Why Isn’t The LCHF Ketogenic Diet Working for Me? Common Mistakes- Part One

Part One

I must get this question at least 10 times a week.  It is a common issue that diabetics wrestle with.  They really believe that they are doing everything right but in most cases I can spot the problem pretty quickly if I get to see a day or two of menus.

Here are the most common mistakes that I see being made.

1-  Not being aware of hidden sugars.   I will put a link to hidden sugars below.

If you are buying products off of the grocery store shelf be aware that just because it says sugar free or gives a low carb count that is not always correct.   There are certain “sugars” that do not have to be counted as a carb or a sugar on the label.  That doesn’t mean that it isn’t sugar!  It just means that the FDA and the USDA has allowed some rule bending for the sake of the food companies profit line!   Look for ingredients that end in “ose” or “tose” or “dextrin”.  These are sugars that will raise a diabetic’s blood sugar higher than table sugar and the food manufacturers do not have to tell you!   You will also find these sugars in vitamins and other supplements.

Watch out for marketing gimmicks like Glucerna “diabetic friendly” shakes, Atkins bars and shakes or other things that make claims that they will keep your blood sugar balanced.  They will keep it balanced all right!   Balanced sky high!    Check ingredients in all store bought products!  Don’t fall for these marketing hypes.  They love to put this stuff right over there where you are purchasing your meters, test strips and other diabetic devices.  

    

Here is the Glycemic Index of common sweeteners.  The higher the number the more that it raises blood sugar.    http://www.sugar-and-sweetener-guide.com/glycemic-index-for-sweeteners.html

2-  Too many carbs or using “net” carbs.

This is a common mistake.  It’s all over facebook low carb groups and the Atkins diet and other low carb diets suggest using a formula that allows you to subtract fiber from total carbs and get net carbs.   This makes it seem like you will be able to eat it without much of a blood sugar rise.  You may find yourself sadly disappointed!   

While some diabetics can use this formula successfully I wouldn't recommend it for the majority of insulin dependent people.   It is another marketing trick and companies like Dreamfields  Pasta company and the Julian Bakery have gotten fined by the USDA or sued for false advertising.    There are many breads and wraps on the market that claim to be low carb because you can subtract the fiber.   Don’t fall for it!  Fiber will slow down the digestion of carbs and you may find that your blood sugar will not only go up but it may stay up in an unhappy range for as long as 24-48 hours.  

In order to be successful on a LCHF diet you should initially count all carbs. Perhaps later on in your Ketogenic journey when blood sugars have stabilized you can test some of these other items.

3-  This is good for me because it is healthy

Is it really?  Remember that your primary goal is to reduce blood sugar and insulin resistance.   It doesn't matter how healthy a food is if it keeps you diabetic!   I hear this from someone every week! Even too many servings of salad greens could potentially add up to too much!    I hear things like:

“I’m trying to get some yogurt into my diet because it has good healthy probiotics”

“I need to eat a half of a banana because I need the potassium”. 

“I’m drinking green smoothies for the healthy vitamins and minerals.”

Others make the mistake of eating allowed fruits like berries but eat them with abandon or find that they can’t stop putting them in their mouth.   You need to know what pushes your carb craving buttons and get it out of your pantry or refrigerator.

You are not going to be healthy if your blood sugar and insulin levels are up and you will not have success on the Ketogenic diet by eating foods that will not allow your body to be running in a fat burning state of ketosis.   This is what we have to aim for. 

There are plenty of healthy “super foods”.  They don’t have to be high carb or high sugar.  Avocados are a power food packed with potassium and other good stuff!  Greens and green vegetables pack a punch and they also add fiber.    We were never meant to “eat” our vegetables juiced!  Our ancestors didn't have juicers in the woods now did they?

Consider carefully how many carbs you want to allow yourself for something that seems to be healthy but in your case may not be because it will keep you from your greater goal!  

Please use this handy guide to find nutrients in foods!  http://www.whfoods.com/nutrientstoc.php

4- Portion Sizes and timing issues.

Are you simply eating too much food or eating food too often?   We have had it pounded into our heads forever that we “need to eat often” to stay satisfied and keep our metabolism going.  That is a bunch of nonsense!  

Our ancestors didn't graze!  They hunted all day, maybe even two days, then dragged the animal home and everyone sat down to eat it.   The remaining was often eaten for breakfast the next day and then off they went again to find more.   The women gathered seeds, nuts and berries in season.  They were not the big luscious sweet berries of the modern world. They were tiny wild berries and sharing them it probably didn't amount to a lot.

 

Small portions of meat, greens, nuts and berries or small portions of cheese a few times a day are fine.  Eating a half a block of cheese and telling yourself that it’s adding to your fat totals is not going to work out well nor is chomping down on a full cup of nuts!  

There is a side of broccoli or there is a plateful of broccoli.  The plateful is going be too much and can keep you from attaining the blood sugar control you want and may hinder weight loss that you are trying to achieve.   If to you a 12 ounce Sirloin is a portion you are not going to see the results you want.

I will discuss how protein can inhibit ketosis in part two.  I will address the mistakes made eating fat in my next post too!    For now, take a bit of time to consider if any of these four mistakes are hindering your LCHF journey to health! 

Go to part two here:
http://ketodiabetes.blogspot.com/2015/02/why-isnt-lchf-ketogenic-diet-working_14.html

25 Months On A LCHF Ketogenic Diet- Update!

It's been two years and one month since I read Dr. Jeff Volek and Stephen Phinney's book called "The Art And Science Of Low Carbohydrate Living".   I will state without any hesitation that it was the pivotal turning point in my diabetic life!   It changed my entire concept of health and it also changed the lives of countless others who have joined my "Reversing Diabetes" facebook group since then.

At the time that I read that book I was eating a low carb and low fat type of diet and had about 500 members in my facebook group.  I remember one of my admins in the group at the time, a great guy and a mentor, Geoff S. would post about eating a ketogenic diet.  I kind of thought it was on the extreme end of the scale and didn't promote it much.  I have to admit that It actually scared me a little bit!

Fast forward two years later!   Geoff was a very wise man and he knew of what he spoke! He helped me along in my early days of eating this way!  I am forever grateful to you Geoff!

Today I eat a fully ketogenic diet as Volek and Phinney write of and my facebook group now has more than 5200 members and a countless number of successful LCHF participants!   I have since added two more successful facebook groups with an additional 1500 members or so.

After reading Volek and Phinney's book, I began my own experiment which I documented for about 5 months.  I upped my fat intake, I lowered my protein intake, experimented with portion sizes and foods even using a food scale for a while!  It was a lot of work in the beginning but now it is simply my way of life!

Within days I was blown away by my blood sugar numbers and I have never turned back!   Now in Jan. 2015 it has been 25 months of this way of eating along with thousands of others doing this with me!   It is humbling to say the least!

I just had my yearly "preventative" exam.  I say that because I no longer have to have diabetes follow-up exams.  My doctor has declared me to be no longer diabetic "on paper" as she says.   She was completely blown away by my recent labs and could hardly believe my numbers!

