Metabolism and Diabetes

[Cajunboy47]

Diabetes is known as a metabolic disorder.

A low carb diet is known to help control blood sugar levels.

Does a low carb diet equal a faster metabolism?

If anyone knows the answer, please post and if you have any references, please post that also....

[Ptrcmcc6]

I not quite sure what you're asking here but I don't necessarily equate a low carb diet with a faster metabolism. Especially if you're an insulin dependant diabetic (as in T1 where as in most cases your body doesn't produce insulin at all or, if it does, very little) because you're always going to have the metabolic disorder first and foremost. I also believe age and how we abused our bodies prior to going low carb (for those of us who are not diabetic) plays into our metabolism mechanism also.

I do, however, believe a low carb diet (for those of you who are diabetic) will help in keeping your BS under control which in the long run can help with your body metabolizing your foods a little better. As to whether it's faster or not, I don't know.

Sorry..... :(. I'm sure this is not the answer you were looking for. It's just my opinion.

[RobLL]

I've never read anything about LC speeding up metabolism.

[Cajunboy47]

Can a faster metabolism be equated with less insulin resistance?

[CampCook]

Cajun boy,
The way I read Dr. Eades, there is a definite difference in Metabolic rate depending on diet. He makes the point that a low fat diet will lower the rate. There are members on this board that have reported body temps as much as 2 degrees below normal after sustained Jenny Craig.

On the other hand, low carb will raise our metabolic rate. The due to higher dietary fat. This assumes we are not eating to much protein. Dr. Eades uses a term called "NEAT" to describe the collection of extra little activities that contribute to using this extra energy.
At least that is how I read it.
Dave

[Cajunboy47]

Cajun boy,
The way I read Dr. Eades, there is a definite difference in Metabolic rate depending on diet. He makes the point that a low fat diet will lower the rate. There are members on this board that have reported body temps as much as 2 degrees below normal after sustained Jenny Craig.

On the other hand, low carb will raise our metabolic rate. The due to higher dietary fat. This assumes we are not eating to much protein. Dr. Eades uses a term called "NEAT" to describe the collection of extra little activities that contribute to using this extra energy.
At least that is how I read it.
Dave

Dave,

So, do you have the understanding that if low carb raises our metabolic rate, that can equate to improvement in insulin resistance?

Ron

[v-effect]

Actually, Type 1 Diabete is an autoimmune disorder.

And: Since I've been low carbing, I need much more insulin to process carbs. Since I stay low carb that's not usually a problem. But most people are shocked by the amount of insulin this 115 pound woman requires for carbs.

V.

[Cajunboy47]

Actually, Type 1 Diabete is an autoimmune disorder.

And: Since I've been low carbing, I need much more insulin to process carbs. Since I stay low carb that's not usually a problem. But most people are shocked by the amount of insulin this 115 pound woman requires for carbs.

V.

sorry if you thought this thread is about type 1... I guess I should start all my threads with a disclaimer:
----------------------
This thread has nothing to do with Type 1, as I'm not a type 1 and I only deal with issues that concern type 2 as that is what I have to deal with everyday...
----------------------------
I apologize if you thought I even suggested in the slighest reference that what I'm talking about has anything to do with a Type 1 diabetic.

I understand completely that type 1 is different from type 2 and I wish you well in your efforts to control it as best you can, but this thread and all the threads I start in this forum were posted strictly with the consideration of type 2s' and their opinions about the opening thread and other questions raised in those threads pertaining to the topic.

So, I hope you are understanding of me now since I seem to have confused you by not making a disclaimer in my original post.

It is a problematic thing I've noticed in this forum, misunderstandings between type 1s and type2s and I supposed this forum might be better served if it was split into type1 and type 2, but then that may be even more problematic. That would be for greater minds than me to figure out.

I also am highly aware that sometimes, type 1s have things of value to share with type2s and likewise the other way around and those times it is very much appreciated to receive such comments when posted....

I still have many concerns in understanding (for type2) the associations between metabolism and insulin resistance. My questions in prior posts are to try and establish how much one has to do with the other. Can insulin resistance be achieved through continual improvement in metabolism, or can there be an approach to breaking insulin resistance in another way and how will that affect metabolism???

One common complaint in type 2 diabetes is the difficulty in losing weight. I'm trying to open up discussion, research, etc... that leads to a better understanding of our metabolism and how and what can be done to improve it and also to break insulin resistance.....

If I had done just one thing in the last 4 years to improve my diabetic condition, then I'd probably be better able to answer my own questions, but I did so many things, I'm not sure what worked and what didn't and while I know a specific answer will be difficult to come by, I am hoping through an open dialogue on this, we can possibly get a different perspective that may help..... This is, afterall, the heart of the matter for type 2 diabetics, in my humble opinion of course.....

