About 6 or 7 years ago I was very overweight, obese actually, and I had struggled all my life to keep my weight down. I know, looking back, that I was a carb and sugar addict. And I am pretty sure that I must have been insulin resistant.
When my husband and I went onto a sort of keto diet, everything changed. ( we eat meat, fish, eggs and all vegetables except potatoes. No milk, no fruit, no sugar or flour or processed foods) The joint pain, psoriatic arthritis and psoriasis all gradually disappeared and I found that after that years of being obsessed by food, I hardly thought about it. I lost 35kg.
My problem now is that I can't gain weight any more and I would like to. I am beginning to look emaciated. I have lost 5 kgs in the last 6 months. We do fast most days, started that originally to lose weight, but now I do it more to save my brain.
What I would like to know is: am I still insulin resistant? If I am not gaining weight does that mean I am no longer insulin resistant? If I start eating carbs and sugar sometimes will I be challenging my brain?
Dementia with Parkinsons is my worst fear.
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Celtis
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There is an important distinction to be made between complex carbohydrates and simple sugars. Simple sugars are quickly absorbed and hit the bloodstream all at once, initially causing excessive blood sugar and a burst of insulin which can then result in low blood sugar. Not good. Complex carbohydrates are broken down into sugar more slowly and are therefore handled much better by the body.
Thank you for your reply. Are you saying that if I try to gain weight by eating complex carbohydrates like pasta, bread made with seeds and ground wholewheat or beans and lentils then that would not cause the cascade of insulin? That makes sense to me.
But if I am not insulin resistant any more surely that would mean that my body could cope with occasionally breaking the diet, say eating ordinary bread or a slice of cake or biscuits sometimes. What I want to know is how do I find out if I am insulin resistant now or not. Am I challenging my brain by eating those things occasionally?
The only way to be sure if you are insulin resistant is to be tested. Talk to your doctor, or better yet a specialist to find the best test for you.
"complex carbohydrates like pasta, bread made with seeds and ground wholewheat or beans and lentils"
Ordinary pasta is not particularly complex, but whole grains (oat, wheat, rye, etc), beans, lentils, veggies, fruits, berries, mushrooms, seeds, and nuts are complex.
Based on what you've written, here's one theory: you may be burning your muscles as fuel. You say you eat no fruit, potatoes, or grains? If you don't eat any beans or berries either, and if the veggies you eat are low carb, almost all of your calories come from fish, meat, and eggs. One of the problems with keto is you don't ever feel hungry, so you wouldn't necessarily know if you're not taking in enough calories. if you don't take in enough calories, your body will use your stored fat, and if you're out of that, it will use your muscles to survive. Your brain needs omega 3 (at least) to be healthy, so your body will try to hold onto that for as long as it can.
I realize that you are doing keto, but long-term keto has potential problems, even if you're careful. It's very easy to miscount calories for example. My advice would be to drop out of keto (if you want to do it later, that's always an option) and begin eating a few whole plant-based foods that have some serious carb calories, such as beans, fruit, whole grains, and maybe even sweet potatoes. Don't go crazy with refined "simple" carbs (an "addict" is always an addict), but at least get a balance in your calorie input and output.
Once you can actually feel hungry again you'll be better at knowing when and how much to eat. If you eat high-fiber food, you'll feel satisfied and satiated more quickly. These are useful feelings; learn to pay attention to them and you'll be better off. You'll get more antioxidants and phytonutrients too. And always be sure to get enough fiber to keep your gut biome healthy. 97% of westerners don't get enough fiber.
Another option would be to increase the amount of food you already eat. I'm not a keto fan, so wouldn't, but "you do you".
Thank you for your detailed response. You have given me a lot to think about.
I forgot to mention that we also eat seeds and nuts, mainly almonds because they are cheaper and use only olive oil and coconut oil. Also we don't restrict high carb veg like sweet potato and carrots. I like the idea of adding fruit and beans and lentils and maybe whole mealies.
But the idea that I may be getting thinner because of muscle wasting has never occurred to me before and it makes absolute sense, not only because of the diet, but also because I have been more or less out of action for the last two years. I had a bad knee and my heart was giving trouble so I spent most of the time sitting in my chair.
