The Atkins Diet

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hotchop

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What are your thoughts on the atkins diet?

Is a carb free diet really bad for us diabetics?

I ask as i am considering trying it for a couple of reasons... I need to lose a stone in weight and it may be beneficial to my bg levels.

Thanks
 
I don't think it's suitable for Type 1s because of the risk of confusion over the ketones produced. Type 2 not on insulin, I would imagine are OK, although I'm not sure what effect there might be on taking some medications if you are not consuming carbs - you might need to consult with your doctor to see if they need reducing and how.

Personally never been in favour of 'crash' diets like Atkins as it can be a shock to the system, and often unsustainable i.e. you just put the weight back on when you return to a more normal diet.
 
My understanding (which is limited) of the atkins diet is you are eating large ammounts of protein and fat.

Personal opinion here, doesn't mean I am right as it is a personal choice, but I think you are probably better of joining something like weight watchers or slimming world.

If you want to follow something like the atkins diet, it may also pay you to talk to the doctor or DSN.
 
I am trying a low carb diet - avoiding bread, cereals and having small portions of either rice pasta or potatoes. Seems to be having a beneficial effect on my bloods although not sure about weight yet as not been going a week yet.
 
Thank you for your input.

I am going to give low carb a try.. maybe below 30g.. see how I get on for a cpl of days
 
hotchop said:
Thank you for your input.

I am going to give low carb a try.. maybe below 30g.. see how I get on for a cpl of days
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Good luck with it HotChop. You may find this interesting reading: Low Carbing
 
There's no such thing as a carb free diet as even vegetables contain small amounts of carbs. The Atkins Diet is renown for helping people lose weight quickly by excluding starchy foods, the downside is that it is very controversial and experts believe that as a long term solution it is damaging to the kidneys, bowels and cardiovascular health, this is down to replacing carbs with increased protein and fat. There are other low carb alternatives to the Atkins diet which may not be as damaging, but whether or not they are suitable for diabetics only you can decide.
 
toby said:
the downside is that it is very controversial and experts believe that as a long term solution it is damaging to the kidneys, bowels and cardiovascular health, this is down to replacing carbs with increased protein and fat.
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I think you'd have to say that 'some' experts believe it is damaging. Possibly even 'many'. I'm not a low carber myself, nor do I expect to feel any need to try it, but I was interested to read this by famous low-carb advocate Dr Michael Eades which enthusiastically defends the low carb approach and pours quite a bit of bile on the entrenched nature of the mainstream carbs=good, fat=bad advice.

http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/lipid-hypothesis/rooting-out-more-anti-low-carb-bias/

Occasionally he sounds a bit like a conspiracy nutter, but it's pretty convincing all the same.
 
Haven't tried Atkins - requires to much will power, but did try following Dr Bernsteins similar approach but with higher amounts of carbs. I found that my bg control was harder than with larger (but restricted) quantities of carbs. So cereal for breakfast, 2 slices of bread for lunch and a couple of potatoes or some pasta at dinner. Like most things diabetic you will have to try it and see. I don't think trying it for a couple of days will give you much idea of the effect it will have though.
P.S. well done for giving up the fags, stick with it its worth it. I gave up 6 years ago now.
 
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hotchop said:
What are your thoughts on the atkins diet?

Is a carb free diet really bad for us diabetics?

I ask as i am considering trying it for a couple of reasons... I need to lose a stone in weight and it may be beneficial to my bg levels.

Thanks
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Dear hotchop,

There should be no problem with your doing an Atkins diet. Just get the book and read it carefully. Clearly, most on this forum have never read it, or if they have they have not understood it. There are four phases and in three of them you actually increase your carbs so that you approach your target weight in a controlled manner.

Warmest regards Dodger
 
I have read about the 4 phases and it seems very interesting... Today is day 1 and Ive started on phase 1 for about 2 weeks.. I know im probably going to feel awful for a couple of days around day 4 / 5 but im prepared for that and I have planned my days off work around that time so I dont cave in and attack the chocolate.

luckily I like eggs... usually on toast though!!
 
Atkins and Berstien use a high degree of fat..

Fat is insulin resistant..
Fat has over twice the amount of calories than carb's or protien (Fat 9 calories per 10g's, carbs and protien has 4 calories per 10g)

The Atkins diet was revamped this year, the carbohydrates have been increased quite a bit after the induction phase...

