New Kid on the Block

[Quest]

Hi Julie welcome onboard, I'm sure you will get to grips with the change of diet, plenty of low carb recipes here to keep you on the right track.

Regards
Graham

[Spiral]

Welcome aboard!

I'm T2, and after about 10 months of low carbing I'm merely obese as opposed to morbidly obese, which is where I was at the start And without feelings of deprivation and hardship, the food is great. And all the numbers my GP measure have improved.

You might also want to take a look ay www,bloodsugar101.com as a T2, well written and veyr well researched. I bought the book of the website - just lent it to a colleague who I'm trying to tempt to the dark side of low carbing.

My initial HbA1c was 7.8%, not as high as yours, but I think you could give it a whirl with low carbing before you accept medication. I was very clear that I didn't want the medication to get the credit for my hard work. I think that there is someone else on this board who has halved that kind of number without the meds.

Once I cut the carbs, my headaches and fatigue vanished pretty quickly. And I'm willing to wager than any other niggly and apparetly unrelated health problems you have might clear up to. Last year my athletes food improved no end, I didn't get bronchits in May for the first time in 4 years (as my oilseed rape induced hayfever became a chest infection), I don't have furry teeth in the morning anymore, and my acid reflux vanished within 2-3 weeks.

Give it a whirl! Ask anything you like, lots of support and good advice here.

[SmarT2]

Hello Julie and may I add my welcome,

I am a T2 and in late October 2008 was put on Metformin to add to my BP, reflux and statin list. Then I discovered LCing and the reflux meds went within 4 weeks. I continued with the others but found my Blood Glucose levels were dropping rapidly with low 4s happening frequently. Within a couple of months what I was reading did not sound good about statins and I made the informed choice to stop them. After about 5 months I slowly tailed off my Metformin and BP meds keeping a close eye on my meter and BP machine. I was also losing weight.

So I wanted you to know that I believe the Metformin initially helped and did not hinder my health and when I knew I didn't need it's help anymore I chose to stop it. My endocrinologist OK'd all my descisions except for the statins. I restarted the stains to humour him but after 20 days took courage and again stopped those. The Statins did cause me issues.

My GP is fine now with my Cholesterol results and says I have no symptoms of diabetes. I will soon see the endo for my 12 month checkup and I only half expect him to take issue with my statin stopping choice, but with a 19 kgs weight loss taking me from obese to normal, BP is 117/70 and an HbA1c of 5.2, I feel I have become the expert in MY Diabetes.

[Lilacarmadillo]

Hello Julie

I only joined this lovely group about a week ago and I have spent hours perusing the posts. I too am obese but have been eating a low carb diet for just over a month now and have already lost 8 lbs without any effort and certainly no hunger. Because the food eaten is higher in fat then it is much more satisfying. I had in the past been following a low fat diet for about 40 years, was always hungry, food was bland I felt deprived but never lost any significant weight or if I did it all went back on and more. It took just a week and the comments from the lovely people here to make me realise that being obese was not my fault! For the first time in my life and I am 62 at the end of this month I am not beating myself up and actually feel very cross that the advice I had from my doctors in the past was in fact making me fatter. I have not been diagnosed as a diabetic but the support I get from this forum is amazing and my partner tells me I am beginning to turn into a bit of an anorak regarding low carbing and the posts on here but then he is only teasing as he has seen the change in me when he realises I am so much happier and not obessessing about food anymore. I don't miss bread, pasta and rice as there are so many other foods (previously way off limits) that I can eat now, cheese, cream, bacon, butter which are all so very tasty and satisfying that you will soon find anything sweet quite an odd taste. It does take a while to get your head round it especially if all you have been told in the past is to stop eating fat!!!!.
Good luck and keep reading this forum as it is chock full of good advice.

Lynn x

[Serena51]

Hi and welcome.

Do have a look at www.bloodsugar101.com as it is really easy to understand and tells you, this is the important thing, 'it's not your fault'.

When we gain weight everyone acts like we have deliberately piled on the pounds but no - it's the healthy hi-carb options that have done. I lived for years on brown rice, pasta etc, loads of fruit and veg and very low fat with plenty of pulses on the side, ergo - Diabetes 2!

Hope you have fun on this forum and wish you well in your journey to better health and control.

[Firelady]

Hi
Thanks for the latest supportive comments. I have read lots of the info on bloodsugar101 and it is very impressive, really resonates.
I will be resisting being pushed onto meds. I've been through it before with blood pressure meds and proved by doing 2 weeks of home bp readings that I didn't have the problem they claimed I had from a single reading in the surgery.

Julie