Fasting Blood Glucose on day of testing was 74 (4.1 mmol),

A1c 5.3

Vitamin D level is stellar at 74, which is up from last years 52  (most people are under 40!)

Homocysteine is down to 9.8 from 11.8 in 2013.  This is a marker for heart disease.  Below 10 is fine. Over 13 or so is concerning although most physicians don't seem to take much notice until you have a reading of 15 or higher!

All of my liver enzymes are improved over the past 3 years.  So much for the propaganda saying that a high fat diet causes fatty liver!

Total Cholesterol of 222 is BORDERLINE (225 last year) Of course it is higher due to the higher "healthy" HDL

LDL of 106 is NEAR OPTIMAL (down from 144)
HDL of 92 is OPTIMAL (UP 40 points from last year)
Triglyceride level of 120 is NORMAL (145 last year)

RATIOS:
Total Cholesterol/HDL ratio is: 2.41 - (preferably under 5.0, ideally under 3.5) IDEAL

LDL/HDL ratio is: 1.152 - (preferably under 5.0, ideally under 2.0) IDEAL

Triglycerides/HDL ratio is: 1.304 - (preferably under 4, ideally under 2) IDEAL

The calculator I used to figure my ratios is here.  http://www.hughcalc.org/chol2013.php

I am so happy to share my results after 2 years of eating a LCHF Ketogenic diet and my hope is that it will inspire others and take away some possible fear that you may have about how a high fat diet affects your lipids!

For those of you who read this post whose life has also been changed by using the ketogenic diet for your health I would love it if you would comment on this post! 

My Experiment With First & Second Phase Insulin Response

"Huh, what?" you ask!    What are you talking about?  Well it's a bit complicated and you can read about it for yourself at Jenny Ruhl's "Blood Sugar 101" web page here:   "How Blood Sugar Control Works- And How It Stops Working"                                                    

I was reading Jenny's hard copy "Blood Sugar 101" book for the second time through and I just wanted to wrap my head around this and try to understand it.  I also became very interested in what my own responses were.

Most of us type 2's don't follow our blood sugar too closely.  We may test in the morning or perhaps after a meal so we have a general idea of what our average blood sugar may be.  The quarterly or twice yearly A1C gives us another indication.   But what is really going on with our insulin response.  What happens in those few hours after a meal when we aren't testing?   How good or bad is out insulin response?

These were the questions I wanted to answer about my own body.   Do I have impaired phase one insulin response?  Failed phase 2 insulin response?  Both?

I was surprised after doing both experiments.   A bit disappointed too!

The first picture is one testing my 1st phase insulin response by taking 1-1/2 tsp of sugar right after testing my fasting blood sugar.  This is equal to about 7-8 grams of carbs which was certainly not carb loading.  It mimicked an average carb meal for me.  I started out with a nice 76 mg/dl  (4.2 mmol).   In the picture you can see the rise at 15 minutes.  At 30 minutes it is already on it's way down.  At 90 minutes my blood sugar it is back nearly to where it started at 80 mg/dl  (4.3 mmol).

Go to the larger Google Drive chart here.

This was shocking to me!  Looking at this you would question if I even was diabetic!    This is exactly the way a non-diabetics blood sugar would respond in 90 minutes or so.  The increase to 96 a half hour later may have been due to a glucose dump by the liver after blood sugar went below 80.

Exciting news, right!    But here is the not so exciting news.  My other experiment didn't fare so well.

Here is a chart of two meals eaten yesterday.  These were both usual meals for me.  I weighed the protein portions to be exactly 3 ounces since that is what I have determined is the right amount for my diet.  Both meals were LCHF ketogenic meals with added fats.  I stopped taking all of my supplements for this experiment as well so that I could get a true picture of how my body handled the meals without help from anything else.

Lunch was a salad with sour cream chipotle dressing , vinegar, macadamia oil and 3 ounces of Kielbasa sausage.  Supper was 3 ounces of baked haddock with butter and lemon olive oil with 7 spears of roasted asparagus.  I also had 3 ounces of V-8 juice (3.5 grams carbs) at the beginning of the supper meal thinking that it might get the insulin going faster.

See full chart in Google Drive here

Normally, I test before and after a meal.  Sometimes only after the meal.   I was making an assumption that my blood sugar would rise mostly the first hour to 45 minutes and then start coming down.  When I usually do my post meal test at 2-1/2 hours it is around 105-115 or so.  Sometimes it is lower, which is nice!

What I didn't realize is that  my blood sugar is only first peaking at the 2 hour mark!  This was shocking to me!  When I test at 2-1/2 hours I am only just beginning to come down from my "high".  Granted my peak is still below 130 which is certainly not anything to be concerned about but this whole experiment now leaves me with more questions to be answered!   After both meals my blood sugar didn't come down to a "normal" range below 100 mg/dl (5.5 mmol) for over four hours!

What does this tell me?  Well, I guess I am diabetic for one!  I knew that already! (smirk)   I show a very slow and impaired secondary insulin response.  I also wonder why it seemed like there was no 1st phase insulin response to the meals.  Is it because it took that long for my pancreas to recognize that I ate carbs?  I don't have the answers to these questions so on to more research!

Protein Is My Nemesis!

I belong to quite a few low carb, meat eating Facebook  groups.   Some of the members are diabetic and have adopted a Ketogenic eating plan to normalize blood sugar.  Others are eating a low carb high fat (LCHF) diet for reasons like weight loss or because they feel more energetic  or it solved gastrointestinal problems, etc.

I eat the diet mainly for controlling my diabetes and it really has pretty much normalized my blood sugar.  I also feel great eating this way.

 I have this one consistent problem with the diet that has become my nemesis!  It is the thing that keeps tripping me up over and over again!  It is protein!  Yup, protein!

I am not like any other diabetic and another diabetic isn't going to be exactly like me so I want to say that first!    Everyone has to find out what works or doesn't work for them by the use of their blood glucose meter and a bit of experimentation.

Just as some are more carbohydrate intolerant than others I have found that we all seem to handle different levels of protein too.  Some of you reading this are already scratching your head and wondering why in the world protein would even be at issue.  It is a long story that I will not go into in this post but to explain simply, a certain amount of protein converts to glucose and can raise blood sugar as do carbohydrates.

When I began my Ketogenic, LCHF diet about 15 months ago, I had to experiment to get my protein low enough so that my blood glucose would normalize.   The amount of protein also seemed to affect my next morning’s fasting blood sugar as well.

I still find myself in a battle to keep protein at a level that I long ago determined was the right level for me.    When they bring a big steak to my table at Texas Roadhouse I long to devour the whole thing and often I do!   Leftover steak eaten the next day just isn't the same!   I am also used to big 1/4 or even 1/3 pound hamburger patties.   We've been taught to eat large portions of everything because of the size of portions in restaurants, in commercials and food magazines.  

