Even the ADA...

I just finished doing the following Google search:

low carbohydrate diet site:diabetes.org

I figured that I'd get a bunch of guff about how the Low-Carbohydrate diet would kill me. Instead, what I got was study after study after study showing that low carb diets are better for diabetics and weight loss.

So I ask... ADA, why are you still recommending a high-carb diet?

No longer the 400 pound man!

As of this morning, my weight is officially... wait for it...

399 3/4 pounds!

Woo-hoo! On the downside, my blood sugar this morning was 127–I'm really not sure why.

Reasons I'll Stick: I'd rather have a heart attack!

Okay, for today's reason I'll stick, I'd like to propose a thought experiment. Let's suppose, just for a moment, that all the well researched, well-considered studies showing that a high-fat, low-carb diet isn't the danger that we've been told for the past 30 years or so are wrong. Let's suppose that, by eating a high-fat, low-carb diet I'm really taking my life into my hands and running a serious risk of dying from heart disease. I don't think that this is the case, but let's just say it is.

So, on the one hand, if all this low-fat hysteria is true, I have heart disease and death from a heart attack.

On the other hand, I have the consequences of not going on a low-carb diet.

• I know me, and I know that I've tried for 7 months now to control my diabetes the "ADA way" without any success whatsoever. If I can't do it now, when it's a relatively tame beast, what are the chances that I would be able to do so later when I inevitably become a full-blown insulin-dependent diabetic? I know me. I know what I can and can't do. My sister is a Type I diabetic from childhood, so I know what's involved, and I know that with my massive ADHD I simply can't do it. I can't control my diabetes the "ADA way". So I will have uncontrolled diabetes for the rest of my life, and all the consequences that come with it.
• Let's start with one consequence: blindness. I can't imagine any hell worse than not being able to read. I could do without TV, I could even do without pictures and sunsets, but take away my books (and my Bible!) and I'm not sure I'd want to live. Being read to is just not the same–it's too slow. Yes, I suppose I could learn Braille, but still too slow.
  
• How about another? Amputation. I read somewhere that a leg is amputated due to uncontrolled diabetes every six minutes in America. So I'm blind and in a wheelchair.
• How about another? Renal failure. I watched my grandfather-in-law hang on for 8 years on dialysis while his body disintegrated. Not. A. Life.
• And bear in mind that I feel better when I eat this way. Let's talk quality of life here, why don't we?
  

So... let's do the simple arithmetic. Would I rather die of a nice, clean fatal heart-attack, or be blind, lame, and dependent on dialysis for years? This is a no-brainer.

Bear in mind, of course, that I think I'm much more likely to have a heart attack if I don't lose the weight by following a low-carb diet than if I do. But this was labeled as a "thought experiment".

Reasons I'll Stick: a New Series

So something I'd like to add to my little blog is a regular series of "reasons I'll stick"--that is, reasons that I will continue to pursue a low-carb lifestyle and eating plan. The reasons could be properly based on any of the benefits of low-carb: weight loss, blood sugar control, annoying PETA... you name it.

Today's reason is my desire to enjoy the great outdoors again. When I was younger–my late teens and early twenties–I enjoyed a huge variety of outdoor activities. I backpacked and canoed and kayaked. Unfortunately, when I started to gain weight, it became impossible to do those things. Neither my knees nor my lungs nor my heart can handle backpacking anymore, and it's sad but true that you simply can't buy a canoe or kayak that can handle someone who weighs 400 lbs.

My low-carb lifestyle will hopefully give me this back, and I have some awesome trips planned for when I'm able to do them. I want to hike the Appalachian Trail, canoe the James River from one end to the other, and maybe even hike the old European pilgrimage trails to places like Santiago de Compostella, Rome, and Jerusalem. But all of this lies on the other side of weight loss.

