Metformin is one of the medications I no longer need! As the type 2 diabetes got worse the doctor increased the Metformin dose. Now I no longer need any.
Way to go pauleckler! Get healthy, live better and longer while spending less on healthcare!
DH has been a type 1 diabetic since he was 13. We also have a low carb/keto lifestyle, resulting in his needing significantly less insulin than on a too high in carb American Diabetes Association recommended diet, though even they have FINALLY started to get more on board about reducing carbs. When I started low carbing a couple of decades ago, the magazine they put out to discuss research, Diabetes Forecast Magazine, posted a review of one of the new Atkins books that demonstrated to me they had not even read the book and were choosing to do a knee jerk rejection of the premise. I cancelled our subscription instantly.
Lowering carbs, particularly refined, has been shown to have impacts on reducing risk from cancer, Alzheimer’s, diabetes, high blood pressure, and more. Yet the Federal Gov’t continues to support sugar and grains. Modifying the food pyramid to reflect net carb consumption, rather than pushing “whole grains” endlessly or continuing to vilify good fats, would go a long way to helping the US get off the SAD died, (standard American diet.) Institutions have to follow the food pyramid if they receive federal funds.
For any of you that are curious about what sort of meals you would have eating low carb, my favorite blog is here: AlldayIdreamaboutfood.com This is the source of our favorite meal, Sheet Pan Keto Jambalaya: https://alldayidreamaboutfood.com/easy-keto-jambalaya/ We do double batches and then just microwave the leftovers for a quick meal.
This would have been the point where I would have referred you to the Low Carb Way of Life board here on TMF, but it’s slated for termination.
Type 2 diabetes has tremendous Macroeconomic impact due to the high cost of treating the chronic illness…
Type 2 diabetes is NOT a chronic illness, it’s curable, reversible. I’m living proof of it. All you need to do is lose weight. Stop eating the highly processed, packaged, garbage so call food that the Agroindustrial Complex sells.
For the bulk of Type 2 diabetics it’s a chronic disease that advances with age. I reversed it for 10 years, then medicated, then reversed for another 5, but I’ve been on medication since. I got down to 174 lbs - what I was at 16, and swam for an hour a day. Still had to take meds. I think that may be the incurable part.
Type 1 and type 2 diabetes are two different ailments
Type 1 and type 2 Diabetes: What’s the Difference?
People with type 1 diabetes don’t produce insulin. You can think of it as not having a key.
People with type 2 diabetes don’t respond to insulin as well as they should and later in the disease often don’t make enough insulin. You can think of it as having a broken key.
This is why type 2 is reversible while type 1 is chronic.
Yes Denny, I am very aware of the differences. My point was that even someone who does not manufacture their insulin and requires injections can minimize their meds requirements by reducing their carb load. You hear so much about the unaffordability of insulin, which is outrageous IMO, and how there is nothing they can do about needing insulin. While it is true that type 1 diabetics will still need insulin, they can control the amount they require by minimizing their carb intake. Going to a low carb lifestyle also controls the need for many other meds.
The nutritional guidelines the Feds push is absolutely absurd, IMO, unless their goal is to cripple the nation’s health.
…This is the source of our favorite meal, Sheet Pan Keto Jambalaya:…
quite easy to swap in cauliflower rice in this sheet pan jambalaya recipe…
Not a fan of cauliflower rice. Maybe the texture, maybe the taste. As long as it works for you.
The author of the recipe talks about cutting back on bell pepper and leaving out the onion, well, they just violated the “holy trinity” of cajun cooking (bell pepper, onion, celery). So a more proper title would be Keto Pseudo-Jambalaya.
As an aside, read an article the other day about cooking rice, letting it cool overnight (in the refrigerator), and then reheating it. That process altered the starch structure to where it wasn’t as digestible and thus not as carb spiking.
The author of the recipe talks about cutting back on bell pepper and leaving out the onion, well, they just violated the “holy trinity” of cajun cooking (bell pepper, onion, celery). So a more proper title would be Keto Pseudo-Jambalaya.
If you need to. We use a large onion and 4 bell peppers. Modify the carb count based on your needs. We are very active and I consider leaving onions out of just about anything sacrilege.
Not a fan of cauliflower rice. Maybe the texture, maybe the taste. As long as it works for you.
Needs plenty of seasoning and a good amount of olive oil. I also prefer to sautee it than microwave it. Nukes up well. I typically have a container in the fridge of Cauli-rice Pilaf with onions, red pepper, edamame, zucchini and yellow squash, spinach and either cajun or curry seasoning. That along with sausage, salmon, rotisserie chicken pieces or even a hamburger makes for a super quick meal.
As an aside, read an article the other day about cooking rice, letting it cool overnight (in the refrigerator), and then reheating it. That process altered the starch structure to where it wasn’t as digestible and thus not as carb spiking.
