Type 2 Diabetes and carb sensitivity

[pammer714]

I was diagnosed with Type 2 DM in Nov 2014. I have diligently tried to improve my health. My original A1C was 11 and now is around 5.9 to 6.0. I have been working with a functional medicine doctor who has me on a very low carb diet. He wants me to eat 15-20 carbs per meal. This is hard for me. I seem to react to any food remotely starchy. I would love to be able to eat potatoes, rice, beans etc. without a huge spike. Will the starch solution work for someone who has a big glucose surge after 1 hr of eating starchy foods like me? I have only been on metformin and no other prescriptions. I really want to get off this med eventually, but I am confused about if this will work for me. Can any one help?

[Spiral]

I was diagnosed with Type 2 DM in Nov 2014. I have diligently tried to improve my health. My original A1C was 11 and now is around 5.9 to 6.0. I have been working with a functional medicine doctor who has me on a very low carb diet. He wants me to eat 15-20 carbs per meal. This is hard for me. I seem to react to any food remotely starchy. I would love to be able to eat potatoes, rice, beans etc. without a huge spike. Will the starch solution work for someone who has a big glucose surge after 1 hr of eating starchy foods like me? I have only been on metformin and no other prescriptions. I really want to get off this med eventually, but I am confused about if this will work for me. Can any one help?

I think the starch solution will work for you. But for the starch solution to work, you have to be willing to focus on reversing the disease of type 2 diabetes and put less focus on the after meal blood sugar numbers.

Here's what I mean . . . . . . .

Insulin is a big player in type 2 diabetes. A type 2 diabetic usually has a pancreas that is producing lots of insulin. The problem is that the body of the type 2 diabetic has become insulin resistant. In other words, it takes more and more insulin to push the blood glucose (blood sugar) into the muscle cells. So, lots of blood glucose (blood sugar) ends up in the blood stream and not in the muscle cells where it is supposed to be.

But what if there was a way to get the insulin working more effectively so that the insulin could push the blood glucose into the muscle cells? Solve the problem of insulin resistance and you begin to reverse type 2 diabetes.

You see, low carb diets don't solve the problem of insulin resistance. Your muscle cells need blood sugar. If you eat a steak instead of a potato, your after meal blood glucose numbers might look better. But your muscle cells need to have glucose for energy. There's no way around that.

That's why people on low-carb diets have a difficult time with their type 2 diabetes on a long term basis. They aren't solving the problem of insulin resistance. They are making it worse by consuming all of that excess fat and protein.

Consume the McDougall diet and insulin resistance will gradually be reversed. But it is a gradual process. So, in the beginning you will see blood glucose spikes. Why? You still have insulin resistance. So, when you eat a potato, your blood glucose will go up. But that's a short term issue. Over time as your insulin becomes more effective, you will see these spikes become less dramatic.

Others on this forum have seen the results of the McDougall diet for themselves. They eat potatoes, rice, corn, beans. They consume a diet that is about 70 to 85 percent carbohydrate. And often they can get off of all their medication for type 2 diabetes.

Give it a try.

[pammer714]

Thank you for taking the time to answer me. I was told my beta cells were working just fine and that it was my muscles and liver that weren't utilizing the glucose effectively. I will have to give this a try and I'm glad you told me it would take time otherwise I might have given up on it thinking it didn't work for me.

[vgpedlr]

Lots of resources under the "Education" tab at the top.

Here's a start:
https://www.drmcdougall.com/health/education/health-science/common-health-problems/diabetes-adult-onset-and-juvenile/

[baardmk]

Welcome!

otherwise I might have given up on it thinking it didn't work for me.

I think this is it. Many of us think we have gluten allergies, can't tolerate carbs or have this or that allergy because of a repeated pattern of rashes, headaches etc. But these symptoms are almost always context dependent. Eating a low-carb diet for instance will in fact cause more insulin resistance, and starch will surge the blood sugar more than what it normally would. So the diet becomes it's own self-fulfilling prophecy. And thus, carbs and insulin are really bad.

