Tips for a Dr. Bernstein diet newbie?

Food Nutrition
1

Hello everyone!

I was super excited to find this group! I'm a Type 1, diagnosed just a couple years ago at age 22. I have been trying to eat low-carb for about a year, on and off, both to keep my weight down and to help control my blood sugars. I was doing Atkins which helped, then semi-Paleo (very short stint- and never cut out dairy) and now have just ordered Dr. Bernstein's book and have read most everything on his website.

I have been all over the map health-wise in the 2 1/2 years since I've been diagnosed. First A1C (at diagnosis) 11.6, then 7.5, then 7.0, then got pregnant and more serious about control and tested at 5.9, then 6.2. After delivering my daughter, I let myself go again and hit the 11's again, then 8.6, then 7.5, then (latest reading) 6.8. Hoping to keep bringing the numbers down and to get pregnant again soon!

I have been particularly inspired by Dr. Bernstein's story because he's a Type 1 like me, yet he keeps non-diabetic A1C's, something I was told was either impossible or too dangerous for diabetics. It's funny to me when I look at the A1C to average blood glucose chart because they say to keep BG betweeen 80 and 120 yet consider an acceptable A1C to be 7.0 (which means an average BG 154).

I'm really pumped to get my own BG's to a non-diabetic level, especially for a healthy pregnancy, but I am afraid I will end up slacking off after a few weeks. Any tips on how to keep going- the rest of my life?

It's just so hard with a little one to stop and take care of myself too. I feel like either I can have great BGs but they consume my life, or I can have a life outside of diabetes but horrible BG's. And advice would be appreciated- thanks!

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We have started a modified Bernstein diet for my son who was diagnosed 6 months ago. Easy to stay with plan with modified meals and great flavors. Breakfast for a mom to be can be as easy as a protein low carb smoothie with spinach or bacon and eggs. For my son every lunch is salad and protein with home made dressings. Every dinner is a vegetable, salad and protein. Sometimes a stir fry. Raw nuts for snacks. Stevia for sugar replacements. It is completely do-able. Once you get "off" bread you will loose the taste. Fruit may mean a few berries thrown into a smoothie or salad. It's a wholesome, whole food fantastic diet that everyone should/can do!

For bread replacements you can find nut based bread recipes to make yourself!

Give it a month and you will be on the road with new foods, new flavors and completly out of the addictions to the old style of eating.

Your baby to be will benefit greatly! Everything that you eat, he/she will eat. Use that fact as the strongest reason to stay on track!

The entire family is now following this diet. I just use less fats.

You can do it!

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Thanks, Kait! Yes, I've been off bread, rice, pasta, potatoes, etc. for the most part for about 9 months or so, except for occasional meals at other people's homes. My husband frequently is invited (along with us) to dinner at people's home that he barely knows, due to his profession, so I don't feel comfortable asking them to make something particular for me. But I have definitely noticed that when I have eaten a few bites of bread, lasagna, rice, etc. that it seems very bland and boring to me.

We usually have eggs with cheese and/or some kind of vegetable for breakfast (mushrooms, onions, green pepper, spinach, tomato, etc.) and sometimes also Canadian bacon or sausage. So yummy! I drink either coffee or water.

For lunch usually one of two things. One is a spinach or romaine salad with half a grape tomato, cheese, hard-boiled egg, mushrooms, and steak or chicken, with semi-home-made dressing (I buy a packet and mix it with water, oil, and vinegar). The other is soup with organic (no preservatives) chicken or beef broth with chicken or steak and peas, carrots, onions, celery, etc. (whatever I have on hand).

For dinner, salad, vegis of some sort, and either steak, chicken, pork, or fish.

I have some great recipes, I'm just afraid of "yo-yo" dieting instead of sticking with it. So far I have done better when I write everything done- what I eat, what insulin I take, and especially what my BG are. I just made myself a new chart where I can see all my BG for a whole month at once and on the back I have a chart showing the BG to A1C ratios. Hopefully if I am forced to look at my BG over several weeks it will motivate me to keep the numbers looking nice and fill in all the blanks instead of "forgetting" to test because I didn't feel like it.

