Insulin Resistance Diet

[ElbowPrincess]

Is there anyone else doing this? I didnt know where to put this thread, as even though its lower carb, its not ketogenic. Hope it's ok to have here! Ive tried really low carb (less than 30g a day) and I just couldnt sustain it :( even though I love all the science behind it. So I am giving this a go instead.

Here's the book

Basically, its a diet for those who have insulin resistance. If you can answer yes to 3 or more of the following, you probably have it ....

If you are in the obese BMI catagory or above
If you store weigth mainly around the tummy area
You have PCOS
Your tummy measures 35 inches or more (40 inches for men)
Depression
Hypoglycemia
Brain fog
Skin tags in the neck area, underarms & chest
Dark skin patches in the arm pits, between thighs, neck etc
Carb, especially sugar, cravings
Sleepiness after a meal
Poor sleep at night

So, how the diet works - you balance your carbs with protein. No more than 30g of carbs per meal (15g for snacks) paired with at LEAST 15g of protein. You can eat as much protein as you like though, thats just the minimum to balance the carbs. 3 meals a day, 2 snacks (plus extra veg/proetin snacks whenever, if you are hungry). Carbs must be 2 hours apart. A typical day would probably look like this ...

Breakfast - 30g Carbs, 15g (or more) protein, as much veg as you like.

Snack - 15g carbs, 7g protein, as much veg as you like.

Lunch - 30 g C, 15g P, veg

Snack - 15g C, 7g P, veg

Dinner - 30g C, 15g P, unlimited veg.

So a max of 120g of carbs in any day, spaced 2 hours apart.

Now, this is where it differs from the usual low carb diet .... dairy, pulses, legumes and nuts count as protein not carbs. So a glass of milk will balance out a slice of wholegrain toast. Beans (no added sugar) would balance out a small baked potato. Fruit are carbs (apart from apples, pears, cherries, grapefruit, those ase classed as already balanced), potato & corn are carbs plus all your pasta, rice, bread etc.

Still with me? Ive no idea if this diet will work, this thread is just to document my progress and see what happens. Would love others to join in too!

[ElbowPrincess]

Ok, Im on day 3, will weigh in next Thursday. Here are my 1st 2 days food diaries ....

B - 2 slices wholemeal toast (30g carb), 2 tablespoons peanutbutter (7g protein)) plus a glass of milk (7g protein)

s - Ham slices (protein, decided to not have any carbs)

L - small jacket potato (30g C) tuna mayo (10g P) cheese (7g P) salad

s - Handful of nuts & an apple

D - Chicken coconut curry (35g P), loys of extra added mushrooms & onoin, brown rice (20g C)

[ChippingInNeedsSleepAndCoffee]

Hi - I'd love to chat about this, but I'll need to come back to it later :) I didn't want to 'lose' you!

[ElbowPrincess]

Day 2

B - 1/2 cup porridge oats (30g C), 1 cup milk (15g P) cinnamon

S - 3 crackerbreads with cheese (9g C, 7g P)

L - Steak in a small roll with onions & mushrooms (23g C, 25g P)

S - Nuts & raisins

D - Sausage/sweet potato/carrot/onion stew type thing (45g P, 15g C)

[ElbowPrincess]

Hi Chipping, Ill keep checking in :)

[ElbowPrincess]

The important part is to keep you blood sugar levels stable, and get your insulin working properly, so aim to eat every 2-3 hours and never eat more than 30g of carbs (always balanced with protein) in any 2 hour window.

[ggirl]

oooh this sounds good , I've lost weight before low carbing but find it difficult to sustain
May order that book ..thanks

[ggirl]

I've just had 3 slices of bacon and two of seeded wholegrain bread ..is that ok?

[ElbowPrincess]

Also, the books recommends low fat if you can, but I strongly believe in eating good fats (animal, butter & coconut oil), so I am hoping it will still work for me"!

Welcome ggirl :) Hope you come & join the thread if you try the woe out.

[ElbowPrincess]

Yep, I would imagine so! Im not exactly sure how much protein there is per bacon slice though. I am finding that myfitnesspal is very handy to get the idea of carb/proteins amounts.

I just had bacon & egg in my wholemeal bread!

[AuntieMaggie]

Have you tried the low carb bootcamp on here? I've been doing it for a year on and off and I have insulin resistance (due to pcos which interestingly can cause many of the same symptoms of insulin resistance you listed above) which has improved massively doing that. And I don't have to weigh/measure anything which I would find hard to do on what you're doing.

Good luck though

[ElbowPrincess]

Yeah I tired bootcamp, did fab on it but just couldnt sustain it for any length of time, Ive tried it 3 times in the last 18 months so I know I fail at it sadly :(

[ElbowPrincess]

Day 3 done, this is easy peasy - but let's see if it works! Seems too simple and too carby to be any good for weightloss, but I am willing to give it 2 weeks to see.

Todays food -

B - Bacon & egg on wholegrain seeded bread
s - Crackerbreads & philly
L - Lentil, veg & bacon soup, small roll
s - nuts, ham slices
D - beany mince & veg (10g carbs) & a oaty biscuit thing (12g carbs)

Will have some veg sticks & sour cream dip laterif I am hungry before bed.

[ChippingInNeedsSleepAndCoffee]

Interesting.

