Thought I best make an intro post since I’ve been reading in the background for a few weeks.
I am a 56yo female with a milk and nut allergy, intolerance to garlic, onion and tomato. A year ago, I had a heart attack and died twice but here I am. My time wasn’t up. Had a stent put in and no problems since.
Am on all sorts of tablets – blood pressure, blood thinners ( not warfarin) Cholesterol, heart meds, etc. Have been going along nicely this past year but with a slight case of PTSD that is under control without medication.
Over weight with fat mainly around the middle. Last four blood tests have come back with high blood sugar reading. Doctor suggested looking at the Blood Sugar Diet.
The last year I have gone through the Low Fodmap diet then settled for the Heart Smart version of around 1100 calories a day. I do around 10000 – 15000 steps per day.
While reading the Blood Sugar Diet book, I kept looking at my Fitbit food diary for the year and noticed that in my 1100 calories, carbs were way up there! It all seemed to make sense with my high blood sugar reading and the blood test results.
So I thought I’d make a start on day one. 800 calories. Low carb – I got this.
Or so I thought.
Full cream anything or milk is out, as is yogurt and cheese. Almond milk is out. Rice milk is the only one that stays down and dosen’t cause bad bad issues that you really don’t want to know about.
So okay, vegies I do, usually the main part of my meal. Heart Smart diet had said no to red meat but yes to the fish, etc. It wasn’t really hard to adapt other than dumping the rice, pasta, bikkies and several kinds of fruit. I’ve never eaten normal white bread, only sourdough. I usually drink a few litres of water throughout the day and most of the fish I eat, I catch myself.
The first day – I weren’t hungry at all. Had three meals, ended the day on 727 calories ( 29% carbs, 46% fat, 25% protein)
Second day – 792 calories ( 35% carbs, 40% fat, 25% protein)
Third day – erm…not feeling so crash hot. Little bit dizzy but not starving. 667 calories (39% carbs, 44% fat, 17% protein). Weren’t hungry and gave up looking for something else to eat to try make up the calorie total.
Day four – today. Feeling hot and sweaty, a little light headed (but ate something to combat that). Am now feeling a little out on my own and not sure if I continue or if I should panic or perhaps have a cry…
I have a cardiologist appointment this afternoon ( just a touch base meeting) and will run it all by him. Also my GP is monitoring my BP every fortnight as I’m on medication to lower it and he said it may need adjusting.
Does all this sound normal or am I too complicated to continue? Living very rural, I manage to book my GP once per month lately, is that often enough to get my BP and blood checked?
Am I doing something wrong that I can’t see? Have I prattled on too much?
Thank you for reading this far.

Hello and a warm welcome Threedogs
Firstly just let me say “carb / keto ” flu ! It sounds like you have the “symptoms” of carb flu – where our bodies switch over into keto/low carb mode. This usually happens in the first week or so, and it lasts just 2-3 days – and it will pass!! Don’t despair.
The recommendations are to keep up your fluids and to have some salt – either a salty food or dip your finger into some salt and lick. I’m sure others will come along to assist also. Or ask google.
You are doing nothing wrong – so keep on going. Ask questions – prattle as much as you like 🌼😊

Hi Threedogs,

You are giving your breakdown of carbs, fat and protein as percentages. – It is far better to consider them as absolutes. IE aim for under 20g of carbs (but some people who are not Insulin Resistant can go up to 50g) calculate your protein as 0.6 to 0.8g per KILO of TARGET weight. With the rest of your calories coming from healthy fats.

This way of eating can be a shock to your gut bacteria. The mix of bacteria will have developed based on your normal diet, and they will be trying to get you to return to your old way of eating because their survival depends on it. –

It does get easier.

Threedogs, WELCOME! My husband has advanced heart disease, 2 stenting procedures, a completely blocked
right coronary artery, and 2 others that are being held open by the stents. He’s had 2 silent heart attacks, and now has
a defibrillator implanted in his chest. I know the panoply of medications, too, because I organize the weekly pillbox 🙂
ACE inhibitors, Beta blockers, blood thinners, diuretics, to name just a few. He is on salt restriction and fluid restriction,
so a few alterations had to be made that aren’t in accordance with the BSD. Please check with your cardiologist before
treating the carb flu with extra salt, or consuming all the water that is recommended on the Fast800. When first diagnosed,
I looked at what the American Heart Assoc. was recommending in terms of diet. I was truly shocked to see that 6-8
servings of grains were recommended. That made NO sense to me for a man that was told to urgently lose 50lbs!
He has been following the BSD for 3 years with modifications, and 40 of the 50 lbs. are gone. This is a long and
round about way of saying that if your cardiologist approves, go for it! Other accomodations that we have made is to
cut out all cheese, and use lean high quality proteins like wild fish and free range chicken breasts. Eggs are organic.
Red meat is a very occasional thing, and only when I can get grassfed and finished beef. Adapting to the BSD lifestyle
has brought our chloesterol levels and other blood markers from high into optimal range. With a few tweaks and
your cariologist’s approval, you CAN do this! Very best to you,

Allie

Thank you for the replies. Had a good session with my cardiologist this afternoon.
He is happy for me to go ahead but he suggested a few changes. He said have something to eat in the mornings when taking my tablets as some can’t be taken on an empty stomach.
He knows I have a milk allergy so wanted to check my calcium via bloods. He said lay off the bacon ( he looked through the recipe book) and limit red meat – yes, grass fed. He wrote a few other notes for me, small variations on the 800BSD but all in all, close enough that most results can be achieved as long as we think ‘heart smart’.
Just have to keep an eye on BP incase it drops too low and meds need to be lowered.
And yes, salt is a no no.
Most of the icky feeling has gone for now so that’s one thing.

OH…P.S….And hasn’t my roseaca flared up something shocking today. It is not at all happy with the state of things.