Insulin resistance

[rugary]

I was just diagnosed with Insulin resistance which is evidentally the cause of my PCOS as well. I have been taking Glucaphage XR for about 3 weeks now with no problems. I know that I need to be eating low carb, but all of the diabetic websites that I have visited suggest eating 240 carbs per day which seems awfully high to me. Any suggestions? I don't think I can go as low as 20 carbs a day like I used to do on Atkins, but will if it is necessary.

Thanks for any help!

[wsgts]

Welcome to the site, and good morning.

I can't imagine how much medicine I would be on if I had to eat 240 carbs per day. In order to get 2000 calories and 240 carbs, you would just about have to eat table sugar. Don't pay any attention to that sort of garbadge.

There is a great deal of misinformation about that sort of thing. People have been told they have to keep the blood sugar up as a Type II diabetic (or insulin resistance person). I simply defies logic. That would be like telling an alcoholic to take this pill and be sure to have a shot of whiskey behind it. Or a heavy smoker to breath this COPD medication and light up right after you finish to get your lung tar level up. :bash:

If you aren't in any big hurry to lose weight, just start with the OWL or pre-maintenance phase of Atkins. There are many other plans available too, so check out one of those out if you don't like the Atkins approach.

Above all, don't eat that much sugar. We calculated the carbs my wife eats in a day (she's pregnant), and it came out to approximately 150 and she's not overweight, or on any type of diet. This is just how she eats. I can't imagine anyone needing more than that; especially someone who's body can't process it correctly.

Good luck,
wsgts

[twitch]

I'm a recently diagnosed diabetic myself, and was told to go on the "Diabetic Diet" by the nutritionist. They recommend 140 gr carb (not 240), and do not subtract the fiber from fruits/veggies/or whole grains from that number. I think if you followed the plan (and the recommended allowances of WHOLE grain + fruits & veggies), your effective carbs would come out well under 100 effective carbs per day. That is still pretty high for a diabetic, and I was unable to control my blood sugar levels adequately this way without medication. I think they feel that if the numbers were restricted any further, the health gains would be lost because no one could possibly stick to it.

The irony here is that at those levels, I constantly craved MORE carbs, and was hungry all the time. After going through induction, the cravings nearly disappeared, and I wasn't hungry any more. My sugars are on the LOW side now, and I'm in the process of weaning off the meds completely (and I'm currently eating nearly 60 gr of effective carb per day).

The more updated info for diabetics recommends no more than 2 servings of carb (they go by serving approx = 15 gram of carb - which is 1 slice of bread or 1/3 c. of rice or 1/2 c. of pasta, 1 c. milk etc) per meal for a woman trying to lose weight.

One of Bernstein's things is that if you limit yourself to fewer carbs, you will impede the progress of diabetes, and possibly still have function when the day comes that there is a cure for it. The current diabetic diets recommended by the ADA seem to be more in line with encouraging you to accept the progress of the disease and live closer to what "normal" people eat. This does make me laugh, because when I look around at people in public, "normal people" - most of them are overweight!

Keep reading and researching, there is a lot to learn out there, and only you can make the choices that are right for you!

Twitch

[Lisa N]

Keep in mind that the ADA diet is based on what they think that the majority of newly diagnosed diabetics (and pre-diabetics) can accept and be compliant with, not necessarily on what is going to give them the greatest control with the least amount of medication. :thdown: Of course, everyone is different, but I can't imagine insulin resistance lessening on 240 grams of carb per day. That's only slightly lower than the average American intake right now of 300 grams per day. Cut out one regular Coke and you're there.
PCOS is not actually caused by insulin resistance...it's the other way around. Insulin resistance is one of the symptoms of PCOS and the two combine to make each other worse (which came first, the chicken or the egg scenario).
With insulin resistance and diabetes, you need to be concerned not only with the total amount of carbs you take in, but also with the glycemic index of those carbs. The higher the glycemic rating of a food, the more likely it will be to provoke an insulin response and thereby contribute to continuing the insulin resistance.

I don't think I can go as low as 20 carbs a day like I used to do on Atkins, but will if it is necessary.

I'm curious as to why you don't think you can go that low again? I was taking 1000 mg. of Glucophage XR when I first started low carbing and only started having lows when my medication needed to be decreased as my own insulin resistance decreased. It's actually pretty uncommon to have a hypo with Glucophage even if you are eating low carb. Still...you can try dropping your intake to 30 or 45 grams of carb per day and see if the weight starts to come off. If it doesn't, then you may need to go lower to get the scale moving. Just make sure that you split your carb allowance evenly throughout the day and don't eat it all at one time or you will be defeating the whole purpose of low carb by provoking an insulin response by eating too many carbs at one time.