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  #1   ^
Old Fri, Apr-03-15, 12:36
bevangel's Avatar
bevangel bevangel is offline
Senior Member
Posts: 2,312
 
Plan: modified adkins (sort of)
Stats: 265/176/167 Female 68.5 inches
BF:
Progress: 91%
Location: Austin, TX
Default I'm 2/3rds of the way to goal and hubby's BG = 5.3

Hubby and I "backed" our way into eating low-carb in February 2014 after he was diagnosed with Type2 diabetes. At diagnosis, his HbA1C was 12.4. OUCH! And his doctor indicated that, in addition to taking metformin, he could TRY "watching his diet" for 3 months and see if he could bring that number down but that in all probability, probably, he would have to go on insulin within a few months. Hubby is deathly afraid of needles so...

So, after his diagnosis, we started cutting out foods that made his blood sugar spike and ended up going low-carb without ever intending to. I had heard of Adkins and South Beach and other low carb diets but had never any of the books and seriously considered low-carb diets to be downright stupid and unhealthy because it meant one was scarfing down artery clogging fats and kidney destroying proteins.

But, as we started identifying foods that caused blood sugar spikes, guess what got tossed? All the sugary desserts, all the starchy veggies, most fruits (except berries), all the "health whole grains" (except flax) and all the heavily processed convenience foods including the supposedly "heart-healthy" ones. What was left was meat, fish, poultry, nuts, eggs, dairy, non-starchy vegetables, and low sugar fruits.

Hubby's HbA1C dropped to normal range almost immediately and has stayed there ever since. Plus I had begun to notice that my clothing was getting looser and looser. So we stuck with our new way of eating and, in trying to figure out what was going on with me losing weight, I found this forum.

You have to know that, although I weighed in somewhere above 265 a year ago, I wasn't even TRYING to lose weight anymore. After being "heavy" all my life, the pounds had really packed on after I reached menopause and dieting and exercise really didn't seem to work. The harder I tried to lose, the more weight I gained. So, when I hit 50, I decided to QUIT even trying to lose weight, be happy with myself regardless of how big I got. I just tried to eat healthy and stay reasonably active. For at least a decade, hubby and I had very carefully followed the "food pyramid" plan - eating lots and lots of "healthy whole grains" and "low-fat everything"...with the result that he was 40 pounds overweight and I was downright obese.

Well, today, less than 14 months after his diagnosis, I'm down from over 265 to 191 pounds which is 2/3rd of the way to my goal of 155. That is at least 75 pounds lost...without going hungry or ever feeling deprived. In fact, I get to eat all the foods I love best, foods that I've spent a lifetime avoiding because they were "bad" for me. (Cheese, bacon, fatty barbeque, real butter, real cream, eggs, nuts, etc...I enjoy them without guilt. And honestly, I don't miss the "healthy whole grains" and starches one bit. For me, bread, rice, potatoes, and pasta were always just carriers for the GOOD stuff anyway. I do miss sweets...but they were always something I ate only in very limited amounts anyway. So, an occasional half cup of frozen raspberries covered with heavy cream and sweetened with a little stevia seems to take care of those cravings.

Hubby has lost ALL of his excess weight although he still has a bit of a "beer belly" that he'd like to get rid of. I don't want him to lose any more weight but we both wish we could find the magic bullet to shift it out of his belly and into his arms, legs, and butt.

Hubby does seem to miss carbs sometimes but over the past year, I've learned to use almond flour and flaxmeal and eggs and various spices to make low-carb hamburger buns, low carb pizza shells, low carb breakfast muffins, and a really fantastic low-carb corn-free faux-cornbread that is so close in taste and texture to real cornbread that you wouldn't believe it. So, I don't think he is suffering too badly...especially since, contrary to the doctor's prediction, he is NOT having to take insulin!

We'll be sticking with this WOE and, a year from now, I hope to be at goal and have hubby off the metformin.
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  #2   ^
Old Fri, Apr-03-15, 12:42
ReneeH20 ReneeH20 is offline
Senior Member
Posts: 2,291
 
Plan: Dr. Westman
Stats: 280/170/170 Female 69.8 in
BF:
Progress: 100%
Default

That is awesome! Congrats!!!!!
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  #3   ^
Old Fri, Apr-03-15, 21:03
Rosebud's Avatar
Rosebud Rosebud is offline
Forum Moderator
Posts: 23,882
 
Plan: Atkins
Stats: 235/135/135 Female 5'4
BF:
Progress: 100%
Location: Brisbane, Australia
Default

