carbs

[susaneshep51]

I am struggling to get my sugars down. I am restricting my diet to only 6 units a days and take 250 mgs of metformin with every meal. I am not getting the results I'm looking for. Is this plan backfiring because og my low carb intake

[Fruttibiscotti]

Sounds like you may be eating low carb and high protein, which is a mistake and can cause a surge of blood sugar via a process called gluconeogenesis.. This is a process of your body creating sugar from the protein you ingest.  It happens when you eat very high protein with little fat and low carb.  Try to not go over 1 gram protein per pound of lean body mass.  For example, a person who weighs 150 lbs should limit to 150 grams protein per day.  Also do not shy away from healthy fats, like olive oil, avocado, grass fed butter, nuts, full fat yogurt, etc.  many people make the mistake of removing fats from their low carb diet, which then causes gluconeogenesis. The trick is eating low carb with moderate protein and balance of calories from healthy fats.

[shaunw84]

Read the book "The Blood Sugar Solution," Mark Hyman, MD.  He's an MD and a diabetes researcher.   He's got lots of good advise.

Low carb does not mean any carb.   That's a mistake some people make. Complex carbs are good for you.  They have lots of nutrients the body needs.

Experiment with you glucometer and see what foods help and which ones hurt.  For example, some people do wonderfully on beans, but other people have problems.  

Be sure to eat a protein breakfast.  A whey protien drink with vegetable juice will actually lower BG for most people and help the body's metabolize better all day.

Be well.

[diabetes86]

Carbs raise BG so restricting carbs will help BG.

when you say 6 units I assume you mean 6 exchanges which is 90 gr of carbs.  If you take 250 mg at each meal that is 750 mg a day, the limit is 2400mg a day so you have room to go up on the Met.

It can take 6 to 8 weeks for met to become fully effective.