Healthy New You: Your Change For Life #3

A **** diet is a **** diet. Portions of cake can be part of a decent diet too. This includes diabetics too (although will depend on more precise circumstances).

People seem to have this obsession with always zooming in on one source of food or just one macro (i.e. carbs) without considering that the diet as a whole is generally more important.

Having your cake after a period of fasting and having it after a big meal with protein, fats and fibre makes a big difference to the blood sugar and insulinogenic response.

It is an improvement, but it's the weight I'm worried about. He's just not bothering to eat healthily, and is managing his condition by allowing the doctors to increase his medication instead. Insulin has been mentioned again. It doesn't scare him, but it scares me. As for the carb thing- he lives off them. Whenever I mention it he says "I'm diabetic, I need to eat mostly carbs" even though that's utter crap. But to be honest I don't know what I can say to him to make him think any different!

Oh and annoyingly, "carbs" for him consist of things like crisps and cake.

It isn't utter crap. Most people are best off getting a decent amount of their energ from carbs - including most diabetics. Sure the type of carb and the overall diet becomes more important (and keeping track of things and being becomes increasingly important when you rely on exogenous insulin) but the fact is that the majority of diabetics still benefit from eating carbs.

There are only so many of those conversation you can have unfortunately. I would almost always counsel someone to take a risk for love, but I guess there often comes a time when the risk is too much. It ultimately rests on trust, respect and belief. If you believe things will change, respect them enough to believe them when they say they will and trust that those changes will make you happy then you may as well keep trying. I'm pretty disillusioned with the whole thing personally but I have watched too many romantic films not to be perpetually on the side of love

It isn't utter crap. Most people are best off getting a decent amount of their energ from carbs - including most diabetics. Sure the type of carb and the overall diet becomes more important (and keeping track of things and being becomes increasingly important when you rely on exogenous insulin) but the fact is that the majority of diabetics still benefit from eating carbs.

Massive step back though. And I (clearly) don't have a coping strategy no chance it'd happen in weekdays but I dunno what I'd do

Huuuuuge headache

It's true that the NHS does tell t1 diabetics that we have to eat carbs so we can take insulin so we can live... buttt I've never had DKA eating low carb, and I'm taking like 1/6th of the insulin I was before (I just take adjustment doses and small doses for meals). Also increasing the medication compounds the issue because the more insulin you have in your body, the hungrier you become.

My BF is T2.. I'm not sure whether that changes anything, but I DO know that when he manages to lose weight, his sugars improve. No idea of the science behind any of it. I do understand that carbs should be present in most diets, however he has got the idea that he ONLY needs carbs. Rarely eats vegetables or meat. Goodness knows where he gets his vitamins from (actually, he probably doesn't). Sorry for the rant.. it's only because I care about him!

EDIT: Also, your description of cake made it sound sooooo good! I want cake now :P.

I know all this.

I was simply implying that the way she presented the information suggested that he eats A LOT of cake and other such crappy things, which is not particularly good for you however you want to try to frame it.

I agree with you generally, but for t1 diabetics it's an issue because we get told a lot that if you don't eat carbs we'll get very sick, so you feel pressure that way. Eating a lot of carbs is still problematic for t1s even if you count them, because you end up having enormous shots of insulin which are not only immediately painful, but make you hungrier, so you eat more and will likely put on weight because of this. Then, if you don't count them, you end up with massive blood sugar swings which provoke mood swings, headaches etc. It's not nice.

Also she mentioned cake, and an excess of sugar+fat in delicious bite size pieces is never a good thing!

I did mention that he wasn't choosing the right carbs. And yes, I am aware that you can eat cakes as part of a healthy diet. I do it myself. But I look at his meals, and I can tell you with absolute certainty that they're neither balanced nor healthy. And clearly as he's had trouble with his sugars recently, and is gaining weight relatively rapidly, the diet isn't doing him much good.

For the majority of diabetics though just saying "well carbs are bad - won't have any at all" or reducing them to minuscule levels doesn't really solve anything because for most people it will just make them feel **** in other ways.

In reality, the best solution for most is portion control, watching carb quality (and balance of foods i.e. fats and fibre have a large bearing on how insulinogenic a total meal is) and maintaining a decent routine with consistency.

AFAIAA - most health professionals don't advise t1 diabetics to 'avoid' carbs - they advise them to keep a tighter control on diet compared with the general population and to have less sugars but I don't think that is that common to advise keto or anything like that.

I am sorry Muffinz but advising someone who is on one unhealthy fad (eating just carbs) to go to the other extreme (low or no carb) just seems crazy to me. It sounds like he needs to learn about a balanced diet. I appreciate your situation in which low carb makes t1 management easier but that isn't the case here - this guy has (presumably) weight induced t2 and learning to healthily manage weight is surely going to be the key rather than adhering to a fad diet and yo-yoing.

I know. If I looked back at the amount of times I've moaned on this thread, I'd be shocked. If it was anybody else I'd be screaming at them to walk away, but obviously it isn't that easy when you're in that situation! As you know. I respect you massively for making that decision, as it's certainly not an easy one.


I did mention that he wasn't choosing the right carbs. And yes, I am aware that you can eat cakes as part of a healthy diet. I do it myself. But I look at his meals, and I can tell you with absolute certainty that they're neither balanced nor healthy. And clearly as he's had trouble with his sugars recently, and is gaining weight relatively rapidly, the diet isn't doing him much good.


