Finding it difficult to limit carbs

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  • psychod787
    psychod787 Posts: 4,088 Member
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    lemurcat2 wrote: »
    In fact all this hoopla over a single fasting reading - NOT an a1c which tracks glucose over several months - seems a little loopy to me - since a minor illness or stress or slow digesting meal or just a funny strip could easily cause a reading of 103. For goodness sake, a study found the accuracy of all available blood glucose testing strips was only within tolerances of between 10 and 15% which would mean 103 could really be a perfectly normal 93!

    Good point.

    My guess is the doctor was more focusing on the weight loss and had anecdotal awareness or personal knowledge with low carb success, plus current demonization of carbs, plus assuming that someone overweight has a poor diet and eats lots of refined carbs (usually with fat too) -- which OP has said is not actually the case.

    Given all this, although I still think a visit to a registered dietitian could be helpful if possible, I think the main thing is finding a sustainable way to eat for weight loss and increasing activity/exercise (which OP has also mentioned doing already).

    Funnily enough, my doctor actually told me I didn't need to lose weight and that I was perfect the way I was - I only needed to limit carbs for blood sugar purposes. I'm not sure if he was just afraid of hurting my feelings or what, but as a 250 lb female at 5'7", I hardly think I'm perfect the way I am. I almost wish he had stressed the importance of losing weight. In fact, I wish someone had helped me years ago when I wasn't as bad off as I am now.

    With all due respect, that is really bad advice on the part of your doctor which would make me look for a new one.

    At your height and weight, you have a BMI of 39, class 2 obesity, and are only 6 pounds from being morbidly obese. The top end of healthy BMI for you is 159 lbs. There are very real health risks from being that overweight, and unless you haven’t mentioned that you are a massively muscular bodybuilder, your doctor’s advice is not just misguided but dangerous.

    I agree, but disagree. OP, if you lose about 10% of your BM, about 25lbs and can maintain it easy enough, you will get much of the maximal health rewards out of it statistically. I recently went to a T.O.P.S. meeting. Know what I notice? All had weight loss, not a SINGLE one lean. All overweight to low OB, but guess what? They were all happier and HEALTHIER! OP find the balance, I am as well. Best of luck OP!
  • cbihatt
    cbihatt Posts: 319 Member
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    acpgee wrote: »
    aokoye wrote: »
    MikePTY wrote: »
    It’s like doctors shouldn’t even exist according to the majority of posters here. Bit concerning really.

    Not really. But what is concerning is people who think that doctor's words should be taken as gospel and everyone should follow them no questions asked.

    Most doctors recieve very little nutritional training. Nutritional advice is not their areas of expertise. That is why we have registered dieticians. The truth is even with years of medical training, most areas of medicine are not any particular doctor's area of expertise, because the field of medicine is so vast. More than you think, doctors rely on Google like the rest of us.

    And they also beleieve plenty of wrong information. My dad's endocrinologist told him he needed to stop drinking diet soda because "your body doesn't know how to process it and it all gets stored in your gut." That's not a real thing that happens. It's not true just because a doctor said it.

    Medical errors are the third leading cause of death in America. The world is undoubtedly better off because it has doctors in it, but people would be bettter served by not putting their doctors on a pedestal, and questioning advice that seems suspect.

    My doctor saved my life so I’ll trust doctors over internet people. Especially when it comes to potentially life-threatening issues like diabetes.

    Trusting doctors unconditionally is a really bad plan. While I have had a lot of very good doctors, there was also one who could have killed me on accident had it not been for a pharmacist who questioned what he had prescribed. And yes, the doctor had a full and up to date list of all of my meds. As a result of that unfortunate decision on the doctor's end as well as various other doctor related blunders, I ended up with a very nasty kidney infection to go along with the bladder infection and needed IV fluids (because I couldn't keep anything down, water included) along with IV antibiotics.

    Better that than a potentially deadly drug interaction though.

    I've had some great doctor's but I also have two friends who had parents were accidentally killed by their GP.

    In one case my friend's mom called the GP requesting a house visit because she felt so poorly. He advised her to take an aspirin and call in the morning. A few hours later a daughter, also a medical doctor, came to visit and noticed her mom was jaundiced. She rushed her mom to hospital but she died a few hours later of blood poisoning. Mom had a liver infection but it was the aspirin that actually killed her.