I have found that keeping to my personal protein portion sizes of about 2.5 oz. (70 g) in a meal I will have a much smaller after meal blood sugar rise than if I allow myself a larger portion.   My blood sugar may be at 97- 3-3 1/2 hours post meal if I eat the smaller protein portion.  When I increase this even by 1 oz I see a very different blood sugar of perhaps 115.  An even larger portion of protein means an even larger rise of up to 125 or 130.   This is just from protein itself with no added carbs in the meal.   I have to add additional fat for calories and to make sure that I am full.   Hunger doesn't ever seem to be a problem for me and I am much happier with a post meal blood sugar of less than 100 than one of 125!

Although blood sugar control is mainly about eating a diet low in carbs and sugar, don’t forget to adjust the protein to a level that works for you.  If you are one of the lucky ones who do not have to restrict protein then eat up!   I envy you! 

( I didn't really address carbs in the above blog post. I don't want anyone  to think that protein is what they need to focus on for initial blood sugar control.  Protein is kind of the final nutrient to be adjusted after blood sugar has been normalized by reducing carbohydrates but is still on the higher end of normal.  I eat less than 20 grams of carbs a day most days.)

Nobody Really Cares, Do They?

I want to bring up a subject that seems to come up a lot among diabetics who are eating the LCHF way or any other alternative diet for diabetes.  The subject of dealing with friends, family members, co-workers and food!

You know what!  Nobody cares!  Really!  Get this through your head right now!  Get a clue!  The rest of the world (for the most part) is not thinking of the diabetics in the room when it comes to dinners, parties, birthday treats at work, etc., etc., etc.

In fact, my experience has been that the thought process of others is more like that of the medical profession and the diabetes educators in general; "Just eat what everyone else eats in smaller portions and take your medications or insulin, if need be, and play nice!"

In my own family, on both my side and my husband's side, there is no thought to the diabetics when making the menu for a family gathering like Thanksgiving even though it would be very easy to accommodate with a side salad or some non-starchy vegetables added to the menu along with the stuffing and mashed potatoes.

Oh, and I love it when someone says to me "Well, your sister is a diabetic and she is eating the cranberry sauce!"  or "Come on, it's a holiday.  You can forget your diet today!"  Ah.... diet!   I'm not on a "diet".  I'm trying to control a disease!

In my small office of five people, two of us are diabetic and another is pre-diabetic.  At our monthly meetings, donuts are still served and birthday treats brought in are still brownies and caramel bars!   Even the other diabetic is the one bringing the donuts to the meetings!  Oh, she throws in a few apples once in a while to satisfy herself that she is trying to offer healthy foods.  Of course, the apple will be eaten later, after the donut but at least one can fool themselves into thinking that they made a wise choice!

Let's face it, when it comes to gatherings, we are the odd balls!    I sometimes feel a bit like "bubble boy".   Oh, I've heard about the comments made behind my back at the office regarding the butter I keep in the fridge there and the coconut oil that I put in my coffee at work.  I don't announce it or anything but they all know.   I've been told that when I am not there they discuss my foolishness and wonder how long it will be before I fall over of a stroke.  All of this, of course, discussed while they munch on chocolate covered donuts in the break room.

I've gone away hungry more than once with a table full of food.  The comments made to me by others is that there was plenty of food available so if I went away hungry it was my own fault.

Well, I guess that is true!  I am the one who has to think about my food plan.  No one else is thinking about it at all.  Should I call them ahead and ask what is on the menu?  Should I offer to bring a dish and then bring one that I can eat and others can eat or choose to pass on?  Should I eat before I go?  Well, how rude would that be; to eat at home and then decline to eat at the gathering?

It has been said, and I agree, that Diabetes is no longer looked at as a serious disease.  That label is saved for diseases like Cancer or Cardiovascular Disease and Stroke!    Most diabetics, when diagnosed are not even told that there are dangers of all of the above other diseases along with loss of limbs, eyesight, or kidney damage.  It seems that to most of the "normal" world these complications are completely unthought of.   Only those who have seen a diabetic parent, sibling or friend go through these horrible complications seem to understand.

I don't have all of the answers to this yet but I do know one thing for sure, nobody else is going to change for me so I need to "suck it up and deal with it".  No amount of whining or complaining is going to change anything.   I know that many of you can identify with this blog post and have your own experiences.  I hope that this will help you to be strong and find ways to help yourself by realizing that you can't expect the world to understand you.

No More Chili For Me And Other Thoughts On Food

I need to get back on track and eat MORE FAT!

Last weekend I made a batch of my favorite chili.  It is a "low carb" chili but it probably has around 16 grams of carbs in a cupful or so.  I really didn't know that until yesterday when I spent time inputing my recipe into Nutritiondata.com.   I knew that it was a carbier dish for me but I didn't know that it had that many carbs!  Every once in a while I allow myself the pleasure of making up a pot.   I only use 1/2 can of black beans in a whole pot of chili.

My husband doesn't eat chili so I am the only one eating the pot and of course it only lasts several days in the fridge.  I try to only have one serving of it per day.  Still, every day this week my blood sugar got a little bit higher.   A few nights ago I had a small second helping because I was really hungry and because I love it so much!   I did make sure I got the fat in by adding some cheese and sour cream to the bowl.  After eating the chili and the small second helping my after meal blood sugar was 155 two hours later.  It was still 130 at bedtime!  Not good!

My morning blood sugar was creeping up each day as well as I continued to eat one bowl or so each day.  I knew that I was out of ketosis which isn't good because my body was becoming a sugar burner again and I was seeing my old diabetic blood sugar issues that I have not seen in a year.  All the time as it was going up day by day I was questioning what the heck was going on with my blood sugar!

I now realize that I can't justify ever making this particular chili with even a small portion of black beans anymore.  Even the canned tomatoes are a problem for my blood sugar.  I have to remove this chili from my food plan in the future.  I say this with a heavy heart!  

Today, I'm getting back on track eating more fat, and smaller portions of meat and vegetables until my blood sugar normalizes again.  I am already seeing progress.  The chili is gone, and sadly, out of my life.  I may try my old version again that had no beans and 6 grams of carbs but I won't try that for a while.

Just like anyone else, I seem to have the ability to fool myself into thinking that I can eat some of my favorite foods without consequence!  It may not be the donut that ruins your day!  It may just be the "healthy" food that you think just couldn't possibly be the problem but it is!

It may be the one piece of "healthy whole grain" bread that you eat every day because you have been told that you need just a bit of fiber, or the apple a day that "keeps the doctor away".   It may be the tomato meat sauce on the spaghetti squash that you think is low carb but for some "unknown" reason your blood sugar goes up way high every time you eat it?  Is it the stevia with the  maltodextrin that was listed on the label that you didn't read?  How about the low carb protein shake with a bit of fruit to sweeten it up.  For some it is the "full fat" greek yogurt at 7 grams of carbs per serving but you are really eating a serving an a half instead.

What is it for you?  Do you secretly know it but refuse to accept it?   Do you need to eliminate your "healthy" favorite dish as I now have to do with my favorite chili?    Denial is "sweet" like candy is but it isn't good for a diabetic!   What do you need to do?

