Other closely related nutrition philosophies include: Paleo, Atkins, South Beach, The Zone, Ketogenic (more accurate for what I'm doing), Dr. Berstein's Diabetes Solution, Primal Blueprint...
I started on Feb. 7, the day before my 31st birthday; 18 years into my life as a type 1 diabetic.
The result has been this: I have never had such good control. My lows are as low as 50 (one instance in the last 2 weeks), but usually no lower than 60 (also rare, and I don't feel them because my body isn't relying on blood glucose for energy). My highest high was 250 on the second day of this experiment; other than that, it's gotten as high as 210 twice, the next highest high was 170 (about 4 times), but mostly stays under 140 after meals.
And as my body adapts to this new way of doing things, it's getting better.
- The last 24 hours didn't see a blood sugar over 125.
- I went to the gym for the past three mornings and didn't worry about getting low or high. It stayed FLAT.
- I've been able to get OFF the constant snacking that is required by the traditional restricted calorie, low-fat diet.
- I'm warmer.
- I am NOT hungry. Seriously. Not ever. Unless I go for 24 hours without eating. Then I get cold and hungry, but only after around 20 hours without eating. It's called intermittent fasting. Google it.
- I'm feeling more even keeled/sustained energy.
- I have reintroduced nuts into my eating! And dips. And bacon. And other delicious, satisfying foods. Just no carbs (but I do NOT miss them).
I would absolutely recommend this plan to anyone willing to do the research it takes to understand it, and who is willing to be 100% committed to giving up carbs. This means (for me at least):
- No sugar
- No bread
- No pasta
- No grains
- No fruit (except <50g berries)
- No milk (too sugary)
- No juice, soda, Starbucks fancy pants drinks, hot cocoa, etc.
- No tubers--beets, potatoes, carrots, parsnips, etc
- No legumes--too carby
- Careful with veggies--some might have surprising amounts of carbs. I once cured a low blood sugar with Brussels sprouts!
- Make sure you have a really good understanding of the carbs in foods--cashews, for example, have 8g carbs in a small handful!
Breakfast: Breve latte (half & half + espresso), cheese omelet, turkey sausage
Lunch: Avocado, Soy pups, tehina sauce, unsweetened iced tea
Dinner: Coconut chicken curry, cauliflower mash, with peanut butter balls or cheese for "dessert"
It's not a lot of food because fat is more densely packed with calories. 9 calories per gram as opposed to 4 calories per gram for carbs and protein.
I am NOT doing this for weight loss, although I did lose a lot of weight in the first week as my body emptied its glucose stores (which requires water). I'm hoping that I will lose a bit of weight as I stay on this plan (and bring down my calories), but I am entirely doing it for BLOOD SUGAR CONTROL.
My endo told me not to do it, so I fired her and found a new doctor. She couldn't really give me a reason not to do it. The nutritionist pushed me to eat at least 130g of carbs a day, so I also fired her. Her reasoning is that your brain needs glucose--which is true, but the body has a mechanism for making glucose from protein, a process that results in much smoother blood sugars than carb consumption. Check out my previous post for a recap of that frustrating set of events.
Here are some amazing resources I have come across:
Mark's Daily Apple
Dr. Mercola - does video interviews with some of the best thinkers on nutrition and sports
myglu.org is a community of type 1 diabetics, and supporters of type 1 diabetics. There are a good sprinkling of type 1s who are catching on to this way of controlling BGs
Dr. Bernstein's Diabetes Solution - is a quirky read that has revolutionized the way I think about blood sugar management
Also -- playing with intermittent fasting. It tends to push your body to more quickly adapt to dietary fat as energy.
Here's my Pinterest board for good recipes for low-carb, high fat foods.
No comments:
Post a Comment