I came to this forum while reading about shootergeorge’s reversing of diabetes. Unfortunately,I could not get any long grain in Gurgaon or Delhi. I did try a contact in Aurangabad but nothing came of it.
However,I came into this forum while browsing for long grain and started reading on LCHF and the excellent service and education it provides to people with diabetes.My special thanks to Medfree for the wealth of information and references he provides.There are many others who do exactly the same but to a lesser extent, however they are too many to be named. I salute you all.
My background.
I came to know of my diabetes shortly after leaving the Army (pre mature retirement) and prior to immigrating to USA in 1993. I am a typical active Punjabi male with history of D2 on both sides of my family. Yet I took liquor and very rich food for most of my life. Perhaps my diabetes was subdued because of a very active life style ( cricket, squash, golf and lesser level hockey and football besides going to gym and jogging). It came whooping out when I landed in USA with complete change of lifestyle and a desire to feed my family and survive. No time for games when you do two jobs.
The doctors in USA and India are just the same. You wait for 25-40 minutes in their office before they see you and then they see you for less then 15 minutes and give you a long list of tests. no one, really no one goes into details of your diets of lifestyle and give you a 5 page leaflet to abide by. All the Youtube videos are great with Bernstein, Mark Hayman etc but they are very few and live far away. The pharma mafia has a solid grip on the Doctors and the system. The good Doctors after a great practice publish a sensational book, come on TV and become very expansive and hard to reach.
Hence the growing out reach to forums and blogs where fellow suffering diabetics help and educate each other. I have been to a lot of them and can generally say that these people try and help.
Anyway I am 67+ now a diabetic for over 20 years. I am retired and on social security in USA and pension in India. I am under medicare for my needs in USA and with ECHF while in India.
I arrived in India in the last week of April and soon joined this forum. At the time of my joining I was taking the following:
Metformin HCL 1000 MG twice a day
Glipizide 10 MG twice a day
Januvia 100 MG one a day at night.
My usual fasting BS was 130-160
Never tested after 2 hrs of meals and till I came to this forum no one in USA advised me to test after meals.
I live In California, very close to Napa and love the easy availability of great wine and excellent organic food.I take both non veg food and wine in abundance. I also jogged, walked and did weight lifting which have kept me on the last frontier (prior to going on insulin). I want to avoid insulin !!
I am presently In India,based in Gurgaon for a few months. I come for a few months for since 2010. I come alone and don't keep a servant or a cook. I cook everything myself or order from a local club.
I started LCHF at the end of may 2014. I feel generally good about myself. By the first week of July my numbers started showing a consistency I had never seen before. My fasing BS range 68-115 (few in 130 and two in 150). My post lunch range is 125-175. My post dinner range after 4 hrs around midnight is 150-195. I am no Doctor but i took a gamble and stopped taking Januvia at this stage. In the third week of July I dropped Glipizide from 10MG twice a day to 5MG twice a day.
My fasting is hovering around 95-125 (more in 110 range). My post lunch and dinner sugars depend on what I eat. I can make lentils (learnt from You tube) and palak paneer . When I take Palak Paneer with boiled veg or raw salad my two hr sugars are in 125-135 range. If I take dal at dinner with raw salads of Cucumber and carrot the sugars at midnight are in 135-185 range. Lentils not good at dinner.
By hit and trial I have learnt to give up Melon and Papaya (i love both the fruits) at breakfast along with an omelet of three eggs. Because when i take these two fruits my sugars after two hours are in the range of 195-250. I have stopped taking these two fruits. My sugars after BF do come down as I take corrective action by eating heavy raw salad at lunch. See, this part of checking sugars after meals was never told to me except when I went through the entire write ups of Medfree.
I have had a blood report on the 30th of july. Not Great but as follows:
Cholestrol Total 202 up from 154 in March in USA
triglycerides 122
HDL 52
LDL125.6 up from 75
HbA1c 7.9 down from 8.5
My numbers are not good and I don't know what to do. But I am conituing with LCHF. I intend to learn to cook some more.
Incidentally in Jan around new year I gave up non Veg (though if required I will switch back) and this limits the amount I can eat/cook.
I have already reduced two medicines from my intake and my aim to be medicine free. It will take time but I shall prevail.
Its a long introduction. I am glad I wrote it. I am not doing any spell check or looking for grammatical errors, gave those up when i retired.
