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De Forest, WI | John Burns - 10/10/2022 08:03 Wow! A1c from 12.3 down to 6.3................... what a drastic improvement! Great for you.
You took your health by the horns and drastically improved it. At 12.3 that blood sugar level was doing great damage to your organs and tissues. That improvement will help keep a lot of other common health diseases at bay. Most of the common non-infection diseases can be directly linked to insulin resistance as either the cause or major contributing factor. By controlling it you greatly improve your chance of success of either not getting those diseases or greatly reducing their significance or time frame during your lifespan.
The latest bad thing, covid, was directly linked to obesity being a contributing factor for poor outcomes. There is a pretty good chance that insulin resistance was the underlying real cause and the obesity was just the symptom that manifested itself and was the visible portion so got noticed.
Could it also have to do with vitamin D resistance???? Vitamin D has also been found to be important in covid. Here is a researcher that talks about vitamin D resistance and insulin resistance being possibly associated. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfH8nkF-R5c&t=1550s
MOST chronic diseases are related to inflammation, which I am sure you know. Insulin Resistance is almost always accompanied by chronic inflammation. By pulling down the car intake and forcing the body to run on ketones, many of the inflammation dependent chronic health problems go away or are significantly improved.
Once I got my blood sugar under control I would experiment to see what I could eat, carb wise, and what it did to my blood glucose numbers using a glucose meter. I learned over time that I can eat more carb rich foods at different times of the day. I almost never eat simple sugars anymore except maybe custard from Culvers once on a great while. I don't eat cake. Lunch time is best FOR ME. I can have 30-40 carbs as long as they are from natural sources and NOT simple sugars. This translates to mostly veggies and nuts.
My snack foods are almost all nuts. Cashews, almonds, etc. They are high fat, high protein. They do have some carbs, but they are slow burn carbs so don't spike my blood sugar like a cereal or granola bar would. I also like RX bars, which are dates, nuts and salt. Nothing else in them. All of the carbs are coming from the dates. Since they are slow burn carbs they also don't spike my blood sugar.
I also get fats from sources other than meats. Nuts, as mentioned above, avocados, fatty fish, olive and sunflower oils, etc. Fat is fat so long as it is not accompanied by a lot of extra carbs it is not excluded. Meat can be expensive to eat. Too much also can turn the protein into carbs in the liver.
I can eat 2.5lbs of nuts a week and not gain a single lb. People see me eating them at work and tell me I am going to get fat, lol. I told them I ate 50lbs of nuts last year and lost weight. There is so little information from mainstream medicine on how to use diet and exercise to lower blood sugar.
Carbs are ADDICITING. It's like smoking. Once you are OFF of them for a month or two you won't really craze them anymore. Just keep healthy sources of low carb foods around to snack on. Keep no carb drinks around to fill that desire to put something in your mouth. Drinks like Bubbl'r, Zevia, tea even an occasional diet soda will really help. Once accustomed to the new diet, things like sugared soda and other high sugar deserts won't taste right. They will be TOO sweet.
For sauces I now like spicy, hot, cajun, herb crusted (no wheat/breading), etc. Anything to make it really flavorful. Broccoli with cheese and pepper. Green beans with butter, salt, pepper and onions.
Diet is only ONE part of the equation though. Losing weight is also necessary if one is overweight or obese. Get moving, work harder. Track the calories going into the mouth. Make them 80% fat and then eat LESS than you need so you start burning off some of the extra fat. Once at your ideal range you will naturally eat only until you feel "full" so long as you stay in ketosis. Food cravings will go away. Instead of feeling like you will pass out due to hunger, you will just feel tired. That is the signal to eat something. The upside is your energy levels will be very steady. The downside is they will NOT be as high as when the body is burning carbs.
You will be running a marathon instead of a sprint. SOME carbs can be used when you know you will be pushing things hard. My kid and I unloaded four wagons of hay back to back in an afternoon. I had a couple granola bars as I needed the extra energy. I didn't take myself out of ketosis and it had almost zero effect on my blood sugar. Those are the outliers though. If diligent, it is possible learn what you body will allow and when.
But, PLEASE, if you are taking gobs of insulin SERIOUSLY consider reducing your carb intake. Would you take a drug that allowed you to keep drinking alcohol when you are drunk? That is essentially what insulin is doing for a Type II that still has a functioning pancreas. Get the blood sugar down to a stable level for 6 months though severe carb restriction. Eat HEALTHY fats and veggies. Veggies that grow ABOVE ground are USUALLY lower in carbs than those that grow BELOW ground. This makes it simple to determine what to eat. The only real exception to this is CORN.
Once you are at the lowest level you can achieve and maintain for six months then you can test to see your carb limits. Good luck. | |
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Another question for John Burns or other diabetics
