
Like us all she was in denial for the first few days.

I checked her labs & her A1c was "only" 50 though her FBG was 9.9, previous labs 3 months ago were normal so we'd caught this thing right on the cusp.
Thought her the low carb way, reading labels, weighing certain foods, walking the dog etc.
Agreed a 130g daily allowance for carbs which she's stuck to.

Got a call this morning, she had her first fasting in the 5s, she's over the moon.
Also, has had to lose one of her BP meds on her Pharmacists advice, see was going low normal & feeling dizzy.
This woman spent years going to Slimming World/Weight Watchers struggling to lose a pound here & there.
She's now down over a stone in 4 weeks & is mad to keep pushing.

She now blames me for not telling her this years ago, you cant win.
 
Ronancastled said:
Knew it was coming but she never listened.
Weight ballooned since last child which she'd had GD on, completely sedentary, awful diet, increasing pills for BP.
Like us all she was in denial for the first few days.

I checked her labs & her A1c was "only" 50 though her FBG was 9.9, previous labs 3 months ago were normal so we'd caught this thing right on the cusp.
Thought her the low carb way, reading labels, weighing certain foods, walking the dog etc.
Agreed a 130g daily allowance for carbs which she's stuck to.

Got a call this morning, she had her first fasting in the 5s, she's over the moon.
Also, has had to lose one of her BP meds on her Pharmacists advice, see was going low normal & feeling dizzy.
This woman spent years going to Slimming World/Weight Watchers struggling to lose a pound here & there.
She's now down over a stone in 4 weeks & is mad to keep pushing.

She now blames me for not telling her this years ago, you cant win.
Click to expand...
At least the Management is on board now. In sickness and in health? My wife was over 20 stones but she did not go diabetic. However she did drop to 10 stone by sharing my LCHF diet (with extras) As you say, it seems to work well for many of us as I too lost 8 stone.

Well done & High Five to your wife.
 
On update on the above wife's journey.
She was in surgery on Mon for lab draw prior to 3 month follow up with doctor next week.
Got a text today from doctor saying everything came back normal range, liver, FBG, A1c, cholesterol & the doctor wants to know how she did it.
Gonna be a good chat, wine was consumed last night, celebration.
 
Ronancastled said:
Knew it was coming but she never listened.
Weight ballooned since last child which she'd had GD on, completely sedentary, awful diet, increasing pills for BP.
Like us all she was in denial for the first few days.

I checked her labs & her A1c was "only" 50 though her FBG was 9.9, previous labs 3 months ago were normal so we'd caught this thing right on the cusp.
Thought her the low carb way, reading labels, weighing certain foods, walking the dog etc.
Agreed a 130g daily allowance for carbs which she's stuck to.

Got a call this morning, she had her first fasting in the 5s, she's over the moon.
Also, has had to lose one of her BP meds on her Pharmacists advice, see was going low normal & feeling dizzy.
This woman spent years going to Slimming World/Weight Watchers struggling to lose a pound here & there.
She's now down over a stone in 4 weeks & is mad to keep pushing.

She now blames me for not telling her this years ago, you cant win.
Click to expand...
I think that 120-130g carbs per day is the sweet spot for the newly diagnosed to transition to a low carb lifestyle with a recent T2 diagnosis.

It is low enough that they will get results and start feeling better pretty quickly, but not so low they will have any of the transition issues.
 
Ronancastled said:
On update on the above wife's journey.
She was in surgery on Mon for lab draw prior to 3 month follow up with doctor next week.
Got a text today from doctor saying everything came back normal range, liver, FBG, A1c, cholesterol & the doctor wants to know how she did it.
Gonna be a good chat, wine was consumed last night, celebration.
Click to expand...

Fantastic news! Well done both of you, and well done your GP for being interested in how she did it. I’ve met nothing but indifference from my GP surgery.
 
KennyA said:
Who is "they"?

What we find is that what level of carb intake works for one person doesn't work for another. You really can't be prescriptive about this- we're not the Daily Mail.

20g/day works for me. 40, or 80, or 150g might do whatever is needed for someone else.
Click to expand...
They is the newly diagnosed.