Heading Down The Slippery Slope!

I've been very, very good and now have also been bad.  Without really knowing it I have gone down the slippery slope of allowing my self a bit too much dietary freedom in the past month.

It happened very innocently and casually almost unnoticeable to me until something happened to hit me square in the forehead, you know, like in that V8 commercial!  Bonk!  High blood sugars!  Dawn Phenomenon!  Both suddenly back to visit me.  WTH!  What happened?

What happened is that I started regressing to my old ways of liberalism, that is liberalism with my food choices;  a little bit here and a little bit there; too many added ingredients adding up to additional uncounted carbs.

I have always tried to keep meals simple.  That is the best way to know how many carbs, proteins and fat I'm getting.   When I start combining ingredients or increasing portion sizes I can get into trouble.  That is what happened this past week.

I made several dishes that were healthy and low carb but in total were just too high in carbs or too low in fat.   I was also allowing extra vegetable portions and larger than usual meat portions.  Because my blood sugar has been so good I thought I could eat a 5 oz portion of meat rather than the 3 oz portions that I had been eating.  The Egg Fu Yung with just a bit of gravy the last time didn't hurt my blood sugar so the next day I added just a bit more gravy.  The extra portion sizes and the addition of a few sauces were making my blood sugar creep up.   It didn't happen overnight but it happened over several days.

While I was enjoying some low carb casseroles and dishes and taking second helpings (they were so good!)  I was pushing myself out of ketosis.  Some of these mistakes were just little things like eating the 2 breaded chicken nuggets that my husband didn't eat and a few of those curly fries that just looked so good!  Oh and I almost forgot the $5.00 movie night with free popcorn.  I only ate one cup!  It had butter on it too!  That was fat, right?   My blood sugar was just fine after that.  I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn't higher and it wasn't bad the next day either!  Ah, but the slippery slope!  Slowly, a little bit each day my blood sugar was going up.  After meals and fasting too!

I really couldn't pinpoint the problem until I was once again watching a presentation by Nora Gedgaudes and went back to her book, "Primal Body, Primal Mind".   I got my wake-up call!

I have to go back to basics!  Very low carb, adequate but moderate protein (2- 3 oz's a meal) and fats to fill in the remainder and fill me up!  It's not rocket science but it is important science for managing diabetes.  I hope that I will be more mindful of that in the future!  Let my mistake keep you from making the same one!  Thank you again  Nora Gedgaudes for your wisdom!

My Most Significant Change Yet!

I have kind of abandoned this blog in the last year mainly due to being busy with 4-5 Face Book pages that I have.   There have been a few changes since I last posted here.  The most important and significant change was that I began the high fat, low carb ketogenic diet last December.  Following is the text of my "experiment" as I had originally posted it on my Face Book page.  Here goes.....

My High Fat Ketogenic Experiment

Because of the huge success of my experiment with eating according to the book "The Art & Science Of Low Carb Living", I am posting my experiences here in one place so that it is easy to find and read. This is by far the most exciting thing that has happened in my life since my diabetes diagnosis in 2009! 

The Beginning. Here was my first post on my experiment.
The book I've been reading is called "The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Living. It is written by Steve Phinney and Jeff S. Volek. Phinney is a physician-scientist who has spent 35 years studying diet, exercise, fatty acids, and inflammation. Dr. Phinney has published over 70 papers and several patents. He has many studies publish on the Pub-Med website. The book is kind of technical so it is not for everyone. Taubes said it is the book he wished he had written. A chapter of the book gives me a great explanation of why my current experiment of less than 20 gr. carbs and 70% fat in my diet has brought about a complete reversal of insulin resistance in a matter of days. They point to some studies including one of Phinney's. A small study of insulin resistant patients showed that insulin resistance (high blood sugar) was not improved until fat in the diet was at least 70% and carbs were less than 20 gr. per day. At lower fat percentages (35-60%), insulin resistance DID NOT improve! My experiment seems to prove this out and others in this group like, Geoff Smith, Andre Chimene, and Steve Cooksey, seem to have had the same success. Again, a WARNING! If you are on medication, do not attempt this experiment as I have found that blood sugars plummet! Do not attempt this without lowering your medication and working with your doctor and explaining what you want to do. 

The Book is here:

http://www.amazon.com/Art-Science-Low-Carbohydrate-Living/dp/0983490708

Day 3

I've been having an interesting and successful experiment the last three days. I decided to start using Fit Day to log my food and making sure that I am to less than 20 grams of carbs a day. I think I was at about 35 prior to the experiment. I am making sure that no meal or snack has more than 7 grams of carbs so that they are spread out even over the day. I am making sure that my protein is less than 50 grams a day with no more than 4 ounces per meal. I've increased fat to 65-70% of my daily calories. Each day my blood sugar is coming down. This morning my fasting glucose was 94. Before supper, about a half hour ago, it was down to 84. It seems that my protein and carbs are now low enough that all of the stored glucose has been used up so my liver is no longer pushing out sugar between meals or in the middle of the night. There is no extra sugar to store from carbs or protein anymore. I am very happy to see NORMAL blood sugar! There is one other interesting thing that I've observed using Fit Day. Although I'm eating lots more fat by using more coconut oil, butter, etc., my actual daily calorie count is less than 1100 per day. It's very hard to get a lot of calories when you are only eating average size portions of meat and smaller portions of vegetables and salads. I've been eating more things like cheese, nuts and olives to try to get at least 1000 calories a day in. I haven't been hungry except for a late night snack. I am a happy camper right now!

This Chart Shows How Much Fat, Carbs and Protein I am Eating

This is exactly the breakdown I should be at. 70% fat, 25% protein and 5% carbs.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/116712615/Fitday-Sample

Meal Samples

https://www.flickr.com/photos/130174513@N05/sets/72157649051793733/

Three Weeks Into The Experiment

I'm ending the third week since following the diet in the book, "The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Living". I have to keep pinching myself because it seems like a dream, a very good dream! For the last 3 weeks I've not had a fasting blood glucose over 94 and in the last several days it is very steady in the low to mid 80's in the morning. In the last three days I've had NO blood sugar reading over 98! Not one! Not even after a meal! Of course I'm not cheating much but I did go through Christmas on this diet so I did cheat a little and I did have some cocktails. It didn't seem to matter much although my numbers were a bit higher over the two days of Christmas celebration. As long as I keep the carbs low and the fat high enough (as I described from the book), a little cheat doesn't seem to be a big deal. Now, don't get me wrong! I'm not talking about cheating like in a bowl of ice cream! I'm talking about cheating like in having 5 nachos with cheese and salsa. A little cheat! I make sure that the fat is added to anything that isn't normally fat enough because that seems to be a key to this working. It is harder to think ahead for work and it is harder to go to restaurants because I need the extra fat. I've learned to take it along in a small container and just pour it on. I bought a chipotle infused olive oil that I pour on salads and meat and in restaurants I ask for extra butter (never margarine!). As before I make bacon and flax/almond buns ahead for taking to work or for breakfasts. As I keep saying, this is it for me. It is the food plan for my life!

