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Type II insulin resistance ?
I'm 69, type 2 diabetic. Diagnosed 5-6 years ago. History on my maternal side of the family. Uncles and aunt got it in their 50's I was able to put it off until my 60's. I'm 5'-11" 233 lbs. Thick bodied. Played sports lifted weights etc.. I'm in the gym 3 days a week. I ride the bike for 15 minutes to warm up. Lift weights for 45-60 minutes then walk two miles. I also have a condition in my colon where I need to eat a Fodmap diet. Some foods don't digest properly and they ferment in my colon and it is very uncomfortable.
I'm taking 100 mg Januvia and 500 mg of metformin ER. I need to switch off the Metformin. Dietician told me 5 years ago I need to eat 34 carbs with each meal and have two snacks a day mid morning and mid afternoon. If I do this my blood sugar is high in the mornings. Normally I will reduce morning carbs if my blood sugar is high and I try not to eat carbs with dinner, if I do my blood sugar is high in the morning. Dietician told me to do what she said and add more medication if needed? I drink water and have coffee or tea in the mornings. No pop or other stuff. We don't eat much processed food.
I've added muscle mass from working out and weight. My body has lost some size, but not weight.
I'm struggling to keep my morning fasting blood sugar under 150. This confuses the hell out of me and I'm wondering if I did add healthy carbs if this would help me?
I make my own bread from brown rice flour, buckwheat flour and tapioca starch combo. I have this at lunch in a turkey cheese sandwich. Mornings are thin sliced bread 17G per slice (1 or 2 depending on where my blood sugar is) with 2 egg white muffins, 2 turkey sausage links and some blueberries. Dinner is usually either protein with greens. Collards, kale or chard. Or a large salad.
I made beef stew with carrots and white potatoes. I was Ok having this at lunch or in the evening and it did not screw up my blood sugar, no idea why?
Could I have made myself insulin resistant by eating too few carbs?
Thanks everyone.
Brian
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@carbcounter Please tell me more about the lack of carbs effecting blood sugar and the "resistant starch". I am following a low carb/clean protein diet, based on the "carbs turn into sugar" theory, and now I'm wondering if I've cut back too far on the carbs because my progress has come to a plateau.
@morgan561
I don't know any technical analysis, just what I observe myself, that my body seems to accommodate to any regular pattern and any activity that upsets it can cause the body to try to compensate and over-compensate. This is just short term, I presume if my regular pattern became skipping lunch that it would stop overcompensating ... I should try it and see! If anybody knows of any formal documentation of this stuff I'd love to see it too, but there is liable to be a lot of personal variation.
Yes, of course carbs turn into sugar, it's all organic chemistry and our bodies have a hundred ways to make it all happen. But then it turns out that not all carbs are created equal. Given time some carbs will wrap themselves up a little tighter so they just don't digest as quickly or completely. Oats may be a natural case of this, they often don't seem to affect blood glucose as much as that many carbs normally do. I've read that oats were considered almost a treatment for diabetes a hundred years ago (note, if you eat oats I strongly recommend making sure you get only organic oats to avoid glyphosate). But as I said above, the simple trick works really well with pasta, just cook it normally, prepare it with everything, sauce, meatballs, veggies, whatever - and then don't eat it, but put it in a container, let it cool, then put it in the fridge at least eight hours, and twenty-four hours is fine. It turns out I was doing this before I even got diabetes, that is I'd cook a big pot of it, have some for dinner that night - and for lunch and/or dinner for a couple of days. Not knowing it was special or "resistant" I did this when I was first diagnosed with diabetes and it probably helped me greatly do recover from some really hideous numbers. THEN I found out what I'd done!
(oh, and actually I generally used chicken, not beef or pork meatballs, which is probably good too, I find red meat tends to aggravate my blood glucose readings, I presume through something involving insulin resistance)
You can Google more on resistant starch, I don't find a lot but you can at least validate that it is a known thing with serious science behind it, though it is greatly under-emphasized as a dietary trick to help control blood glucose.
ps - it still doesn't let you pig out and eat the whole pot, you still want to stay with your portion control, which may be the most important aspect of diet for diabetes - just eat small portions ... and not all carbs.
pps - I've never bothered a chatbot with this stuff, I wonder what it would say, if I find anything I'll let you know!
You really need to read 'The Diabetes Diet' by Richard K. Bernstein, MD. His recommendation is no more than 6 carbs in the morning and 12 carbs for lunch and 12 carbs for dinner. He explains why. Also explains the Dawn Phenomen where he writes that research suggests the liver deactivates more circulating insulin, self made or injected, during the early morning hours than at other times of the day so with inadequate circulating insulin to prevent gluconeogensis your blood sugars may be higher in the morning than they were at bedtime. He explains everything. Best is to limit carb intake to be able to regulate blood sugar better.