Healing myself
 

Hi everyone, I started Atkins induction about two weeks ago and am doing fine. I just got diagnosed with diabetes and I have decided to first try to treat myself with food. Strangely enough, my doctor has not even spoken to me about how to use a glucose monitor or when to take insulin shots, but has prescribed all those things and had a nurse call who did not know anything other than to read a script she was given. So I set to research myself, I am now here.

I started at 267 (weight at dr office) and now I am at 247 with a goal of 180-185 lbs. Not stopping till I get there. I would love to hear from others in a similar situation. Maybe I should be on the insulin, but I just find it hard to believe that this is not treatable with what we eat rather than a monthly $250 co-pay for a medicine I do not want.

Please check out the Dr. Bernstein and Diabetes threads on this site. Dr. Jason Fung thread will be informative also. Sounds like you are off to a good start. Let us know how you do!

I will check them out

Welcome,
Yes, you can treat it ... by ignoring the standard guidelines. Have you seen this TedTalk? http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?t=467426 The forum mentioned has much good info. Also this guide: https://www.dietdoctor.com/diabetes
Great start to your weight loss! All the best,

Thanks for the encouragement. That TED talk was what convinced me to go this way.

Welcome. My partner was an almost exactly the same position as you. He weighed 250, and had an A1 C 7.2. Within only a few months. His weight was down to 175, and his A1 C went down to 5.0. His diagnosis of diabetes was reversed. When he left the hospital after having a stroke last summer, they wanted to put him on Metformin. I was already doing low-carb, and my partner really didn't want to be on a daily medication for the rest of his life, so he decided to get serious about low-carb. We are both thrilled with the results. I have lost about 70 pounds as well.

The two things that I think of helped me the most were being very obsessive in the beginning about tracking everything. I wrote down everything I ate, and counted carbs even for complicated meals with lots of ingredients. And I kept a daily and weekly total.

The second thing that I always say is to keep reading the recipe threads here and elsewhere online. There are so many amazing and wonderful low-carb recipes and if you find food that you love you will never think about the food that you gave up.

Good luck to you!

andante,

Thanks for the encouragement and advice. I have been using the Atkins app religiously to track exactly what I eat. I dropped 15 lbs quick in 2 weeks but now it is much slower. At least I am now under 250 lbs on my way to a 180 lbs goal. I just found the recipes on this forum and made one last night which was really good.

I hope I can achieve the results you describe. I do not plan to be supporting big pharma the rest of my life.

Regards

Slowing weight loss after the first two weeks is a natural pattern for reasons explained here: http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?t=365499

I also started with the New Atkins for a New You book and like it for the science included. Diet books like that are written for the general population, and when I went to the clinic run by one of its authors, Dr Westman, for diabetic and obese patients, he uses a 20 g TOTAL carb program. I believe the Atkins App is set up for net carb counting? If so, you might consider looking into the stricter level of carbs and allowed foods http://www.kostdoktorn.se/wp-conten...starch_diet.pdf until you reach your weight and BG goals.

Janet - Thanks for the advice. I will definitely look at doing straight carbs if I stay stagnant at this weight. Thanks - John