Short grain brown rice with butter and furikake seasoning used to be my absolute favorite. Still is, but can’t eat it. In my usual way of cooking I would make a large pot of it and nuke a portion when ready to eat. Spiked my blood sugar in a big way, even with the fat from the butter which should slow the carb absorption. We don’t all process things the same way. Was vegan for a very tortured two years until I found low carb heaven. My body responds well to this way of eating. If I eat too many carbs at once now, I get heart palpitations and nausea. Doesn’t take much.
IP,
still having many vegan meals, but rarely have grains
The Captain
lost 50 pounds over a couple of years and got rid of all the chronic diseases and stopped taking the eight medications that were supposed to be for life. You have to overcome your doctor’s outdated medicine. The last time I went to see a cardiologist he wanted to keep me on statins. I showed him the latest blood test that said I did not need it. I asked him why he was prescribing it. “Just to be on the safe side” was his lame answer. I replied that in that case I would not be taking statins. He said, “OK.”
Congrats on losing the weight etc...
I have done the same 50 lbs off as well. I can come off of metformin and a statin. I am off the BP med. But I kept some of the metformin and the statin. Notice you are still peeing all the time? Yep once a diabetic always a diabetic. I am very pleased with where I am now, but my chest arteries have some plaque and calcium build up. The statin and metformin during this period with my new lower weight can afford me to clean up my arteries.
Captain you are blowing your chance at cleaning up your arteries. That is what the doctor wanted to do with you.
Your glucose level can be normal and even your hemoglobin A1C (long term glucose average)
Yeah. HbA1C is treated by many doctors as if it was a definite indicator for prediabetes/early diabetes, even though it’s dubious whether it’s even as good an indicator as fasting serum glucose (assuming the test is handled properly).
Yeah. HbA1C is treated by many doctors as if it was a definite indicator for prediabetes/early diabetes, even though it’s dubious whether it’s even as good an indicator as fasting serum glucose (assuming the test is handled properly).
My internist participates in a local annual health video conference. His usual topic is health and diet. He mentioned various labs to test for diabetes/prediabetes and then mentioned he started prescribing continuous glucose monitoring devices. You get real time results and see how you react do different activities and different meals.
I’ve seen a few athletes wearing them during various fitness events from long endurance runs to high intensity fitness/weightlifting competitions to help with in competition fueling and recovery.
I’ve noticed that there’s been quite a heavy promotion of these devices to non-diabetics…for biohacking and sports mainly …for about 5 or 6 years or so now along with a few high profile athletes promoting them. Part of me thinks it’s technology looking for value in the absence of evidence. The Quantified Self part of me thinks you won’t find evidence until you start looking. I’ve been a bit more interested in whether/when the technology will become part of a regular “wearable”.
Not so much for the actual glucose reading itself but rather if the readings could act as a surrogate marker for circulating insulin levels/insulin resistance. I’ve been wondering “what if…” with regard to my own metabolic health for
a while now, largely as a result of subscribing to a couple of longevity websites that bang on about this. Rather than wait for a development that may never come, I asked my primary care physician if she could see fit to add a circulating insulin test to the Usual Suspects at my most recent physical so I could stop wondering…or act now, if necessary. I don’t know why this isn’t done more frequently with the first hint of departure from healthy homeostasis. I’m assuming that insurance companies don’t reimburse for it in the absence of rising A1c or fasting glucose etc… which is kind of a bit late in the game… and that physicians are a bit inhibited to suggest a test that would be an out of pocket expense.
You can use the blood glucose/ketones level
obtained with a finger prick test as a proxy for circulating insulin levels.
A level below 100 is getting into ketosis and below 70 will be weight loss.
Typically to hit these levels a person eating SAD will need a water fast for 48 hours.
However, a low carb diet, not a keto diet but one low on processed foods and grains, will provide this type of ration in as little as a 12 hour fast. In other words, eat real food, any food with less than five ingredients on the label. No sweeteners of any sort, and eat dinner then no snacks and then eat breakfast 12 hours after the last bite of food was eaten.
It really is simple, but for me at least, very difficult.
Quazulight…I think you misunderstood my rationale for looking at my circulating insulin. Thanks to a diet somewhat similar to your description…but not low carb enough for nutritional ketosis…for close to half a century (more if you count my years living at home on my mum’s watch) I really didn’t have any need for wondering based on all the regular parameters. It was more of an overexhuberant desire to be proactive and nip any tendency in the bud.
Also wondering in a theoretical sense if use of, say, continuous read glucose monitors or other real time sensing devices are likely to have an impact on preventing even pre-diabetes in the demographic that’s on the way there but not quite yet.
Type 2 diabetes is reversible, but not curable. That is a belief system, but not the science experience. Gain back the 50 pounds and you will find it’s still there. That’s what the Docs and science told me, and it’s what happened when I gained the weight back. I researched my Statin and kept it. I stopped Lisinopril, but went back on after a conversation with my Endocrinologist, rethinking through the family medical history, and some research. I wish I could lose 50 pounds and drop all the meds. Good job!
I like just about none of the diet advice here. The reason most people are very unsuccessful dieting with any of the low carb advice. It is also misnomers about the food building blocks involved in recommending a low carb diet.
