I am worried about doing a low-carb program now that I am diabetic. I want to do Somersizing, but I assume that I can't have the fruit on the empty stomach? Is there anyone out there who could tell me how you handle meals, BG management, etc? Do you have the carb meal with no fat? Or, do you just do pro/fats and veggies? Does low-blood sugar pose a problem when you aren't eating carbs? Has any diabetic here done Somersizing to the point of reaching goal weight? Has that made a difference in how you eat now, your BG readings, etc?

I really need some real life advice before I go ahead and jump into Somersizing.

Thanks!

Melissa

I honestly wouldn't recommend Sommersizing for a diabetic, mostly because a diabetic body doesn't particularly care what you combine the carbs with. Some combinations may spike your blood sugar less than others, but I personally wouldn't go higher than 15 grams of carb in any one meal and I would never eat carbs in any form alone (ie without some fat and protein).
It really depends on how much function your pancreas still has left. Your body may be able to handle something like Somersizing, but it would be best to let your blood sugar meeter tell you that. Test before and then 1 and 2 hours after each meal and see how much your blood sugar goes up. Record what you eat each time and then also your blood sugar readings alongside what you ate. This will give you a pretty clear picture what your body can and can't handle. Just for reference, you don't want your blood sugar after a meal to go over 140 at any time and you want it to be at 120 or less 2 hours after eating.
A good book on low carbing for diabetics that I would recommend is Dr. Bernstein's Diabetes Solution. Another one that you may want to read is The Schwarzbein Principle. Both give excellent advice to diabetics, but Dr. Bernstein's book is more specific on testing (how, when, why, etc...) and management of blood sugars through low carbing.
I've honestly never had a problem with low blood sugars from cutting carbs except when I was taking medication for diabetes and cutting carbs which was actually a good thing...it meant that my medication needed to be reduced and after a few months of low carbing, I was able to stop taking it altogether. Why continue to take and spend a lot of money on medication when diet alone will give you the same results (actually better)?
HTH!

Melissa,

I agree with Lisa. I think that you should read "Dr. Bernstein's Diabetes Solution". Following his plan took my morning fasting blood sugars from 310 to 130 in only about a month. (And its been slowly dropping from there.) That's with no medication whatsoever.

I've recently moved and when I get a new doctor, I'm going to have to tell him or her that I'm a diabetic. Thanks to low carbing, a standard blood test or even an HBA1c isn't going to show it. But, I'm still definitely a diabetic because my blood sugar zooms if I eat anything carby. The surprising thing is that I don't miss the carbs--feeling really good physically for the first time in years is so much more fun!

Good luck, Melissa!

I called my doctor. I have lab slips waiting for me for fasting blood sugar and an A1C test. I am dreading taking them. However, I look at all the blood sugar readings I've had in the last 4 days and I realize that it won't be any big shock to hear the big "D" word from my doctor.

I understand that Suzanne Somers got information from Dr. Schwarzbein on the scientific reasoning behind her diet. Dr. Schwarzbein even wrote the foreword in Suzanne's latest book. If I am going to read the Schwarz's book, how come I can't go for a diet she approves of?? BTW - most of the advice from diabetics following the Somersizing WOL is that carbs have to be kept at a minimum until weight is lost.
I agree that Dr. S and Dr. B are good people to read. They seem to be more scientifically centered, rather than the commercializm of the low-carb phenom.

I think any of the low-carb programs would be better than the crap the ADA/AMA have continued to spout to the public about how to eat healthfully. Watching a show today heard this and said "DUH! There's a connection people!! Figure it out before we all die!!!" Anyway - it was a person on a weight loss show saying "There are more and more low-fat and fat free products on the market and yet we, as a nation, continue to get fatter and fatter" or something to that effect. I was like - DUH!!!

Anyway. I am still not sure what direction to go in for this control thing. So many choices for low-carb plans.

Whatever I decide, my experimenting has shown that exercise HAS to be a part of my regimin. I had virtually the same carby meal a few days ago, no exercise PD, and my BG was 170 2 hr PD. Tonight went overboard again, but walked 2 miles afterward. 2 hr PD was 146. Still too high, I know. But, it really shows that if I don't exercise those carbs away I am getting much higher BG #'s.

I am really hoping that if I lose the 150 pounds I need to that I will see a dramatic improvement in my diabetes management.

Thanks for the input.

Melissa

I did the Suzanne Somers diet for about a month.....bad thing for me a type 2 diabetic.... eating those carbs alone shot my bs up very high..... I found out I can not eat carbs alone.....nor as many as her plan gives you... that's for normal people......go with either of the ones mentioned here by others......

Because it's not designed for diabetics, but normal people whose blood sugars don't soar when they eat more than just a few carbs alone. Schwarzbein isn't even written specifically for diabetics, but it has a lot of good information that is helpful for diabetics in it. Bernstein is written by a diabetic specifically for diabetics and he uses the plan with all his diabetic patients with very good results.
Excercise is definitely part of a blood sugar management program, but it's not the only part. You have to control your carb intake as well unless you plan to excercise each day after each meal. You've seen for yourself what a dramatic difference half an hour of exercise after a meal can have, but it shouldn't be used as a method to pig out on carbs and still keep your blood sugars somewhat in line; you're still getting that insulin response that will make it very difficult for you to lose weight. Excercise will also help with insulin resistance as well.
It's possible that once you lose a good deal of weight that your blood sugars will be better controlled and you may be able to add more carbs back into your menu, but don't make the mistake of getting complacent about it. I did that and I wound up on medication for a time along with very high blood pressure until I could get my blood sugars back under control with low carbing and got back off them again. This time around I know better. Low carb for the long haul.

