Sunday, September 21, 2008

Low Carb diets do work folks.

So my husband and I have been following a sort of South Beach diet, somewhere between strict phase 1 and phase 2. He of course has lost 10 lbs to my 7, which is par for the course. I don't eat fish which complicates things. I'd like to but get a scratchy throat which could mean allergies. But we've eaten chicken, beef, ribs etc, cottage cheese, cheese.....just little bread. It can be done. I've been eating carb free jello. I have sugar free coffees.

Most interesting is that my blood sugar (I'm a type2 diabetic) is now hovering between 5 and 7 all the time. My doc reduced my metformin a bit. Nice!!! My ankles aren't swollen as much, and she also reduced one of my heart meds that affect my blood pressure. I went to Pritikin in the spring and they say that losing 5% of your body weight improves your health, so I am closing in on that. I need to do it several times.

I got onto this because one of my acquaintances lost 60 lbs and improved her blood profile while doing it. She pointed me to the book "Good Calories, Bad Calories" by Gary Taubes and the rest is history, in that I am doing lots of research on the idea that carbs and therefore insulin can almost be said to be the root of most of the obesity epidemic.

Of course skinny folks don't have to worry as much except if they eat a high carb diet, of simple and easily digestable carbs. Also high fructose corn syrup is a culprit. But being fat brings its own brand of wonderfulness - high blood sugar, high insulin readings, insulin resistance. Fat doesn't just lie there, it is working all the time and affecting you.

I'll let you know how things go, and how my blood profile changes over the next while. Learning to burn fat and stay away from carbs will be interesting.

2 comments:

jimpurdy1943@yahoo.com said...

Low carb works well for me, too. Best wishes to you.

David Brown said...

Since you're doing research, I suggest you learn about Peter Havel's fructose research at http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=82117 or Google "Peter Havel Fructose."

Another interesting aspect of nutrition research is the Kitava Study at http://high-fat-nutrition.blogspot.com/2007/06/living-on-isolated-island-of-kitava.html and http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/2008/08/cardiovascular-risk-factors-on-kitava_17.html or Google "Kitava Study."