New Member (Across the Pond)
 

Good Day :) I've trotted over here from reading one of your members amazing success stories on the Diet Doctor website. Being a Type 2 diabetic with added hypertension (not to mention yo yo dieter since forever) I started lowcarbing about 18 months ago with some success - then fell away - then started again at the end of May this year. I did well, losing nearly 28 pounds in two and a half months and then we went on holiday and stupidly I fell into the trap of "a little of what you fancy etc"... NAh, Nah and absolutely Nah! No way... I'm not a person of moderation and it was this that your current member, Khrussva mentioned in his success story that hit me midships. SOooo. Surrounded by carbs I'm jumping in again and continuing where I left off at the end of August. The Diabetic Nurse had been threatening me with Metformin because my Hb1ac figures were not impressive. She WAS, however, impressed at the results after my purple patch when I was doing everything right. I am not looking forward to the next Hb1ac as it stands at the moment so don't need to lose any more ground. I will be doing Keto and focussing day at a time and heading to my target. Thanks for listening. :help: :wave:

Welcome BlueOwl, :wave:
Ken's story is has inspired many. Good that you found your way here from it. Ken has a fantastic Journal with many more tips, always a good read and you may want to start your own journal to keep accountable. Or there are Buddy groups to join, with weekly weigh-ins or whatever support may help you commit to the DD plan.
Don’t miss the Diabetes sub-forum http://forum.lowcarber.org/forumdisplay.php?f=45 in the Health section. Ken posted his thoughts on fasting yesterday on the Dr Jason Fung thread...it may be something to consider in your quest to lower HbA1c. As you know, that is a measure of about three months BG, can you put it off until you have had three months eating to the Keto Plan?

All the best,

Welcome BlueOwl54. It sounds like you know what you need to do. The trick is to figure out how to make yourself do it, through thick and thin. I know your struggles. I was an on again/off again yo-yo dieter for decades. I was a professional at diet failure and a very slow learner. But once I figured out that this will only work if I make it a lifestyle change everything changed. A diabetes diagnosis certainly helped reinforce the notation that there is no going back for me. Time on plan makes it happen. Before too long the "diet" will morph into "how you eat." When that happens you will be on your way.

This is a great place for support, information, and inspiration. Support here helped me get over the hump with this WOE. I know that I am only a few bad decisions away from returning to the same old struggle. There are a lot of us on this forum with the same issues. We know that this is what we need to do to succeed. Staying active here keeps me honest.

I hope to see you around here often. The more the merrier.

Hello and Welcome Blue Owl! :wave:

There are a lot of wonderful, helpful people on these threads with years of experience. Two of them have already posted before me.

If you have any questions, etc, ask and someone will have an answer or point you in the right direction! :thup:

What Ken said above echos my own experience.

Wishing you much success on your journey to better HEALTH! :)

Welcome Blue Owl, Wow consider yourself favored, you have been welcomed by 3 members before me that I have to say I view as the Best of the Best on this forum. Best of Luck to you on this journey, and as Just Jo said, if you have questions, just ask, we are her for ya, stop by my journal sometime, I love company, ttyl

Thank you all so much!! What a welcome. Apologies for the delay in responding, had a few misfires with remembering my password lol. Brain fog. Its so good to meet with people who understand that I can't to the "moderation" stuff. Finally, I'm able to admit its an all or nothing approach and I'm sure I'll be back and forth here and be checking out all the good stuff there is to read. Again, thank you all.

Welcome! Keto will help with that brain fog. :lol:

Many of us are Abstainers. Here's the explanation/difference:
Abstainer or Moderator?

We live everywhere, but where we are doesn't matter. What does matter is that this is a safe place where you can find support. Day or night and on either side of the Date Line.

Enjoy your new life, filled with good health.

Blesinger, that is very true ... but, of course, Britain isn't on the other side of the date line, it is right smack at the midpoint.
Blue owl, my brother graduated from Queens, and I very much enjoyed my 3 years in Waterford (way on the other side of the border, I know) back when I was in school. Greetings to you from Oregon.

