Diabetics please answer

[Lovemylife]

I have also posted this on 3FC, but few diabetics have responded. I have always been diet controlled and the day I started Adkins developed terrible headaches and thought it was just the adkins flu , but the next morning, thought I would check blood sugar and it was 202, usually I am 140 or less. Today it was 226. I am eating strictly adkins, checking carbs on everything I put in my mouth. Did any of you diabetics experience a spike on induction? Did it go away?

[Goddess]

Hello, LovemyLife.

My personal observations is that low-carbing in general, at Atkins in particular, usually is helpful in stabizing blood sugars. I will suggest that if you haven't gotten a book to help you know the particulars of your selected plan, do that. It will make a huge difference. If you want to follow Atkins, then it is often Dr. ATKINS New Diet Revolution that people will get, but there are books, both on Atkins and other eating plans, for diabetics, that you may want to look into.

Please DO check with your doctor regarding your blood sugar. While we share the benefit of our own experiences and observations here, we cannot give anyone medical advice. Particularly since your diabetes is diet-controlled, it's vital you utilize the support of your own medical personel while you are making significant changes to your eating in order to montior your health.

Let us know how that goes.

[Lawbooks]

Lovemylife,

Hi! I've been a diet-controlled diabetic for 6 years and I have NEVER heard of that happening! Scientifically, it doesn't make sense.
Proteins and vegetables do NOT cause blood glucose spikes, so I would be curious to see -- exactly-- what you have been eating. It's possible -- if you have not read the book or your not following a specified plan -- that you are eating things that you *think* are low-carb (like bars) that truly aren't.
Also, there are a lot of so-called "diet-foods" and "low-carb foods" that actually cause bg spikes in many people. I cannot eat the sugar-free candies, low-carb meal replacement bars, or anything with Nutrasweet in it without getting a bg spike.

Would you mind posting a few days of your menus here so that we can check them out?

[Bronwyn]

I'm a newby and am so happy to find some diabetics in this forum. My program is Bernstein and I can highly recommend his work. I started following his plan in a haphazard way about 4 years ago. I followed his vitamin recommendations for shooting pains in my feet and tingling. Diabetic neuropathy is what it was. After a few months the pains were gone forever.and I am certain that Bernsteins recommendations did the trick. It took me until this last Feb. to take his way of eating seriously. I have lost 30 pounds and my sugars are way down, and Alc is 5.7. I do hope that I can get my sugars to normal... a A1c of 4.5 would be wonderful. Right now I am exploring the use of coconut flour and have Fife's book "Cooking with coconut flour". Coconut flour contains the highest percentage of dietary fiber in comparison to other flours. There are many other benefits and I am working on changing his recipes to be sugar free. I am considering adding vital wheat gluten to his recipes also. Can you tell me what Lovemy life is referring to by "3FC" ? Is this where diabetics congregate for their own forum? and how do I find it? Dr Bernstein says that if your sugars go up unexpectedly you may be getting sick. Summer is right - you need to check with your doctor. Bronwyn

[Maggie]

Hey, Bronwyn.

As far as I know, the 3 fat chicks site isn't particularly for diabetics, or even particularly low carb for that matter. We have a diabetic forum on this site and Dr. Bernstein has his own web site, as well.

I've been controlling for years with Atkins, too ... with the added wisdom I gained from Bernstein after I had read his book.

Dr. Bernstein is correct about unexplained spiking of BGL's often being associated with illness or trauma. I've seen that in myself. Although I'm hardly ever sick, in the last few years I had some periodontal surgery and, on another occasion broke a couple of ribs. Both times I had several days of BGL's that were way out of proportion to what I was eating.

I congratulate you on your excellent results! It sounds as if you're getting a really good grip on your situation.

[Bronwyn]

Thank you Maggie, Can you let me know how to find the diabetes forum on this site? I used to use the Bernstein forum but it was spammed in March and now when I get to his site and click on the forum it will not go to the forum. I do not know how to get back on and so have been looking for another website that diabetics communicate on and that use the low carb way of eating. Hopefully, I will be able to join in here. I am still trying to understand how to use your site and find it very clear, for the most part. I get confused by the recipes and the carb counts and note that you are working on them. Do you expect to have this feature up and running soon? I still cannot find the zucchini pancakes that someone posted - it is not with the recipes. It sounded very interesting. I think that there must be a way of searching for it but I do not know how. Many thanks, Bronwyn

[Sweet_p]

I'm a diabetic who takes insulin and I find the low carb way of eating really helps the blood sugars. I take about half the amount of insulin that I normally take.

When you enter the website and pick Low Carb support Forum it will take you to a page of forums. Click on Low Carb Cooking and you will find the zucchini pancakes there.:arms:

What specific questions do you have for diabetics? We will try to help you if we can.

Carrole

[Maggie]

Yes, and the diabetic forum is also listed on the main forum page, under the special interests section.

As to the recipe database on the site, that IS a work in progress. There are also many recipes in the forum cooking section, as Carrole pointed out.

[Bronwyn]

Thank you all, I located the diabetics forum shortly after I made my request. Will check out the forum cooking site. Many thanks, Bronwyn

[staresm]

lovemylife,

You may be having "liver dumps" or dawn phenomenon. This happens sometimes to diabetics and prediabetics. Ironically if you dramatically cut your consumption of carbohydrates your liver will compensate. Sometimes if we eat abnormally (less than we are used to) low amounts of carbohydrates we can have low bg during the night. Our bodies begin the metabolizing of glucose calories by converting them into glycogen which is stored in the liver and muscles. When the body needs the energy from those calories, it performs a process called glycogenolysis which just means the glycogen (stored form of glucose) is converted back into glucose (easily accessed energy) and released into the blood stream to prevent hypoglycemia. Of course that means your bg rises even though you haven't eaten anything. Soon after starting low carbing your body has some of this glycogen stored up and that will be the first thing your body will access to provide energy. You have a kind of overlap period where your body needs to get rid of this glycogen after which you will start to draw on the fat calories. Make any sense to you? This is part of the reason diabetics will have huge spikes in their bg. Not only are we prone to high blood sugar, we run the risk of low levels as well. All of this is the reason diabetics are told to have a snack at night. Conventional medical advice is to eat a carbohydrate(to maintain bg levels) with a protein (to moderate the release of the glucose overnight). You will find that after a few days you won't have this happen to you anymore as you will not have excess glycogen hanging around in your body waiting to pounce into your blood!

Of course, something as simple as having a cold or the onset of another more serious illness can have an impact on blood sugars, but really, for a dramatic increase that you describe sounds like a classic case of dawn phenomenon. Oh, and don't be confused by the name, while switching over to low carb and fat burning for energy you can have this happen anytime day or night, it's just more common overnight.

Hope that helps!

Margaret