Talk to us! Rant as much as you like, PM me, add me on Facebook, do anything other than drink like that again xx


My BF is T2.. I'm not sure whether that changes anything, but I DO know that when he manages to lose weight, his sugars improve. No idea of the science behind any of it. I do understand that carbs should be present in most diets, however he has got the idea that he ONLY needs carbs. Rarely eats vegetables or meat. Goodness knows where he gets his vitamins from (actually, he probably doesn't). Sorry for the rant.. it's only because I care about him!

EDIT: Also, your description of cake made it sound sooooo good! I want cake now :P.

It just bugs me that everyone has this carb obsession that carbs are the be all and end all of everything when in reality there are a lot more factors. You see people on these forums that pick up this silly carb phobia and talk about ridiculous and unnecessary diets.

Sir Stephen Redgrave has type 1 diabetes and ate a very high carb diet successfully for a long time.




Sure with t1 diabetes diet management is more pressured which is natural because the condition means that you can't accommodate the natural swings that most can do.

For the majority of diabetics though just saying "well carbs are bad - won't have any at all" or reducing them to minuscule levels doesn't really solve anything because for most people it will just make them feel **** in other ways.

In reality, the best solution for most is portion control, watching carb quality (and balance of foods i.e. fats and fibre have a large bearing on how insulinogenic a total meal is) and maintaining a decent routine with consistency.

AFAIAA - most health professionals don't advise t1 diabetics to 'avoid' carbs - they advise them to keep a tighter control on diet compared with the general population and to have less sugars but I don't think that is that common to advise keto or anything like that.



So it isn't just a carb thing then... fat isn't a carb.

The most accurate ways are expensive. I use these bodyfat calipers. They are 'good enough' and more accurate than bioelectric methods (like you get on scales).

...

I don't want this to come across as nasty since you are easily the most helpful person here, but maybe you should let some one-off comments remain unchecked sometimes Though it is nice having someone correct the myths.

Talk to us! Rant as much as you like, PM me, add me on Facebook, do anything other than drink like that again xx

Well, the reason I don't is because I see threads in the fitness forum where people make comments like "Oh, everyone on here seems to advocate low/no carb", "Carbs are bad for weightloss" and other such carbphobic things.

This thread is meant to be about healthy lifestyles but the majority of it seems to promote carbphobia and other forms of orthorexia, binging and purging, unhealthy and irrational obsession with scale weight and water retention more so than actual healthy lifestyles.

People from the rest of the forum lurk in here and pick up pretty bad impressions and ideas.

OHHH. I thought he was t1 because you mentioned insulin! Unfortunately insulin is a bad sign in t2 care, it's kinda the last resort.

T2 diabetes is insulin resistance - so he's pumping out more insulin, and having more insulin in his blood, because his body can't use it properly. The more fat you have, the higher your insulin resistance is.

His diet sounds very... beige.

The point is just the overemphasis on carbs. It sounds like the main issue here is his weight management and total diet that is the problem. Insulin resistance is highly correlated with leanness.

It was actually her who made the decision in the end so I don't deserve the respect but I agree it is a hard decision to make - I had thought about it but I guess I loved her too much. In all honestly we are still together in the sense that we sleep together and don't do things with anyone else but I guess it just is what it is. This way it is easier to say goodbye when the time comes, or so the theory goes. Relationships are tricky things and people just have to find what works for them; we are all different and I don't really respect the position of anyone who tries to forcefully apply their own personal standards to somebody else's relationship but advice is always useful even if just so it can be mulled over and discarded.

If you think he can make you happy then that is what is important - everyone needs to moan sometimes, I'm sure he does too. If he is overweight and wishes he wasn't it may be hard for him to be so close to somebody who has done what he hasn't managed to

Thank you lots, thats really kind. It's the most irresponsible thing I've done in ages and I'm really feeling the effects today so I won't dw. I just feel lost so often and don't know what to do or where to even begin talking about it. I spend so much time by myself which just makes things worse.
Cannot even understand how I drank that much what a headcase

Well, the reason I don't is because I see threads in the fitness forum where people make comments like "Oh, everyone on here seems to advocate low/no carb", "Carbs are bad for weightloss" and other such carbphobic things.

This thread is meant to be about healthy lifestyles but the majority of it seems to promote carbphobia and other forms of orthorexia, binging and purging, unhealthy and irrational obsession with scale weight and water retention more so than actual healthy lifestyles.

People from the rest of the forum lurk in here and pick up pretty bad impressions and ideas.

Well I mean it, so if you want to take me up on it just let me know! You're not a head case. Being lonely is awful. I have no friends around me at the moment, but I am lucky to have my family so I'm just about okay. That's why I'm suggesting talking to people, because whether it's over the internet or not, you're not alone .

Thanks. I've developed a habit of not talking about whats on my mind, in person mainly, and well yeah that was my ridiculous cure.

Yeah I feel really isolated, alone, like I'm failing with people even at home, the ex. And the fact I'm lonely means I have too much time to overthink everything and worry which makes me more sensitive. Just feel broken.



Apologies if there are errors, this was sent on my smartphone

Well the good thing about the internet is you can speak your mind without feeling too self conscious, none of us know who you are, and we wouldn't judge you even if we did . It must be so hard to be on your own there, but it's not forever xx

It actually hurts me that you feel that this thread isn't serving its purpose, or that we're advocating unhealthy weight loss. I would rather close the thread now than have people saying that it's damaging to lurkers, because that is absolutely NOT the intention of the thread at any point.

I thought we'd built up a very valuable community here, perhaps I was wrong.