    In another case a friend's dad had drawn attention to a strange mole several times but his family doctor said there was nothing to worry about. When he was in hospital due to an unrelated accident, the emergency room doctor noticed the mole and immediately biopsied it and had it removed the same day. He died a few weeks later because his skin cancer had already spread.

    I visited a GP once that almost killed me too. I went to the GP feeling ill and the trainee doctor told to go home and rest because I had the flu. Around dinner time I felt so poorly I called an ambulance to take me to accidents and emergency. Good thing, because within 15 hours I was on life support in intensive care because swine flu had become viral pneumonia and acute respiratory distress. I spent 6 months in hospital that year including 2 months in intensive care. If I had waited until morning to return to the GP I probably wouldn't be around now.

    While these situations are terrible, it isn’t really fair to say the doctors involved caused (or nearly caused) the patients’ deaths. Doctors are human, and that makes them imperfect. Yes, they can misdiagnose a patient which may exacerbate an existing issue, but to blame a doctor for a death from a disease is a bit extreme, IMO. The doctor didn’t cause the liver condition or the cancer or the flu.

    I mean no offense by this. I just have sympathy for those in certain professions who I feel get less respect than they deserve, sometimes.
  • deannalfisher
    deannalfisher Posts: 5,600 Member
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    cbihatt wrote: »
    acpgee wrote: »
    aokoye wrote: »
    MikePTY wrote: »
    It’s like doctors shouldn’t even exist according to the majority of posters here. Bit concerning really.

    Not really. But what is concerning is people who think that doctor's words should be taken as gospel and everyone should follow them no questions asked.

    Most doctors recieve very little nutritional training. Nutritional advice is not their areas of expertise. That is why we have registered dieticians. The truth is even with years of medical training, most areas of medicine are not any particular doctor's area of expertise, because the field of medicine is so vast. More than you think, doctors rely on Google like the rest of us.

    And they also beleieve plenty of wrong information. My dad's endocrinologist told him he needed to stop drinking diet soda because "your body doesn't know how to process it and it all gets stored in your gut." That's not a real thing that happens. It's not true just because a doctor said it.

    Medical errors are the third leading cause of death in America. The world is undoubtedly better off because it has doctors in it, but people would be bettter served by not putting their doctors on a pedestal, and questioning advice that seems suspect.

    My doctor saved my life so I’ll trust doctors over internet people. Especially when it comes to potentially life-threatening issues like diabetes.

    Trusting doctors unconditionally is a really bad plan. While I have had a lot of very good doctors, there was also one who could have killed me on accident had it not been for a pharmacist who questioned what he had prescribed. And yes, the doctor had a full and up to date list of all of my meds. As a result of that unfortunate decision on the doctor's end as well as various other doctor related blunders, I ended up with a very nasty kidney infection to go along with the bladder infection and needed IV fluids (because I couldn't keep anything down, water included) along with IV antibiotics.

    Better that than a potentially deadly drug interaction though.

    I've had some great doctor's but I also have two friends who had parents were accidentally killed by their GP.

    In one case my friend's mom called the GP requesting a house visit because she felt so poorly. He advised her to take an aspirin and call in the morning. A few hours later a daughter, also a medical doctor, came to visit and noticed her mom was jaundiced. She rushed her mom to hospital but she died a few hours later of blood poisoning. Mom had a liver infection but it was the aspirin that actually killed her.

    In another case a friend's dad had drawn attention to a strange mole several times but his family doctor said there was nothing to worry about. When he was in hospital due to an unrelated accident, the emergency room doctor noticed the mole and immediately biopsied it and had it removed the same day. He died a few weeks later because his skin cancer had already spread.

    I visited a GP once that almost killed me too. I went to the GP feeling ill and the trainee doctor told to go home and rest because I had the flu. Around dinner time I felt so poorly I called an ambulance to take me to accidents and emergency. Good thing, because within 15 hours I was on life support in intensive care because swine flu had become viral pneumonia and acute respiratory distress. I spent 6 months in hospital that year including 2 months in intensive care. If I had waited until morning to return to the GP I probably wouldn't be around now.

    While these situations are terrible, it isn’t really fair to say the doctors involved caused (or nearly caused) the patients’ deaths. Doctors are human, and that makes them imperfect. Yes, they can misdiagnose a patient which may exacerbate an existing issue, but to blame a doctor for a death from a disease is a bit extreme, IMO. The doctor didn’t cause the liver condition or the cancer or the flu.