And a year from now, I'm willing to bet you WILL be at goal!
You and your husband have both done a magnificent job, so a big congratulations to you both. Give him a little peck on the cheek from me.
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  #4   ^
Old Sat, Apr-04-15, 11:10
Nicekitty's Avatar
Nicekitty Nicekitty is offline
Senior Member
Posts: 469
 
Plan: Banting
Stats: 150/132/132 Female 5'7"
BF:
Progress: 100%
Location: PNW
Default

Great job at changing BOTH of your lifestyles! It is very interesting how you came up with your diet--using BG monitoring to figure out which foods were okay to eat. I'm impressed that you have been so supportive of his diet change, enough to completely revamp your own diet. I'm hoping to get my husband there eventually.

I'm curious about the parameters that you used for an insulin "spike". Did you pick a number like 100, and measure after every meal? Or did you measure before and after every meal? Did you actually test every food individually?
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  #5   ^
Old Sat, Apr-04-15, 14:58
jessdamess's Avatar
jessdamess jessdamess is offline
Senior Member
Posts: 4,904
 
Plan: Keto
Stats: 252/172/165 Female 69.25 inches
BF:
Progress: 92%
Location: Northeast TN
Default

Excellent! Congrats to you both!!!
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  #6   ^
Old Sat, Apr-04-15, 17:07
khrussva's Avatar
khrussva khrussva is offline
Say NO to Diabetes!
Posts: 8,671
 
Plan: My own - < 30 net carbs
Stats: 440/228/210 Male 5' 11"
BF:Energy Unleashed
Progress: 92%
Location: Central Virginia - USA
Default

I love your story. It almost sounds like the diabetes thing was a lucky break for you both. It kinda was for me, too. I took it seriously as I had no interest in going down the pharma path. Enjoy the rest of your journey to goal!
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  #7   ^
Old Sat, Apr-04-15, 21:50
bevangel's Avatar
bevangel bevangel is offline
Senior Member
Posts: 2,312
 
Plan: modified adkins (sort of)
Stats: 265/176/167 Female 68.5 inches
BF:
Progress: 91%
Location: Austin, TX
Default

Quote:
I'm curious about the parameters that you used for an insulin "spike". Did you pick a number like 100, and measure after every meal? Or did you measure before and after every meal? Did you actually test every food individually?
Actually, what we tested for was a blood glucose spike. I don't know if there is any way to test for an insulin spike but maybe you meant to say BG spike.

At first he tested 30 minutes, 1 hour, 1.5 hours, and 2 hours after eating. It didn't take long to figure out that his blood sugar usually peaked between 30 minutes and an hour after eating. And, the higher the peak was, the more quickly it hit. Eg, it might rise as high as 400 or more by the 30 minute mark and then go back down from there. Or, it might peak at 150 an hour and a half after he ate.

By the 2 hour point, his blood sugar was always on it's way back down and, if it was still high (over 130) at that point, then it was because it had gone much higher than that earlier.

We picked 130 as our cutoff point because, somewhere, we found an HbA1C - blood glucose equivalent chart that said 130 was equivalent to an HbA1C of 6.4 and that anything over 6.5 was considered diabetic.

If his blood sugar hadn't gone over 130 by the one hour mark, then it never went really high. With a very few foods (like pinto beans with lots of bacon mixed in) if he at a LOT of beans then it might be 135 at the 1 hr mark and 160 at 1.5 hours but then it would drop back down.

So, after awhile, he would just check his BG at about 45 minutes after eating and, if it was under 130 then, he didn't check again...and whatever he'd eaten was put on our safe to eat list. Eventually though, as we modified our diets, he seldom got readings even as high as 130.

As for foods, for a while, I fixed us very very simple meals. No more than one or two foods. (talk about boring!) It didn't take long to figure out grilled chicken had no noticeable effect on his BG but that potatoes, rice, pasta, cereals, bread and other starchy carbohydrates sent it soaring; that he could eat a huge green salad with chopped eggs and bacon on top with no problem...but, add more than a couple of small tomatoes to the same salad and his BG would go up more than we wanted.
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  #8   ^
Old Sat, Apr-04-15, 21:53
bevangel's Avatar
bevangel bevangel is offline
Senior Member
Posts: 2,312
 
Plan: modified adkins (sort of)
Stats: 265/176/167 Female 68.5 inches
BF:
Progress: 91%
Location: Austin, TX
Default

Oh, and as for being so supportive as to revamp my own diet... the truth, I'm just too darned lazy to cook two different meals.
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