Blood Sugar Readings   https://www.flickr.com/photos/130174513@N05/sets/72157651369472671/

This is the book:

http://www.amazon.com/Art-Science-Low-Carbohydrate-Living/dp/0983490708

Five Weeks

It has now been a full five weeks since I started eating according to the book "The Art & Science Of Low Carbohydrate Living". Five weeks in and no cheating, (well, a few cheats at Christmas!) This is amazing and you can do it too! A caution to all of you on insulin or other diabetes medication, your blood sugar will DROP and you will need to adjust medication almost immediately on this high fat/very low carb eating plan! Here are my fasting blood sugar numbers over the last three days! Five weeks ago my fasting blood sugar was always between 110-125.

Meter Readings at Five Weeks-

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At 4 months

I can't beleive that I am 4 months into my ketogenic eating plan! There have been some ups and downs. (in blood sugar literally, lol!) My average morning blood sugar is from 82-94 with a few days around 100. The days that I am at 100 are days when I slept in late. My liver still does push out some extra sugar if I sleep more than 7-8 hours but I have also determined that when my numbers are higher in the morning or anytime for that matter it always comes down to the amount of fat that I ate the day before or that day. I have to keep my fat at more than 70% and carbs at less than 20-25 grams a day but not all in one meal please!

I have managed some creative ways to get more fat and so I will share those ideas here.

I Mix avocados into everything that I think it will taste good in. Dressings, homemade fish sauces, creamed cheese dip for celery or mini peppers, etc. I make a great avocado sauce for topping fish. It is shared on our group page. Just do a search for it.

I drizzle a flavored olive oil on just about everything I am eating. Even if I am putting a fatty dressing on my salad I top off with a drizzle of olive oil.

Feta cheese sprinkled on salads, fish or anything I think it will taste good on!

I mix farm rendered lard or tallow into my ground beef before cooking it. This includes burgers, meatloaf, main dishes. Yes, it is hard to find lard that is not hydrogynated. I am lucky to have found it locally. Otherwise maybe mix in olive oil or bacon grease.

Coconut oil in coffee or tea. Butter in broth

for every one whole egg I cook, I add a yolk. Standard breakfast would be one whole egg, one yolk cooked in fat of some kind, with bacon and extra sour cream or extra butter.

Mayonnaise on top of fish, chicken or burgers. Still also drizzle olive oil on it if at home but not in restaurants because I don't know what oil they are using there.

If the meat is a very lean meat, I slather extra butter on it, or I will eat a few radishes with a pat or two of butter. I find that the butter goes down well that way. You could try eating butter with celery or other veggies too!

Enjoy cream cheese or sour cream on anything you think you might like it on. I like sour cream on my eggs!

cream cheese spread made with various other ingredients like chili sauce, garlic, mashed oliveswhatever else, Be creative.

I've had to cut way back on nuts. They seem to make my blood sugar higher the next day. Macadamia nuts are the only nuts that are fatty enough to not push sugar up. If I do eat nuts, I add an ounce of fatty cheese. Watch labels on cheese, some are only 6 grams of fat, otheres like havarti can be up to 10. I look for the 9 or 10 grams of fat and no more than 7 grams of protein per serving. Many cheeses will meet this criteria.

I could go on and on about these tips but I just can't think of them all right now. I hope this helps all of you who are trying this nutritional ketosis experiment yourself.

5 1/2 Months into it.

I made a little more tweaking to my diet because I was bound and determined to get my blood sugar to stay below 100 around the clock, including after meals.  For the last few days, beginning on Thursday, I changed my diet to higher fat and lowered carbs even more.  I had to work really hard to do this.  I bought some especially fatty brat patties that included cheese & bacon and are 90% fat.  I've been eating some Irish pastured butter before meals,  when I eat eggs I use one whole egg & one yolk along with a 90% fat sausage patty.  beef burgers with cheese & mayo cooked in lard.  I've been eating cream cheese, Boursin 90% fat cheese, butter, coconut cream and coconut oil.  I've cut back on greens and vegetables.  I've only been eating a small side of greens like kale, spinach and leaf lettuce or a few slices of cucumber and avocado as my sides.  I have been able to eat a bit larger portions of protein now though.  In order to have a more controlled experiment, I have not taken any of the berberine or other "blood lowering" supplements.  By Thursday night I had a before meal blood sugar of 90.  On Friday, I woke up to an 80.  Before supper Friday night it was 90 as well.  I have only taken a multi-vitamin and magnesium.  Below are links to photos of my numbers over a 12 hour period.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151443433315028&set=o.116102965097116&type=3&theater

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fbid=10151443431840028&set=o.116102965097116&type=3&theater

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Other Notes On The Experiment

 which is no longer an experiment. It is now my way of life! My diabetes is reversed and I am happy to say that!

https://www.facebook.com/groups/116102965097116/permalink/520092318031510/

http://www.meandmydiabetes.com/2012/07/17/steve-phinney-a-calorie-is-not-just-a-calorie/

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Exercise Frustration! I Think I've Finally Figured This Out!

I've known all along that diet and exercise are a big key to diabetes control but I've often been frustrated to find that exercise was just not helping me very much.  At times I even felt that it was detrimental.  It so often seemed as though my blood sugar was higher after exercising than it was if I sat on my rear end!

After about a year of watching my fluctuating numbers with various forms of exercise, I think I've finally figured out the best formula for me.   I really discovered all of this by accident.  I certainly did not set out to have a "controlled" study to determine how my exercise affected my blood sugar.  I simply found that so many times I was disappointed with my blood sugar after I thought that I had "done good".

I remember hiking for 8 miles in Hot Springs.  I went up 45 degree angle trails for 3 hours!
 I sweated, I pushed beyond my limit,  my heart rate was up and I felt that I had succeeded!   My blood sugar numbers were very disappointing.  I wondered what I even was working for.  I worked up to 100+ kettle bell swings in 15 minutes.  I did 20-30 minute high intensity treadmill workouts.   I did 45 minute fast walks.  Then, I would test my blood sugar, hoping for some great numbers, but I was disappointed.  I would see an increase in blood sugar, not a decrease!

Don't get me wrong here.  I really do believe that intense exercise can be helpful in the long run to get healthier, to strengthen your heart, your muscles and to lose weight etc.   I just found that for me, at least temporarily it made my glucose go higher than if I had not exercised at all.

I have even found that strenuous work in the garden or doing very strenuous lawn care has raised my glucose levels.  I mean that really sucks!  You are trying to do some healthy outdoor exercise and it backfires!

Well, this is getting to be a long story but we are getting to the end and to my point.  EVERYONE IS DIFFERENT!  So don't think that you are like me!

