HI This morning I had my lowest BS reading - 106! This is down from the 118-122 since starting Atkins 3 weeks ago. Before I started, it was running 120-130. I'm so happy! I've taken Metformin 750 since being diagnosed last November. I have another blood test next month and I'm looking forward to checking out my A1c.

Isn't it exciting what LC eating can do to help our BG? Good luck with your A1C!

LCing will bring your A1C down into the 5+ range very quickly.

Best wishes.

Congratulations.

Do you realise that you may need a lower dose of Metformin as a lower carb diet impacts on your BG's?

I'm looking forward to reducing the dosage of the Metformin!
I hope I can get rid of it permanently...!

If you can get off of Metformin then great, but otherwise it is one of the medicines with long history and little or no side effects long term.

Of course, the upset stomach side effect is bothersome to many, but Metformin XR settled that issue.

Ralph

As long as you're not having hypos, keep taking the metformin or at least take something to keep your BG lowered. It's great that you're getting it down..... We all would like to stop taking whatever it is we're taking, but the reality is, keep that BG down and take what's working and not causing complications....

I have been hearing of people who said low carb dieting caused problems (hypos I assume?) when they were taking it...not realising they may have needed less of the stuff. As long as you are under proffessional guidance or know what you are trying to do, . I don't think the use of drugs or insulins indicates some sort of failure, but you have your reasons for wanting off the drug, I hope you get there.

Hmmm, well it is good to have the medicine. I just keep thinking that I will somehow be "un-diagnosed"? But really it is good to have the peace of mind that the medicine is there because I need it. Let's face it: I ate myself into this condition. Just because I have had success for the short term doing LC does not mean I'm anywhere near cured.

I do have to admit that my mind set is really with it now!

Karren
You may not have ate yourself into diabetes.
It is genetic for many people.
Good luck
Eddie

If it is possible to eat our way into diabetes, is it possible to eat our way out of it? hmmmmmmmmm!

If you think you ate yourself into diabetes please read this:

http://www.phlaunt.com/diabetes/14046739.php

Also, there is quite a lot of data suggesting that Metformin is one of the very few "good drugs." It really does seem to cut way down on heart attacks even in people with lousy blood sugar control. And the side effects are annoying stomach problems, not health-ruining like that of most other oral diabetes drugs.

I spent years avoiding drugs for blood sugar control, but came to realize that the few safe diabetes drugs (including some insulins) along with a carb-controlled diet are a much better solution for people looking to keep their beta cells (and the rest of them) alive.

Yes please, anyone who thinks that they ate their way to diabetes, please follow that link.

Are doctors saying this to Type 2's, or are they just getting the idea from...er...the sky?

Scientists do not know everything yet. They do not know how to cure diabetes. Now, imagine they did and it was easy. Take a course of pills, quick simple surgery, sorted. Would you all (those who believe it is their fault) be blaming yourselves then?

I guess when I think of "eating ones way to diabetes" I think more of the issues of eating a high, refined carb diet and subsequently insulin resistance rather than obesity being the cause. Obesity, IMHO, is just another symptom.

Does that mean they're to blame? Well, mostly no. We're being told all the time that eating carbs is good, fat is bad so the food choices people make that get them to that point are because of ignorance and bad information. And if vitamin D3 turns out to be important in this then the advice to stay out of the sun plays a role too. But most people put so little effort into thinking about their diet or it's consequences. The information is out there now but you have to dig for it. I guess if you're fully under the sway of the "establishment" you're unlikely to search for other answers, or believe them if you do encounter them.

On the other hand, when presented with the information those people who STILL won't change or even take the time to learn more, I think they do have themselves to blame for their worsening condition.

On the other hand, if BPa is the culprit in causing a lot of these metabolic issues then at some level we're all to blame. Why are we letting companies experiment on us? We clearly need some regulations on how these compounds are tested before we have been ingesting them for decades, just like drugs have to be tested. But we're so anti-regulation in this country that we keep seem to prefer companies make large profits over ensuring the health and safety of ourselves and our kids.

Nancy,

A normal person can live on sugar water and not develop any blood sugar-related health problems.

My mom is 92, has a fasting bg of 83, has eaten a high carb diet all her life, still does, and she also still has normal blood pressure.

She has some other serious problems caused by chemotherapy for a cancer caused by a known cancerogen, but she survived the cancer.

Seeing her response to her diet made me realize the extent to which carbs hurt only those of us who have underlying genetic problems. (I got mine from my dad.)

There are some good studies showing that people with normal blood sugar metabolisms lose weight just as well on high carb as low carb diets. But people with blood sugar problems DO not.

This is why the diet studies are so confusing, because they may sort out people with diabetes but never give you information about prediabetes in the group being studied. If there are a lot of truly normal people, you'll get a very different result than if there are a lot of people with prediabetes.