Jumping directly from a standard diet to 20g of carbs absolutely guarantees they will feel god awful and may well even precipitate nerve problems.

Suggesting people break into low carb gradually is clearly not being prescriptive. It is being realistic.
 
Liam E said:
They is the newly diagnosed.

Jumping directly from a standard diet to 20g of carbs absolutely guarantees they will feel god awful and may well even precipitate nerve problems.

Suggesting people break into low carb gradually is clearly not being prescriptive. It is being realistic.
Click to expand...
It just depends on the person.

I would rather go hardcore and then experience the delight of adding things back in that I find I tolerate well.
Another person would rather reduce gradually, til they find their sweet spot (that sounds awful to me, seeing bits and pieces slowly withdrawn, sinking further into ‘deprivation’.)

In my case, going LOW carb meant that I experienced the benefits, saw what it was doing for me, and was in a perfect position to learn the fab, filling, delicious, interesting options available even at that level of carbs.
 
Liam E said:
They is the newly diagnosed.

Jumping directly from a standard diet to 20g of carbs absolutely guarantees they will feel god awful and may well even precipitate nerve problems.

Suggesting people break into low carb gradually is clearly not being prescriptive. It is being realistic.
Click to expand...
This forum is composed of a large number of individuals, including people who have been recently diagnosed, who I think need to be treated as individuals not lumped together as "they".

My personal experience, in contrast to what you claim, says otherwise. After switching to 20g I did not feel awful (so no "absolutely guarantees", thank you) and I did not precipitate nerve problems. BG back to normal within weeks etc etc.

Are you speaking from experience here? Or have you read this somewhere?
 
Liam E said:
They is the newly diagnosed.

Jumping directly from a standard diet to 20g of carbs absolutely guarantees they will feel god awful and may well even precipitate nerve problems.

Suggesting people break into low carb gradually is clearly not being prescriptive. It is being realistic.
Click to expand...
It does not absolutely guarantee feeling awful, but I’ll concede does make it a bit more likely - particularly if fluids and electrolytes aren’t maintained sufficiently high and overall intake isn’t maintained.

What evidence is there of rapid reduction causing nerve issues? I’ve heard of rapid decrease from very high numbers causing (usually) short term retinopathy issues but not nerve issues in a wider sense.

For me chipping away at carb levels is actually harder than a simple yes/no option. It all depends if you are a slowly and gently type person or an all or nothing type.

And 130g wasn’t/isn’t enough to get much change as I wasn’t much higher than that at diagnosis and it’s definitely not low enough for me to reach remission. So if I had just done that I’d have thought low carb doesn’t do much. I’d agree it’s a starting point but people do need to be aware that for some it’s very much not the end point.
 
HSSS said:
It does not absolutely guarantee feeling awful, but I’ll concede does make it a bit more likely - particularly if fluids and electrolytes aren’t maintained sufficiently high and overall intake isn’t maintained.

What evidence is there of rapid reduction causing nerve issues? I’ve heard of rapid decrease from very high numbers causing (usually) short term retinopathy issues but not nerve issues in a wider sense.

For me chipping away at carb levels is actually harder than a simple yes/no option. It all depends if you are a slowly and gently type person or an all or nothing type.

And 130g wasn’t/isn’t enough to get much change as I wasn’t much higher than that at diagnosis and it’s definitely not low enough for me to reach remission. So if I had just done that I’d have thought low carb doesn’t do much. I’d agree it’s a starting point but people do need to be aware that for some it’s very much not the end point.
Click to expand...
link.springer.com

Acute painful diabetic neuropathy precipitated by strict glycaemic control - Acta Neuropathologica

A case of acute painful diabetic neuropathy that followed the establishment of strict glycaemic control using continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion is described. Sural nerve biopsy shortly after the onset of the acute painful syndrome showed no evidence of active nerve fibre degeneration...
link.springer.com link.springer.com

It is almost as if I know what I'm talking about.

Fancy that.
 
There is the question of medication that may need to be considered. Going cold turkey while on some medications could be problematic and would have been dangerous in my case. It didn't work for me when quitting smoking, either.
 
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