Blood sugar graph

The following graph of my average blood sugars for the past 5 days sort of says it all:

I'm not a diabetic anymore! (Kind of)

First of all, very good news this morning. My fasting blood sugar was 117. Since the official clinical definition of diabetes is a fasting blood sugar above 125, this means that in just one week my low-carb diet has cured my diabetes. Or, at least, controlled it. Obviously, if I celebrated with a Coke and a Chocolate bar I would go right back. Also, 117 is still abnormal--but this just proves that the low-carb diet is working as advertised, because I've never had a reading of 117 before since I started checking my blood sugar in November. I'm loooking forward to even better numbers in the future as my body continues to adjust to its new metabolism.

The bad news is that I'm no longer in ketosis. Arg. I'm not really sure what to do about that at this point other than keep trying what I've been doing and make a run to town for some low-carb sauces, since the sauces are the only place I'm "cheating" at all anymore. I think Trader Joe's might still carry some low-carb stuff.

Improvised low-carb BBQ Sauce

So I'm making barbecue pork chops for dinner, and figured I could just use the bottle of barbecue sauce I had until I could get something else (the store didn't have any low-carb barbecue sauce today.) Unfortunately, the stuff I had had 30g carbs for 2 tablespoons! No way.

Fortunately, my Heinz ketchup had only 3g net carbs for 2 tablespoons, so here's what I improvised:

1/4 cup Heinz ketchup
1/4 cup sugar-free pancake syrup (sweetened with sorbitol)
About 3 tbsp. chili powder
About 1 tbsp. kosher salt
About 1 tbsp. onion powder

It's really quite good (I've often made my own barbecue sauce in the past using a similar recipe, and honey instead of syrup), and should be in the range of 1.5 net carbs for tbsp., which is not ideal but a lot better than the store-bought!

Ketosis?

So I've got a massive headache... does this mean that I'm finally going into ketosis?! Blood sugar just now was 121, so my numbers seem to be getting steadily better (although not as fast as I might like.)

[UPDATE] The strip is pink. Just barely, but definitely pink! I'm thinking it's probably the L-carnitine. More good news: blood sugar at 7 or so was 115! This is the lowest reading I've had since I started testing.

Going off Actos

So I've done a bit of research on Actos, the drug my doctor prescribed for my diabetes, and I've concluded several things:

• I'm not sure I want to be on this drug under any circumstances, as it apparently is similar to Avandia, a drug that is implicated in causing heart failure.
• Furthermore, it apparently can cause weight gain, and it is possible that this weight gain (i.e. conversion of blood glucose to fat) is part of the mechanism by which it accomplishes its very modest reduction in A1c levels.
• It can also cause fluid retention.

I've only been taking this for about a week and a half, so it seems to me very possible–even likely–that Actos may be interfering with the efficacy of my low-carb diet. I haven't been able to find anything online about this, but it seems reasonable that a drug that alters insulin metabolism and causes fluid retention could interfere with ketosis and the fluid weight-loss associated with the induction period of Atkins.

Bottom line: I was planning to stop taking this anyway if my low carb diet was successful, and it so far has not had any appreciable benefits. I'm going to try my low-carb experiment without it, and then if my blood sugars a month from now are still high I'll reconsider.

[UPDATE] Found the following from the Atkins Center FAQ: 

 5. What medications interfere with or need adjustment during the diet?

ANSWER: Virtually all medications interfere. The most incompatible medications are:

1. Diuretics (water pills)
2. Psychotropic drugs, including prozac, zoloft, lithium, etc.
3. Hormones and steroids, including estrogen (premarin), birth control pills and prednisone.
4. Arthritic drugs, especially NSAIDS (Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs)
5. Cholesterol lowering drugs.



6. All anti-diabetic medications, including insulin with the exception of glucophage.
7. Tranquilizers
8. Seizure medications.

Fortunately, doctors who work with the diet can usually use it and certain supplements to help you get off each and every one of the above or taper you to minimal doses. Please DO NOT COME OFF MEDICATIONS BY YOURSELF without medical supervision. 

Looks to me like I'm right to suspect Actos.  Also apparently I should look at taking some L-Carnitine.  Going to the store now to get it.

