Low carb can mean alot of things and you have to find what works for you. I've only been aware of my diabetes for a month, but here's my experience.
When I saw the results of my 3 hour test I knew there was a problem so I came here and found out that all carbs could be problems so I quit eating all grains and sugars with few exceptions. Without any goal for carbs, my new eating came out to be 50-60 carbs per day. I had about 3 days of feeling icky with carb withdrawl - I used to live on nothing but carbs. Then I was fine, no hunger, no cravings and eating mostly eggs, cheeseburgers, tuna salad, chicken, broccoli, avocado, almonds and cheese. After a week I finally talked to the doctor for the first time and he said because of my weight I should go on the Atkins diet. I didn't do that right away instead I started testing more vegetables, fruits, small amounts of grain to see what I could eat and keep BG under 140. At 50-60 carbs per day my BG numbers were running between 110-140.
The basis for Atkins is that eating a normal American diet our bodies have learned to use carbs for energy and store pretty much all the fat we eat because carb use is quick and easy for our bodies. If you severely reduce carbs you force the body to switch to a mode where you burn fat - the fat you are eating and the fat you are storing. Atkins starts at 20 g carb per day (mostly from vegies) and increases after that to whatever level works for you. If you cheat when you are in fat burning mode you will mess it up big time because your body will get those "easy" carbs and start craving them again. That's what the book says.
Just a week ago, I decided to try the Atkins. Since I was already so low on carbs I feel fine and not hungry - you can eat as much non-carb as you feel you need so you can eat most meats and cheeses anytime. I'm not seeing the weight loss yet but my BG has really improved the last few days. At 20 carbs per day I'm now seeing a range of 95-120. I do need a wider range of foods to eat and that should improve since I just ordered a bunch of almond flour, carbquick, etc which will be here next week.
So far, it seems to be working for me.
