could it be that he,s eating too much food, even though it may be low gi food you can still get a bg rise if you eat too much.
also, if the protein intake is higher than the body,s requirements,the liver will turn the excess into glucose. a percentage of protein is converted into glucose anyway at a slow rate, maybe after 3 hours and then if hes eating again(carbs) bgs are going to stay high, or go even higher.the only way to know for sure is to tell him to keep a strict food diary.


christine

Yes, but not to a blood sugar of 400 unless he's eating massive amounts of protein and even then I don't think a person would be able to give themselves a blood sugar of 400, diabetic or not. Gluconeogenesis just isn't that quick and efficient at raising blood sugars. Only too many carbs or sugar will give a blood sugar reading that high unless you are a type 1 diabetic.
Honestly...I think the best explanation is denial, pehaps even to the point that he's got himself convinced that he's doing everything right and not cheating.
I would suggest a food journal as well...what he eats, how much and when and he needs to be completely honest about it (no leaving out cheats because he doesn't want it to look bad).
This is a good example of doing low carb the wrong way and then blaming the diet for your results.

Stress can cause glucose levels to rise too. Maybe he was overheated and perhaps had too much exercise with the walking. Blood glucose levels sometime seem to have a mind of their own. You can do everything right and still have high numbers sometimes.

Mary

I've seen a couple of people when I was an EMT, that could test at 400 FASTING blod sugar, but they were also unconscious...

The friend I mentioned AGAIN decided it looks "too hard"... and she hadn't read the book. She's going to do it "The old fashioned way" and watch what she eats and get more exercise....which SOUNDS good, but I've seen it twenty times before. (My bet is about three days this time at MOST before she's "earned " a pizza...the WHOLE pizza...)

I'm taking some good advice here. All I said was "Well, if you ever do want to borrow the book, just holler." and left it at that, eating my low-carb snack while she ate cheetos. (If you KNEW me, you'd know what a monumental thing my careful choice of words WAS!!!)

She and the ther friend "envy my willpower" but claim they don't have any... They refuse to see that the plan MAKES it easier to stick to than what they're doing. They just have their minds made up they can't do it..and you know the saying "Whether you think you can or can't, you're usually right!"

Low-carb doctor and author Fred Pescatore (whose dues including having worked at the Atkins Center in Manhattan) wrote a book called Thin for Good: The One Low-Carb Diet That Will Finally Work for You. My reading of it gave me the impression that he's entirely pro-Atkins, but felt that the Atkins book itself somewhat lacked fully dealing with the range of psychological issues that can plague some dieters to varying degrees. He attempted to address that with a series of psychological exercises, insights, etc. along with an Atkins-style low-carb program. I think his book (and books like it) might be helpful for some who have a higher degree of psychological barriers/issues and just reading the Atkins book might need more than just its science why's of low-carbing and 1-2-3 how's of what-to-eat instructions. My point is that some of these people have psychological barriers to an extent that they sabotage themselves before even making it through Atkins induction enough to realize for themselves the health/weight improvements to get self-propelled in their motivation.

I also think Rachael Heller's writing in the beginning of her CAD book was pretty good in one aspect of this too, about how before she discovered (in fact, stumbled) upon low-carbing, the psychological abuse people take when failing on low-calorie/low-fat diets (even though they may be following local/lofat to the letter, yet doctors blaming them for not following it "correctly")... these people can understandably get quite a chip on their shoulder from those failures, then showing up to low-carb with a lot of psych baggage - potentially sabotaging their giving low carb a true try. Being an outsider, it's very easy for them (especially before reading "the book") to get a lot of misconceptions, such as thinking one of their successful low-carb buddies simply has much better willpower - rather than understanding the appetite-reducing, blood sugar stabilizing benefits of low carbing many benefit from.
So, I'm learning not to be too critical of them after what a lot of them have gone through from those other diets that haven't worked for them combined with conflicting/changing advice from the government/media. Ms. Heller herself only caught on due to an unusual situation of needing to forego certain foods to prep for a doctor visit, and discovered it caused weight loss the next day, upon which she repeated the same low carb for another day, and got the clue by direct observation... sort of sneaking up on her and her barriers under the wire. And so on.

Thank you for your ideas and suggestions. I saw my friend last night and he would not admit it directly and skirted around the issue of whether he cheated - did say he has to watch his carbs more closely. Also his Doctor is a Nutritionist who likes Atkins. He told my friend to get rid of the Atkins candy bars and stuff. My friend finally realizes that even that LC food adds up to affect your blood glucose levels. If you eat one candy bar that might be 3gm carb - then eat sugar free cookies at 10g - then eat three slices of Atkins pizza(Carbsense Dough) with sauce - maybe 10 gm per - you get 43 g of carb in one sitting!

Looks like he is on better track - is taking 35 units of something called Lanced so has to use syringes

So thank you again!

GaryW- I do think the CAD diet book covers the psychological issues much better than Atkins does. I think it's the first-hand knowledge she has of BEING overweight/dieting/"failing"... I struggle to overcome my emtional eating, and low carb DOES make it easier.

"Other" Gary..lol.. Your friend reminds me of my sister, who ate a WHOLE BOX of cookies because they were LOW FAT, thus GOOD for her diet!!
Admittedly, I've overindulged myself, because a food was low carb.. another reason I had to cut out the sugarfree chocolate for now. It was to easy to rationalize overdoing it!

