I was diagnosed with Type II on my 50th birthday (yeah, it was like “Happy birthday, you’re diabetic”). I tried all different types of diets, and finally went on Atkin’s. All of a sudden, I’m losing weight and my blood sugar is normal. Lots of protein in my diet, and I’m never hungry.
Then my endocrinologist called me after a blood test, and told me to see a kidney doctor. The kidney doctor told me that I’ve got Stage 3 kidney disease. Part of the blame was all the protein I was eating.
The result was a diet that was low-fat, low-sodium, low-protein, low-carbs, low-sugar.
So now I’m on a diet that’s mostly composed of the things on Silver Fire’s list, augmented with small quantities of poultry or seafood. So far it’s working.
Carrots are high in carbs. But–and the so-called nutritionists don’t seem to know this–raw carrots are low in available carbs. In fact, most of the carrot passes right through you undigested. For the same reason, not a good source of carotene. The situation is entirely different with cooked carrots. I suppose you could masticate a carrot for an hour and get more out it, but no one does that.
There is a book called Catching Fire that goes into this in some detail. The theme of the book is that cooking food is what gave hominims sufficient calories to allow the evolutionary growth of the brain.
The Cardboard Diet! Somehow I don’t see that as being a best-seller on the book lists, though.
Glad you found an approach that is working for you. It’s always tough when you have to balance the needs of competing disease processes that require almost diametrically opposed treatments. That’s one of the more frustrating situations in medicine.
Help me out here. The 3 sources of calories are fat, carbohydrates, and protein. So if it’s low fat, low sugar AND low protein … what the hell is left?
Is it that you eat carbs that are low- or no-sugar? Also, I assume low-fat means no cooking in things like butter or olive oil, so … does everything have to be steamed or boiled? (Assuming you’re not eating it raw, that is … )
ETA: good luck, laggard. This has been an interesting thread, and I hope you enjoy improved health soon. Cheers!
Excellent, if you exercise frequently and eat a healthy diet.,
Peeing every hour on the hour. Sudden weight loss (I lost 25 pounds in 2 weeks). Feeling a post-Thanksgiving meal coma after eating your usual meal.
re: the OP, get a prescription for the test strips for your meter. You’re going to go through a lot, and they’re effing expensive if you pay for them yourself ($1.40 apiece at CVS).
re: What kind of carbs/fat to watch out for: Keep a careful eye on anything that’s used to make sugar, flour, booze or oil. Those things are pure rocket fuel and will mess you up if you’re not careful. Corn, sugar beets, wheat, rice, peanuts…
I got a meter and the strips are more expensive with my insurance. Off the shelf they are 1.30 a strip. I understand now why they basically give away the meter itself.
Amazon. They’re still pricey but less so. I got 50 for my accu-chek nano for under $30. Or look around at strip cost and buy a different meter based on that. The savings will pay for the meter eventually.
Majorly invasive surgery that, depending on the type you choose, permanently changes your digestive system and has permanent malabsorptive consequences. I’d like to think that responsible doctors would recommend less invasive options first, and reserve surgery with risk of major complications as an option of last resort.
I had the “gold standard” surgery in 2004, not for health reasons per se (I was in fact as healthy as a horse). Insurance company paid for it because my glucose revealed that I was bordeline diabetic, although I was actually just shy of even being borderline. Insurance company would NOT pay for fertility treatment at the weight I was at, which is the real reason I had the surgery.
Nearly 10 years later, best I can say is that I’m not ‘morbidly obese’ (God, how I hate that term). I am still 25 or so pounds above my so-called ideal, which is surprising only in that I still cannot eat a normal portion of protein-dense food, and my body doesn’t absorb some nutrients. I was told that post-bypass, taking oral supplements would be a lifelong committment. What I wasn’t told, and was in fact met with a great deal of skepticism from my surgeon when my symptoms and blood tests revealed dangerously low deficiencies, is that for some patients, oral supplements aren’t absorbed either. I was taking them. I now get monthly B-12 injections and take a liquid iron supplement that keeps my iron within low normal ranges. It also messes with my digestive tract and has some other nuisance only side effects. I have mild neuropathy from several years of critically low B-12. The most difficult thing for me to live with, though, is that I still get very ill at times when I eat certain foods, and there is no pattern to it. Some foods, I have already waved a permanent goodbye to, such as ice cream and alfredo or any cream-based pasta. I can eat a small bowl of cereal with no problems for weeks, and then one day I will be … no details, but suffice it to say, miserable.
