OK – I have been dithering for months. Dithering about how low to go on the carbs. Dithering about trying to lose weight again – really lose weight, as in bust my hump to lose weight. Dithering about adjusting my own insulin. Dithering about fearing lows if I go very-low-carb and up the exercise. Gah.
I decided this morning (after months of not just dithering but also reading, researching, studying everything y’all post on this site, reading some more, etc.) to go ahead and start the Duke medical center very low carb diet in the back of the book, “Why We Get Fat (and what to do about it)” by Gary Taubes.
It’s called the “No Sugar, No Starch” diet and it limits carbs to 20 grams per day, exclusively from salad greens, low-glycemic veggies like broccoli, mushrooms, green beans, etc., four ounces of cheese per day and a few condiment items, e.g. six olives per day, or half an avocado, or 4 teaspoons of lemon or lime juice…stuff like that. It’s a weight-loss oriented version of the Dr. Bernstein dietary recommendations, pretty much. Or Atkins induction.
I just know in my bones that this is the only way I am ever going to get a firm handle on my insulin resistance. I can’t just keep upping and upping and upping my insulin into the stratosphere to cover what I shouldn’t have to cover because my body is telling me: ENOUGH.
Based on previous experience, I’ll probably be a shrew for the next three or four days, but I’m not working right now and my calendar is completely clear for the next week until Saturday. What a better time than NOW (yes, right NOW) to grab this bull by the horns and hang on until I can eliminate morbid obesity (last BMI = 57.68) as one major reason for my insulin resistance.
I’m OK with injecting insulin for whatever genetic cards I was dealt from my folks, but I am ashamed of injecting insulin to cover what I know I can control with diet and exercise. I’ll inject what I must for control on a short-term basis, but huge amounts for the rest of my life? Nope. Not going to do that to myself. I deserve better than that.
So any-hoozle, happy Almost Phlat Tuesday and I welcome any kind thoughts you send my way, especially if you’ve been through this yourself; I’ll need good thoughts while I go through “sugar detox”. ;0<br/>
And don’t worry, I have my nasty dextrose tabs close to hand for any surprises as I adjust down the carbs and the insulin. What could possibly go wrong? Heh.
This is the right time to wish you the Luck of the Irish! You can do it.
Well, you have a great Plan, and I am sure your Goal to get where you need to be will be won:) Focus is Important, and when you do fail, your human, just get yourself straight back as soon as Possible:)
Good Luck:)
I’m not going nearly as low carb as that, but nevertheless, I’ve lost 20 lb. since last October. And I got the best lipid numbers I’ve ever had in my life! I didn’t have any carb withdrawal pains, either – I can eat carbs on special occasions and then go right back to my reduced carb plan the next day. So I’m highly in favor of your experiment!! 
I just hope it works for you as well as it has for me – I was going for 60-75g of carbs a day, and now I think I’m going to lower it to 50-60.
And yes, you should probably test a lot, to be sure you’re not going low, but I’ve found that lowering my carbs has stabilized my BGs without increasing hypos. Do join the Bernstein group, even if that’s not exactly the plan you’re following – those folks know a lot about low carb.
Wishing you the best!!!
You can do it, Jean! Wishing you luck & success.
I’m a fan of Gary Taubes. I’ve known people on Atkins & the 14-day induction phase really gets things going. After two weeks on 20 carbs, Dr. B’s plan would feel like cheating:) My neighbor, not a PWD, is on a ketosis diet for weight loss. She checks her urine daily for ketones & calls me excited when it’s positive. I’ve told her she should come over for dinner since we eat the same for different reasons.
Since eating low carb, I have fewer hypos. High carb was a BG roller coaster.
A positive & healthy goal to aim for lower insulin doses. Harder to be a T2 on insulin than a T1.
I wouldn’t be ashamed of injecting insulin here of all places? I think that if your BG is more controlled, you will feel better and may be able to better meet your other energy/ exercise goals? I’d give you a before pic for a “prize” (sic…275 lbs of acidrock…) but I haven’t loaded the pics into my new laptop since my hard drive blew up 2 weeks ago… Please be careful but don’t write off the insulin idea if your BG is running high, it can work wonders!
Thanks, y’all…I appreciate the encouragement. ;0)
@Gerri – LOLz on the special ketosis friend and on “cheating” some day on 30 gm of carbs.
@acidrock23 - I’ll be injecting insulin as needed, don’t worry. I just don’t want to be injecting hundreds of gallons of the stuff and still be too high. I’m OK with a modest little basal and some diminutive boluses, whatever my body actually needs. But when my doctor said that some of his T2 patients inject 300 IU per day, I thought: “I’d never be able to look down and see my feet again. I gotta get enough of this weight off that I can knock this insulin resistance down to size.” I look forward to your before-and-after photos. Wow us!!!
Congrats on your action plan!
I wish my insulin resistance could be tackled by losing weight. But I was BMI 23.9 at dx. What’s a girl to do?
Lila, it just proves that insulin resistance is a complex problem, and not caused only by weight as so many people wish to believe! I’m sure there are genetically-based hormonal dysfunctions that cause it, and at this point, there is no way to control them, even if we knew what they were. You just hang in there, OK?
@Lila - Yes, not all insulin resistance is related to obesity – or ameliorated by weight loss.
Diabetes is also progressive in type 2’s, so I may not get tremendous benefit. We’ll see.
Either way, a very low carb diet will reduce the amount of insulin I need to inject (fewer carbs to cover), which will help me lose weight (fewer calories being squirreled away as fat by my insulin injections) – and my joints will thank me for it, which will make it easier for me to get exercise, which DOES have an almost immediate positive impact on my insulin resistance (I have proved this to myself several times, even with a couple of hypos 48 hours after a larger-than-normal workout due to a temporary BIG improvement in insulin resistance.)
I may be on insulin injections for life now – unless they come up with a magic bullet for insulin resistance of my type, and a way to reverse amylin deposits in beta cells, too! I’m not holding my breath on that one, even though I saw a fascinating article about lithium today.