Cara, It is 18 or use a Converter, or download a Conversion chart so you have it, both here: http://www.diabetes.co.uk/blood-sugar-converter.html
Only reason for you to do it is to understand what the crazy Americans are going on about or when reading the articles we post.

If you were about to eat something and wondered about its effect, e.g. coffee with cream and an artificial sweetener, yes, check before and after. After you have done it with a food or combination of foods, and know the result, move on. Some tips here: http://chriskresser.com/how-to-prev...-disease-for-16.
There is a new post on the WheatBellyBlog, where a diabetic started taking her BG after eating various foods and found bread, oatmeal, etc raised it, so gave them up even before seeing Dr Davis on PBS. Connecting the dots in diabetes is so easy he writes, eat something that raises BG, you will have high BG. With Fung's program, check how much starchy veg or legumes you can handle with dinner. Testing BG may not catch the "insulinogenic foods" that are listed in the Optimizing Nutrition paper, but you will have way more information about the BG raising potential of various foods for your body than most people.
Although the whole process of measuring BG seems scary and odd at first, it really isn't painful and quickly becomes an interesting and useful self-test. How many medical conditions can give instant feedback at home?

Dr. Fung talks about benefits of fiber. I'm confused because to get 30g of fiber a day I would need to eat a lot of carbs. What am I missing?

I've been unable to find the part of the protocol where Dr. Fung recommends 30gms of fiber a day. I agree that to get that much fiber from food without eating HC would be very difficult. I eat very little food, and without using fiber supplements, I would never poop. Because different kinds of fiber do different things, I take three types:

Early morning: 1 tbls psyllium husks (6gms)
Lunchtime: oat bran tablets (2gms) glucomannan capsules (2gms)
Before bed: 1 tbls psyllium husks (6gms)

I've been taking the psyllium husks (Trader Joe's) every day for 30 years, so I have no gas problems as a result of it. I've read that people who haven't been eating much fiber need to take it slow when adding fiber. Also, drink lots and lots of water to avoid problems.

I have not routinely added fiber because most of the time I am still going on a daily basis and it is plenty soft and often floating from the fat. And when I do take the glucomanon it makes everything race through the tract...better be no one between me and the little girls room!

Fasting Physiology - Part 2 is up on Dr Fung's blog. Great writing as always. As usual I want Part 3. I hope he discusses more about the how to implement especially in light of his blog response this week. I do not think I would have been successful in starting an IF routine if I had to start with no food. The co in my tea in the morning and the bone broth at lunch is what has made this not only tolerable but actually enjoyable. I feel well and nourished. Today I was unable to get my lunch and I felt horrible by the time I was able to leave work. I don't know what my bg was but I know my body was depleted and probably also mildly dehydrated. A zero intake fast is not on my list of things to experiment with.

Ha ! Where I have been is, on such a long stall that there was nothing to say for months. Basically, my "secret to rapid weight loss" is, be stalled like forever, (more than three months, even though I was carefully maintaining the plan, staying under 20 grams carb, and under 1200 calories, medium protein, plenty of fat) - I think its pretty clear my system had slowed down, I was often freezing cold deep inside (it was winter but that doesn't explain it all) and had a very hard time getting warm even under tons of blankets and wrapped in my "bunny suit" (fluffy warm pj's). I was finishing the last semester of my masters degree, and under some stress and not sleeping enough. THEN I turned in my paper, slept for 12 hours, then 12 hours the next day, then the SUN came out, and I purposefully went outside to get some light in through the eyes (without burning the retina of course !) AND started fasting all -- at the same time. I had been skipping breakfast as a regular routine, but that just wasn't doing it. I started fasting dinner to dinner two days in the week, and then three. Each fast brought an incredible whoosh, which seemed to continue the next day. I'm keeping the carbs very low on eating day, and doing what i was before, but allowing just a little more, rather toward the 1500 calorie range. I have no idea why it all started to fall off NOW after so little movement, but it's like it's catching up for lost time.