This is my reality now, and given the extremely miserable two years I suffered directly after surgery, when I literally could eat no more than teaspoons of food at a time (and for six months, that was meat pureed in a frickin blender) and still had gut-wrenching dry heaves as the food inevitably got stuck traveling down into my infant-sized stomach ‘pouch’), I am actually grateful for the progress I made.
In retrospect, I would have taken those nutrition classes, and focused on making sustainable lifestyle changes, and if it took me a decade to shed 100 pounds, so be it. I am not suggesting that there aren’t cases in which bypass surgery aren’t a good idea. Just never an option of first choice.
I was probably suffering from it for 2-3 years (becoming progressively worse) before I was finally diagnosed. For the final 6 months or so of that period, I was actively in denial about it.
As Ethilrist already mentioned, serious thirst (and the subsequent constant peeing) was the big one. At that time, I kept remembering an episode of MASH* in which a chopper pilot was hiding his diabetes (because the Army would have grounded him); when Hawkeye and BJ caught on to him, he admitted that he was always thirsty.
I lost weight, too, though not as dramatically quickly as Ethilrist mentioned…and it was probably masked in my mind by the fact that I was actively trying to lose some weight.
Other signs that I had were an unusual odor to my breath, and pain in my feet (neuropathy), which I mentioned upthread.
Frustrating, ain’t it! I’m not diabetic, though my A1C is slightly higher than normal so if I don’t get my act together it’s a matter of time (and yes, I AM working on that). But on other health issues… I’ve gotten my weight down and still felt like hell. I’ve gotten 2 different sleep disorders adequately treated and still felt like hell. I remind myself that even if I don’t feel better, it’s reducing some kind of long-term damage (I hope…) so 20 years from now I’ll be better off even if there’s no short-term payoff. Sigh.
For the OP: as a vegetarian, I imagine it’s a bit harder to eat low-carb, but it can be done. For what it’s worth, a lot of what makes food taste good isn’t necessarily the sugars, but the fats. Of course you don’t want to go overboard on those - but jiggering your caloric balance to get a bit more of the healthier fats may not be a bad thing.
By the way, I have discovered one sure-fire solution for high blood sugar: simply don’t eat! Go long enough without food, and that number will come down!
Well yeah, though taken to extremes the side effects (chiefly death) might make it not seem so worthwhile ;).
Actually though, for a Type 2 diabetic (insulin resistant) I assume that is what would gradually happen, but if someone were literally not producing insulin wouldn’t their blood sugar just get high and STAY high until they got some insulin?
I’m a type 1 and got pretty sick this winter, couldn’t eat or keep fluids down. I cut back on my insulin which I have done in the past when I had a stomach thing going on. Oh, BIG mistake. No food does not equal low blood sugar. I quickly ended up with a glucose level of 890, an ambulance ride to the hospital, and a visit to ICU for 8 days. Hey…at least I learned my lesson.
My BS this morning was 145* (the highest I’ve ever seen my meter go, actually) and I feel terrible. I can’t imagine 890.
So yesterday I ate a 1/2 c of Raisin Bran with a 1/2 c of milk. Two hours PP = 97. Silly me, I thought maybe I could eat more cereal because, really, a half a cup of boring cereal is a ridiculous breakfast. This morning I ate just 3/4 c RB with 1/2 c milk. Two hours PP = ONE HUNDRED FORTY FIVE, WTF.
You get used to it. Heck, when I was diagnosed, my A1c was something like 12, which converts to an average of 300 or so (:eek:). I felt fine. Nowadays, I tend to bounce up to 180-200 or so after a normal meal, then come back down to 90-110 between meals (at least, that’s what I strive for), and I never can really fell the difference. I think I start to feel it when it gets above 250 or lower than 70, but even then, it’s no guarantee; I’ve been in the 40s and had no clue.
I gotta think that 890 would make anyone notice, though. I don’t think you can stay there very long without serious health issues, as evasgram said.