Reevaluating, or "Plan B"

I've been on a low-carb diet for 5 days now, and its kind of a mixed bag. The good news is that I feel better than I've felt in months and there may be a slight improvement in my blood sugars. It's hard to tell on the blood-sugars as I hardly ever took my blood sugar before I started this lifestyle change.

The bad news is that my blood sugars are still nowhere near normal (my fasting blood sugar this morning was 141) and thus far I don't seem to be losing a significant amount of weight.

(Okay, granted it's too soon to expect much weight loss, but even so it's discouraging to step on the scale last night and be told I gained two pounds! From everything I've seen, if I were doing this right weight would be melting off me.)

As I see it, the issue has got to be that I'm not doing a good enough job of regulating my carb intake. Somewhere in my diet I'm picking up carbs that are hampering my weight-loss--probably when I go to lunch. But I need to take the guess-work out of this. I need to know what foods cause my blood-sugar to spike, not guess based on my estimate of carbohydrate content or what have you.

Therefore, I just ordered 200 "extra" test strips for my blood sugar meter off eBay (at less than half the price they would cost at Walgreens.) My plan is to start taking my blood sugar much more frequently after I eat, and based on that determine what foods are affecting my blood-sugar. The reason I want to do it this way is this: if I'm not eating too many carbs, and the high blood-sugars are the result of proteins being converted to carbohydrate, then I need to raise my fat intake, which is a whole different issue.

Does this make sense? Anybody? Bueller?

Arg...

Just weighed myself, and I weighed 412?!?!  What the heck?  Weight is supposed to be melting off me, and instead I'm now 2 lbs. over my start weight?

Blood sugar reading...

Just a quick blood-sugar reading, because I don't have my iPhone to record it.  This was taken at 6:00PM, several hours after eating at a Chinese buffet.  Mainly I ate bacon-wrapped imitation crab-meat (yum), teriyaki chicken, and mushrooms--and I wonder if the teriyaki chicken was carb-free.  Anyway, blood sugar was 131, which is the best reading I've had in a while.

Just ate about 3/4 of a pound of grilled shrimp, which came out very nice, but I think I probably need to reheat a bratwurst or two and eat them as I'm still hungry.  Not enough fat...

Sugar Alcohol and Russell Stover

For the first couple of days I was low-carbing (Monday and Tuesday) I ate the Russell Stover sugar-free chocolates. These things are really quite good, however I don't think they were a good choice. The problem is that they are sweetened with a sugar alcohol known as maltitol. Now, a lot of people (mostly low-carb food manufacturers) will tell you that sugar alcohols don't count, but as it turns out the story is a good bit more complicated–some count more than others. (See http://www.mendosa.com/netcarbs.htm) Unfortunately, maltitol is one of the worst, and these chocolates are absolutely loaded with them--like 15g per serving.

I'd suggest we all look elsewhere for our chocolate fix. Like here.

Feeling Great

Let it be said that, although I really haven't seen any appreciable weight loss four days in, I feel better than I've felt in I don't know how long. The tingling in my feet and hands (which was almost certainly diabetic neuropathy) has entirely disappeared. This was a constant nuisance before. I noticed today I sort of bounded up the dreaded 6 steep stairs at work, where normally I've had to drag myself up them every morning. Also, my concentration at work seems to be much better, which is a big deal when your programming computers.

Best of all, so far I don't really miss the carbs too much. Our babysitter made the kids a cake yesterday, and while I did look sort of wistfully at it it really wasn't a big deal. I'm not really missing the Coca-Cola at all, which has never been true on high-carb diets.

What I ate today

For breakfast:

• 3 eggs
• bacon
• coffee
• water

For lunch:

• A caesar salad with chicken at Obrigado.
• Unsweet tea

I wish they'd increase the portion size on the chicken though! Also, I need to find out for sure what goes in their dressing.

Afternoon snack:

• Atkins Day Break Chocolate Chip Crisp Bar
• 2 oz. Macadamia Nuts ($.99 at Walgreens. Great deal on Macadamias!)