Berstien is very restrictive, no tomatoes, onions and also works on portion size, he's theory that along side of extreme restriction of food types portion size has an important role, i.e, only 2 cup's of salad is allowed as if you have more than this it stretches the stomach which increases the blood sugar levels😱

Another concern with his methods he does suggest supplements to be taken! if you eating an health diet you shouldn't need supplements:confused:

For a T1 to follow Bernstien sucessfully, you really do need to use 3 types of insulin, Background, Fast acting and the slower annloge insulin..

And one really has to wonder why Bernstien is anti insulin pump, he'd rather see is patient dilute their insulin then use a pump to get the right dose of insulin😱 Personally I think the insulin pumps trashes a lot of his theories and his method...

But the biggest problem though with this type of diets is fallen of the wagon... They are very restrictive and it takes a lot of motivation to follow them for any length of time... The fallen of the wagon not impacts on individual guilt mentality, but also can give a yo-yo effect on blood glucose levels, which could be as be more harmful than runing slightly higher than normal bg ranges!
 
http://uk.atkins.com/images/library/Quick Start Guide/Quick Start Guide UK.pdf

Something you might be interested to see..
It doesnt seem to bad.. We usually have rice, pasta, potatoes with every meal and 100g of mash has apporx 18g of carbs.. more than the daily " allowance" for the first 2 weeks of the atkins..

To be honest, I always thought the atkins was for big meat eating monsters who couldnt touch anything else but i suspect that once the carbs are re introduced in phases 2 and 3, its not too far from slimming world.
 
Keep us up to date with how it's going hotchop! Hope it works for you 🙂

Dodger, thanks for the clarification and correcting my misconceptions! 😉 Nice to see a post from you 🙂
 
Ellie Jones said:
Fat has over twice the amount of calories than carb's or protien (Fat 9 calories per 10g's, carbs and protien has 4 calories per 10g)
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Interesting that so many people on low carb and very low carb diets lose such a lot of weight while eating large quantities of fat isn't it.

Of course, carbs are very readily turned into glucose in the bloodstream, and one of the body's ways of storing an excess of glucose in the blood is to turn it into fat. By contrast metabolism of fat into glucose is quite hard work, and is more likely to happen in the absence of sufficient carbs.

Is this how it works? A high carb / high fat diet is a disaster, but a low carb / high fat diet is completely different.
 
Interesting that so many people on low carb and very low carb diets lose such a lot of weight while eating large quantities of fat isn't it.

Of course, carbs are very readily turned into glucose in the bloodstream, and one of the body's ways of storing an excess of glucose in the blood is to turn it into fat. By contrast metabolism of fat into glucose is quite hard work, and is more likely to happen in the absence of sufficient carbs.

Is this how it works? A high carb / high fat diet is a disaster, but a low carb / high fat diet is completely different
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If you eat few enough calories you will lose weight, whatever you eat, as Prof. Mark Haub recently demonstrated when he lost 27lb on his 'Twinkie diet '
(not recommended for people with diabetes though😉 )
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/11/08/twinkie.diet.professor/index.html

You might like to look at Anthon Colpos articles on the metabolic advantage (or lack of it) of low carb diets. He has his own book to sell and I hate his antagonistic style but he's an extremely thorough researcher and includes full references.
repeated metabolic ward studies ? the most tightly controlled type of dietary study ? have repeatedly shown no difference in fat loss among low- and high carbohydrate diets of identical caloric content.
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Other researchers show that people on the Atkins and similar diets tend to eat fewer calories, perhaps because of the satiating effect of protein. The BBC did a mini study using twins on this
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3416637.stm
 
this low carb stuff is proving really difficult.... i would KILL for a cornish pasty with lots of mash right now..

but im gonna persevere ... lost 4 llb in weight.. mostly in saliva looking at the bakery across the road!

my bloods on the other hand are loving the starvation... waking 5.4, steady 6 through the day, virtually no rise after food and bed on about 6

I feel really deprived though.. withdrawl symptoms that i remember from giving up the cigs!

sugar free jelly is my new friend!
 
Hi hotchop...well done on your perseverence!! I really would be interested to know what kind of things you are eating...I am really thinking of trying a very low carb diet myself...I think it is the only way I can get myself off of the Insulin!!...How much carbs are you having?...Please let us know how you go!

Oh...have you experienced things like headaches?

Keep up the great work...Love Ellowyne x
 
I've read comments from others that carbs do have an addictive quality, and that cravings tend to subside after a while.

Nice to hear you readings are so good on it.

Keep us updated 🙂
 
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