PS: Use Olive oil, Desi Ghee and Parachute coco oil for fat. Now trying to get virgin coco oil.
Limit wine to 375 ml bottle on happy occasions.
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Lucky77346
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Like you i was also taking januvia for about 5 yrs and being diabetic for 20 years and even went on to insulin for about 3 weeks. I thought iam going to be on insulin for life .It was then i happen to see this LCHF as suggested by medfree .PERSONALLY I WAS NOT CONVINCED. Then i thought let me give it a try .To my utter surprise i stopped insulin and also januvia . Now i have to taper other med like metformin and dianil which i have been taking for many years
Iam careful about my diet . i take lots of veg available . nuts, badam , eggs etc suggestions given here are excellent for all but a word of caution , have your own methods of testing with a machine at home and decide what goes well with your body. twice i took ice cream and instead of reading going up it touched only 127 to my surprise , at same time iam not asking anyone to try this . have your own methods of studying your body reacting to whatever food you take and decide on a style which will keep the sugar under control
with min med and enjoy the food you relish . just avoid rice and wheat as far as possible .
with my experience of a few days in this diet i can suggest to readers, do check your sugar level before dinner and if it is low avoid med that evening so that you do not have to face an experience of very low sugar .well i had gone through this twice after switching over to low carb diet and i keep some glucose close to my bed
i have read your long history of diabetic and we have lots in common . iam about 5 yrs junior to you.
i too felt the same no one has suggested a change of diet before to me . good luck . wish you have complete recovery from diabetes as you progress on this new diet plan . thanks to "medfree"
ice-cream is fat with small quantity of sugar with very less carbohydrate and if u take only ice cream then bs reading after 2 hrs will be withing range
infact i have purposely placed on record how a diabetic like me can have ice cream and maintain control on the readings after going through a low carbo diet. i take lunch and dinner with butter , ladies finger [6], beans[2/3,]onions [ 1]lots of peanuts, badam etc .Not tried vco , may be in a few days i will try that too . so far everything is going fine .
Great job with LCHF. Although your numbers after eating ice cream are a big surprise. I will try that once i get a little more handle on my numbers.
I going through blood testing supplies fast but then this LCHF is so exiting that you have to test. Some times my numbers are not flattering so I have to experiment more with my diet.
Glad we have something in common. I have a feeling that we we all persist we may conquer or bring it under control.
i take lunch and dinner with butter , ladies finger [6], beans[2/3,]onions ,tomatoes and sometime add cabbages also[ 1]lots of peanuts, badam etc .Not tried vco , may be in a few days i will try that too .
Medfree has set us all on an excellent path. you are right we all have to find solutions ourselves . imagine a diabetic enjoying an ice cream to those envying the same .At Least i am experiencing the same at home
Also read Dr. Ronesh Sinha's book "The South Asian Challenge". He treats only South Asians, at Palo Alto Medical Centre in California and says the American standards used by doctors don't work for Indians. Most of them need to be lowered. That said, I'm a bit skeptical of the high-fat business, especially after reading both Dr. Dean Ornish and particularly Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn (who blows the lid of the high-fat diets and what they do inflammation-wise to arteries). An entirely plant-based diet is the best and safest. And, yes, you will get all the protein (your body really requires amino acids, which are the building blocks) from the plant kingdom.
In Jan 2014 I started eating vegetarian diet. After three months on that diet I did a blood test and my cholesterol and lipid profile was good but sugars came out high.
I have seen "Forks over Knifes" and have Dr. Caldwell's book as well. All excellent stuff. I also own a copy of the DVD.
In April I came to India and got into the LCHF and so far my numbers (on daily basis are decent). Although I got a blood test done on 30July the numbers still shows cholesterol and Lipids high, there is strong possibility that I shall get them in control.
I have had reservation on high fat, specially if you follow medree---he takes raw virgin oil with black coffee with B/F. The man has been without medicine for 3 or 4 years !
Following him I have started Coco oil. I could not get virgin so I started with parachute oil used for body and hair. Frankly I dont mind it. Although I will switch to virgin coco by next week till then I am using parachute brand.
