Back one day & I already got the system's naughty girl message.

neohdiver

By way of introduction to this group, I was on the site a few years ago using it for a different non-traditional reason. I was experiencing vertigo, and I needed to track salt consumption to rule out Meniere's disease.

Turned out to be a combination of high frequency hearing loss, age, and muscle damage that physical therapy resolved after a year so I no longer needed to track salt.

Fast forward 2 years - and I have now been diagnosed as being "somewhere on the diabetes spectrum." My research suggests that the ADA had it's head somewhere I'd rather not put mine as to diabetes management so I'm on my own fashioning a low carb diet. The tools here have a very deep database of nutritional information on foods so it makes it easier to track. Yay! And this group, at least, seems to tolerate a variety of definitions of low carb - and ideas about what you fill out your caloric day with. (I'm not yet completely sold on the high fat idea - I have my concerns about both high fat and high protein (the two alternatives to carbs).)

But I finished up my first day of actual logging (I've been mentally tracking it for 3 weeks), and got the message that I was not eating enough to be safe and - as a result, they would punish me by not generating a newsfeed post. It was a rare day - and I didn't feel hungry, so I didn't top off the calories on since I'd already eaten all the carbs I'm willing to tolerate.

But so far, so good. I'm down 9 lbs (in 3 weeks), and my blood sugar has only been above 140 (the magic cut-off for damage to the cells that produce insulin) 3 times.

Glad to find a low carb place that (at least from what I can see) won't berate me if I don't gulp down whipping cream.

KarlaYP

Hello and welcome to the group! Mfp won't allow a posting of diaries when below a certain calorie number for each of us. The is a way to add "quick add calories" in the diary to be able to post it. I have those days. They aren't everyday, and that's what matters.
The medical communities lack of truthful education on nutrition has led us to a terrible place in this world now. The recommendations of the experts has created such a huge mess with the health of the populace I don't think they know how to fix it! We are forced to take our medical care into our own hands and find what works for us! I'm glad you are seeing positive results with low carb.
I shared your reluctance to increase the intake of any fat for the first couple of months. I was afraid because of what fat is supposed to do to us, or so we have been told by the experts. In learning more about the why of it it's made so much more sense. The satiety is unbelievable and the food control that I didn't know existed untiI did add fat (butter and heavy whipping cream are my top choices)made me regret waiting to add it. Please read "Cholesterol Clarity", a book by Jimmy Moore. It's truly eye opening! Don't be afraid of fat! Cook your scrambled eggs in butter after adding a tbsp of hwc to the egg mix and see how long you go before being hungry in the day. You will be amazed! Try not to write them off completely before you fully educate yourself.
This is a great group of people who have been awesome in helping others learn this way of eating (woe), and helping them change their lives completely!
Good luck!

Kitnthecat

Welcome! Your opinion about fat will likely change as time goes by. It is not something to be feared.

Don't worry about the scolding about too few calories. It used to irritate me too in the beginnings, so I'd sometimes post my own announcement about completing and being under .... But now I don't really care and just leave it incomplete if I'm under. I am in charge after all, and I am still proud of myself. Many of us here have days when we simply are not hungry. I say celebrate those days, since God knows I've had too many days in my life when I have overeaten. I'm making up for it now and I kind of like getting that warning now!

neohdiver

Karlottap wrote: »

I shared your reluctance to increase the intake of any fat for the first couple of months. I was afraid because of what fat is supposed to do to us, or so we have been told by the experts. In learning more about the why of it it's made so much more sense. The satiety is unbelievable and the food control that I didn't know existed untiI did add fat (butter and heavy whipping cream are my top choices)made me regret waiting to add it. Please read "Cholesterol Clarity", a book by Jimmy Moore. It's truly eye opening! Don't be afraid of fat! Cook your scrambled eggs in butter after adding a tbsp of hwc to the egg mix and see how long you go before being hungry in the day. You will be amazed! Try not to write them off completely before you fully educate yourself.
This is a great group of people who have been awesome in helping others learn this way of eating (woe), and helping them change their lives completely!
Good luck!

It isn't really a reluctance to increase the intake of fat, but sorting out whether it is safer to fill out the calories with fat v. protein - since filling it out with carbs not an option given my insulin resistance.