I have nother friend who is obese. I used to tell him about healthy fat like olive oil. His idea is to eat huge quantities of regular typical saturated fat food and then have some olive oil on top thinking that makes it all healthy. He had 1/2 his stomach cut out with an obesity operation.

Now he is gaining weight. His doctor laughed at him and said he never did such an operation on somebody and they immediately gained so much weight.

Kind of sad this person just cannot control the total quantity of food they eat.

It's really sad that even surgery can't help him. Scary too... It sounds like he needs a better doctor as well as some nutritional counselling so he can learn exactly what he needs to eat.

I've had feelings of frustration on this support forum as well. Such as the one day cheats ..weekend cheats...low carb products galore.
I want to support and help, I want them to see how fantastic they can feel and all the advantages of sticking to Atkins as its written. Everytime I see someone who is not even 20% to goal asking about low carb breads, muffins, cakes, candies, I want to just scream out, give yourself a chance! I know not everyone feels these things can be harmful, but to me its just replacing an addiction with something else. It doesn't allow a person enough time to re-learn how to eat. To appreciate the unprocessed foods and to let the body learn new reactions to what is put in it.
Yea, attraction rather than promotion Karen. That's what I try to do. I also always try to reply with my experience only. Its sometimes very hard to stay so positive.

It makes me think of that post someone put up about a lady in the office found out she was on Atkins and told her how it'd not worked for her and the other lady, stating something about maybe it was the doughnut or whatever it was, she was having with lunch.
There is misinformation galore. So these people attempt a half-Asskins for less than a month, eat carbs again, gain...and they are the ones out there saying how rotten it is for you.
Anyway, yea I'm done venting too.

Wow, this post keeps going and going and going...
I posted almost the same thing a few weeks ago after seeing one to many "whiney" posts. I have to remember that it was a little strange and difficult at first for me also. So, I ask myself what kind of mood I am in before responding or even reading them. As for others that prefer to eat themselves to death, or are diabetic and eat sugar all day, so be it. I have tried to help people, and only those that at least make an effort, will have me there to encourage them when they have a bad day. My dad is diabetic and finally got a hold of his candy addiction, by switching to sf candy. He is now no longer diabetic and I am thrilled. We can debate whether he learned anything about his addiction til the end of time. I am just happy he doesn't need insulin shots or could become blind.

Dstar-- good point. Does it matter if he learned anything about his addiction? Not really. The immediate threat is being mitigated by the substitution, which gives him the opportunity to learn better habits. He may or may not choose to, but he's alive!

IthinkIcan- I share your frustration about peple who blame the plan, or go off-plan and complain about it "not working"...

I'm not so frustrated with the ones who ask about lc products. Yes, I suppose it's "better" to do it with whole natural foods, but I look at those products as ways to make the program more bearable, and alternative to falling off-plan.

We all have to be careful about our mood, tone, etc when we post. My own personal achilles heel is when people who aren't 20% to goal telling others the "right" way to do the program.

To get back to potatofree's original rant, I want to say I totally understand her frustration, but at the same time you really cannot change others, you can only change yourself.
Being a good example isn't necessarily as glamorous as getting someone to "see the light," but it works better in the long run.
I totally agree, by the way. It drives me crazy when someone says, "Oh, I couldn't give up bread/potatoes/sugar." Heck, if I gave them all up, and now don't even miss them, there is hope for everyone.
I say, "Okay, on the one hand we have a slimmer body, more energy, clear skin and better health. On the other hand, we have...bread."
It doesn't seem like a hard choice to me.

Thought long and hard before I posted to this thread. I really get upset when I see threads where people are constantly discussing a carb blow-out day, or days, or meals. When I first started Atkins and signed up on this site, I read all of that and thought it might be okay because there were so many people who didn't feel it did any harm and lots who felt it helped. I tried it ONCE for ONE meal and then wondered what in the "h***" I was doing. I resent people who constantly cheat and talk about how hard it is for them and say it doesn't work, because it gives the impression that it is easy for the people who have struggled, had horrible days and sometimes suffered through without the cheating. What...we are somehow immune from the frustration? I haven't cheated once, and it wasn't easy when I was under terrific stress or exhausted. I know when I am vulnerable to cheats and try to head them off at the pass. I'm not patting myself on the back, but I'm certainly not going to start a thread and whine if I make the choice to pig out and choose not to exert some self-control. Again and again and again. When I first started Atkins I found it incredibly difficult, but it has gotten much easier as time has passed. And I certainly didn't see amazing results in the first two weeks! Or month. The threads for support are great...as long as the idea that it is "okay" to cheat, forgive yourself and move on...over and over and over again aren't reinforced to the point where "falling off the wagon" is almost a good thing! Just look at all the folks who will rally 'round to tell you it is okay again and again and again! Everyone is vulnerable to temptation and there is nothing wrong with falling victim to it as long as it doesn't become a way of doing Asskins. (Loved that expression!) I know I sound nasty, but I am somewhat fed up with the attitude that "if I don't lose a lot, and right now and can't eat what I want, this doesn't work".

Thank you so much for letting me vent. I feel so much better!

You know I was WONDERING where this thread went...it looks like it was added on to one I started earlier....hmmmm.....