Thanks for the tips! God bless you for your hard work taking care of your child. My mom went through the same thing with my brother who also has type 1 (diagnosed age 6). I'm just glad I didn't get it until I was out of the house so she didn't have two diabetic kids to worry about! I hope none of my kids get it! But if they do I'll be ready for them :)

BTW one of my favorite recipes for breakfast is "Noatmeal" (no-oatmeal). It's delicious and filling- better than oatmeal to me! http://delishix.com/noatmeal-no-oatmeal-recipe/

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The recipe for noatmeal sounds good thanks for sharing! There have been some pretty good recipes posted here from time to time.

I'm a T2 not on insulin so don't know if I have any tips. For me good numbers on my meter are enough to keep with the program. I do think posting here and in tuD in general can be a powerful motivator, as well as a place to vent when that is called for.

It sounds like you have the program down from the description of what you eat.
I too went semi paleo for a while, the only change I had to make was to cut out the dairy. Instead I just cut way back on cheese so it was not true paleo. No difference in my blood sugar or the way I felt so I have added some cheese back in.

Lots of people think Dr.B is radical, but to me it's the obvious response to our damaged carb metabolism. For T2's like me it makes sense to not eat the foods causing problems and for T1's the law of small numbers is a powerful concept.

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Great Recipe!

Perhaps you can join one of the many Facebook Groups out there. That helps! You are doing great!

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Thanks! I forgot one thing- my guilty pleasure the last few days has been a tblsp of almond butter- 2 carbs. It's enough to satisfy my sweet tooth after lunch. At breakfast I have yummy coffee and after dinner decaf (if I'm craving something) :D Whenever I'm hungry I try to drink a glass of water- that holds till the next meal and helps me drink more water too.

I've had amazing BG the last few days (average >90) and have eliminated the snacking that has always killed me before (just the last 4 days but still) so I'm super excited to stick with it. If I do, I could have an A1C in the 4's! I'd love to shock my endo like I hear about other people doing. That alone is motivating at the moment ;)

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It sounds like you are already well on your way! Just a thought. The best thing you can do for your kids is to take care of YOURSELF. This was a huge motivator for me after diagnosis. I want to stick around as long as possible and in optimal health so I can be there for my daughter and see her grow up while not becoming a burden to her health-wise. This means I really have to stick to the diet at all times. It was hard at the beginning, but I'm convinced the benefits will be worth it. I can't stand the thought of my daughter's heartbreak later in life when faced with a mom riddled with diabetic complications.

Also, I truly do enjoy the new foods I make for myself and my family since making the switch.

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Those are great points to remember.

I usually do really well until I get sick or have a really busy week and then I grab fast-food, or whatever is easy around the house instead of taking the time to make healthy food. (I cleaned out the cupboard of all unhealthy foods this time though, so it will probably be easier to make something healthy than to find a box in the garage with something "easy" lol.) Especially after I'm sick for a few days, it takes me a while to get back on track even once I feel better.

I'm guessing that cough and soar throat medicine have a lot of sugar in them too? My BG are always higher when I'm sick.

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Woops, I meant "less than 90" which is <90 (always get those greater than/less than signs mixed up!)

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Having a cold can cause higher than usual blood sugar. Dr. Bernstein talks about that in his book. Conventional cold medicines may contain sugar, but you will see that on the label.

I have accustomed myself to having only low carb foods at home (as well as out), and it does not need to take a lot of time to prepare. Nuts, vegetables, eggs, coconut flakes, cream cheese, Greek yogurt, frozen berries, even hot dogs. When I shop I don't buy any unsuitable items. I have profoundly changed my mindset about food. Breakfast can be any food I like, not just what we are used to regarding as "breakfast foods". The same with snacks. Once you change your perceptions, there is much more flexibility.

