Happy New Year everyone. Still feeling my way with low carb eating and thrilled how my BS readings have responded. Put my food into my fitness pal for first time today and when I looked at nutrition my carbs were what I had worked out at 65g for the day but my protein was 113g for today, probably cos I had 2 eggs and low carb bread which I see is higher in protein, for breakfast, poached haddock for lunch and having homemade chicken curry and roasted cauliflower, followed by high protein greek yoghurt and berries for pud. As I'm a 67 year old female do you think I should cut protein to recommended 65g per day as don't want kidney trouble. Any thoughts much appreciated.
-
Please Remember: Members are only permitted to share their own experiences. Members are not qualified to give medical advice. Additionally, everyone manages their health differently. Please be respectful of other people's opinions about their own diabetes management.
Too much daily protein query
- Thread starter Drakey
- Start date
- Status
Leadinglights
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
- Pronouns
- She/Her
If you are following a low carb regime then you have to substitute the carbs for protein and healthy fats to give your body the energy it requires just to exist.
You would have to make your own mind up what you are comfortable with and various amounts are suggested but a google search suggest 2-3g protein per kg of body weight.
You would have to make your own mind up what you are comfortable with and various amounts are suggested but a google search suggest 2-3g protein per kg of body weight.
rebrascora
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
- Pronouns
- She/Her
I have to say, your menu for the day sounds like quite a lot of food to me. Do you need that much or are you eating out of habit? I find I need a lot less food than I used to now that I follow a low carb higher fat way of eating and often only eat two meals a day or sometimes just one and I don't feel hungry. It can be just habit to eat something at a "meal time" due to rather than because you actually need it.
I tend to keep my protein intake about the same as it was before diagnosis but eat more fat. The fat has less impact than protein on your BG levels and no impact on your kidneys. Fat also takes longer to digest, so it keeps you from feeling hungry and provides slow release energy.
I know we have been conditioned to believe fat is "bad" for pretty much all of our lives but the reality is not that clear cut and eating low fat products may be part of the reason why we are experiencing an obesity and diabetes epidemic. If you remove the natural fat from food it doesn't taste so good and the texture is altered, so often sugars and starches are added to improve the flavour and texture, so not only do you lose the fat which helps to keep you from feeling hungry but you add carbs which give you a BG spike that makes you crave more carbs 2 hours later when your levels start to come back down, so you end up having a snack between meals and BG levels constantly going up and down. And whilst they were keen to warn us that fat makes us fat, they omitted to tell us that too many carbs makes us fat. Just saying, don't shy away from fat because the NHS guidance is to eat low fat. The NHS is sadly wrong about a lot of stuff related to diabetes.
I tend to keep my protein intake about the same as it was before diagnosis but eat more fat. The fat has less impact than protein on your BG levels and no impact on your kidneys. Fat also takes longer to digest, so it keeps you from feeling hungry and provides slow release energy.
I know we have been conditioned to believe fat is "bad" for pretty much all of our lives but the reality is not that clear cut and eating low fat products may be part of the reason why we are experiencing an obesity and diabetes epidemic. If you remove the natural fat from food it doesn't taste so good and the texture is altered, so often sugars and starches are added to improve the flavour and texture, so not only do you lose the fat which helps to keep you from feeling hungry but you add carbs which give you a BG spike that makes you crave more carbs 2 hours later when your levels start to come back down, so you end up having a snack between meals and BG levels constantly going up and down. And whilst they were keen to warn us that fat makes us fat, they omitted to tell us that too many carbs makes us fat. Just saying, don't shy away from fat because the NHS guidance is to eat low fat. The NHS is sadly wrong about a lot of stuff related to diabetes.
AndBreathe
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- In remission from Type 2
Drakey - I don't know how you are calculating your protein intake, but a common error is if an individual is eating, say a steak, then because it is steak, they assume the weight of the steak is their protein, whereas the steak will have some water in it, plus a margin of fat and so on.
I apologise if you have already accounted for these factors.
As someone living a low car lifestyle, is in decent health, and whose kidneys work fine, I don't worry too much about overdoing protein. My focus tends to be on moderating my carbs, ensuring I have a decent amount of protein, then topping up on fats.
Thanks for your replies. I didn't think I was eating too much cos only a small piece of haddock on its own for lunch but maybe I am? My daily food intake is much reduced on what I ate pre diagnosis so expect I'm just a bit piggy. Thing is I was out with a friend for a walk before lunch and I started to feel a bit lightheaded. Did BS when iI got home and it was 5 so ate haddock cos I thought I needed too. Any comments welcome as still new to this.
Leadinglights
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
- Pronouns
- She/Her
It does rather depend on the portions you are having whether you are having too much food.
Have a look at the thread What did you eat yesterday fin the food forum or meal ideas although people tend not to mention quantities and some people will be on different regimes of diet or diet plus meds.
I think I have already said this in this forum, but Dr David Unwin was also curious/concerned if his patients who were eating Low Carb would get kidney problems due to eating much more protein. So he tested them all over a period of time (can't recall how many years). The result was that since kidney function naturally deteriorates with age, it was expected that their later test would show worse kidney function than the first one - but this was not the case, the second test showed either the same or even improved kidney function. Thus he suspects that at least in a low carb context, increasing protein intake certainly does no harm to kidneys and may even help them.
Eddy Edson
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- In remission from Type 2
I got interested in protein intake levels & after digging into it my conclusions fwiw:
- The standard 0.8 g per kg or whatever recommendation has a very weak basis.
- You probably do need more protein as you get older.
- A better general target would probably be 1.2g+ per kg, maybe as much as 2g.
But it's an area with a range of expert views & as always best to speak with an appropriately qualified HCP rather than unqualified bozos on a message board like me & everybody else here.
- The standard 0.8 g per kg or whatever recommendation has a very weak basis.
- You probably do need more protein as you get older.
- A better general target would probably be 1.2g+ per kg, maybe as much as 2g.
But it's an area with a range of expert views & as always best to speak with an appropriately qualified HCP rather than unqualified bozos on a message board like me & everybody else here.
- Status