[thisstinks]

I was in a class with three other people! Guess who had the lowest blood sugar???? ME! Thanks guys! It was 94 and we happened to test two hours after I ate a huge salad with oil and vinegar dressing. Anyway, I enjoyed the class based on the portion sizes she advocated and how to do the exchanges so you can have dessert but they want us to eat 50 carbs at each meal and if you don't have them at a meal you get to move them to a snack. That is a lot of carbs for me at this point! I flat out told her I couldn't eat carbs for breakfast and wouldn't be eating that many but I would follow the plate method! Everyone in the class will be put on metformin. Me and an older lady got diagnosed on out glucose tolerance test but the other two got diagnosed on their A1C. I also lost two more lbs. Down to 205!!!!!!

 

[moon]

Guess who had the lowest blood sugar???? ME!

Woot! Congrats!

Everyone in the class will be put on metformin.

This reads really funny. Group meds!

 

[Shanny]

Well done, Jenn . . . you're a good example for your classmates too!

 

[Adjitater]

50 carbs are really not that much. What was in your salad. The reason I ask is that just about all vegetables have some carbs, then if you add in cheese or nuts of some kind you could of had more carbs than you think. I personally think that for type 2's the kind of carbs matters more.

 

[thisstinks]

My salad was mized greens, spinach, almonds, broccoli, green peppers, cucumbers and ham with extra virgin olive oil and red wine vinegar. Oh, and a few cherry tomatos.

 

[Adjitater]

My best guess is that your salad had somewheres in the neighborhood of 25 with the possibillity of 30 or more based on serving size. You should buy a copy of Calorie King and look up your carbs before you eat. You will find that you are eating more than you think.

 

[thisstinks]

So is that a good thing or a bad thing? I am so confused!

 

[moon]

So is that a good thing or a bad thing? I am so confused!

Your salad looks awesome and healthy to me. I don't think it's the number of carbs but how they affect our readings. That salad would not spike me in the slightest - non-starchy veggies never do, and I consider them almost free foods.

 

[tgreen]

"they want us to eat 50 carbs at each meal and if you don't have them at a meal you get to move them to a snack. That is a lot of carbs for me at this point! I flat out told her I couldn't eat carbs"

when i went to my CDN she told me the same thing, but with being a guy she wanted me to eat 60g of carbs per meal. i told her i could not eat that many carbs or my BG would be pushing 200 all the time. i also told her that i average 40-60 carbs per day. her response was that, carbs that low were not sustainable. she also told me that if my body could not manage with that many carbs then i needed to see my Dr and get more medication so that it could. my final response to her was why would i seek to take more medication, if i could manage my BG numbers with diet and exerciese? she didnt respond to the question but just moved on.
my Dr. agrees with my approach and is happy with the progress that i have made. and my last A1c shows that my diet works with an droping my A1c from 7.2 to a 5.4 is 3 months.

 

[Adjitater]

I have come to the conclusion that type 2's only cosider the starchy carbs as carbs. When in reality not all carbs were created equal but they all have an effect on me. It is just a matter of time but everything you eat turn into glucose eventually. The body was designed to use glucose as its fuel and without it you will wither and die.

With this in mind it is easy to see why type 1's don't join more sights. There is so much more for us to worry about than just food, although it is in there it is not as high on the list of things to take into consideration. Sometime I will have to post about what I consider when I eat and what the factors are if I get it wrong.

 

[jwags]

Jenn, the best approach is to do what you have been doing. Use your bg meter after meals. A 94 after a meal means that meal is fantastic for you. I usually figure most salads are between 12-15 carbs and usually give me pretty good bg readings especially if I add protein and fat. As far as the 50 carb a meal, you may want to try it and record your bgs. If they start to go high cut back the carbs. I love the approach of everyone in the class getting the same drug. Diabetes is a very individual thing and we may need different meds or even no meds. You seem to be doing great on no meds. Usually if you catch the diabetes early enough diet change and exercise will make a huge difference. Also as you lose weight you may find bgs begin to normalise. I was dx'd with a pretty high bg and even with diet change and exercise couldn't ge bgs below 150. That is when I asked for Metformin. I was one of the lucky ones who don't have any side effects but a lot do.

