day 1 today
 

Hi
I am new to fitday and wanted to introduce myself. I am diabetic but not on any medication for this. In order to keep my blood sugar levels low and to lose weight, I have began a low carb diet. This is great for my blood levels but the weight doesn't want to let go. Hoping to get inspiration and advice from forum members and hopefully reach my goals.

gilliwilli
:)

Welcome, Gilli. If you're on a low-carb diet, losing weight should follow. Once you start tracking your food and exercise, you'll see if you're eating more or less calories than you're burning each day.

I was following the South Beach Diet (low carb) when my 85-year-old mother (diabetic for 25 years, and had recently had a stroke) came to live with us. When she lived my herself and at the nursing home, her sugar levels had been all over the place and up into the 300s. Eating the low carb diet almost immediately got her sugar levels under control. The visiting nurse who came wanted to send me to live with her other diabetic patients! When I took her for her check-up with her doctor, the blood test that shows sugar levels for the past several months was in the normal range for the first time ever. She remained on insulin, but at a greatly reduced rate. Just telling you this to show that diet really can make a difference.

Thanks Carolyn for your reply. It is reassuring to know that low carbing can keep my diabetic levels at near normal readings. I live in UK and the recommended diabetic diet is carbs at every meal along with low fat choices. I have seen my sugar levels drop with low carbing but as yet my weight has stayed the same. I have joined fitday to try and see where I am going wrong and try my hardest to lose the excess weight. Maybe I should look more closely at South Beach Diet.

If you're on a low carb/low fat diet, you're probably pretty much on the South Beach Diet. Basically, on the SBD, for the 1st 2 weeks, you eat only meats, dairy, and low-glycemic vegetables. The idea of this 2 weeks is to re-set your metabolism and to take away cravings for sugars and starches. I don't know whether or not it re-set my metabolism, but it did take away my cravings for potatoes!

After that, you add fruits back in, and whole grains (including bread) in moderation, and still choose low-fat meats and dairy, and veggies low on the glycemic index - and avoid sugar, white flour, white rice, and high glycemic veggies (e.g., potatoes).

There's obviously a bit more to it as a whole book was written about it, but that's it in a nutshell. I'd recommend the SBD book though as it has quite a lot of information and keeping blood sugar levels stable and is written in easy-to-understand language.

Both my mother and maternal grandmother developed diabetes, so I'm trying to avoid it.

Off topic: Where in the UK are you? One of my sons went to University of Durham for a year. When I went to visit him, he had already toured extensively in the north and wanted to see the south so we went to Canterbury, Dover, Brighton, Arundel, Southampton, Salisbury, Bath, into Wales a bit, Oxford, London...this was 10 years ago! Right now I'm hooked on "Come Dine with Me" - maybe not the best show to watch while trying to lose weight (!) - but it seems more about the people than the food.

Hi Carolyn
Once again thanks for the reply. SBD sounds really good so I'll get the book and see how I get on. I have been trying with very little success the Idiot Proof diet which is basically low carb and high protein/fat. Bit worried about the high fat bit which goes against everything I know about a healthy diet.
I live in Worcester which is in the Midlands, about 20 miles from Birmingham. Sounds like you had a good touring time when you visited your son! How funny that you watch Come Dine with Me!! Maybe watching the food being cooked is better for you than eating it!

I'll have to google the Idiot Proof Diet. The South Beach Diet isn't against fat - in fact, with the SBD it's recommended to eat fat with carbohydrates because fats slow the conversion into sugars down. So if you eat a piece of bread, it will spike your sugar, but if you eat bread with some butter on it, it will be a more gradual conversion to sugar, so your sugar levels won't get as high. But they do recommend things like low-fat vs regular cheeses. It's been about 4 yrs since I read the book - I should probably read it again to refresh (and inspire) myself.

Watching CDWM, I've never bothered to look up a recipe. Mostly I like the people watching - seeing a diverse group of people, some of whom are a bit quirky - and how they interact with each other. I like it best when they all get along and like each other despite their different backgrounds.

We didn't make it to your part of the country - I wish I had had more time (and money!) - every place we visited was lovely.