Low-carb diets support thread

devildog

SHEILA54 wrote: »

devildog - I felt awful with headaches and lethargy when I first started. After a few days my body adjusted to the diet and then I felt so much better and more alert. That is why Atkins suggests that you don't start an exercise programme for the first 2 weeks. Stick with it

I thought that stage would of been a little earlier though(today day 9)? or was it having those parsnips yesterday that gave me a lift and then dropped me from a great height? Guess I am in line for another rough day tomorrow with having the crisps today(
I do try and excercise everynight and have done for quite a few years, nothing cardio though just a few toning excercises so I will endeavour to keep them going for now. Thanks for the encouragement.

SHEILA54

It is a bit late. Have you cut down on coffee, tea, coke? I also had caffeine withdrawal as I cut it out then and have a lot less now? Also are you drinking enough? You need 3 litres of water if possible to cope with what is happening to your body.

Edwardia

daska, I didn't think you did mean it yourself (((daska))) it's just not a statement I really want to see repeated unchallenged IYKWIM

sheila54 I was somewhat encumbered by an IV at the time. In movies, the hero always pulls his IV line out and there's never any blood.. I did it stretching too far and my bed looked like a gory murder scene within seconds :eek: Besides which, if my jaw had dropped anymore it would have fallen off.

That's another thing, surgeries get on the case of people with diabetes because we make them money. Every time they ask me are you depressed they get dosh. :mad:

Hospitals are prone to say that you should be admitted even for something non-diabetes related, because it earns them dosh, I spent 5 days in hospital and gained half a stone on the insulin they were giving me In the end I insisted on being taken off it and had my meals brought in I know, I know.. brat behaviour..

bossymoo 7.5lb is very good :staradmin :T

devildog

SHEILA54 wrote: »

It is a bit late. Have you cut down on coffee, tea, coke? I also had caffeine withdrawal as I cut it out then and have a lot less now? Also are you drinking enough? You need 3 litres of water if possible to cope with what is happening to your body.

Don't drink anything fizzy and have never really had coffee since morning sickness whilst pregnant a long time ago put paid to that tea I still drink probably more than I should(no sugar though) A couple of months back i got down to two cups per day and developed tinnitus in one ear(research afterwards found this to be a known side affect)so upped the tea intake again but still have the ringing. I guess I do need to drink more water though.

Edwardia

tod123 I have Type 2 diabetes myself. As someone with diabetes I wouldn't dare drink energy drinks unless sugar free ( I know Red Bull has a sugar free version).

The energy drink will flood his bloodstream with glucose and because he must be insulin resistant to a degree at that size, a large amount of it will be sloshing around in his blood not fuelling his cells.

It can cause people to feel high, really spaced out and maybe he likes that. Personally I don't it's much like being drunk Then once the blood sugar has peaked it will start to drop and he'll feel like he just walked into a wall, with no energy whatsoever.

If your friend doesn't have diabetes already he's fast-tracking himself to it. The best thing you can do for him is ask him to switch to sugar free which may have an affect but just not so dramatic and drag him into a chemist for a free diabetes test.

Let us know how he gets on because I'm really worried about him. xx

devildog I had horrible caffeine withdrawal after drinking diet Pepsi daily for more years than I want to remember. Skull-splitting headaches for example. I don't think tea is that bad, I'd certainly choose tea over instant coffee. I reckon the parsnips even more than the crisps (noo don't want to think about cracked black pepper kettle chips). Parsnip soup makes me high they are very carby.

tod123

Edwardia wrote: »

tod123 I have Type 2 diabetes myself. As someone with diabetes I wouldn't dare drink energy drinks unless sugar free ( I know Red Bull has a sugar free version).

The energy drink will flood his bloodstream with glucose and because he must be insulin resistant to a degree at that size, a large amount of it will be sloshing around in his blood not fuelling his cells.

It can cause people to feel high, really spaced out and maybe he likes that. Personally I don't it's much like being drunk Then once the blood sugar has peaked it will start to drop and he'll feel like he just walked into a wall, with no energy whatsoever.

If your friend doesn't have diabetes already he's fast-tracking himself to it. The best thing you can do for him is ask him to switch to sugar free which may have an affect but just not so dramatic and drag him into a chemist for a free diabetes test.

