The FastDay Forum

I'm definitely on team carb But, I naturally eat lower carb on my down days, just by the nature of the low calorie foods I chose (usually soup). The two down days I had this week were both 34 carb days/400 calorie days.

Non-down days though, anything goes lol. I tend to eat high carb on my regular days-today I had a bagel for breakfast, lunch was small portions of lasagna, ravioli and 2 bread sticks (a lunch deal at a local Italian restaurant), and then supper included garlic bread, veggies and then an amazing piece of chocolate/cracker bark dessert I made, which I'm sure had enough carbs and calories to rival the pasta lunch, snort. But, tomorrow will be another day of 34 carbs/400 calories

I have not seen the program either, but it is an interesting thread so here is my pennyworth. For me carbs have been a 'realising me' journey. When I was 17 years old I ate too much chocolate/sugar and I had a physical shock attack - it really scared me - since then my sugar intake has been very low, the experience moved me to take action. I have never missed the sweet stuff. Joining 52 I realised I needed to reduce portion size and also cut down on some carbs (pots, pasta, bread, rice). I have done that and I feel much the better for it. I now feel my body is in tune, my choice of food is balanced and is sustainable for me. I believe the gift of fasting is we find our own path with the support of the great people on the forum, you!

The clincher for me was when the reporter asked the lady who had high blood sugar levels about her cravings.
She said, I am no longer hungry.
When I crave pasta, I'm not really hungry either, I just want it for deliciousness of it. I could eat spinach and cucumber and not be hungry, but I'm not always loving it.
I will try to strike a happy balance. Some days are a wreck though.

Thankyou@Juliana.Rivers.

I found that programme interesting. Historically I have been a fan of starchy carbobhydrates, but about a year ago I discovered that I had high blood glucose levels, so I decided to reduce my carbohydrate intake. I do miss pasta, risotto and mashed potatoes, but I'm sure that I'm much healthier. My glucose levels are healthier and weight loss has not been difficult. I have had a couple of slow loss periods associated with holidays and celebrations, but generally my weight loss has been very good. I am currently maintaining as I recover from major abdominal surgery, but I'll return to intentionally losing a little weight again after Christmas.

I was disappointed by the quality of the food whilst in hospital. There were high levels of starchy and sugary foods; yoghurts were pumped full of sugar and thickeners. I found it interesting that the programme touched on hospital food.

I think that I'm one of those people for whom carbohydrates are pretty deadly and find that I can cope without them after years of building my daily diet around them. Occasionally, I'll alow myself a little taste, but that's as far a it goes. I think that it has to be that way for me, as I was heading towards diabetes.

Thanks again for posting the programme.
Bracken.

@Bracken,

The foods served to people with diabetes in hospitals verge on the criminal. I don't know what it will take for people who control this kind of thing to wake up to the fact that carbs raise blood sugar. So simple a concept, so completely not known to anyone save those of us who use a blood sugar meter on a daily basis.

I have put out a lot of energy over the years to improve the public understanding of this, but for every step forward those of us in the patient advocacy movement make, there is a huge step backwards by people who get paid huge amounts of money supposedly to protect the public health who are heavily indebted to Big Pharma and easily swayed by very poorly conducted research.

At a certain point, one has to let go and move on, or one would be tempted to start blowing up buildings. . .

@peebles,

The simple test for anyone who wonders is simply to get a hold of a cheap drug store blood sugar meter and to test blood sugar 1 or 2 hours after eating. If it is OVER 7.7 mmol/L (140 mg/dl in the U.S.) you have a problem and would do well to cut back on your carbs until you aren't going over that level after eating. If not, enjoy your carbs!

I've always been a bit confused about what levels are acceptable for blood glucose in people without diabetes; after all I would imagine there'll be quite a big difference in blood glucose levels after 2 hours compared to 1 hour. I have read lots of things on the internet which say that blood glucose levels will spike a lot higher than 7.7mmols (especially after a carb heavy meal) in non diabetics - is the thing not how quickly those levels return to normal? I'm not saying I know definitively - am just asking because I've not been able to find the answer.

Yes, I also resonated with the woman who said, I am no longer hungry. And also with the segment about hospital food. It's good to know that even if the official diabetes organisation won't budge on its dietary recommendations, at least one hospital is reconsidering it. Criminal, as you say, Peebles. And it sounds like the Heart Foundation might be too.

@loversghost,

I look at normal blood sugar as being the level that doesn't correlate with the beginning of diabetic complications. Right now, various independent studies in different disciplines have looked at the blood sugar levels where heart disease, retinopathy, kidney disease and neuropathy levels start to rise out of normal, and they all converge somewhere between 155 at 1 hour to 140 at 2.

I also believe very strongly, along with Dr. Bernstein, that people with diabetes should shoot for normal blood sugars, and nothing less, because people who achieve those numbers the health orgs prescribe still get all the complications, just slower.

The people I know with diabetes who have been shooting for normal targets since the late 1990s are all in excellent shape, so it seems to work. But the issue is, you can't do it JUST taking those oral drugs, and since doctors don't tell people to cut carbs, they claim it is impossible for people with diabetes to do it without using insulin in ways that provokes hypo.

So much of the research is sponsored by the drug companies, but their drugs only drop A1c .5% and blood sugar maybe 30-40 mg/dl at best. When people start with A1cs around 8%--which guarantees complications, they are lucky to get to 7.5% which is why doctors tell people that's a fine goal. It isn't.