I have at last got a pacemaker and I have had an aortic valve replacement and a triple bypass and, 6 months after that, a complete knee replacement.
I feel well, no pain, I am starting to exercise and B1 has made such a difference to my PD. I have not understood how with all that I look so much worse, getting thinner and thinner. I see now that that is partly because of the diet but mostly because I have sat so still for so long. You have given me the explanation. And I don't need to start eating bad carbs to gain weight. I can exercise and build muscle like that. Thank you!
I don't share your health issues (except for the chronic inflammation), but my BMI was lower than what my Dr would like and I found that resistance training was really the only thing that can get my weight up. Cardio is really important, of course, but it does not help me keep up my muscle mass. You may want to ask your Dr if you can do some sort of progressive resistance training program if you aren't already. A personal trainer would be great to have as they can teach you proper form to avoid injury and also keep you from overtraining (which I've found out the hard way can set off a nasty bout of inflammation; some DOMS is normal, feeling like someone beat you with a baseball bat and then set you on fire is not).
Not sure what you mean by a 'sort of keto diet'. A keto diet should be high fat and low carb. In a keto diet you are permitted good saturated fats like virgin coconut oil and butter from pasture-raised cattle. Olive oil is good but not soya-oil and canola. The keto diet my husband and I were following allowed one piece of low-sugar fruit a day. A serving of berries is permitted. Blueberries are excellent.
As far as carbs are concerned, wheat is problematic and best avoided -- as all gluten should be.
Hi, I think going 'hard out keto' for too long may be too much. My husband and I started keto last May, massive improvement in his symtoms, more than any pill or supplement. Since Dec we have softened it somewhat, the weight was just falling off both of us, his workmates thought he had cancer! so now we prob have around 100g carbs/day instead of 20-30g like when we were hard out keto. And also when we go out for dinner or away we will eat whatever we want , non keto, gluten, whatever, we don't want to treat it like a religion or something . Right now my peach tree is ready and today I have already feasted on too many by keto standards but 'nobody die'. I would class us now as eating predominantly high fat and low-moderate carbs, the carby part of the meals we used to eat we either don't now or we have a much much smaller portion, and a better type of carb, and of course sugar hasn't been in my house since May, I can bake a whole loaf or cake only using 2tbsp of honey for sweetness, whereas back in the sugar days there would have been at least a cup of sugar in there, along with crappy white flour. Get your Dr to test your HBA1C, this will indicate insulin resistance, it lets you know the previous 3 months of sugar exposure to your red blood cells, if you are insulin resistant it will be high as the sugar hasn't been let into the cells due to resistance. You could try to lighten up on the keto for a bit, let some carbs back in, definitely fruits esp berries, a potato or banana won't kill you. You, I gather, like us have learnt lots about the bad way we were eating and saw how a different way of eating can actually change your body before your eyes. Now listen to your body, if it's feeling too depleted it needs more nourishment, doesn't mean you have to go back to bad old habits, and I don't know your age but if your are older be careful not to get thin and lose muscle mass, I myself prefer to be a bit 'squishy' I dont want to see my bones or have hollow legs or sunken face, these are signs of too much weight loss. Also we only fast in the weekend till early afternoon, daily may be too much for you. Have a breath and lighten up on it all, enjoy food it's wonderful, it doesn't mean that you'll be eating bad stuff again because now you know more.
Thank you for your reply. Interesting to see that you also had definite health benefits from the keto diet.
I really think that what you say is sensible. Don't go back to bad eating but don't get precious about breaking the diet sometimes.
I have decided to have my insulin resistance tested because I really am afraid of dementia creeping up on me ( I feel it coming) and if I am not insulin resistant I will do what you do.
By the way here is my favourite recipe adapted from Italian cantucci: 2 eggs and 1 eggyolk, 250g almond flour, 1.5 heaped tsp baking powder, pinch of salt and flavouring like vanilla or grated lemon rind. Add some sweetener, honey or Xylitol, mix all together and add 100g almonds and 100g dried cranberries. Bake in one big sheet and slice when it it is cooked enough. Then dry out in a warm oven to make rusks.
I have a feeling that that is not proper keto but a rusk with coffee is a treat.
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