    I mean no offense by this. I just have sympathy for those in certain professions who I feel get less respect than they deserve, sometimes.

    may not have caused but failing to diagnose lead to the seemingly preventable deaths of these individuals
  • Hannahwalksfar
    Hannahwalksfar Posts: 572 Member
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    WinoGelato wrote: »
    I’m just going to tell myself that all the woos mean the people love my advice

    More likely people are reacting to your sensational and unwarranted comment that the OP’s life is not worth bread...

    I see. To clarify I meant that the op’slifeisnt worth risking eating bread and making themselve’s sick. So their life is much more valuable than the bread they want to consume.

    There is content and there is tone, and people react to both.

    OK 😊
  • mhncaldwell
    mhncaldwell Posts: 17 Member
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    Please ask your doctor for a referral to a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist. If your doctor can't recommend one, you can suggest using this site: https://www.eatright.org/find-an-expert . Here's hoping you get the help you want!
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 9,979 Member
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    cbihatt wrote: »
    acpgee wrote: »
    aokoye wrote: »
    MikePTY wrote: »
    It’s like doctors shouldn’t even exist according to the majority of posters here. Bit concerning really.

    Not really. But what is concerning is people who think that doctor's words should be taken as gospel and everyone should follow them no questions asked.

    Most doctors recieve very little nutritional training. Nutritional advice is not their areas of expertise. That is why we have registered dieticians. The truth is even with years of medical training, most areas of medicine are not any particular doctor's area of expertise, because the field of medicine is so vast. More than you think, doctors rely on Google like the rest of us.

    And they also beleieve plenty of wrong information. My dad's endocrinologist told him he needed to stop drinking diet soda because "your body doesn't know how to process it and it all gets stored in your gut." That's not a real thing that happens. It's not true just because a doctor said it.

    Medical errors are the third leading cause of death in America. The world is undoubtedly better off because it has doctors in it, but people would be bettter served by not putting their doctors on a pedestal, and questioning advice that seems suspect.

    My doctor saved my life so I’ll trust doctors over internet people. Especially when it comes to potentially life-threatening issues like diabetes.

    Trusting doctors unconditionally is a really bad plan. While I have had a lot of very good doctors, there was also one who could have killed me on accident had it not been for a pharmacist who questioned what he had prescribed. And yes, the doctor had a full and up to date list of all of my meds. As a result of that unfortunate decision on the doctor's end as well as various other doctor related blunders, I ended up with a very nasty kidney infection to go along with the bladder infection and needed IV fluids (because I couldn't keep anything down, water included) along with IV antibiotics.

    Better that than a potentially deadly drug interaction though.

    I've had some great doctor's but I also have two friends who had parents were accidentally killed by their GP.

    In one case my friend's mom called the GP requesting a house visit because she felt so poorly. He advised her to take an aspirin and call in the morning. A few hours later a daughter, also a medical doctor, came to visit and noticed her mom was jaundiced. She rushed her mom to hospital but she died a few hours later of blood poisoning. Mom had a liver infection but it was the aspirin that actually killed her.

    In another case a friend's dad had drawn attention to a strange mole several times but his family doctor said there was nothing to worry about. When he was in hospital due to an unrelated accident, the emergency room doctor noticed the mole and immediately biopsied it and had it removed the same day. He died a few weeks later because his skin cancer had already spread.

    I visited a GP once that almost killed me too. I went to the GP feeling ill and the trainee doctor told to go home and rest because I had the flu. Around dinner time I felt so poorly I called an ambulance to take me to accidents and emergency. Good thing, because within 15 hours I was on life support in intensive care because swine flu had become viral pneumonia and acute respiratory distress. I spent 6 months in hospital that year including 2 months in intensive care. If I had waited until morning to return to the GP I probably wouldn't be around now.

    While these situations are terrible, it isn’t really fair to say the doctors involved caused (or nearly caused) the patients’ deaths. Doctors are human, and that makes them imperfect. Yes, they can misdiagnose a patient which may exacerbate an existing issue, but to blame a doctor for a death from a disease is a bit extreme, IMO. The doctor didn’t cause the liver condition or the cancer or the flu.

    I mean no offense by this. I just have sympathy for those in certain professions who I feel get less respect than they deserve, sometimes.

    Two of my four grandparents died from the medication provided by medical professionals -- not from diseases that they had, but from, in one case, being given too much of a sedative and in the other so much of a particular drug that it was a cumulatively toxic dose, causing irrecoverable damage. I think those in certain professions get so much more respect than they deserve, sometimes, that other people pay for that unquestioning respect with their lives.