I think I went too low carb

GrannyMayOz

wabmester wrote: »

http://caloriesproper.com/carbs-low-vs-lower/
.... what about low carb vs. lower carb?
Apparently, it doesn’t matter

So...
"The participants were obese & sedentary, and according to HOMA-IR (a measure of insulin resistance), they were insulin resistant. Why is this important? Because in general, obese insulin resistant patients respond better to low carb than low fat diets, whereas the reverse is true for insulin sensitive patients… but what about low carb vs. lower carb?"

How do I know if I'm IR or IS (or neither)? I sure as heck don't want to switch to a low fat diet. But I sureR than heck want to be losing weight... My weight losses, as per almost every post-menopausal woman, are *really* slow. Is there a corelation? I doubt anyone in the scientific world is going to do a study on that, but I'm interested in everyone's thoughts.

FIT_Goat

I don't know how to tell for sure, but this was the first thing that google turned up. At least one recommendation was what I thought might help (blood sugar testing).

http://profgrant.com/2014/01/24/am-i-insulin-resistant/

KeithF6250

That's a great link, FIT_Goat.

GrannyMayOz

Thank you Goat, that was interesting. So now we have...

Insulin Resistance profgrant.com/2014/01/24/am-i-insulin-resistant/
"Checklist
I’ve had trouble controlling my weight my whole life
I have a high waist circumference (I’ve got a fat gut) – more than 100 cm men, 85 cm women
I always feel hungry
I feel like something sweet after dinner to stop my hunger
Fatigue, exhaustion, depression
High blood pressure
Frequent hypoglycemia (low blood sugars)
You are over 50 years old

BTW – if you have failed one of the glucose tests then don’t bother with the checklist, you are already insulin resistant."

Insulin Sensitivity ehow.com/facts_5724311_insulin-vs_-insulin-sensitivity-definition.html
"Tissue responsiveness to insulin, meaning how successfully the receptor operates to permit glucose clearance, is termed insulin sensitivity. In the case of optimal insulin sensitivity, after a high sugar meal, insulin rises sharply, pushing glucose into the tissues rapidly, then dissipates. In the case of poor insulin sensitivity, however, insulin's elevation is sustained due to an inability to force glucose into muscle tissues."

But can I find a list of symptoms for IS? No, I cannot. But the IR certainly sounds mostly like the pre-LCHF me; particularly the hypoglycemia. I would get shaky and feel faint and nauseous if I didn't eat every 3 hours.

The "85 cm" waist for women annoys me very much though. I'm built like a sherman tank, I'm not going to have an 85 cm waist until I'm a skeleton. That figure is normally written as 88 cm anyway, and wouldn't that be over-weight for an Asian woman? Generalisations like that, with no allowance for build, make me spit chips I'm a labdrador. Nobody expects a labrador to diet itself into being a greyhound!

Dragonwolf

GrannyMayOz wrote: »

Thank you Goat, that was interesting. So now we have...

Insulin Resistance profgrant.com/2014/01/24/am-i-insulin-resistant/
"Checklist
I’ve had trouble controlling my weight my whole life
I have a high waist circumference (I’ve got a fat gut) – more than 100 cm men, 85 cm women
I always feel hungry
I feel like something sweet after dinner to stop my hunger
Fatigue, exhaustion, depression
High blood pressure
Frequent hypoglycemia (low blood sugars)
You are over 50 years old

BTW – if you have failed one of the glucose tests then don’t bother with the checklist, you are already insulin resistant."

Insulin Sensitivity ehow.com/facts_5724311_insulin-vs_-insulin-sensitivity-definition.html
"Tissue responsiveness to insulin, meaning how successfully the receptor operates to permit glucose clearance, is termed insulin sensitivity. In the case of optimal insulin sensitivity, after a high sugar meal, insulin rises sharply, pushing glucose into the tissues rapidly, then dissipates. In the case of poor insulin sensitivity, however, insulin's elevation is sustained due to an inability to force glucose into muscle tissues."

But can I find a list of symptoms for IS? No, I cannot. But the IR certainly sounds mostly like the pre-LCHF me; particularly the hypoglycemia. I would get shaky and feel faint and nauseous if I didn't eat every 3 hours.

The "85 cm" waist for women annoys me very much though. I'm built like a sherman tank, I'm not going to have an 85 cm waist until I'm a skeleton. That figure is normally written as 88 cm anyway, and wouldn't that be over-weight for an Asian woman? Generalisations like that, with no allowance for build, make me spit chips I'm a labdrador. Nobody expects a labrador to diet itself into being a greyhound!