 

[fgummett]

I have come to the conclusion that type 2's only consider the starchy carbs as carbs. When in reality not all carbs were created equal but they all have an effect on me. It is just a matter of time but everything you eat turn into glucose eventually. The body was designed to use glucose as its fuel and without it you will wither and die. ...

Could be... many of us still have some insulin secretion going on -- especially the second phase -- so it stands to reason that real whole foods of the non-starchy and non-refined variety would be more slowly absorbed and possibly within our limited capability to tolerate... green leafy veggies for example.

As for fuel I'd suggest that we are adapted to use both Glucose and Fatty Acids (and Ketones to some extent) -- more like a gas/electric hybrid than just one or the other

 

[Adjitater]

That is true but without glucose your body will convert fats and protein into glucose.

 

[beefy]

I have come to the conclusion that type 2's only cosider the starchy carbs as carbs. When in reality not all carbs were created equal...

Not all of us... The only thing I don't consider in my own diet is dietary fiber - the kind that doesn't digest. (IE: the colon-cleaners.)

... but yes, I do my best to avoid starchy carbs.

...but they all have an effect on me. It is just a matter of time but everything you eat turn into glucose eventually. The body was designed to use glucose as its fuel and without it you will wither and die.

Without glucose we'd die, yes. But we do NOT need carbohydrate for that.

That is true but without glucose your body will convert fats and protein into glucose.

Yes, but there's nothing wrong with that.

Our bodies will make glucose even in the absence of dietary intake of carbohydrate. Glyconeogenesis is the conversion of stored glycogen into blood glucose, Gluconeogenesis is the conversion of other non-carbohydrate sources (lactate, amino acids/protein, etc.) into blood glucose. Both these mechanisms help to prevent hypoglycemia.

This is why many peoples have existed without carbohydrate sources and survived well. The Inuit people are one such example - for 9 to 10 months a year they have NO carbohydrate sources (and the other months it's the very rare berries, roots, etc. and still only comprise a couple percent of their dietary intake), yet they live healthy lives with the energy they need to hunt, fish and trap year-round. (Many detractors of the low-carb diets state that Inuit have shorter lifespans - which when you examine the data is only true because of the MUCH higher incidence of deaths from accident, infant mortality, infectious diseases etc., due to a lack of available health care - NOT from their no-carb diet. Many Inuit live until 90 and 100 years old, even with their higher all-cause mortality rates.)

One key to being healthy on the traditional Inuit diet is roughly 2/3rds of their caloric intake comes from FAT, the other 1/3 protein. The other key is they are eating very organically. Not only is none of their food processed (at least in traditional Inuit diets, unlike those living in cities/towns eating western diets) but they food they eat ALSO ate organically. It's nearly impossible for us to eat that way.

With this in mind it is easy to see why type 1's don't join more sights. There is so much more for us to worry about than just food, although it is in there it is not as high on the list of things to take into consideration. Sometime I will have to post about what I consider when I eat and what the factors are if I get it wrong.

Please do make that post when you have time - I'd love to learn more, thanks!

 

[fgummett]

Amino Acids (Protein building blocks) can be converted into Glucose but there is no metabolic pathway for converting Fatty Acids into Glucose.

There is however a well established pathway for converting Glucose (also Fructose) into Fat.

Glucose is not our primary fuel, any more than electricity is the primary fuel of an hybrid car... for short stop-start trips around town, sure the electric motor is the most efficient, but on longer journeys and when up to the optimum rev range the gasoline engine is more efficient than the electric motor.