Sincerely,

Ron

[CampCook]

Ron,
I'm not sure that it will improve insulin resistance but, rather, just works to keep insulin levels lower. Since BG is lower with a low carb diet, the pancreas doesn't need to secrete as much insulin. From the outside, without lab work I suspect it is hard to tell the difference between improved insulin resistance and just lower levels of insulin overall. Just a thought.
Dave

[CampCook]

Ron,
FYI here is a link compliments of a member on this forum to the link where Dr. Eades is discussing this issue. The article starts out talking about weight loss stalls but goes on to describe some of the metabolism stuff. I found it a very interesting read.
Dave

[dancinbr]

Ron,
FYI here is a link compliments of a member on this forum to the link where Dr. Eades is discussing this issue. The article starts out talking about weight loss stalls but goes on to describe some of the metabolism stuff. I found it a very interesting read.
Dave

Dave - where is the link?

OK now metabolic disorder.

I have often wondered all my life why suddenly around the age of 30-32 I had a dramatic change. Prior to that age I was always capable of eating hearty without having to worry about weight. After that age I found it very difficult to keep my weight down.

Many times I have gone through the discipline of measuring foods, calculating calories and trying to keep my weight at maintenance where it only fluctuated in a narrow range and kept it near ideal or near ideal weight.

From the 1990s on I found it more and more difficult to control my weight and as I look back I really wasn't eating all that much.

Most people if I remember correctly burn 11 calories per Ideal weight pound. So if your ideal weight is 190 for example then you could consume 2090 calories per day and NOT gain weight. If you exercised you could consume more calories equivalent to the amount of calories you burned doing the exercise such as hard labor, running, aerobics whatever.

I found my calorie burn was around 9 calories per ideal weight pound or 1710 calories per day for an ideal weight of 190. I am using some very rough numbers here. I would have to go back to charts and records to get closer and more accurate, but you get the idea.

So I believe the metabolic disorder was there for many years and lead to my ultimate T2 diabetes. For me to lose weight successfully I have to keep my net calories below 1710 and preferably around 1500 calorie.

So, I don't know that I helped this conversation. However, this is my thought process as I read all these posts.

I probably should go back and research this more since now and then I have seen headlines about metabolic disorder leading to diabetes; or did I?

Ralph

[Cajunboy47]

Thoughts from Dave and Ralph are proof that some thinking is taking place... :)

I agree Ralph, that most likely the metabolic disorder exists for a long time before a person becomes diabetic.

My focus, my thoughts are, now that we are here, how do we reverse this crapola of a situation as best we can? I feel that is where I need to spend my time. I have theories, but I'm looking for some kind of answer that can trigger a more logical approach than what I've discovered thus far... Remember if you've read this in some of my posts in other threads, I have a goal to free myself of all supplements. According to a researcher with a PhD, Barry Groves, it is possible to get all the nutrients we need from food alone if we become healthy enough.

I feel our metabolisms don't function in a healthy way, because we are not healthy enough to allow it to do so, sort of like trying to drive a very high performance car on low octane gas, you get poor performance. The only thing is, we can give ourselves the high octane, but our engines don't respond because they are not in tune. I'm searching for a way to fine tune my engine....

My hopes are that all diabetics can take this thread seriously enough to put in their two cents, because that's all any of us have (me included:))..... Put in enough thoughts, something might emerge, that is my hope anyway...

[CampCook]

Opps, sorry about that. Here is the link:

http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthre...060#post7475060

Dave :agree:

[dancinbr]

Opps, sorry about that. Here is the link:

http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthre...060#post7475060

Dave :agree:

Bad link goes to page expired notice.

Well here are a few other thoughts.

I think Cajunboys thoughts on striving to live with his diabetes and without supplements is a wonderful goal.

To the extent that he can achieve this goal terrific.

Maybe he can reduce his needs. Maybe he can eliminate his supplements completely.

But on the topic of supplements, I dont believe you can totally eliminate them.

Todays's world and food is so deficient in vitamins, minerals, etc compared to say a 100 years ago.

We are compelled to take supplements even if we do eat properly or whatever.

Our foods are not as nutritional as they once were since our soil and environment in general is depleted. Worse than that we have introduced toxins into the environment as well.

So, I believe we may always need supplements such as Vitamin D3 a very recent discovery apparently. Vitamin D3 is being linked to many immune disorders and diseases in general. My Vitamin D3 test came back and it was a 34 and that is only after I had been taking 4000 IU's for a couple of weeks prior to my blood test. I still have to boost it higher; say closer to 60 before I even worry about getting too close to overdosing over 100.

We take other supplements as well not only to simply help control our diabetes as Cajunboy has so successfully done, but to assure we are getting all the true nutrients we need.

That is my two cents worth.