This is what has been working for me.  HIT (high intensity training) for no more than 5 minutes five times a week.   That's right, only  5 minutes!     It seems that my body doesn't respond to the stress of exercise unless I go for more than 15-20 minutes.  Strange, I know, but that seems to be the case with me.   I have found that if I do an evening walk it needs to be less than 20 minutes and non strenuous.   If I choose the treadmill, I only go for five minutes or less.  I spend 1 minute on warm up and then I go as fast as I can until I feel out of breath.  I do that twice and then I cool down for a minute and I'm done.  My blood sugar is always lower a half hour after that and it is lower the next day.

So, I am not advocating that everyone do what I do.  I am simply pointing out that we need to evaluate our exercise based on how it affects us.  We are all unique.  Foods affect us differently and so does exercise.   Some of us can exercise to the max for an hour or more and see low blood sugars but don't assume that you will respond the same way.  Five minutes of really hard work may be enough!

The Treatment of Diabetes in 1915

If we could go back and take a look at the treatment for diabetes prior to insulin and oral diabetes medications, I think we might get quite an education.  After all, before there was any kind of medicine it had to be the goal to keep diabetics as healthy as possible for as long as possible.  Especially for those who were type 1 the goal would have been to keep them alive as long as they could because, let’s face it, before insulin, all type 1’s died.  The aim was to give them as long a life as possible.

 I was surprised to have found just such a book available as a free e-book on my Kindle reader.  I downloaded it the other day.  The book is called "The Starvation Treatment of Diabetes".  It was originally written in 1915 and was revised in 1916 and 1917.  What an interesting book!  It was actually written by a Dr. Allen for use by other doctors.  The treatment used at that time was a starvation diet.   It was the same for type 1 or type 2 diabetics.

 In those days there were no blood glucose meters.  They were only able to test for sugar in the urine.  For the first few days the diet consisted of only coffee and a few shots of whiskey to increase calories.  This treatment was the same for adults and children.  Once the urine showed no sugar in a day or two,  they very slowly added in some vegetables which had to be triple boiled to reduce the carbs to about half.   15-20 grams of carbs were allowed on day one after the starvation period.  They added a little bit of meat, no more than 2 oz’s to start with and allowed some cream, butter, lard and an egg or egg yolk.  Each day they increased the carbs by about 10 grams and the protein by about 20 grams.  The fat was also increased slowly.  They would check the urine for sugar each day and adjust the carbs and protein up or down based on whether or not any sign of sugar was in the urine and also watched for acidosis in the urine as well.  

If the urine showed even a tiny amount of sugar, the doctor was to immediately lower the carbs by 10 grams or more.  They usually left the protein grams the same or lowered them by a very little bit.   The fats stayed the same.    After about a week they found the correct number of carbs and protein that each individual could have and not show any sugar in their urine.   Some could only eat 15 grams of carbs a day and others could eat as much as 60 grams but no one was ever allowed more than 60 grams of carbs in a day.    Final diets ended up being , on average, in ranges between 20-50 grams of carbs per day with about 50 or 60 grams protein and 150 grams of fat.  This all depended on the size of the person, the type of diabetes they had and how long they had it.  In some cases bread, up to ½ to one piece a day was allowed depending on the person’s ability to tolerate it.

So what happened?   Why do modern doctors, diabetes educators and dieticians tell diabetics to do the exact opposite of what saved diabetics lives 90 years ago?   Why are they pushing high carb diets to diabetics?

I agree that the invention of insulin was a godsend!  Insulin has saved the lives of many type 1 diabetics.  For those who are type 2 however; the low carb, high fat diet clearly works.  It remained the treatment until the 1950’s when oral meds became available.   Why has the medical community abandoned the diet that worked and insists on promoting a diet that makes diabetics sicker?   This makes me angry. 

The food and drug companies are driving our treatment and our diet plans, and the doctors and dieticians just follow along mindlessly.   I have a choice though.  I am educating myself and I will educate the educators and the professionals when I have the opportunity to do so.

I’m glad I stumbled upon this old and wise book.   If you would like this book you can download it to an e-reader like Kindle.   It is free.   You can install a Kindle Reader right on your home computer or laptop and read it right there.    You can download the book to your Kindle Reader HERE.    To get a free Kindle reading app for computer, phone or other device, get it HERE.

Finally, An Update!

Well, it’s been quite a while since I blogged here for several reasons.  One, it’s been a busy few months for me personally and secondly, I’ve not been in the mood and I didn’t have much to report on.   Now I do.

It’s been a 2+ year experiment working on reversing my diabetes.  I’ve gone through a lot of experiments.    In the beginning of my journey, I was mainly following a carbohydrate pared down ADA type of diet.  What I mean by that is I was eating low fat and fairly low carb too.  I never did adhere to the high carb, high grain, high fruit diet that most diabetic educators recommend.  I instinctively knew better than that from the get go. 

I will admit that I lost some weight while on that diet.  I used low fat everything from cheeses to milk to low fat turkey and chicken, low fat yogurt, sour cream and mayo, etc.    I ate more salads with low fat dressing, switched to brown rice and pasta.  I ate more bean and legumes and oatmeal which seemed to be suggested by many of the diabetic web sites.  I added some supplements as you can see on my supplements page and my blood sugars did go down quite a bit.  It wasn’t good enough though.  I still had blood sugar rises after meals as high as 180 and fasting numbers in the 150’s.  Well, that was way better than the 200’s but it wasn’t going to save me from neuropathy,  kidney damage or all the other terrible stuff that diabetics are in for.   It was at this point that I decided to go on metformin for a month.

After a month on medication and blood sugar levels virtually the same or maybe 10 points down on average, I knew that I needed to change things up.  It was also around this same time that I started my “Reversing Diabetes” face-book page and my experimentation with myself began in earnest.   It was also at this time that I took my last diabetes medication.

I started studying and reading.  Dr Bernstein’s Diabetes Solution fell into my hands and finally a light went on in my head!   I was doing this wrong!  Well, mostly wrong anyway.   I started to experiment on my favorite foods and my favorite dishes.  I was shocked that some of my favorite dishes were ruining all of my good intentions!  That Dreamfields pasta, so highly recommended for diabetics, raised my sugars higher than regular pasta and kept it up for days!   My bean soup had to go, oatmeal had to go.  My meals needed to be altered.  So I tested and I altered many of my staple meals.  Other meals or foods that could not be altered just had to go!    I tested my blood sugar after one of my low fat protein smoothies and I was shocked!  I looked at the label on my low fat yogurt.  Yikes, 21 grams of sugar?  What was I doing to myself?

I read Atkins, and Rosedale, Mark Sisson, Gary Taubes and Dr. William Davis, author of Wheat Belly. Slowly, I removed processed, boxed foods from my diet.  I got rid of seed oils and margarines after learning how toxic they are to the body.   I gave up grains.   Yes, all grains!   Most sauces like ketchup and spaghetti sauces had to go but I found low carb and no carb substitutes that I can use.   I went full fat.   I now eat eggs, cream, butter, bacon, full fat sour cream, grass fed beef, pork and yes, I eat the skin on chicken.  I still can’t believe that at one point I was eating Egg Beaters which is made out of vegetable oil. Yuk!