I don't eat because of hunger, so hunger control isn't a motivation to add fat. My eating is driven by psychologically motivated habits (that I didn't discover for 20 years) - and even when the psychological motive vanishes, habits you've had that long are hard to break. And unlike most people, keeping complex carbohydrates in my diet - and fats out - has always been a part of controlling the craving driven eating I do have. they are triggered primarily by sugar, and secondarily by fats.

Thanks for the suggested reading. While I'm not averse to getting medical information from non-medical sources (my daughter is currently following a treatment regimen that is not recommended by the doctors who treat her disease, for the second time - and 3 decades ago I had to devise a treatment because a different condition I had wasn't understood well enough to have a standard treatment). But I usually start and get a good research foundation from medical sources.

I'm in the middle of that research at the moment. At least short-term, high fat is safe and an effective treatment for a variety of medical conditions (including diabetes). The question is more complex long term - but small early studies suggest it is safe long term (at least a year - I haven't found longer studies). And high protein is hard on some of the same organs that diabetes is hard on.

I haven't settled on a balance yet between carbs, fat and protein. At the moment (at least short term) I'm aiming for about 50 net carbs a day, 75 grams or protein, and fats to make up the rest. I'm using my blood glucose meter to help me sort out which carbs I tolerate well enough to leave in my diet. My meter likes green beans, salad, and watermelon. Not much fond of whole grains - at least one variety of which gave me a peak at 2 hours (rather than 1). Still below 140 - but I'll be tweaking that item if I keep it in my diet at all.

The good news is that I seem to have started controlling the blood glucose roller coaster early enough that I can I have some options about how low I go with carbs. Even at close to 200 lbs, the first random test I did was within normal limits, and in ~70 tests I've only been outside of normal (e.g. not even pre-diabetic) ranges 3 times - aside from fasting tests, where I am consistently slightly into the pre-diabetic range.

neohdiver

Kitnthecat wrote: »

Welcome! Your opinion about fat will likely change as time goes by. It is not something to be feared.

Don't worry about the scolding about too few calories. It used to irritate me too in the beginnings, so I'd sometimes post my own announcement about completing and being under .... But now I don't really care and just leave it incomplete if I'm under. I am in charge after all, and I am still proud of myself. Many of us here have days when we simply are not hungry. I say celebrate those days, since God knows I've had too many days in my life when I have overeaten. I'm making up for it now and I kind of like getting that warning now!

Thanks!

Even though I am obese, my eating is driven by things other than hunger. Before my diagnosis, it wasn't unusual for me to not even think about eating until somewhere between 5 and 9 PM. And it isn't fear of fat - I'm not much fond of fat separate from carbs (e.g. I hate avocados, love butter on bread - not so much on low-carb vegetables). And when I am actively working on weight loss or maintenance, sugar is the primary craving trigger with fat being a close second.

What drives my decision process is which alternative is less likely to do long-term harm: high fat or high protein. Short term, high fat is the clear winner. The jury is still out long-term, since it hasn't been studied much (and a lot of the studies seem to have confirmation bias).

As to the scolding - I just found it amusing. I know that whatever mixture of fat v. carb I end up eating, it won't be a mixture the MFP tools approve of. I had just forgotten about the BIG no-no, not eating enough.

Sunny_Bunny_

The information we've been given about fat is as bad as the information from the ADA about a good diabetes diet.

neohdiver

Sunny_Bunny_ wrote: »

The information we've been given about fat is as bad as the information from the ADA about a good diabetes diet.

I almost never go by "the information we've been given." I do my research using a variety of sources that employ scientific rigor, and make my own assessment. Sometimes my assessment matches the majority view, sometimes not. I have confidence that I'll end up with a reasonable long term path forward, since I've got a 3 decade long track record of better outcomes than the norm for my family and I with (off the top of my head) 2 rare conditions & 2 uncommon ones (plus a whole host of more common ones).

KarlaYP

I certainly hope you are able to find the balance that works for you! Good luck!

neohdiver

Thanks! So far, so good! Blood sugar under control & steady weight loss - and that gives me time to figure out the right balance during the short time period when there is little question but that a low carb, moderate protein diet is beneficial and not harmful.