Hello there, I am not a new member to this forum, and this is quite a long story, so feel free to stop and just scroll down to the end if you feel about to nod off.

I was diagnosed pre diabetic about 6 years ago. The endocrinologist told me that if i were to lose 20 kilos this condition would right itself. I am 1.54m and weigh 78 kilos. I am 62 years old. She referred me to her dietician who gave me a diet sheet based around 3 meals a day, with a fairly heavy loading of ‘good’ carbs. Over the following two years, i followed their advice re diet and activity (i am fairly active – walk dogs every day and in addition, do at least two 5 – 8 kilometre walks each week) but i actually had gained a little weight at each subsequent annual check up and the blood sugars showed little improvement. I was then diagnosed with type two diabetes and given medication. This did NOT agree with me, in fact it made me quite ill so i told the diabetes nurse that i was not going to take it and was going to try low carb diet. She almost said that she would wash her hands of me so i stopped going to the clinic. I did lose a bit of weight, about 9 kilos, following a LCHF eating plan which i found on the Diabetes UK site (which is fully supportive of Low Carb eating ), and my blood sugars went down. Endocrinologist very happy at the time. HOWEVER i fell off the wagon and over the last eighteen months, my weight has crept up and so have my blood sugar levels. Earlier this year, my doctor did a routine blood test and decided that i needed medication. I had a three month trial of one drug – no improvement – and am now nearing the end of a second three month trial of a different drug, with a different set of unpleasant side effects. i am due a control blood test at the end of this month.

I would like to have another attempt at rectifying the situation without medication and by diet. I KNOW they will not endorse a low carb plan and the medication i am on states that it is dangerous to low carb whilst taking it, BUT i want to try it again anyway as it seems to have suited me in the past. When i was LCHF i had more energy and felt healthier than i have in a long time.

OK, so far, so good. I never thought i was a fussy eater BUT i find it very difficult to stick to this sort of eating plan long term as i am ALWAYS HUNGRY and i STILL CRAVE CARBS and i HATE VEGETABLES. (I feel as though i am in an AA meeting – my name is Teresa and I hate vegetables!).

Not strictly true that i hate ALL vegetables Leafy green stuff? – all i can taste is grass. Broccolli – smells like cats. Cauliflower? – The smell of it cooking makes me want to heave. Salad leaves? – not in a million years. Aubergines – no way. Carrots, parsnips, swede, potatoes – not happening, the smell of a carrot cooked or raw turns my stomach. Lentils, chick peas, most pulses? – to me the texture is gross! And i cant eat yoghurt or very much dairy at all as since the Metformin incident, i cant seem to digest it properly. !

I am a qualified chef and contract caterer, and have studied nutrition as part of my qualification (although opinion has changed over the years as to what constitutes a healthy/balanced diet i have tried to keep up with dietary/food trends). I have tried ALL ways of cooking vegetables to disguise the flavour and texture. Roasting, stir frying, adding sauces, spices, herbs, flavoured butters……. I eat no processed foods, cook from scratch daily, always serve vegetables at mealtime but usually end up pushing them around the plate. I like fruit but realistically, two portions of fruit a day would send the 2 hour blood test readings sky high. I guess what i am really asking is, can this eating plan work for me? The meat and spice content is great, and i loads of different ways with eggs, but once the vegetable element is removed, i am not eating enough to be satisfied and when i get hungry i usually end up bingeing on high carb stuff. Are there any other veg haters out there who have made this work for them?.

Hi there, you say you are not a new member, have you posted under a different name before as I dont recognise you. I didn’t nod off but will only try to address a few points and I am sure others will come on with more advice. First of all, I too was made very ill with the diabetes meds (needed the toilet 20 times a day). Unfortunately for me I let me doctor talk me into using insulin which, after 12 years, cannot seem to get my numbers down low enough to do without but have seriously reduced all my other meds (statins, glycazide, BP meds) and cut insulin my 50%. I too was referred to a nutrition expert and was put on 3 meals a day with 3 snacks – mid morning, mid afternoon and pre-bedtime. I gained 5kg and my BG went sky high and then I found this diet. You already know it works and you are starting from a worse position by being T2 rather than pre-diabetic and you know you have to take this seriously. Now the veg question, yes you wont get enough to eat if you wont eat veg. Are there any you like, carrots, peas, tomatoes. What about pulses and bean type veg like canned white beans, broad beans etc or chickpeas, lentils (yes I must have nodded off as you have mentioned them). Have a look on http://www.dietdoctor.com and search for the visual of veg and their carb count to see if there is anything. Maybe, especially being a chef, you could do what most mums do with their kids and hide the veg so stews or mince dishes with small chopped onions, carrots, mushrooms, red peppers and so on. You can also cook in a different way. For example, I dont really like the texture of aubergine but I slice it, griddle until it is charred then turn it over and sprinkle with parmesan cheese and grill for a few minutes for a crispy snack, same with courgettes, I make them into fritters, again with a sprinkle of cheese to disguise the taste. You are right about the fruit, sugar in disguise. You can have berries but they are not very filling, an apple now and then is okay, what about a few nuts. I hope you can find something that will give you variety and fill you up, your health could depend on it.

Hi Teresa, I’m wondering what meds you are on. I’m type 2 diabetic and I’ve been on metformin since day one. A couple of years ago I was put on canafliglozin. It’s a fairly new drug and it makes you pee out the carbohydrates to reduce your blood sugar. But it’s well known for it’s side effects and because of the way it works you can’t do low carb while taking it. I stopped taking it the day I started BSD. My hba1c has come right down to almost normal but I didn’t tell the diabetic nurse that I had stopped it until after my result! It’s your body and it’s up to you what meds you take. Nobody can force you, they can only advise. I researched metformin and it’s ok to keep taking it while low carbing. I take the slow release version which prevents the common side effects. You have to ask for it though as it’s more expensive and so not routinely given.
Hope this helps

Hi, I can’t comment about your diabetes meds. However a couple of points in your message stand out to me.

First of all while you are saying you were eating low carb you also mention eating fruit, of course as you probably realise fruit is high in carbs. – I would suggest that when working out an eating plan you use one of the apps for your mobile phone like fatsecret to record the actual amount of carbs, protein and fat.

This Way of Eating is about low carb, moderate protein and making up the rest of the calories from healthy fat. Different organisations describe different levels of carbs as being low carb.

Maybe it would be a good idea to log and share the grams of all three with people on the forum to enable us to give you additional ideas.

Secondly, if your carb levels are too high causing you to have high insulin levels, or the medication is causing you to have raised insulin levels you will be hungry because your body can not access your fat stores to make up the difference between calories eaten and calories burnt.