We need and use both. But as Beefy just pointed out we can make all the Glucose we need. Not that I am advocating a zero-carb diet

 

[Adjitater]

Go ahead but it would never work for type 1's. They tried that in the very early years and guess what everyone that was on the starvation diets died.

 

[fgummett]

I said that I was NOT advocating a zero carb diet

Even if there were such a thing why would it have to be a "starvation" diet? There are twice as many calories per gram of dietary Fat as compared to Carbs or Protein?

And are you talking about the diets used by Joslin and others prior to the discovery of insulin? I'd suggest it was the lack of insulin that killed those poor unfortunates. Insulin is a key hormone in the metabolism of Glucose, Fatty Acids and Amino Acids... we can't live without it regardless of what we eat... but I'm sure you already knew that.

I'm not in this thread to push some low-carb agenda but there does seem to be a misconception that we only use Glucose for energy and everything else converts to it. This is not the case... we are constantly using both Fatty Acids and Glucose... they are both important energy sources.

 

[bigrosiegreenbaum]

I was in a class with three other people! Guess who had the lowest blood sugar???? ME! Thanks guys! It was 94 and we happened to test two hours after I ate a huge salad with oil and vinegar dressing. Anyway, I enjoyed the class based on the portion sizes she advocated and how to do the exchanges so you can have dessert but they want us to eat 50 carbs at each meal and if you don't have them at a meal you get to move them to a snack. That is a lot of carbs for me at this point! I flat out told her I couldn't eat carbs for breakfast and wouldn't be eating that many but I would follow the plate method! Everyone in the class will be put on metformin. Me and an older lady got diagnosed on out glucose tolerance test but the other two got diagnosed on their A1C. I also lost two more lbs. Down to 205!!!!!!

Great for you on the weight loss AND for standing up to those ADA bullies!! I did just that when my insurance company FORCED me to go to these inane classes where I was told to eat 160 carbs PER DAY! Let me tell you, all three instructors I had could not WAIT for me to be gone - they do NOT like to be told they are totally wrong about everything they teach. It amazed me that the others in the class just accepted everything without question. I told one of the instructors that I eat only 10-20 carbs per day and I eat bacon and eggs every morning and she told me in front of the entire class - "You're going to die young, miss." Well, my A1C of 6.2 down from 11.3 just three months ago says differently!

 

[bigrosiegreenbaum]

Your salad looks awesome and healthy to me. I don't think it's the number of carbs but how they affect our readings. That salad would not spike me in the slightest - non-starchy veggies never do, and I consider them almost free foods.

Exactly. I just added bananas back into my diet, which I expected would make my sugar SOAR being they are around 35 carbs, yet it didn't affect me that much.

 

[bigrosiegreenbaum]

"they want us to eat 50 carbs at each meal and if you don't have them at a meal you get to move them to a snack. That is a lot of carbs for me at this point! I flat out told her I couldn't eat carbs"

when i went to my CDN she told me the same thing, but with being a guy she wanted me to eat 60g of carbs per meal. i told her i could not eat that many carbs or my BG would be pushing 200 all the time. i also told her that i average 40-60 carbs per day. her response was that, carbs that low were not sustainable. she also told me that if my body could not manage with that many carbs then i needed to see my Dr and get more medication so that it could. my final response to her was why would i seek to take more medication, if i could manage my BG numbers with diet and exerciese? she didnt respond to the question but just moved on.
my Dr. agrees with my approach and is happy with the progress that i have made. and my last A1c shows that my diet works with an droping my A1c from 7.2 to a 5.4 is 3 months.

That's my favorite - when they just ignore you and move on like that . I interrupted one of my instructors (who HATED me!) to tell her that she contradicted herself by earlier agreeing with me that any time spent over 140 is doing major damage to the body, yet now telling us that "180 is a perfectly acceptable reading". I said, 'Lady, that's not what you said to me before the class started.' She glared at me and just ADA'd riiiiiiiiight on...