I did Noom. The success rate is ultra high, almost ten percent succeed in something close to what I did. But not nearly as much. I lost 50 pounds for over a year now.
The problem with other diets is the dieters learn to eat more calories pretty quickly.
Noom focuses on people monitoring their calories and modifying the qualities of the food they eat.
Some of the suggestions here that all you need to do…yeah it worked for several of us that we have lost major amounts of weight but we are a very small minority of people to have done it at all.
The biggest behavioral change I need when losing weight is simply an early bedtime.
Well, every weight loss diet works…if it works and for while it works…by folk modifying their eating habits and ultimately consuming less energy than they expend. The various diets around are just different routes to the end goal.
I doubt dieters need to learn to eat more calories after a period of restriction it comes naturally whether it’s a case of “post starvation hyperphagia” or simply that old habits die hard.
I did not make myself clear. By far and a way most dieters totally fail and more often than not add more weight on than they started with.
I think we need to start there.
Because if we are seeking a path to success then we need to discuss the much more common pitfalls.
Another way to measure this, there are several doctors posting here. If the doctors pipe up with how many patients they have seen to ever lose considerably weight over a long time period you would get the scale of the failure.
Dad in a career starting at age 16 in medical school Trinity Dublin, retiring at age 82 two Christmases ago…one patient lost considerable weight, two had bariatric surgery and kept the weight off and two had bariatric surgery and gained the weight and more. The last being the worst of outcomes weight wise.
That is a common medical practice batting score for an entire career.
For Noom to get somewhere in the 8% success category is amazing.
Most people using the low carb approach will gain weight in time. Several things go wrong, the diet cuts out something but then the eater will find more to eat elsewhere or when carbs are reintroduced it fails again as more calories. Usually given time people gain weight.
Counting calories was one of the early approaches that always failed. Similar reasons. But with an app in your phone to monitor several times a day the success rate has gone up. With ten minutes per day studying the lessons on healthier eating the habits change in some people.
Well, was a dentist and, in addition, a fitness instructor/personal trainer by avocation (in Emeritus mode for both) so I’ve had plenty of experience of discussing one on one dietary habits and commitment to change etc and one big difference between your Noom vs. what happens in a doctor’s office with dietary advice is…$$$bucks.
Take your dad, for instance. What was his field? Unless it was specifically geared towards weight management, I’ll wager most of the folk making appointments with him were for something other than specifically dietary advice. I suspect that his patients’ experience was quite different from yours with Noom.
The fact that Noom is a weight management specific programme and has a fee attached means that already there’s a selection bias toward folk who recognise they have a problem and require assistance to address this. Not unlike a good many of my my class members/PT clients who engaged my services specifically for some form of weight-loss (specifically fat loss)
That’s the wrong way to look at it and it stems from the mistaken view that type 2 diabetes is a disease. If there is something wrong with your body like the pancreas not producing insulin, you have a disease. If you are attacked by bacteria or viruses like tuberculosis you have a disease. Type 1 diabetes is not yet curable, bacterial diseases are preventable and curable. Type 2 diabetes is more akin to poisoning, voluntary poisoning, you get type 2 diabetes from eating crap, lots of crap. You reverse type 2 diabetes by stopping the intake of the poison. Restart the poison and you restart the type 2 diabetes.
I went from over 90 Kgs. to 70 Kgs. and the great variety of food in Portugal has me back to 75.5 Kgs. even while avoiding highly processed packaged foods and I have not been able to shed the extra 12 pounds. No sign of type 2 diabetes but I’m short of breath more than before. After 5 years not not seeing a doctor and not taking any medications, I going for a checkup this week.
The Captain
I even bought a gorgeous electronic bathroom scale which tells me I’m stuck at +or- 75+ Kgs.
I have never talked about Type 1, only Type 2, and Type 2 is not curable, but you have stated it is curable. Type 2 is reversible, but if you follow what I have told you, if you gain back the weight and don’t exercise, Type 2 will come back. If you were cured, it would NOT come back. Therefore you were not cured. Right now, as you read this, you are not cured. Look up medical definitions of disease, here’s one: disease
(dĭ-zēz′)
n.
An abnormal condition of a part, organ, or system of an organ-ism resulting from various causes, such as infection, inflammation, environmental factors, or genetic defect, and characterized by an identifiable group of signs, symptoms, or both.
The Med definition is much broader than what you seem to imply. There are actually four different types of Type 2 diabetes. Mine is partly genetic, all the males in the family line get it. Now there was some talk that if you became athletic and diet conscious it may never appear, but I think that idea has gone by the wayside. You somehow seem to attribute something magical to not using the word disease. There’s no magic. Your idea of disease is too narrow. I cut and paste the “chronic disease” part from a medical site. Google around. Medicine accepts it, get with it.
I researched my Statin and kept it. I stopped Lisinopril, but went back on after a conversation with my Endocrinologist, rethinking through the family medical history, and some research. I wish I could lose 50 pounds and drop all the meds. Good job!