Doc said to cut carbs and sugar..

varia2u
varia2u Posts: 39 Member
in Getting Started
But he never said my body would feel malnourished. I generally eat healthy but now I spend more time looking for carbs. I can't plan meals until I figure this out. Can anyone relate?
«1

Replies

  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    What led up to the advice? Did he give a target number?
  • knittnponder
    knittnponder Posts: 1,954 Member
    Do you have a target? "cut carbs and sugar" is kind of ambiguous so it's hard to help. If you've been eating a lot of carbs those first few days to a week can be kind of rough. There are things you can do to help the transition but without more info on how you need to eat, it's hard to help. You may not need to go low enough to have to deal with all that. :)
  • bob_mck
    bob_mck Posts: 29 Member
    why did he tell you to cut carbs?.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    cut down or cut out completely? and for what reason?
  • LINIA
    LINIA Posts: 1,045 Member
    What are you now eating, what were you eating before?
  • deannalfisher
    deannalfisher Posts: 5,600 Member
    if he told you to cut out something, did he provide you with a recommendation to see a RD to help figure out what you now can/can't eat?
  • Aquawave
    Aquawave Posts: 260 Member
    Do you have hyperinsulemia, diabetic?
  • tiptoethruthetulips
    tiptoethruthetulips Posts: 3,360 Member
    Did he give you a range of carbs to eat or cut out completely? Did he tell you if you go low carbs or keto that you probably should the amount of increase good fats you are eating?
  • varia2u
    varia2u Posts: 39 Member
    Thanks for all the replies. Primary reason is due to high blood sugar. Weight is a secondary factor though not crucial probably because my BP, cholesterol, and other numbers have always been in the normal/low range. He didn't give a target number but did advise that I see a nutritionist, which I plan to do. He gave me a booklet which listed every kitchen staple as no good:certain veggies, starchy legumes, pasta, rice, whole grains, sugar etc as a no-no.
    It lists meat, cheese, eggs, butter, and non starchy veggies as okay.
    My typical diet before all this consisted of all veggies, fish, rice, fruit, eggs, coffee, whole grains/wheat, occasional shrimp, and dairy minus straight cow's milk. Snd bread.
    Limited: pasta, meat maybe once or twice a week, red meat once in a blue moon and no pork at all.
    I don't drink soda, rarely drink juice, and rarely eat fast food and then I'm selective if I do.
    Cooking methods: boil, saute, steam, and bake. When I cook I tend to cut the sugar called for in a recipe. I never ever cook anything that calls for a cup of sugar (brownies, anyone?).
    Yes, I like bread, both eating and baking.
    Snacks: Not so much and I don't have a sweet tooth.
    Some members on one side of my family have diabetes, though not sure what type. The other side is healthy with no significant issues.
    Now I am trying to eat more meat (not a fan), loading up on veggies, salad, tons of eggs. Bread I will eat when I'm feeling particularly starved, not more than 2 slices a day. Haven't had pasta since the doc visit and have been using Swerve sweetener instead of sugar.
    Other than high sugar my health is good. BP is always on the low end, low cholesterol and so on.
    Exercise habits: I try though admittedly I need to get back on a routine. Biggest setback is i travel a lot. 5 hours in a car can wipe a person out. My preferences for workouts are calisthenics, insanity, some P90X, weight training. Nothing "extreme".
  • Aquawave
    Aquawave Posts: 260 Member
    edited May 2017
    You have a smart doctor. I had to discover this on my own. I started with taking my sugar six times a day. Pre and 2 hour post prandial. I discovered which foods elevated my blood glucose and eliminated them from my diet. My A1c is now normal and my blood sugars average around 98. You can do a web search for this and visit dietdoctor.com for more information on this subject.

    Good luck and healthy life!

    Forgot to mention, I weighed 180 pounds a year ago and am now down to 144. Female, 5'8", age 62. Low carb diet started June 2016. Loosing the weight was easy peasy.
  • Hthrbee1978
    Hthrbee1978 Posts: 26 Member
    When you cut carbs, you need to increase fats to feel fuller. Healthy fats, of course. I eat a lot of eggs, bacon(healthy-ish) and avocado. I also eat a lot of cheeses and meats, I looove steak!!
  • Sabine_Stroehm
    Sabine_Stroehm Posts: 19,263 Member
    Hthrbee1978 wrote: »
    When you cut carbs, you need to increase fats to feel fuller. Healthy fats, of course. I eat a lot of eggs, bacon(healthy-ish) and avocado. I also eat a lot of cheeses and meats, I looove steak!!