I've gone ahead and purchased the Diabetes Solution, the Schwarzbein Principle, and Diabetes for Dummies. I've read a ton of books over the last three years, and I think in the end that I am going to just mesh all the best points of these plans to suit me. I know that if I greatly restrict my carbs, I will have faster results, lower blood sugar numbers, etc. I will most likely pull from several plans to make a WOL I can be very satisfied with for the rest of my life. I am also going to bring my research to the attention of whatever endocrinologist or CDE my doctor sends me to, get their input, and create a plan individual to me and my diabetes. I am hoping that with all these things at my disposal I will be able to find a balance that will allow for me to be more than satisfied with what I am eating, get healthy amounts of exercise, lose all the weight I need to, and keep my diabetes under control without medication.

I have recently done some research on Syndrome X. The book agrees that Chromium can have a beneficial effect on blood sugars, but they say you need to take 1000 Mcg. So, I upped my Chromium yesterday and had a really awesome night for readings. Dinner was 114, 2 hour PD, at bedtime it was 121, and my fasting blood sugar this morning was 124 - the lowest reading for the week. And, all this was with no 2 mile walk. I did also avoid all caffeine yesterday, since I've noticed that if I drink it between meals my 2 hour PD readings are definitely higher.

I am so grateful for this time to experiment with my own eating, drinking, exercise, and supplimentation. I've learned a ton about how my body reacts to certain things. I am still upset that I have diabetes, but, as I gain more information (and therefore power over my future) I feel that the future isn't so bleak. I can learn to control this disease, still have yummy food in my life, lose all the weight I need to, and be a relatively happy person.

Melissa

Of course, you have to come up with a program you can live with, but my advice to any newly diagnosed Type II is read Dr. Bernstein's book from cover to cover and follow his dietary recommendations ONLY. If they should disagree with anyone else's plan on any point, go with Bernstein and ignore the other one.

Dr. Bernstein is arguably the world's foremost authority on diabetes. He single handedly invented self monitoring of blood sugar. He's lived as a Type I diabetic for more than 5 decades, and for more than 3 decades he's had normal blood sugars around the clock. As an endocrinologist and diabetologist he's seen first hand what horrible damage the disease can do to the body. As he says somewhere in the book, HbA1c readings reflective of average glucose readings as low as 120 mg/dl will more often than not be found in patients who upon examination present diabetic complications.

Managing blood sugar requires special dietary considerations which neither Atkins nor Scharzbein addresses in depth. Any physician who in the future tells me to increase my carbohydrate intake, take sulfonylurea drugs, limit fat consumption, or violate any other rule of Bernstein's regimen will find himself minus one patient immediately. I'm not willing to fool around with any disease which is potentially as devastating as diabetes nor will I consult any medical practitioner who is.

I agree with you 100 %.... you said it all.... I find it disturbing that doctors still advise patients to eat lots of carbs.....DO THEY EVEN KNOW WHO RICHARD BERNSTEIN IS ??

I have to agree with C6H6O3. Creating a plan that best fits you isn't out of the question. In fact, I'd encourage it (eventually), but you have to first get better control over your blood sugars and then get a decent amount of experience under your belt (along with a lot of blood sugar readings checking how your body responds to different foods) before you go combining parts of several plans.
Pick one plan to start with (I still recommend Bernstein) and stick with it for at least a couple of months. Get comfortable with how you are supposed to eat and in what amounts to keep your blood sugar in normal ranges consistently and start taking the weight off.
Then and only then would I recommend starting to cautiously experiment with one food at a time to see what your body can and can't handle and in what amounts.
Who knows? By that time, you may be quite satisfied with what you are eating and more than quite satisfied with the results you are getting and not feel a need to start combining plans.

I've been sitting here trying to figure out what chemical that name applies to. (OK, I'm a geeky chemistry professor ) It's so unsaturated that it can't be a sugar. Must be aromatic. All I come up with is trihydroxybenzene, but I have no idea why that would be used as a "handle". Care to explain the mystery of your name, C6H6O3?

I'm a photographer. The developer I use, which has properties approaching the magical for large format shutterbugs, is based on pyrogallol, or more formally, 1,2,3-trihydroxybenzene.

Fasting was 114 - very low, not sure how that happened. Maybe my testing machine is out of whack. My A1c results were 6.3. According to this doc I have impaired glocose tolerance, not diabetes. Of course, if I don't change my ways I will prolly have high A1c results next time.

Thanks for the advice. I am going to continue the search for a plan that will help me lose the weight I need to. I am also going to keep an eye on my blood sugars.

Melissa

Melissa...

while 114 is certainly better than what it's been running, that's not very low by any standard. Low would be below 70. Very low would be below 60. Normal fastings should be between 70 and 110 (preferably in the 80's or 90's tops). Keep working at it, you're definitely headed in the right direction if your meeter is accurate. Speaking of accuracy, your meeter should have come with a test solution, or even more than one (a high and a low) so you can check to make sure that your meeter is functioning properly. If your results seem questionable at any time, it's a good idea to use those control solutions to check the accuracy of your meeter. That way, you'll know if you can trust your readings or not.
I wish you luck with finding a plan that will work for you.

I meant to say that the fasting number was high for me. For what they've been the last year or so.

I remember the testing solution, but I don't have anymore. Do they sell this seprately?

Melissa