What I’m experiencing on a low carb diet

Food & Diet Diet
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Had another great week on the low carb diet - as Michel suggested I’ll share some of my experiences

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The readings are great again - with average of 99 and little variation especially during the night and morning
Things I’ve done

  • gone below 40g a day of carb - this amount is my threshold for protein - below this all protein behaves the same all the time - above it’s erratic
  • gone into Ketosis - sticks are reading highest (80) which means I’m losing weight which I need -
    I’ve lost 20lb but I need to lose another 18 to get my BMI into normal range - I’ve lost 1lb a week which is consistent
  • fixed breakfast and lunch - these meals at my age are not there for culinary exploration so I’m cool to just eat the same thing each day - eggs and avocado for breakfast and a ryvita / turkey or chicken meat and coleslaw with some cheese for lunch - allows me to get a completely flat line every day pretty much
  • dinner is still variable but also low carb - I’ll eat a good 50g of protein or even more for dinner so that I don’t snack later and can get my bg to 90 before bed - I’ve had some rises above 140 on dinner especially when out as you can’t predict what restaurants put in food
  • continued to drink beer and vodka but moderate and the erratic sugars it caused have gone away also ( still runs me low in am but a snack before bed sorts this out)
  • started exercise again - in last 2 wks - 30 min cardio / strength each day as I’m very unfit plus 45min brisk dog walk
    What I’ve experienced
  • hunger pangs and cravings have just gone completely - quite miraculous - I never feel hungry and to be honest lunch time I could skip if I wanted
  • all the erratic behavior of my bg has calmed down completely - it feels so much better to know what is going to happen when I eat something - the DP has appeared to go also
  • my insulin use has gone through the floor - I only need 10 units of humalog a day to cover Food - 4 for carbahydrate and the rest for protein - I had come down from 30 to 21 on tresiba also before I started exercising
  • since exercise I’ve had to bring down my tresiba again to 17 but I am still going low at night so it means I need to come down again
  • I feel more energy than I have in 35 yrs - don’t know if that is as I have normal sugars now or it’s the low carb but I feel great
  • there is no need to mess around with making weird meals - it’s easier to stick to green veg cheese meat and fish -as well as sugar free sweets and ice lollies - by not eating carbs for me at least the craving for carbs has gone but I wouldn’t say before this I was a massive carb eater either - my remaining weakness - a piece of sourdough bread each week with my eggs for breakfast !
    So far so good - appears all the literature about this diet is completely right !!
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You are making terrific progress–congrats!

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@Robellengold That is awesome!

One question. Do you take any oral antidiabetic meds, like an SGLT-2 inhibitor? If so, I would strongly advise you to talk to your doc about it because the ultra low carb diet plus SGLT2’s can cause DKA in a heartbeat.

I’m at around 70-90g carbs/day, and my new endo said he’s a bit uncomfortable with the SGLT-2 inhibitor that I’m taking.

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Thanks - I don’t take anything now except insulin and a statin and astorvatin - doctor is ok with the low carb - he told me to eat more salt initially / avocado as it has potassium as I’ve noticed with low carb I pee a lot more and I’ve dropped a lot of the water in my body as a result so I need some more salts

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Looking great @Robellengold

I learned on the internet that sourdough bread is lower on the glycemic index than regular bread so when we make bread at home it always has a little bit of sourdough starter in it :slight_smile:

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Good to know thanks

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@Robellengold, what a terrific write -up, extremely useful to those of who don’t follow it or who want to start it! :star:

I hope you will keep on reporting your thoughts and experiences. It is awesome to be able to learn from another person’s experience.

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I’ve also experienced great success eating low carb. I still have erratic blood sugars, so I wouldn’t say it’s made diabetes easier for me, but I’ve experienced many of the benefits you have. Best control I’ve ever had, no hunger, good food, tons of energy, lost 20 pounds so far. I initially planned to stay at <30 grams a day for weight loss, but at this point I’ll happily continue eating this way for life.

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