    Out of curiosity, what do you consider "unhealthy fats"? Trans?
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    varia2u wrote: »
    Thanks for all the replies. Primary reason is due to high blood sugar. Weight is a secondary factor though not crucial probably because my BP, cholesterol, and other numbers have always been in the normal/low range. He didn't give a target number but did advise that I see a nutritionist, which I plan to do. He gave me a booklet which listed every kitchen staple as no good:certain veggies, starchy legumes, pasta, rice, whole grains, sugar etc as a no-no.

    Ah, this is helpful. I'd say that the nutritionist (RD?) should be useful and you should talk to him or her about your current eating and what you find satisfying and so on.

    Often weight loss alone (if you have weight to lose) will resolve blood sugar issues, and there's also no need to go low carb for many people, although it can be helpful advice. Often doctors assume that you won't be all that compliant so have more extreme advice (cut out X!) assuming that means you will eat it less. Don't know here, but the nutritionist will sort it out, and it doesn't seem like you really need to immediately go low carb. Maybe try cutting back on carbs and making sure that you are eating them with protein and fiber? Your diet before doesn't sound back, but perhaps it was unbalanced and could be made more balanced by adjusting portions or changing it around if there were lots of meals or snacks that were largely just carbs or very high carb and low protein (common for some with breakfast and snacks, sometimes lunch).

    In your first post you sounded like you weren't satisfied with your new diet, is there something that feels missing or unsatisfying?
  • Corey1949
    Corey1949 Posts: 8 Member
    Check out diet doctor.com. It has all kinds of information and videos on cutting carbs
  • LAT1963
    LAT1963 Posts: 1,375 Member
    High blood sugar = likely type 2 diabetes (or possibly 'pre diabetes'). Read up on diabetic diets and adopt that. There are cookbooks and all sorts of support material.
  • noclady1995
    noclady1995 Posts: 452 Member
    Sabine_Stroehm wrote: »
    Hthrbee1978 wrote: »
    When you cut carbs, you need to increase fats to feel fuller. Healthy fats, of course. I eat a lot of eggs, bacon(healthy-ish) and avocado. I also eat a lot of cheeses and meats, I looove steak!!

    Out of curiosity, what do you consider "unhealthy fats"? Trans?

    For myself, I try to avoid trans fats, anything hydrogenated/partially hydrogenated, margarine (fake butters), vegetable oils. I prefer using coconut and olive oils.
  • Packerjohn
    Packerjohn Posts: 4,855 Member
    Corey1949 wrote: »
    Check out diet doctor.com. It has all kinds of information and videos on cutting carbs

    The OP is under a doctor's care for a specific diagnosed condition and is going to see a RD. Probably best if she works the sources they recommend.
  • varia2u
    varia2u Posts: 39 Member
    Thank you all for the amazing replies.
    @Aquawave I like that idea of testing then targeting the culprit foods. It seems like a good approach instead of drastically slashing carbs.

    @Hthrbee1978 I like cheese and always use butter (not margarine), but I'm not much if a carnivore. :smile: Clearly I'll have to increase my protein intake.

    @lemurcat12 I think you might be on to something with the unbalanced diet part. Yet how do vegetarians manage to stay healthy? :neutral: This is quite a mystery.
    You're right, I'm not satisfied because, well, I'm starving! At least that's how it feels. Went to bed last night feeling hungry and woke up feeling like a hungry tiger. I'm slowly finding low carb recipes to try but in the meantime I feel like I'm running on empty.

    I will check out the website everyone recommended and so far I'm still on the hunt for new recipes. Although I'm not diabetic, taking that approach seems to be the only way to not tip over the edge until I can see a nutritionist.
  • deannalfisher
    deannalfisher Posts: 5,600 Member
    can you open up your diary? so we can see what you are currently eating? (even better would be a pre-doctor and post-doctor recommendation log so we could compare)

Categories