It's surely mostly water, but I remember, my first month on low carb, I lost 17 pounds - the weight just fell off -- then it slowed down gradually, until zero loss after six months EXACTLY one hundred percent exactly as depicted on the discouraging chart Mr. Fung put up. While Dr. Andreas Feldt supposes the low-carb diet fails after six months because of lack of compliance, I knew I was complying rather rigidly, and Dr. Fung's explanation for the phenomenon made sense - it was the dreaded slowing of the metabolism, the dreaded compensation. So I was eager to give IF another try. Surely there is some mysterious alchemy that stimulates the fat burning doing this on and off combination of fast and feast. But I think there may be a factor in the SUN which is very important - I read a goofy thing on-line about sun gazing for health (don't do it !!) which motivated me to take in as much sun (indirectly !!) as my eyes could tolerate. The winter had been sooooo dark, long, gloomy, drippy, and generally MISERABLE, so the return of SUN was a huge dramatic change. Something to do with vitamin D ?

editing to add -- reading the latest incredible post from Dr. Fung, I think this is what is going on : (from Fasting Physiology Part 2)


Fung writes that alternate Day fasting seems to offer the same (some of the same ?) benefits; meanwhile keeping to mostly low-insuligenic foods on those feasting days is probably crucial for those, like me with particularly stubborn metabolisms (over 50, female, with PCOS, and taking tamoxifen !).

Wow, Pivoine, what a great story! I was so excited to read Dr Fung's post yesterday - and it made me want to try a real 24 hours fast (I've still not been able to accomplish that). Your post confirming what he suggests has been true for you adds to my desire. I hope these good results will continue for you. I hope you will stick around on this thread and share your results - good or not as good - regularly.

Liz,

I had the same reaction to Dr Fung's latest post, wanting to try a longer fast. I fast for about 18 hours every day. I haven't seemed to be able to manage longer than that.

Jean

You know, I find myself wondering about taking drugs during the fast. I mean, literally, the taking them. The pills themselves presumably have some small amount of digestible matter in them, so I wonder how they affect a fast?

If they do. But I've not actually seen this addressed in any of the fasting stuff I've read one way or another.

The pdf files Dr. Fung used to have available address taking meds:
"Try to take your medications with a small serving of leafy greens, an apple, or a pear."

I'd think that a gram or two of carbohydrate here and there would probably matter less on a fast than during something like a ketogenic diet or Atkin's Induction.

I've read here and there that the citric acid used to flavour some sugarless gums can prevent ketosis, but I don't know how good that information is--at least one member on this board has said that citric acid interferes with his ketosis, and the amounts used in gum and what-not are kind of small. But the citric acid always comes with other stuff, so I don't know how narrowed-down that is.

There's also a study where people on extended water fasts had small amounts of glucose added--between seven and a half grams and fifteen grams a day. This "ruined" urine ketones, but blood ketones didn't go down.

Urine ammonia also went down, and the authors suggested that the small amount of glucose spared body protein, and that the kidney not needing to dispose of as much ammonia as a result of this, it didn't need to spill as many ketones in the urine to keep it from being too alkaline. So at least under those conditions, a little bit of glucose didn't actually increase glucose metabolism, it merely replaced glucose that would have resulted from gluconeogenesis.

Great story, Pivoine! Thank you for the update..terrific progress with IF. I understand the tonic of springtime and sun when living in Northern Europe..winters were the pits, I was only saved by the travel required by my job. And you are still going to class! Trust Not another thesis, that is behind you.

I had a winter of being very cold, thyroid like symptoms too. Think mine was from being both VLC and low calorie, but then Read this http://www.wheatbellyblog.com/2012/07/an-iodine-primer back in 2012 and havent had those symptoms since supplementing with iodine. Also supplement with 10K Vit D in winter, 5K in summer. My oncologist is pleased with my Vit D levels of 60-80 now. He is doing a study with prostate cancer patients and said that is same amount of supplementation they need too (older folks absorb less from sun). You probably have a few more years of tamoxifen, it certainly doesn't help your overall wellbeing, but it doesn't hinder weight loss much if you find the right diet for you...and seems you have. Keep singing,

JEY Thank you for reminding me about the iodine - I did read up on that when hubby was losing hair - and got us kelp tablets, effect unnoticeable. They are only 150 mcg - I'll try upping it to 500 and see if anything happens.

May I ask where you were able to find it. I'm having a hard time locating it. Thanks!

The original link in this thread doesn't seem to work any more but you can find it here:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/if9cs6u0a...nsulin.pdf?dl=0

Hope it works