Dinner:

• Grilled chicken
• Some salad greens with provolone cheese, parmesan, and a vinaigrette
• Mixed cauliflower and broccoli, with butter-garlic sauce

After-dinner snack, because I was still hungry:

• 3 Bratwurst

One thing I'm noticing... I need to make sure to get plenty of fat, or I stay hungry. My lunch and dinner were both kind of low-fat, and I was hungry after-wards. It wasn't until I downed those nice, greasy Bratwurst that I really stopped being hungry for the day.

Also, I'm thinking I need a better handle on my total carb intake. The salads at Obrigado are wonderful, but I don't really know what goes into the dressing and they are absolutely HUGE. I think I'm probably exceeding my 20g of carbs when all is said and done.

Random numbers for a Wednesday

A few quick numbers for today:

• Weight: 408.8 lbs.
• Blood sugar after dinner: 141

Note that I don't really put too much stock in the weight numbers, as my weight tends to fluctuate wildly. But it's nice to see a lower number. It's also nice to see a post-prandial blood sugar coming down a bit.

Starting Numbers

Okay, here are a few starting numbers. I will try to update these as we go. These were current as of when I started my low-carb diet on Sunday, June 14.

• Height: 6' 1 1/2"
• Weight: 410 lbs.
• Hemoglobin A1c: 7.1
• Blood sugar after one day of Atkins induction: 174

Will add more numbers as they come in.

On a mission

For at least a few years, it has been my ambition to do two things: first, to lose the 200 or so pounds I need to lose, and second to publish a blog while I did it as an inspiration to others. I even went so far as to create this blog years ago, and before I "rebooted" it with this post had made five posts to it over the years. These posts chronicled my failed diet attempts&emdash;low-fat, calorie counting, glycemic index/insulin resistant approaches, NutriSystem, WeightWatchers--you name it, I've tried it at one time or another.

So now I'm trying again. What's different this time? Maybe a few things:

• Last November, I was diagnosed with Type II Diabetes.
• My diabetes has, thus far, been "poorly controlled" to put it mildly.
• I'm fed up with being fat.
• I finally found someone "like me" who actually lost weight without surgery and kept it off. Specifically, Jimmy Moore over at The Livin' Low-Carb Show. He started right where I'm at--410 lbs. in 2004--and took it off and kept it off.
• If he can do it, so can I.

So there's the list. But let me expand on one item--the diabetes. A quick look at the list of complications of poorly controlled diabetes includes loss-of-limb (amputation), blindness, and kidney failure. I watched my grandfather-in-law die of kidney failure. It took years, and it was miserable. This sort of reminds me of Samson from the Bible: after Delilah betrayed him, he was tied up, hung down, brung down, blinded, and grinding another man's corn. I don't want to go out that way, but that's where I'm headed if nothing changes!

So, here I am again, determined to make a change. I want to lose weight, cure diabetes, and be there to perform my children's marriages (I'm also an ordained minister.) And I can do it.

So why blog about it? There are many reasons. One is to encourage myself to stick to it. However, I think there's a more important issue at stake. If what I've read is to be believed, a low-carb diet is capable of curing diabetes--not just for me, but for the 23 million other Americans with Diabetes. Yet, inexplicably, the medical community seems determined to ignore it. I propose to chronicle my weight-loss, and my progress in low carb living, along with the relevant blood glucose and A1C readings here for all the world to see. Is this a scientific study? Of course not. But it is another data point, another anecdotal case to keep the pressure on the medical establishment to look at the possibility that low-carb eating can cure the plague of our time that Diabetes is becoming. If I, as a man who has weighed over 400 lbs. for years, with relatively newly diagnosed type II diabetes, can actually lose weight and reverse my disease through the use of a low-carb diet, then that means something, at least at the level of common sense.

So, there's my "why". What's the how? Well, I think chronicling every bite I eat every day is probably beyond me. But I plan to log my blood glucose levels here, my weight here, and at least a summary of what I eat every day for the world to see. And here's hoping that it amounts to something, by God's grace.