There have been good-quality studies on a low-fat vegan diet with very good results for T2d regarding blood sugar etc. etc.

I have heard mostly good things about metformin. It should be quite safe, and getting to a normal weight and normalising the numbers should help you get off it with the doctor's blessing. Also would like to mention, that physical activity probably outperforms metformin.

[dteresa]

http://www.drugs.com/sfx/metformin-side-effects.html

Metformin is not candy. I am trying to figure out why you need it after a year taking this med. If your diet and activity level have lowered your sugars then why do you need to continue with the drug? What happens if you go off the metformin? Shouldn't the low carb diet your doctor advises preclude the use of meds? Has your doctor explained why the diet alone along with exercise would not lower your blood sugar? If the low carb diet lowers blood sugar (and it does for a while) why do you need meds after eating so few carbs per day after a year?

Were you overweight when diagnosed? Losing weight will lower your blood sugars.

It sounds like you have been diagnosed fairly recently, about a year. Before you were finally diagnosed it is likely your blood sugar had been rising unbeknownst to you until you exhibited symptoms. Still, it is unlikely that so much damage had been done that your beta cells are no longer working.

Here is video number 35 by plant positive. It should go to number 36 when it is done. These two videos talk about insulin resistance. I thought you might be interested in listening to them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prdh62Q ... 2oYyAFZDBA

didi

[colonyofcells]

The myth that most people can't handle starch fuel is spread by the high fatters. The truth is most of us are descended from ancestors who have genetic adaptations to high starch diets. Diabetes is not caused by high starch diets and is not cured by high fat diets. Once people start eating the right fuel of unrefined starch, most diabetics are able to reverse the disease and most damaged pancreas are able to recover (except for type 1 diabetics). It is absurd to claim that most cows have metabolic damage and can't handle grass so we should just feed them corn oil instead. There are many tricks that might slow down the rise in blood sugar levels after eating. In eating winter squash, I chew on the seeds (spit out the shells) instead of throwing away the seeds and the fat from the seeds might help in slowing down the rise in blood sugar after eating. Mainly I exercise after each meal and I don't use chairs and just stand all the time.

[mttbr716]

I have had type 2 diabetes since 1997. About two months ago I had a spike in my blood sugar readings. The highest reading was 399. So, I have made some changes in my diet in order to get off the insulin my doctor prescribed in order to get the issue under control. I was having success until I went on vacation and my blood sugar started elevating again. Bad news, I went back on the insulin for about a week. Now I am off the insulin again and I am eating primarily a plant based diet with some starches. I am concerned about eating too much starchy foods. I think the main problem is portion control. It appears that eating starches in moderation is a key for me. Perhaps, some of the others on this regimen may be experiencing the same problem. What do you recommend? I don't want to go overboard. This morning my reading were low 68 & 72 fasting blood sugar. I will be meeting with my doctor in a few days. Some of my meals have been fully raw and we are juicing now.

[colonyofcells]

https://www.drmcdougall.com/2014/06/30/food-poisoning/
Free picture book does not recommend juicing. I don't like juicing bec. I like lots of fiber.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6u4IiVbPdKk

[bbq]

I strongly recommend everyone to watch the latest webinar How to Prevent and Treat Diabetes, Part 1 below:

https://www.drmcdougall.com/health/education/webinars/webinar-11-12-15/

Part 2 is coming next week and please kindly register here:

https://www.drmcdougall.com/health/education/webinars/

Basically Dr. McDougall showed that fat and protein were doing more harm than good, while carbohydrates and starches were blamed for the spike immediately after each meal:





http://archinte.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=535594


https://www.drmcdougall.com/misc/2014nl/jan/himsworth-insulin.pdf


http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJM197103112841004

It's really about 120 minutes after the meals, don't be fooled by what's happening before that. Dr. McDougall mentioned that junk carbohydrates like candies and sugars were fed to those students back in 1927 but they're still better off that way.