Let us know how he gets on because I'm really worried about him. xx

devildog I had horrible caffeine withdrawal after drinking diet Pepsi daily for more years than I want to remember. Skull-splitting headaches for example. I don't think tea is that bad, I'd certainly choose tea over instant coffee. There are so many conflicting studies on coffee ..you live longer, it contains carcinogens, it cuts risk of diabetes, it raises blood sugar.. I'd say if you enjoy it have the good stuff and not too often

thanks Edwardia , I have tried to get him off of the full sugar ones (red bull), will double my efforts

Edwardia

confused76 I was diagnosed with diabetes five years ago this July. I was really gutted as I'd already lost some weight and was going to a gym.

I was soo angry that I don't think it really sank in for about three months as my GP caught it before I had any major symptoms, he just had a gut feeling.

I started making dietary changes straight away ie no bread, no pasta, switched to lower GI grains like quinoa and spelt but they didn't make a lot of difference. I started wondering why I was being told to eat things which made my BG rise and the rest as they say is history.

I owe big thanks to my doc who puts up with me to Gary Taubes and his article What If It's All A Big Fat Lie ? and to Dr Robert Lustig MD and his lectures on sugar (and he replied to my email as well)

sorry had to dash off to eat dinner.. it's good that your bro is getting some counselling I think that's quite rare. Hopefully he'll get good eating habits out of it and then once he's more receptive you can nudge him towards lower carb

sweaty_betty

Edwardia wrote: »

.. it's devastating to be told that you have this chronic disease and know that your life will never be the same.

I have been told that I can't walk barefoot in my house for example, in case a dog hair gets under my skin which leads to an infection and me having my foot taken off.

Unless people with type 2 diabetes low carb they are on a conveyor belt towards insulin which is not the benign substance it's made out to be.

Diabetes is a degenerative disease meaning that however hard I work at this, I'm only giving myself some respite, there's no cure. I won't live as long as a healthy person without diabetes.

It's frustrating and annoying to be treated like an imbecile and have appointments made for me. To have a nurse twice the size of me lecture me about my diet or grab the fork out of my hand, stir my salad and tell me that I'm not eating enough carbs in front of five members of my family.

No airline is obliged to take me anywhere. I cannot scuba dive, bungee jump, parachute jump or drive a horsebox if I wanted to.

I hate pricking my fingers to monitor my blood glucose because it hurts and I get bruises so typing can be painful.

I hate the assumptions made about me that I must have been stuffing my face with cakes and chocolate.

It's not ' a little bit of sugar ' as my mother in law calls it.

Not meaning to upset anyone at all xx but diabetes is deadly and if you're overweight you should be making every effort to lose weight to try to avoid getting it. The fatter you are the more risk you have of getting diabetes. If you have a lot of stomach fat, that's proof of insulin resistance.

Hi there - Edwardia, thanks for summing things up like that. I've had type 2 since I was 28 (I was overweight, but not THAT overweight) and have been on insulin ever since I was pregnant. Low-carbing means that I don't have to inject insulin at mealtimes - I still need to overnight or my blood sugar creeps up (I've tried insulin-free weeks and the numbers are not good!) but it lets me be in control of managing my diabetes more than I ever did before.

I'm actively refusing diabetes dietician's high carb advice and the threat of statins - I avoid the hospital and the diabetes nurse, preferring to stick with my GP who respects and listens to my views (and has a special interest in diabetes so is fairly informed).

It's very depressing to think that I'm going to have this for the rest of my life - if anyone poo-poos my low carb diet, I tell them that my blood sugar is fantastic and I'm going with anything that delays me going blind/losing my feet before I have to...

Btw - Edwardia, I use a blood glucose monitor that lets you test on areas other than your finger (arm, leg, etc) - much less painful and convenient. I think it's called freestyle - it also requires significantly less blood to test - I'd really be struggling if I was stuck with some of the others.

confused76

the duck legs were divine by the way.....i was going to have one with some veg and i cooked a second one for tomorrow...i had to polish that one off as well

Edwardia

sweatybetty I have gotten you're too young to have T2DM from doctors but you really did get it very young gosh. That must have been tough.

The Dawn Phenomenon thing is so irritating.. I don't want to be getting up early on a Sunday morning to have breakfast + Metformin ! If it weren't for that natural AM rise in BG I'd have absolutely normal BG 24/7 now <sigh>

It's great that your doctor is supportive (mine has diabetes specialism too).

Seems to me that you're handling it exactly right ie monitoring but doing diabetes your way. :T Don't they hate it when you have great BG doing the exact opposite to their advice,

Ooh who makes the Freestyle ? Will have to investigate that thanks !

confused76 another duck convert :T