As I have mentioned to Cajunboy, I am seriously considering bariatric surgery again. This will alter my digestive system. I believe I am dealing with a metabolic disorder that quite frankly such surgery may correct. I am too efficient in terms of "storing fat" and being ready for the famine season. Now there is one for you. We haven't had a famine in a long time; I know I have never experienced one for sure. I have never gone hungry. So many of us don't know what this means.

So, we keep searching for ways to control our diabetes and/or "cure" it.
My Doctor says some of the results on simply lap-band surgery, never mind the gastric "Y" bypass are simply amazing. He has seen people with diabetes effectively cure their disease. Now, the Phase I response is probably still missing or then again maybe not. Maybe it has been there but since the insulin resistance is so large the body couldn't control blood sugar levels very well. Something to think about.

But this may be slightly off course for what Cajunboy is thinking and purpose of this thread.

Just thinking out loud.

Ralph

[CampCook]

Let's try that link again. I went directly to the topic and copied the URL
http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?p=7475060#post7475060
Dave

[dancinbr]

Let's try that link again. I went directly to the topic and copied the URL
http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?p=7475060#post7475060
Dave

Good Link,

Now I have to read up on it!

:D

[januaria]

Diabetes is known as a metabolic disorder.

A low carb diet is known to help control blood sugar levels.

Does a low carb diet equal a faster metabolism?

If anyone knows the answer, please post and if you have any references, please post that also....

My doc told me that to increase my metabolism, I must build muscle (I have muscle wasting); In order to do that, I have to do resistance exercise combined with aerobic. I use hydraulic machines and have small 5lb free weights and a full set of professional-grade weights that I am starting on this week at 10 lbs. He said that more muscle means a higher metabolism, which is why men often lose more and faster on diets.

Yo-yo dieting and drastically reducing calorie intake decreases metabolism, especially the very low-calorie starvation diets (like the "other" Dr Bernstein diet clinics here in Canada). I have done both, having dieted for many years although in the beginning I had only 5 - 10 pounds to lose after having babies. I also gained over 30 pounds a year from steriod use alone, but this did build my muscle up a bit and I find I can lose weight now, even on insulin and having T2.

Very low fat diets never worked for me, but neither did very low carb. I lost weight on both, but could not tolerate the diets for long, especially very low carb because I don't like to eat too much protein and fat.

So I finally settled on the Weight Watcher's CORE (changed now to momentum to include exercise). It is very close to the paleolithic diet, which I also liked, but is a little less forgiving of the need for an occasional splurge and has weekly support groups as well as accountability (weighing in) which I need, unlike the members here who very successfully stay with DR. Bernstein's program.

I am not aware of any particular diet being able to increase metabolism, but I know that exercise work amazingly well to decrease my insulin resistance, lowering my BG into the normal range every time I do it even for 30 minutes. Not having been much of a fitness afficiconado (read: couch potato) for the last twenty years, and sans equipment, I had to start with lifting soup cans, and walking up and down one stair near my bathroom. Now I am lifting weights, going to Curves and my A1C was 5.2 a couple of weeks ago. I cut my insulin use by half.

I don't always feel like it, to be sure, but the result is so intoxicating and rewarding - watching my meter read normal or even below normal values with no rapid insulin, that I keep doing it. The payoff has to be worth it to keep me doing anything I don't naturally love to do, and it is in this case, and is also nearly instant.

Exercise, especially the resistance kind, really does reduce IR, by building muscle and sucking up the glucose in one's blood, and since I could not lose before doing it, and I CAN lose now, it must have increased my metabolism somewhat. I am not aware of any studies proving that any particular diet can do both, but would like to know about them if anyone has them in hand.

April.

[Cajunboy47]

Januaria,

Thanks, great input!

[dancinbr]

I absolutely agree with Januria.

Exercise is key critical to increase metabolism.

You must build muscle.

I have worked at this for several years in my early sixties and was feeling really good.

I stopped the last couple of years for a myriad of reasons.

Time to get back to the gym and use those resistance training weight machines.

I do walk 3 or 4 times per week for a mile but that is nothing compared to what I was doing a few years back.

Thanks for the reminder.

Ralph

[januaria]

I saw on the CTV news last night that it also maintains much better cognitive function and can create new blood vessels in the brain - which is of great importance to diabetics who have a greater risk of alzheimers disease. They showed a 92 year-old woman on resistance machines (like Curves) who claimed she felt like 25.

I had slowed down a wee bit on the frequency of my trips to the gym over the last two weeks, and when I saw that, It shamed me into grabbing my sneakers and putting them on the handle of the front door, and filling up my water bottle. I am headed out today.

If I have to lose bits of myself, I hope my mind is last, and if exercise will slow that down, and reduce my IR at the same time, that's incentive!