Can you tell me more about the 'science' behind it compared to Briffa?

Have you been monitoring your blood sugar levels?

I have been diagnosed as having Diabetes T2, low carbing was good initially and I lost almost 3 stone. However, being a non egg eating vegetarian it's actually quite hard to do (especially when you don't enjoy cooking). If I could 'add back' lentils etc that would be fab.

I'm maintaining on a strict low carb diet now, but not losing and I still have several stone to lose. Insulin resistance is a bastard.

However, I really 'get' Briffa - so....??

[ElbowPrincess]

I only read the book once before starting .. think I will need to read it again! Its on my Kindle upstairs so cant quickly access it. I think its to do with your body being able to use the carbs differently if they are from dairy, legumes/pulses & veg. Also, that your body has a 2 hour window to decide what to do with the carbs, so if you eat more than 30g in this time, it will be stored as fat. Also, eating enough protein at the same time stops your body from turning the carbs in to ...glucose? maybe? ... something anyway! I will read through it again tonight.

I am a firm Briffa believer, so I am taking a big leap of faith here .... hope it works!

[ElbowPrincess]

No, I dont moniter my levels, Im not diabetic (yet! heading that way though). I used to get ratty & shakey before meals a lot though, and havent really had that since starting.

[ChippingInNeedsSleepAndCoffee]

Thanks EP whatever light you can shed on it would be good.

If it was 'just' weightloss I'd be happy to 'give it a go' but with the DT2 I have to be a bit more careful (I'm diet controlled, I don't want to take Metformin).

Have you been tested recently?

[ElbowPrincess]

Yes, but wasnt given the results, just got a phone call from Dr receptionist to say that everything was ok for now, but be careful with my diet!

Totally understand why you have to be careful. Maybe some other will join me, and we could see how it goes. Dont think anyone will take the plunge until they see if I lose any weigth first though

[ChippingInNeedsSleepAndCoffee]

Oh - were you posting under a different name on another thread the other day? Have we 'spoken'? (or was that someone else entirely?).

If I was you I'd call the surgery back and ask them what your HbA1c result was exactly.

[ElbowPrincess]

No, I think that was someone else. But good advice anyway, I will do that & see what they say.

[SidandAndyssextoy]

I've just ordered the book. I'm obese, carrying weight on my tummy, and my blood sugars are up in the 5s. I had gestational diabetes which is a huge warning sign of impending type 2 and I want to do everything I can to reduce my risk.

Chipping, I read your thread in admiration. Do lentils spike you or are you just putting them under carbs? I ate very low carb when pregnant but lentils were fine when other things weren't.

[ElbowPrincess]

Day 4. feeling very level throughout the day, had no shakes or ravenously hungry moments as per usual. Drinking loads of water. Think I can feel a slight decrease in the tummy area, but I could be imagining it because I want this WOE to work

B - scrambled egg on wholemeal toast
s - veg sticks & dip
L - large bowl of lentil soup, 3 wholegrain crackerbreads
s - half a twix, glass of milk, couple of ham slices (balanced!)
D - will be one-pot potato, red pepper, fennel & roast pork chops, recipe says 15g per serving.

[ChippingInNeedsSleepAndCoffee]

Sid - not sure which thread you read? My first one was under a name change 'Headinthesandnownot' - I got lots of help from some lovely people :) I had namechanged as I know some MNers IRL and I hadn't/haven't told family & friends so I thought it would be easier, but it was a pain in the bum and so I gave up!

I'm not sure about the lentils. I haven't tried them since I bought my monitor. Low carbing was going so well, that I just stayed away from them. However, it isn't going very well now - so I'm interested to see what I can do about it. I need to both lose weight & keep my levels down - a bit of a balancing act when trying new things.

The other option is to do low carb really really strictly again and see if I can get any results, the problem is that 9 months into it, as a vegetarian who doesn't eat eggs and doesn't like cooking I'm a bit fed up of it.

EP - interesting to see how you get on :)

[SidandAndyssextoy]

Chipping, it was that one. There aren't many MNtting veggie non-egg eaters writing about diabetes! I read it either while or just after my stint of gestational diabetes and I felt so sorry for you, but also so impressed at your determination. I ate buckets and buckets of cheese while pregnant and couldn't face it for a while afterwards, and that was just for three months, so I sympathise on finding it all a grind.

But for me, lentils were fine. I know we're all different though. I am a week into eating low-GI and will definitely be including pulses. Just went to my first exercise class in a long time and feel fabulous.

[ChippingInNeedsSleepAndCoffee]

Sid - I know It was too complicated trying to keep it separate - I lasted about a month!

I am happy to try lentils and see how they affect my bloods - but I'm a bit nervous of how they'll affect my 'low carbing' as they aren't low in carbs! (I'm curious to see how they are being passed off as a protein?!)... I'm not losing any weight at the moment (I haven't for about 3 months - sigh) but I am maintaining this weight and I am somewhat terrified of putting it on again if I stop low carbing.

I'm glad you are feeling so good

[SidandAndyssextoy]

When you're pregnant, you get warned off not eating carbs, and when I said I was eating lentils and beans, I was told they didn't count! So even the diabetic consultant has them down as not really carbs. It's to do with their GL and the effect they have on blood sugar - ie not much.