Six Month Check in:
My blood sugar is still doing very well on this diet. My eye’s have stopped aching with my sugar under better control.
The challenges have been more interesting than I originally anticipated. My body on a high fat diet had trouble with constipation issues. I thought taking fiber supplement would do the trick and was faithful to drink it nightly. It did help but… not enough. I started having weekly complications that got worse and worse. After much reading I found a solution that seems to work. I add collagen to my coffee in the morning. I bought both fish collagen and bovine collagen (and also chicken collagen pills). I have been taking them all and my body after about a week started behaving normally again. This is a huge relief. The beef collagen provides type one and three collagen. It makes the coffee taste creamy. The fish collagen is all type 1 collagen and it comes in a much finer powder. It’s harder to mix into the coffee but it’s easier on your body to digest. Chicken collagen is type 2 and people use it for joint health issues. These collagens seem to hold water like carbs do so act as a type of replacement. It also is supposed to help your digestive track bacteria feeding the good ones. It may also help your skin and joints but who knows about that. I only care about solving the main issue I was having as it is very painful and awful. I would bet it’s a reason people fall off this diet other than carbs are like diabetic crack.
I have issues with my eyes thanks to my diabetes. I was taking omegas in the morning for it but my site was getting worse. I have found that taking 500 to 600 milligrams of omega 3’s before bed not in the morning plus 1000 milligrams of vitamin C also at bed time have helped very much. I do take the 150 milligrams of omegas in the am still but that’s not enough to help my eyes on it’s own. The other thing that helps is 20 to 30 minutes on my bike. Even if my sugar reads as normal I have found that my site improves after the ride. So if you are having these issues too- see your doctor and try these simple changes- they may help. I saw improvement immediately so no 6 month waiting hoping thing.
I have still been losing weight- I’m down to size 36 pants and to large shirts from x-large shirts. Yeah. I have found eating eggs is useful to achieve some carbs in the diet. A dairy farmer said milk was great too but I found it raised my sugar too much and made my eyes hurt when I drank it- too sweet for me. Cherry tomatoes are also my go to snack as well as occasional almonds.
Good luck on your journey.
The Keto Diet is gaining in popularity- It is similar to the Paleo diet and the
other high fat diets out there.
There are differences though. The Keto diet is high fat-true but it’s a medium protein, and low carb diet plan. They do have a food pyramid- the base is fat heavy meat which is what you eat the most of on the plan. Then you use actual butter and olive oil and I use avocado oil also.
Then you move up to green vegetables- very important in that you need that fiber kick or you will suffer some consequences fairly quickly.
Then other vegetables like cauliflower, onions, etc.
Finally fruits- berries
Drinks- unsweetened Tea, Coffee with actual cream, and lots of Water- lots.
You lose all wheat flower- rice- potatoes (including sweet potatoes).
Sugar is banished. Artificial sugar should also be banished.
Many of my favorite fruits are eliminated as well which was the most painful change for me- no bananas, cherries, grapes, apples- any of the sweet fruits. I ate those daily so it was no minor sacrifice.
Side effects: head ache if you forget to eat your minimum amount of carbs- that can lead to very bad consequences like heart attack, stroke, death- so don’t eliminate carbs- just limit them. Also- invite your doctor to monitor you during this change to be most safe- Safety first! I use an app on my phone and enter my meals then check before bed that I ate enough carbs.
Constipation– if you neglect your greens- you are asking for some problems so make certain you feed yourself the entire spectrum of the food pyramid- there are other sites that give you a more detailed vision of this pyramid so use your favorite search engine and find it. So I thought I was eating enough broccoli and Cauliflower to solve this but no- I am now using a fiber supplement at night- trust me- you will need that too if you don’t want some painful too much like birth like event… I bought mine from pure encapsulation but an would probably do.
Flu like symptoms– you go through a form of sugar withdrawal when you dump all those carbs. You have to expect that while your body is switching from burning all those carbs.
Very bad breath– buy some good mouth wash and brush and floss often cause this one is rough.
So what can happen that’s worth all this?
So I started in December by limiting my carbs to 62 grams a day and still had some of those forbidden items in the diet- my blood sugar on my pills and insulin kept my system at normal sugar ranges. I lost about 5 pounds in that time.
I intensified to the 32 grams of carbs limit then. I have stuck to the diet and removed the fruits I enjoyed. I have dropped another 5 pounds.
I dropped about 3 pounds just last week so it does work on weight loss.
But more important to me- I have had ideal blood sugar readings- between 90 and 120 every day but one when I accidentally ate more carbs in a cantaloup then I meant too. That day it went to 129 but fell back the very next day.
I had a little confusion that came about a week into the diet change-my sugar shot up. I was taking my normal two pills a day and I increased my insulin shot – called my doctor and the manufacturer of the insulin. This went on a week with my sugar in the 170 to 250 range. Then I thought why not avoid the medicine for a day and see what happened. When I did, the next day I woke up and my sugar was 98. Yes- 98. That felt amazing. It’s stayed in a normal range since then (except that one day I mentioned earlier).
Now it may not happen this way for you. It all depends on your body and how good you are at keeping to the diet and not ‘cheating’ yourself. And if your body still produces insulin on it’s own- if you are a type 1 diabetic this diet isn’t going to work for you most likely.
Is this a cure? No since I can’t go eat bread or bananas I am not cured but I can manage it.
Does exercise help? I do exercise now but it does not lower your sugar level since your body has switched to burning fat ketones. I feel great afterwards which is a nice reward though.
There is a doctor in Lafayette Indiana (they work remotely) that will consult with you on a daily basis (a counselor not the doctor themselves I’m sure) and assist you to do this change and deal with any complications if you can afford it- just search and you will discover them.
Remember- be safe! if something doesn’t feel right- call your doctor, go to the clinic or ER – don’t just ignore things.
Hope this keeps working for me and hope if you try it that it works for you.