I am from bangalore 10 years in DM, 66 years of age,a shadow follower of medifree post from many months ,after gaining knowledge of lchf ,I started lchf 25 days before I have under gone bypass for heart block 2 years back
Medication :
Pregeb m 75 foot numness
Ecosprin gold 0-0-1 asprin+ cholesteral
Metasatin 25 mg 1-0-0 BP
Medlong 500mg 1-0-1 DM
PRE LCHF DIET LAB REPORT
My weight 75kg ht 5' 10"
FBS 125 PPBS 175 HbA1C 6.4 mean blood gluc 136.98
Cholesteral total 126 Trig 66 HDL 30 LDL 82.8 VLDL 13.2 total/HDL ratio 4.2 LDL/HDL ratio 2.8
Vit D 28.9 Vit B12 919
PRE LCHF DIET LAB REPORT
FBS 93 PPBS 107 wt reduces by 3kg
Lchf diet BREAK FAST Tea w/out sugar 1 roti(30g) egg+veg+sometimes ghee+ cup curds
so, after LCHF, how is your Hba1C ? I kind of am eating what you are eating. Are u still on meds ? If you stopped your meds, did the Doctor stop the meds or did you reduce it yourself ?
My HbA1c 6.4 on july 15th ,I will take HbA1c after two months I dn't stop Medformin 500 Two/day I will slowly Tapper down as my diet and reading sets I am still in search of good desi ghee/home made from butter ,oil for cooking .In bangalore extra virgin olive oil(spain made) we can get 2 lr for Rs950 My craving for rice as become nil
Your numbers were great. 127 after ice cream excellent. I am still experimenting. All through my diabetic years I was not informed about checking sugars after meals. Everyone asked for the fasting,I learnt about it in india on this forum while reading up on Medfree.
Now I check after every meal. I am learning that omelette ,raw veg salad,blanched veg salad and palak paneer give me a max of 130 after two hours. Many times it is in the low 90s or under 110. I take relief in the fact that I have dropped januvia 100 mg and reduced Glipizide to half, instead of 10 mg I now take 5 mg. I never had the guts to do that earlier.
My problem is my skills in cooking.i learnt palak paneer from watching you tube vedios and keep on referring to it while in the kitchen when I cook. I can make channa dal ( ideal for diabetics) and masoor dal with tempering. But with each dal my sugar after 2 hours is usually in the range of 140-165. I have learned this after two months of lousy cooking.
I also take nut cracker from Haldiram ( peanuts fried in a paste of basen with masala). They are high in everything- fat,caps and carbs.i am addicted to it. I have controlled my wine intake but have not been able to conquer my love for Nut Cracker. But I will.
In between breakfast/lunch/dinner atleast one fistful of peanut is must to supress hunger Papaya/guova one piece three /four times a week I am experimenting with cosumption of flexseed
Good to c people with good history with D2 - D1 getting benefits from LCHF and i am one of them , i avoided all froms of wheat and rice from my diet muching on peanuts still not taking Coq110 or VCO but eating coconut but will add them in sometime too .
With the kind of stuff you write.... you almost defy or rather laugh in the face of D2.Ice cream, Full fat chocolate (instead of bitter 70-80%) and Gajar Ka Halwa.
i look forward to the day I can have Gajar ka Halwa.
i think that artificial sweeteners are equally bad. practice food or drinks taking without sweeteners. if some time u can't resist sweet, u may take sweet in small quantity but u have to cut the carbohydrates. today evening i had been to my friend's house and had sweet and bhagies, but in the night i took a cup of whole milk and my sugar level is 98
i think that artificial sweeteners are equally bad. practice food or drinks taking without sweeteners. if some time u can't resist sweet, u may take sweet in small quantity but u have to cut the carbohydrates. today evening i had been to my friend's house and had sweet and bhagies, but in the night i took a cup of whole milk and my sugar level is 98
I am trying to give up this addiction starting with reducing quantity. May be because of nut cracker( which I take at 5 and 6:30 pm ) my midnight PPBS is 140-165.
I am going to leave this addiction.
Gave up smoking in 1987
Gave up scotch in 2005(I now take once in a while)
Will not give up wine, I have reduced it to a glass since jan 2014. Since may in India have had it twice.
Are you aware of LCHF ? give it a try. Please read about it on this forum. There are plenty of people on this forum who can advise you if you give some details about what you consume at breakfast, lunch,dinner and snacks.
Don't loose heart. The fact that you have come here is a great first step.
Check out some of the posts and you will get a feel of the kind of help that is provided by well meaning members who have gained control over D2 by change of life style and by adopting LCHF.
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