So where am I at today and what are my stats?  Today, I eat a modified VLC (very low carb, less than 30 grams carbs per day) Paleo diet of meat, green leafy vegetables, eggs, nitrate free bacon, cream, nuts and cheeses.  I make meat broth soups with lots of healthy vegetables and I leave the fat on the broth.  I use carefully chosen seasonings and make my own dressings for my salads.   I exercise following HIIT.  Intense short bursts of aerobic exercises along with pushing, pulling and squatting type exercises.  I will discuss that in another post.

My stats since going  VLC Paleo are that I see a steady blood sugar that never changes more than 10 points at any time of the day.   My average blood sugar throughout each day is from 89-110, usually not going over 110.  My A1C will not be tested again until June but if my averages hold true my A1C should be at about  5.5 or so.  My blood lipids are now normal, and my triglycerides are down more than 100 points from what they were in my low fat eating days.   I am on no medications at all.  I also been able to reduce my thyroid medications to half!  

I am not finished yet.  It is my goal to have an average blood sugar under 95 and an A1C of 5.0 or less .  I will not be content until that day arrives.  I know I have more weight to lose.  That has been a struggle for me but my health is so much improved and I know that I am adding years to my life because of my “contest” with myself to achieve normal blood sugars.

I hope that I can inspire others in their journey through the diabetes maze.  I am not at all deprived!  I do not feel that I am missing out.  In fact, I believe that others are missing out because they do not know the truth about how much the SAD (standard American diet) can hurt them, their children and their grandchildren.  I wish I could change the whole world's thinking on diet.  I can't.   The world is slowly waking up to the truth and will continue to as word gets out about what is really causing these modern epidemics.  I hope it is soon!

I'm Getting Better All The Time!

Well, this is interesting especially for those who still worry about eating too much fat. My lipid tests just came back.  I had my tests done just after about two weeks on the "fat fast" which I was using to get my blood sugars down to normal non-diabetic ranges.  During my fat fast I was eating less than 10 grams of carbs a day.  My usual day is 35 grams of carbs or less, average protein and higher fat to keep me satisfied and away from snacking.

My triglycerides which were at 245 a year ago are now at 131.  Six months ago they were at 173 so that is a drop of more than 40 points.  My HDL (healthy) cholesterol is at 48, up from 32 a year ago and up from 40 six months ago. My LDL (bad) cholesterol and my total cholesterol continue to remain about the same all the time at about the borderline levels.  I am not too concerned about those levels though since the AHA and ADA continues to advocate for lower and lower levels as they try to get more of the population to take statins.   There is no evidence that shows that lower overall cholesterol or lower LDL reduces heart attacks or strokes.  There is evidence, however, that high triglycerides do.

The triglycerides to HDL ratio is the most important of the cholesterol markers to determine your risk of cardiovascular disease.  High triglycerides alone increase the risk of heart attack nearly three-fold so that is an important number to me.  http://www.functionalmedicineuniversity.com/public/796.cfm

I wish they were even lower but I am a work in progress! These numbers numbers are all in good normal ranges and I am certainly healthier than I was a year ago when eating a low fat diet and more so called healthy grains!   Now I have given up the grains, pastas and breads except for an occasional bit of brown rice with a stir fry.

I will stick with my bacon and steak, sour cream and healthy green veggies, thank you!

Two Years and Counting

(Update- This post was written before I started eating a ketogenic diet but I was well on my way to finding it!)

Original Post-

I am coming up to my two year anniversary of my D diagnosis.  Something to celebrate?  Well, on one hand, No, on the other hand Yes!

In three weeks I will see my doctor on my two year anniversary.  So I am going to review my stats!

Dec 2009- fasting blood glucose 225 and and A1C of 8.8 with high triglycerides- 230, low HDL at 39 and just a bit too high LDL.

Today, my average fasting blood glucose is about 120 (still too high, I know) and my A1C is 5.4. My HDL (healthy cholesterol) at last check-up four months ago was at 52, my triglycerides were 170.  It is my hope that next month at my two year check-up this will be in a normal range under 150.

I won't go in depth here about the changes I made since I go through them on my earlier blog posts.  I have made mistakes along the way with my experiments.    The best thing I did, looking back was to walk away from my diabetes education classes.  I just knew that there was something wrong with them telling me to eat more than 150 carbs a day.  The second best thing I did was to read Dr Whitaker's Reversing Diabetes book and Dr Bernstein's Diabetes Solution.  These books educated me to supplements and lowering my blood sugar by diet.

In my first months, I will admit that I continued to eat "healthy" foods like oatmeal and smoothies with bananas and low fat yogurt with milk and carb laden protein powder.  I tried Dreamfield's pasta and switched to whole grain breads.  I lost 20 lbs cutting back on my breads, pasta's rice etc. and getting rid of my evening half bag of potato chips but it wasn't enough to control my blood sugar.

About 9 months in to my journey I decided to give metformin a try due to my high morning blood sugars.  It wasn't working for me so my doctor doubled the dose.  I only saw a decrease in my numbers by about 10 points.  Not enough in my opinion to continue the meds.  After 30 days I stopped the metformin and instead added the Biotin and Chromium mix along with my vitamin D3 and other supplements.  This worked for me much more significantly than the metformin lowering my blood sugar by about 30 points!  I would call this my next best decision.   My doctor removed metformin from my chart.

Finally, I got it.  Reading Bernstein and then Sugar Nation by Jeff O'connell  I learned the importance of testing each food that I was eating even if they were so-called safe diabetic foods.   I found that what I thought was safe often was not.  Ketchup, BBQ sauces, bananas and other things just were not the best for me.  I needed to stop eating the pasta, the oatmeal, the breads and buns.  I did allow myself pumpernickle bread which seemed to be okay for me but as of today I have decided to just make my own flax bread and stay away from the ingredients in factory made breads because I can't control the ingredients used in them.

I went through a lot of test strips to get where I am today.  I have changed many menus, many side dishes, many main dishes to get where I am.  I have found low carb alternatives to my sauces or I have adjusted the amount of the sauces.  I am very aware of watching what I put in my mouth every day.  I allow myself between 35-50 carbs a day and I make sure to divide my allowed carbs evenly throughout the day to keep blood sugar stable.  I don't eat 30 carbs at one meal and then make up for it by only eating 5 carbs the next meal to make up for my earlier splurge.

Does this mean I never allow myself a higher carb meal?  No, I do allow some off plan eating at special times but eating off plan now means a third cup of mashed potato, not a whole cup.  It means eating 1/2 cup of rice with my chinese takeout meal and throwing the rest of it away.  When I do cheat, I expect that my blood glucose will be higher than I'd like but it is my choice at the moment.  I know I'd better not do it often so that keeps me in check.

I choose not to be on medication.  My choice means that I must give up certain foods that many would not give up.  I am happy and I almost never miss the foods that I used to eat.  I'm very happy to eat my steak smothered in onions and peppers or my pork roast with cabbage instead of potatoes.  I am happy this way and no one need feel bad for my loss of the "goodies" like breads, pasta's and grains.