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High blood sugar causes "complications". You should stick to it because it will make your life much easier

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Sticking to the diet is what is going to help the most as you create confounding variables, i.e. more problems to deal with if you are off the diet, but it is difficult especially for a type one to do everything and have a life I know but if you stay consistent with your current efforts and can safely get and maintain under 6.0% you should do very well for a very long time. Remember too trying and failing isn't going to hurt anything not trying at all and just pretending your condition doesn't exist is what is going to hurt you.

Just a note, I noticed the same thing about A1C as you did when I first began controlling my BG's what's worse is this,according to Dr. Bersntein and other credible sources an A1C of 7% converts to an average of 170 and not 154 as the American Diabetes Association claims. A 6.5% is equivalent to a 154 and the bedwetters at the American Association of Clinical Endocronologists says A1C values under 6.5% are dangerously low fuh fuh fuh a dieuhbeteek. So obviously the doctors who say you should keep your blood sugar between 80 and 120 and yet concur with the AACE position that A1C values under 6.5% are dangerous are either lying to their diabetic patients like the ADA is lying about the A1C conversion or they are still too stuh stuh stuh stupid to understand the numbers even after a quarter century in a formal educational setting.

Don't listen to anything the American Diabetes Association or the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists has to say. They are liars and they make me sick and they are literally making other diabetics sicker with their lies and their rank ■■■■■■■ ■■■■■■■■ because it makes them more rich and powerful.

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Diabetes is a lucrative disease for many. It is very sad that I read on another post within tudiabetes.org that Medicare considers the tubeless pod to be a luxury. After having demo ed a CGM for a week, I immediately realized its benefit. The saddest part of diabetes and its complications is that perhaps much, if not all of them could be avoided with good control. The "human cost" is very high, not to mention the economic cost.

A friend of mine, who is a doctor once said, there would is no funding for basic research unless there is a disease and a profit motive (we were discussing hibernation, BAT (brown adipose tissue) that I thought was fascinating and yet apparently, little if any research is being done.

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Hi KW! How are you doing? My T1 niece has been following the Dr. Bernstein diet for a little over a month. Her numbers are amazing!! She feels so much better! Much less highs and lows. Would love to hear some of the recipes you are using : ) Here's a Swedish Bun recipe that she loves : )

1469-10686979_10204298934784878_3593750262411637878_n.jpg (62.3 KB)
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I'm T2 and on the same diet. this is a 30g carb ketogenic diet, like atkins. it's perfect to get your BG and any weight issues fixed. You are duplicating a hard winter and not an abundant spring or autumn where we are laying down fat layers again for winter. In our modern diet, everyone lives in autumn year round

There is some doubt as to it being suitable during pregnancy. In mice studies ketogenic diets alter fetal development
http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2393/13/109


personally, I would ask about 150g carb a day while pregnant, low carb but not ketosis.

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I know this is a super delayed comment, but I hope you see it! I am not doing Dr. Bernstein's - yet. I'm considering it again after reading the comments. I bought the book probably 15 years ago, while still seeing my pediatric endocrinologist, where I was told Dr. B's solution was dangerous, impossible and that they'd seen patients that got kidney disease because of the high amounts of protein they ate. Reading about this group's 6%, 5%, 4%!!!! A1c's makes me really wonder. Is it really that bad for the kidneys? Isn't high carbohydrate/high blood sugar worse? And like you said, roguediabetic - there's money to be made off of diabetes - it makes me so cynical and makes me wonder who to trust. I could go on and on....I'm glad you guys are here.

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It is incorrect to call the diet high protein, it's low carb, high fat. I eat about the same amount of meat/fish as before I embarked on a low carb diet, although I admittedly always liked these foods and ate good sized portions.

I have been low carbing for 5.5 years and my last kidney function test was normal.

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I guess the idea would be that if you eat 2000 calories a day on a regular carb diet, and 2000 calories a day on a low carb diet, the protein is going to be increased to make up for the lack of carbs and therefore “high”. I need to do it. I’m just scared of feeling hungry, as wussy as that sounds!

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Here's a video about the basics of low carb, note " Don't do low carb low fat " @4.00 min into video.