When Rachel was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes she was shocked. She stumbled upon a low-carb diet and she started experimenting. This is what happened:
Hi Diet Doctor,
I'm 57 and now 20 months from being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. I had no suspicion I had type 2 diabetes - it was discovered on a routine blood test for another health condition. Once I was over the initial shock, I saw it as the proverbial kick up the bum to get healthier.
I was started on Metformin tablets and tolerated them well, after a bit of stomach upset in the early days. I wasn't advised to eat low carb by my GP or diabetes education course but stumbled on diabetes.co.uk by chance and was advised to take up a low-carb lifestyle with self-monitoring of my blood sugars. I started by eating less than 100 g carbs/day and then after six weeks, reduced to 50-70 g per day. Now, for the last year, I rarely go over 50 g.
The best way to see what foods suit you is to test right before a meal and then two hours after the first bite to see if you have tolerated that meal or not. So I did that despite not getting NHS funding to do so. I have used loads of delicious recipes from Diet Doctor, I'd have never believed that going so low in carbs didn't mean a rabbit-food diet! Two of my favourites are the keto coconut porridge and the chocolate peanut squares. Next recipe to try is the mozzarella meatballs.
I took on the low-carb way of eating to control my blood sugars but weight loss has been an added bonus. I have tried various weight loss diets over the years but rarely lost much and never kept it off. To date, on low carb I've lost well over 84 pounds (38 kilos) and got my HbA1c (blood test for 2-3 month average blood sugar) consistently down to a non-diabetic level, all due to the fantastic info found on diabetes.co.uk and Diet Doctor.
My diabetes diagnosis really has been a blessing in disguise.
My general health has improved, I was on two blood-pressure meds but for the last year I've taken just one, my arthritic joints have benefitted not just from the weight loss but also from the anti-inflammatory effect of low carbing and my asthma causes me very little trouble these days. My diabetes diagnosis really has been a blessing in disguise.Best Wishes,
Rachel
Comment
Congratulations Rachel, that's amazing progress.
While weight loss and type 2 diabetes reversal is commonly associated with low-carb diets, it's also not uncommon to improve blood pressure, several causes of chronic joint pain as well as asthma, just like you did.
/ Andreas Eenfeldt, MD
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