I think that's generally why a waist to hip ratio is used more often. The main point is that if you're insulin resistant, you store most of your excess weight in your abdomen area, which increases your waist and alter your waist to hip ratio. (The so-called "apple shape.")

The at-home way to test is to take your morning glucose. Anything over 100mg/dL is generally considered insulin resistant. You can also do your own tolerance test by eating a set amount of carb-heavy food or liquid (ideally simple carbs for purposes of the test), then test at 1, 2, and 3 hours afterward. An insulin sensitive person will not likely have their blood sugar rise above 140mg/dL or so, while an insulin resistant person will see a number quite a bit higher at the 1 and 2 hour mark. Likewise, an IS person will have normal readings at 3 hours, while an IR person's may still be elevated, or may drop abnormally low.

If your fasting glucose is normal, but you still suspect insulin resistance, have your doctor run a fasting insulin test. This is different from the glucose test, and will tell you how much insulin is required to keep your fasting glucose at the level it's at.

Also, there are no "symptoms" of insulin sensitivity, because that's the functional state for humans. Insulin resistance is the dysfunctional state. "Symptoms" of insulin sensitivity would include, then, something like: ability to lose weight by adjusting intake or activity level, even/typical fat distribution (even if obese*), low/normal body fat percentage (if not overeating), fasting blood sugar of 60-99mg/dL (ideally, 60-80mg/dL), etc.

* While many people think that obesity is what leads to insulin resistance, it's actually often the other way around. You can actually tell which people had the insulin resistance first by looking at their fat distribution. The people with "beer belly" type distribution -- a lot of abdominal fat, but lean extremities -- were likely insulin resistant before they gained weight.

robert65ferguson

Thank you Fit-Goat for a really informative link. The sub link to the LCHF guy was fascinating reading. The point that Prof Schofield made about the internet as an enabler of the alternative view rather that the view of the 'appointed one' was very refreshing and true as this support group clearly demonstrates.

kirkor

GrannyMayOz wrote: »

But can I find a list of symptoms for IS? No, I cannot.

No symptoms because it's not a condition --- insulin sensitivicy is what we want.

GrannyMayOz

Thank you @Dragonwolf and @kirkor I have a fasting blood glucose reading from last May (well before LCHF) and it was 5.7. Obviously Australians use a different system to the American one - why am I not surprised. The nurse said it was high for a fasting reading. My husband's was 4.4 and she was happy with his.

That reading was around 11am and I hadn't eaten since around 9pm the night before. I'd had coconut milk in a cup of coffee an hour or so before the reading though. (David has his coffee black.)

wabmester

Here's a conversion chart. 5.7 is mildly elevated. 4.4 is very good.

http://www.diabeteschart.org/mgmmol.html

FIT_Goat

GrannyMayOz wrote: »

Thank you @Dragonwolf and @kirkor I have a fasting blood glucose reading from last May (well before LCHF) and it was 5.7. Obviously Australians use a different system to the American one - why am I not surprised. The nurse said it was high for a fasting reading. My husband's was 4.4 and she was happy with his.

That reading was around 11am and I hadn't eaten since around 9pm the night before. I'd had coconut milk in a cup of coffee an hour or so before the reading though. (David has his coffee black.)

Your husband's reading would be < 80 mg/dL.

A 5.7 mmol/L reading would be a ~103 mg/dL reading using the above scale. That's just slightly in the IR range, depending on which scale you choose. It's definitely high for a fasting reading (especially for someone not doing LCHF--as our readings are sometimes artificially high).

So, yeah. That's one indicator that you're probably IR. Along with the other signs (weight trouble, abdominal fat, etc.) it means you can be pretty sure you have some degree of it.

Edit: Missed the coconut milk comment. That could have caused a higher than real reading. It would be best to get a true fasting reading. Although, with the other signs, you probably don't need it. You can operate on the assumption that you do have it.

GrannyMayOz

Thank you so much @wabmester and @FIT_Goat that's a huge help, I really appreciate your help

Jbarnes1210

LunaKate...have you tried different low carb recipes? I think most people, even those not on a low carb diet typically eat the same types of food daily, they're just not restricted when they do wanna switch things up. I've found good recipes on the Atkins website and by googling low carb recipes...and believe me it makes a big difference. Atkins has a really good creamy chicken vegetable stew recipe that I make frequently, and recently tried fried coconut shrimp......just a little variety from meat, cheese and veggie......