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Support for Atkins diet, Protein Power, Neanderthin (Paleo Diet), CAD/CALP, Dr. Bernstein Diabetes Solution and any other healthy low-carb diet or plan, all are welcome in our lowcarb community. Forget starvation and fad diets -- join the healthy eating crowd! You may register by clicking here, it's free!



rbednarski
Sun, Feb-13-05, 19:55
This is my introductory message. My name is Rich. I'm new to this place (been lurking for a week or two) but not new to low-carbing. The first time I thought seriously about low carb was when my sister, with whom I've shared a lifelong weight battle, told me that she was doing Atkins. I had heard all of the negative things about Atkins so I wasn't expecting much, but she seemed to be doing OK on it. I didn't think much more about it.

Then in May of 2004 I was diagnosed with T2 diabetes. My Dr. told me that I needed to change my lifestyle regarding my eating and get some exercise. I have 2 kids (girls, 14 and 16) and a great wife and lots to live for so I took him seriously when he said I had to take this seriously.

He sent me to a diabetes "education" class where I got the standard ADA line about diet. The instructor was very anti-Atkins and told horror stories about how low-carb meant that the liver would break down fats and leave all of this toxic stuff in the bloodstream. But I wondered when she couldn't explain how fat could be lost without this terrible thing happening.

But, stupidly, i thought that they must know what they were doing so I spent the next couple of months trying to follow the lowfat, high carb (at least 50% of my calories) diet they were peddling. At my next appointment my hemoglobin a1c was up to 6.9% (from 6.4% at diagnosis) and the Dr. prescribed a blood meter. About the same time I came across a book called Body Rx, which talked about diet and exercise and had low-carb/hi-protein leanings, and I discovered the alt.support.diabetes newsgroup. Probably the best single thing I learned at that point was to test assiduously and let my blood meter control my diet. At this point, late July, 2004, I weighed 390 lbs at 6 ft. tall.

Things really started going well. My family joined a local club with a fitness center and I started doing the treadmill. I went from dying at the 10 minute mark to being able to do almost 2 miles in 30 minutes. My blood sugars were doing pretty well, hardly ever above 120 and usually around 100. My carbs were naturally cut down a lot because everytime I ate anything carby my blood sugar went up and I eliminated that thing from my diet.

Then I read Protein Power by the Drs. Eades. For the first time I had a real understanding of how the problem was hyperinsulinemia and that it was the high carbs in my previous diet that were causing it. I became more deliberately low carb, but still wasn't doing any extensive tracking of what I was eating and how many carbs I was ingesting. My weight had dropped to 335, I felt better than I had in years and so I thought all was well.

But then I stayed at 335. And stayed. And stayed.

At this point I realized I needed to get more serious about this. I finally read the copy of Dr. Atkins' book that my sister had given me a year previously. I tried keeping track of everything I ate with fitday but I didn't like it. It was too hard to enter recipes and new foods and I really didn't need the level of nutrition detail it afforded. Someone on alt.support.diet.low-carb had mentioned a program called Life Form so I downloaded it and found it to my liking. I also bought an electronic kitchen scale so I wouldn't be too optimistic about how much I was eating.

I also decided that I was going to cut my carbs down to induction level for a while, although I wasn't adhering to the food restrictions of induction so you can't really call what I was doing induction. But that didn't concern me as I was, by now, essentially, over the carb cravings that induction was supposed to eliminate. I've been staying at 20 carbs or less, and I have adopted a firm policy that if I put it in my mouth it gets weighed and recorded.

Surprisingly enough (NOT!) the weight started dropping again. In addition the blood pressure, for which I was on 2 meds, was flirting with too low (high 90's over mid 60's). The weight is now down to 315, total cholesterol is down to 94 (ldl=51, hdl= 30), triglycerides are down to 67. And that hemoglobin a1c that was at 6.9 was now down to 5.4!!

My Dr. has been blown away by my progress (I haven't yet told him about my WOE, but I have done a little proselyzing with his staff). He took me off of one of the BP meds with the understanding that we will look at dropping the other at my next appt. We are also going to do an experiment with my cholesterol med - I won't take it for a week before my next blood test and if everything is OK we'll drop that as well. Being med-free is a major goal of mine.

The one area that I haven't done as well with is in the exercise department. I need to get back to doing it on more than a sporadic basis, which is what I've been doing for the last couple of months. I also want to add weight training to the aerobics to build muscle mass and get the metabolism boost that will bring.

I discovered this place a couple of weeks ago and already it is becoming a favorite of mine. I have discovered some incredible recipes on the recipe boards (peanut butter cups, asparagus rolls, to name 2). And it is so nice to see people helping each other and being supportive of each other without the back-biting and flame wars that are so common on the Usenet newsgroups.

Anyway, I guess this is more than enough as an introduction. Thanks, if you've persevered through it. I'm glad to be a member of this community.

God bless,

Rich

nikotyme
Sun, Feb-13-05, 20:16
Howdy do Rich and welcome aboard.

Great to have you with us, I know we're going to be seeing great things from you, the motivation is there and the support is here for you whenever you need it.

Please consider starting a journal, you can ramble on about any old thing in it if you like, but also your concerns and your victories so that we can pop in and say hi and offer advice if you need it.

Best of luck to you.

rbednarski
Sun, Feb-13-05, 23:08
Thanks, nikotyme, and congratulations on crossing the century mark! I hope to join you there soon.

God bless,

Rich

jamaicaker
Sun, Feb-13-05, 23:37
Hey Rich, It is great to have you here. Feel free to ask me anything if you have any questions. I have been around for about a year now.

Goat Lady
Mon, Feb-14-05, 06:16
Hello and Welcome Rich! Thanks for the great story! Congrats on your success and we hope to see ya around the boards alot more!! :)

victoria47
Mon, Feb-14-05, 06:33
Fast uses their shakes? You know, one shake in the morning and one in the afternoon, and then a sensible dinner?