So, as I come up to my 2 year anniversary I will say that it is something to celebrate.  I am healthier today than I was two years ago.  I no longer take my heath for granted and I realize that I am in control of ME!

To see my progress in more detail and to see what supplements were added as I went along on my journey you may want to go back to my posts beginning in May 2010 when I started this blog on my 5 month anniversary of my D diagnosis.

Bakery, Pizza and Ice Cream. Oh Joy!

I have an acquaintance who was diagnosed as diabetic about a year ago.   When she was first diagnosed she tried going on a high carb, low fat diet.  She managed to be able to cut back quite a bit on pastries and sweets although from time to time she admitted to pigging out on those things.  She knew that she was supposed to cut back on her breads, pasta's and processed foods and she struggled with that and basically tried going to whole grain breads and pastas in order to continue to eat "healthy grains" as the ADA advises.

She also was determined to eat low fat as she believed that this was the main cause of her diabetes and high cholesterol.  Initially she did lose some weight and her blood sugar got a bit better but in a few months she was gaining it back and struggling to keep her high blood sugar under control.  She has been aware that I've been eating low carb, high fat.  We don't get into any real discussions about our diets because we just simply don't agree.  We don't talk much about our diabetes either, again, because we don't agree with each others idea's about managing it with diet.

A few weeks ago my friend suddenly seemed a bit more cheerful and about the same time she started eating lot's of bakery items, pizzas, ice cream.... no, make that several ice creams, lattes and chocolates, burgers and french fries, like there was no tomorrow.

I was shocked to say the least!  I couldn't understand the sudden change in her eating habits.  It seemed as though she had forgotten that she was diagnosed with diabetes at all, or that it just suddenly went away!   It wasn't making sense to me until I found out that she had given up on the diet and started taking 1000 mgs of metformin twice a day.  She is feeling great and can finally once again eat all of the foods she missed so much.

So, for now, I guess she is happy.  She is dealing with her diabetes in the way that many do.  But statistically for all who follow this course of diabetes management she will find that down the road, more pills will be needed to continue to eat the foods she craves.  If the condition follows it's usual course for those who do not curtail their carbs and processed foods; In 10 years, she will be on insulin injections.  She will have neuropathy, She may have retinopathy. She may be on her way to amputations, stroke and heart attack.  But for the time being, she is happy again.  That's what really counts, isn't it?

What's All The Hype About Saturated Fat?

I am constantly being cautioned by people about eating saturated fat on my low carb diet or  I hear people say to me that they are afraid to go low carb because they were told that it isn't healthy to eat meat and cheese, eggs and butter.  Yet for most of those who do change diet and eat more meat, butter, cheese AND stop eating "fake" foods and processed carbohydrates as I did, in just about every case that I am aware of all important health related markers get better not worse.

I have often said to those who lecture me on the danger of my eating plan; "show me the studies that prove that saturated fat causes heart disease?"  Funny how no one ever comes back to me with anything to prove it.

So, I decided to do a google search on this which was very simple and any one of you can do just like I did today.  If you look at the search you will easily see that I put in the search box "saturated fat heart disease studies".  Pretty specific language spelling out what I was looking for, right?   So, where are all the studies PROVING that saturated fat causes heart disease.  

The following link will show you what I found on page one of my google search.  Page 2 of the search was nearly the same as page one.    I could not find one single study linking saturated fat to heart disease!  As a matter of fact I saw things like this:  "Studies finds no clear link between people's intake of saturated fat and their risk of developing heart disease." or this one  "For decades, Americans have been told that saturated fat clogs arteries and causes heart disease. But there's just one problem: No one's ever proved it."     

Try this search for yourself if you don't believe it.

Interestingly, when I read one or two of the articles,  they had interviewed past AHA president  Dr. Robert H. Eckel about the results.  Dr. Eckel is a professor of medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine in Denver.  Dr Eckel cautioned against "over interpreting" the results.  "No one is saying that some saturated fat is going to harm you...people should enjoy their food".   Dr. Eckel maintained that we still want people to stay away from saturated fat.  

My question now is Why?  Why continue to insist that saturated fat is bad?   Is it because they feel that we've gone so far with the idea that we can't turn back?   I don't get it!   I say bring on the T-Bone steak with butter and onions!   My blood sugar, A1C, LDL and  triglycerides  have all come down and my HDL has gone up since I went low carb and higher fat.  Is this an accident?   Just about everyone who has changed their diet in this respect has better numbers as I do.    All I have to say to the naysayers for now on is show me the evidence, otherwise leave me alone!
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My Critique of Sugar Nation By Jeff O'connell

I mentioned Sugar Nation in my last post when I was about half way through the book. Now that I've finished it, I have some thoughts. My first thought is that I want to give the book to everyone I know because it is eye opening and perhaps life changing. My second thought is that if you don't want to reverse your diabetes and you don't want to get well, don't read this book, because it will compel you to change your life. You can't possibly read this "Sugar Nation" and not be shocked by the reality of our western dietary habits and how those habits are making all of us sick. You will understand that diabetes begins years, even decades before diagnosis. You will question why the tests that could save us from this fate are not ordered years before so that we'd have a fighting chance.

So far, every diabetes study done has shown without any dispute that changing diet and exercise ALWAYS lowers blood sugar and insulin resistance more than diabetes drugs for type 2 patients. A study in Finland showed that regular exercise reduced diabetes in subjects by nearly 70%. A follow up study three years later showed that 36% of the study members remained healthy due to continuing the diet and exercise program. The main reason for the decline from 70% down to 36%? Participants not sticking with the diet and exercise program over time.

The author points out that even when patients are able to reverse their blood sugar and insulin spikes by low carb diet and exercise, their doctors are still hesitant to take their patients off of medication. Even though the medication may not have been all that helpful to begin with the doctors seem to consider it kind of as an insurance policy just in case the patient stops their healthy ways. Another study mentioned in the book, done by the University of MA, showed that regular exercise was less effective in controlling blood sugar and insulin for those taking metformin. No one seems to know exactly why metformin makes exercise less effective but they are studying this further.

For me some of the most disturbing portions of the book was where Mr. O'Connell wrote about how the drug companies, the hospitals, the ADA, the entire medical community benefits from Diabetes and the eventual complications of it down the road. Doctors have no training in educating patients and there is virtually no focus on prevention or reversal in the early stages.

There is so much more in this book that it is impossible to discuss it all here. I urge everyone, including non-diabetics to read Sugar Nation. Not only do I urge you. I challenge you! In my opinion, not reading this book would be similar to sticking your head in the sand or covering your ears while you scream "Nany, nany nany" to block out the sound of something you do not wish to hear!

I am not telling you to go out and purchase this book if you can't afford to do so. I always suggest your local library as an alternative. I read this book by getting it from the library myself. I now intend to purchase it so that I can let my friends, family and co-workers read it as well.