[smorgan]

Thanks everyone for your help & input, what I was trying to say was I have changed from having carbs ie bread, pasta, rice etc at each meal to having protein only for breakfast, & lunch is either salad with fish or homemade vegie soup & dinner is protein with vegies mainly cabbage, sprouts, zucchini, leeks etc, I just wasnt sure that my diet changes were causing the blurred vision & tiredness, I think I am just self doubting that I am on the right track & scared myself, but I did have an eye test recently which was fine & nothing wrong with a little nap in middle of day, Ive currently given up work so now have time for naps etc lol.
As for my exercise yes I am only going every 2 / 3 days & mixing up with cardio one visit & weights/resistance the next, the days I am not going to gym I mow lawns etc or go walking wit dogs.
I will keep going with my low carbs for another week or so as my numbers have improved so something is working, I think my body is just getting used to the changes will be trial & error for a while, also with diabetes educator insisting that I must have 2 or 3 servings with every meal I was telling myself that she must know best but hey you know what it is MY body & I have to find out what is best for me, this forum has given me the courage to make changes, so thank you all & take care xx

From your brief description, it sounds like you are seriously malnourished especially in the area of energy and that could explain a lot.

Your cells need an energy source which is called ATP. On a high-carb diet, nearly all this ATP is manufactured from glucose. It is made INSIDE the cell, so that requires that glucose get into the cell. This is the work of insulin and unfortunately, it is also what is "broken" or impaired in T2 diabetics. If there is little glucose forthcoming from diet and/or if it cannot make it into the cells where it is needed because of insulin resistance and/or insufficient insulin, the cells will begin to "starve".

Nearly all cells in your body can make ATP from one or both of two other sources: FFAs (free fatty acids) or ketone bodies. Both of these are the result of dietary fat. Ketone bodies are the better of the two and can be used by nearly all cells. The brain, for example, can use ketone bodies just fine but FFAs cannot cross the blood brain barrier. Ketone bodies are only available with the COMBINATION of both very limited carbohydrates in the diet AND abundant fats. "Low-carb" eating alone will not produce them.

When you reduce carbs and substitute with protein it is mostly self-defeating. Protein can be used for tissue repair and the like and the excess can be converted to glucose by your liver. There is almost no chance you were not getting plenty of protein prior to this for cell repair. So, the extra protein eaten in lieu of the carbs mostly became glucose. Not only does this negate the possible benefits of reducing carbs on blood sugar, it just makes your body work a lot harder deriving all this glucose from protein. In the extreme case, this is actually fatal. You can google "rabbit starvation" for details.

So, the symptoms you are experiencing are not at all unexpected. The solution is to leave your protein consumption alone - it should be around 16% of total calories - and for every 9g of carbs you reduce, substitute 4g of fat.

That will keep your energy in balance and in fact at the cellular level you will be better off since it is only ATP from glucose which is impaired and ATP from FFAs or ketones is working and is unaffected by diabetes. This is why people who master the LC/HF diet experience huge increases in energy and mental alertness.

Eating too little fat and too much protein is a very common error made by many people when they first attempt low-carb eating and is understandable after some 50 years of anti-fat hysteria. It is difficult to overcome all that mental conditioning and face what is really a healthy diet - certainly for T2 diabetics and arguably for the population at large.

Useful Link

 

[smorgan]

There's lots of good information in smorgan's post, but I will play devil's advocate here and somewhat disagree with one thing - and that is the percentage of calories from protein sources.

How much protein you need will vary greatly from person to person depending on their gender, age, muscle-mass, physical activity level, etc.

Personally, As someone that does strenuous exercise, I like to see anywhere from 35-45% of my calories coming from protein - it's what works best for maintaining/repairing my muscle tissue, and for keeping me with decent energy levels. (I get most of my energy from FAT sources still, which is for the best, imho.)

I feel my best with approximately:

35-45% calories from protein
40-50% calories from fat
5-15% calories from carbohydrate (I have more or less carbs depending on my exercise levels)

Everyone is different - but for anyone doing daily exercise, especially if it's at a high-moderate to strenuous level (whether jogging, running, cycling, weight-training, elliptical machines, stair-climbers, whatever...) they will very-likely require more protein in their diets. Also, if trying to perform (at a competitive level) they may even require more carbohydrate in their diets. (Which is why my carb intake varies depending on my activity level).

You raise a very interesting point. It certainly is the conventional wisdom that if working out strenuously you need extra protein for muscle rebuilding. Sounds sensible, but I've read other opinions which call that into question. Since I'm no bodybuilder and do only very moderate exercise, I didn't pay very close attention to the various arguments.

Still, 45% seems awfully high to me. I find it hard to believe that all that is really used for muscle repair just from working out. I'd be really curious to know how much of it was actually just converted into glucose and consumed. I don't know if there is any way to determine that.

There are also high-performance athletes who perform in ketosis presumably using ketones/FFAs primarily or even exclusively as their energy source so I don't think there is ever an actual "need" for carbs for working out in general, but all this gets pretty complicated so I guess it could be a shortcut or seem necessary in some situations.

I'm wary of high protein although I know of no definitive proof that it is harmful. I do know it's a negative when it comes to BG control as beyond a certain minimum it definitely contributes glucose to your blood.

So I would think that if one is not doing vigorous weight training, keeping it to the average of 15% or 16% is the most prudent choice.

 

[smorgan]

Oh, and Beefy note one little point. You said that:

it's what works best for maintaining/repairing my muscle tissue, and for keeping me with decent energy levels

Muscle repair yes but note that according to the biology involved, the only way protein could have anything to do with energy levels is if it is doing that by being converted into glucose in the liver and then used in that form. Proteins are not a source of "energy". The only sources of that are glucose, FFAs and ketones or in terms of diet: carbs and fats.

 

[smorgan]

And protein IS converted to glucose, in the absence of carbohydrates, right? A secondary source, maybe, but still a source.

Yes, that's what I meant. But in the blood, its just glucose and your cells can't tell if it came from carbs or from protein. (They also can't tell if it came from "heart healthy carbs" or pure sugar, as you know.)

In other words, proteins are not a source of energy unless and until they are converted to glucose. When utilized "normally" as amino acids they are used for cell repair and not for energy. Once you get to the bloodstream, the only sources of energy are glucose, FFAs and ketones.

 

[smorgan]

The recommandation of protein here in Norway is between 1 gram and 2,5 gram for each kilo bodymass.
I am not active since I have lots of health issue, and need only 1 gram pr.kilo bodymass.
One of my sons who is an active long distance runner and compete much, exercise twice a day, and do Interval Training 3 times a week + has a fysical job, needs 2,5 gram protein for each kilo bodymass.
I don`t think it is a good thing to increase the protein to much as it really makes the kidney work hard.

Interesting. If I'm not mistaken, your 1g/kilo works out to exactly 16% with a 2000 calorie diet. The source for 16% is that in this country, that is the national average.

Beefy: OK, I get where you got your name now!

 

[smorgan]

I am 47 kilo and eat 2300 calories each day, but only 45-55 gram protein each day.
I need to eat at least 2300 calories each day, otherwise I lose weight, which I dont want to.

That's about 8.6% of calories from protein. I think every opinion I've ever seen would say that is way too low. There could be a risk of lean muscle loss at that rate.