Hi Bluesinger... definitely an Abstainer lol. :agree: Which really resonated with me reading Ken's post on another website. As I write I am surrounded by the flotsam and jetsam of the festive season... half eaten Christmas cakes, chocolate biscuits, FUDGE!!! oh my - there's only my husband and I here (bar the sugar free dogs) and he is insulin diabetic - who'd have guessed !?!? I am in constant tension with the fact that he loads up the kitchen with bread, scones, potato farls (Remember those Verbena?? Potato flat scones to go with bacon) and his mother gave him the Fudge in case he took a hypo???????? Still, no one is forcing me to eat it but I have the "lets kill the "enemy" by eating it" kind of attitude to removing temptation. Verbena... I'm just about 21 miles from Queens. I hope your brother enjoyed his time here... and Waterford is just lovely. I live in a small fishing village down on the East coast so have access to beautiful fresh fish. Thank you along with the other lovely folk on this forum for the amazing welcome. Going to start my journal in a moment.

Can't even remember how many times I've "killed the enemy" by eating it. Some carbage calls out to me stronger than others, but the call is forever. Resigned that it will never end for me.

This is a difficult time of the year, so pick up your resolve.

Forward into 2018.

Killing the enemy, oh my, that brought back a memory. I have only ever shared this here, as Bluesinger says, this is a safe place. So, Ice Cream was a huge downfall for me, but as we all know if you eat in the dark, it doesn't count... My XDH was an ice cream freak, and there were always 1/2 gallons of it in the deep freeze. XDH was a long haul trucker and so one night while I was alone the ice cream called to me, I got up out of bed and in the dark stood with the deep freeze open and a 1/2 gallon of ice cream and a spoon. Suddenly, I heard the truck out front, he must have come home for a couple hours of rest...
Later, after he was back out on the road, I figured that rather than be found out, I would destroy the evidence and I finished the whole tub if Ice Cream...lol. Hey, it had to be done.

Have a positive day, glad to see you posting, best of luck to you, ttyl

I hope that you will eventually get your husband to watch some of the Diabetes related videos on DietDoctor. Dr Fung makes it perfectly clear that controlling BG through insulin does little for preventing the eventual LT side effects...the risk of amputation, eye problems, go away by lowering insulin, not adding more. My own Doctor, Eric Westman, has good videos there how he treats diabetics in his clinic. Tons of good info about diabetes on that website and more inspiring stories. Also this 18 minute TedTalk: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=da1vvigy5tQ. Clear, simple, how Diabetes happens and what to eat to correct it.
I am a fan of the pantry clean-out method to help begin LC...give away the biscuits, crackers, pastas, sweets...a clean slate. Hard, DH may fight that, but it’s a NEW Year! All the best for a healthy one,

My oh my - I'm loving this already. Bluesinger and Zoogirl... so good of you to be upfront on having similar foibles.... and yes, me and the Ice Cream tub... were you watching me from afar ZooGirl... I felt I was snucked into the back of the Brooder Barn roflmao and getting caught when the lights went on. Should I tell you about the local farm who rear Holsteins and make amazing flavours.... Raspberry and Lavender? ice cream, No? No! Its a baddy for me. I believe it goes back to a time when my mum was "bad with her nerves" in the 60s and I went to stay with my Grandma. My treat was to go across to the news agents and buy a Raspberry Ripple. If only I could persuade him to watch something Janet. I send stuff through to him on Messenger to look at, at a later date but I get met with - "I can't make insulin anymore so I have to have sweet stuff by me"... Ok dearheart but FUDGE!!??? We have had some small measure of success in that when I cook lchf and he has cauliflower mash instead of his beloved "spuds" his BS comes down beautifully. Today we had the Keto Pizza, the quick version, on the DD website. Unfortunately added to his condition is the fact that he works nights and sometimes the BS takes a bit of a nose dive at the end of a 12 hr night shift so this is his greenlight to eat a bun or have toast with peanut butter and banana when he comes in. It is perhaps another reason why I need to succeed, primarily for myself but also that he will finally listen to what I am saying. It may not happen but it's worth giving it a shot. And thanks for the link on Ted. I'm a great (long distance) fan of Dr Westman and all the other great folk on DD... and encouragingly for us over here, Dr Unwin has recently come on board and Dr Aseem Malhotra (sp?)( the latter regularly appears on Morning TV here.) It's an uphill struggle as our GPs generally are still on the Old Triangle - promoting pasta, bread etc and low fats. We will catch up at some point I'm sure. But thank you all for the encouragement. Looking forward to hammering down the weight so I can get off the blood pressure and rid myself of all the other symptoms one acquires with Type 2. Have a wonderful New Year.

Dr. Unwin's information on DD for doctors, and his earlier talks on the results of his plan, are excellent!

Do you know Emily McQuire (across the other smaller pond in Scotland?)
https://lowcarbgenesis.com
I met her when she visiting Dr. Westman..lovley person.