Good morning ladies. I'm a little late getting up. I bookmarked the Dr. Jason Fung theory about how to eat to reverse diabetes. I've read of 2 other doctor's who taught people how to reverse diabetes, but you ate practically no meat and I can't seem myself never eating meat again. I can give up grains and even fruit if I have too only because I know you can get your fiber and nutrition from meat and veggies. I am very interested in what he has to say. Someone has posted on the internet around 20 hrs of his video teaching and they can also be found on youtube. So I'm checking that out. I'm interested in how someone has successfully used IF to reverse diabetes in humans because of the articles we had a while back when they used it with lab rats. This came up on the Atkins thread on a lowcarb site because someone had noticed that eating low carb eating only 1 meal a day noticed that her diabetes improved. Another lady who has been on there for years and successfully staying low carb for 21 yrs shared this website.

I got my little book out that I keep in my bathroom to measure and I hadn't measured in 4 months. I was glad to see that I had lost a few lbs and didn't add them up but I had either lost inches or stayed the same in some places. So I've got the measurements and weight starting today totally low carb along with IF. I even did the kettle bell this morning and will ride the recumbent bike this afternoon after lunch. I read in one of the books I have on Reversing Diabetes that it is better for diabetics to exercise after a meal.

Mad Congratulations on the loss and being back OP. You are doing good. I had to give up diet drinks years ago because of the ascorbic acid. Can't even take cross the counter Vitamin C because it is usually ascorbic acid. I have to use citrus fruits sparingly. Never thought of that, but my skin has been itching with no apparent reason and evidently that is the problem. Like Carol Sue I can use ACV in foods which seems to help my bs, but I think I need to not have the lemon at the same time. I used to only use lemon water when I was eating out and I didn't use vinegar then. So maybe I need to re-think about that one.

Carol Sue Neurontin/Gabapentin is the medicine they gave him. You are doing really well with your exercise etc. I know you can get the rest of your plan working. I will have to try the ACV in my veggies. I think it would enhance the flavor.


Shannon I think you have a good plan there for you. All that rushing around should also work like exercise too. I used to love experimenting with recipes, but thanks to Mr. Pickyeater, I don't have the interest any more. So sad because I used to love to cook.

I think we all know what to do for ourselves. Yey!!! We can do this!!!!

Have a great day.

Trish, the Gabapentin worked for me after the initial severe pain wore off. You have to increase it gradually, or it will give you the feeling of being intoxicated. I was able to go to work without having too much pain using it, and I hope it helps your DH and doesn't cause any bad effects. If he starts to get a whoozy feeling he needs to cut back a bit on it.

I will look up Dr Jason Fung. I have several things bookmarked that I need to read through.

I just watched one of the videos of Dr. Jason Fung on The 2 Big Lies of Type 2 Diabetes. I thought y'all might want to watch some of these videos.

Mad Being a nurse, I felt you especially would want to see it. As he explains why the regular diabetic treatment does not work and why Bariatric Surgery, Fasting and VLC are the only ways that not only works but reverses diabetes. The one I watched yesterday and today were long about an hour because I think he is lecturing doctors. Especially in yesterdays. So here are the link.

https://www.youtube.com/user/drjasonfung


I also found it interesting that the insulin normalizes before all the weight comes off. I always thought because the weight seemed to come off so slow with the VLC plan that the weight wasn't going to come of because it seemed to stop when the bs normalized. I now realize that I can either do VLC and lose weight although it may still slow.

thanks trash, I will try to check it out sometime. I do not have unlimited internet, so avoid youtube videos etc unless at the office. At once I am there, I tend to work.
I assume there is something that happens at some point with diet change and weight loss that allows the insulin to enter the cells again more easily. For most of us, it is actual insulin resistance that happens, and the diabetes is a result of that.
My administrators husband is insulin dependent, (he is the one who lost toes, and now has a below the knee amputation as a result of poor diabetes control, very inspiring to me to keep all my parts) and his endocrinologists believe there is a late onset type 1 or mixed type 1,2 for him. his beta cells are almost gone, but onset was slow like type 2, and he managed with metformin in the first few years.

oh my, I'm pontificating.. sorry

My DH amazes me sometimes. We just watched 4 hrs of Dr. Fung on youtube on our tv and he wants to watch some more.May end up watching all of them. He is very interested in a lot of things that Jason Fung has to say. DH worked for about 20 yrs in Neo-Natal and saw how sugar affects newborns. He is sold on the concept and wants to know more about Intermittent Fasting. We say a couple... she has gotten off of insulin fasting and her husband decided to do it since it worked so well for her and has lowered his insulin. This will be so much easier with him doing it with me. I did a 5 hr eating window today. Didn't start out to do just 5 but didn't get hungry before our main meal which we didn't eat until after 3 because we were watching the doctor.

He gave 6 Top ways to reduce diabetes
1. Intermittent Fasting
2. Reduce dietary refined carbohydrates
3. Eat high fat (natural fats)
4. Fiber
5. Vinegar
6. Spices and Herbs (he said there are some like cinnamon, turmeric that lowers insulin)

Carol Sue Thanks for sharing about starting slow and building up on the Gabapatin. When I told him, he then remembered the pain specialist he went to told him to build up slow and come off of it slow.

I didn't have a real good day yesterday, food wise, and it shows in my FBG. I'll do better today. It wasn't what I ate so much as the quantity. I just can't stick to those portions.

Trish, It was several years ago, but as I recall, my Rx said to take XXmg the first week, then XXmg, then XXmg, increasing gradually. I had read up on it, and knew when I started to get that feeling of intoxication that I had reached my limit and cut back enough to not have those feelings. I took it for a few months but then I realized that my pain was minimal and I just quit taking it. I did not get off it slowly, but had to effects. Your DH sounds like he's well informed in these things. I hope it helps him.

I still don't know if my step-son actually has shingles or not. He said the pain started at work on Friday and he went to Med Express on Sunday. I don't know how they diagnosed it as shingles without the rash. Maybe they went by his thinking that it was shingles. He still doesn't have any sign of the rash. He is taking the anti-viral meds, so maybe since this is his second bout with it it is a mild case. I worry about him because he had a heart valve replacement in 2009 and I think he should notify his cardiologist of this situation and the meds he taking for it. Maybe I'm too overly cautious.

I have not started watching the DR Jung videos but intend to.

Mad I think my step-son has the same set up as you for internet. They have a hub to use to connect to the internet on the computer and it goes along with their cell phone bill. Their time spent on the internet uses phone minutes so they rarely use their computer. They can access the internet with their smart phones if need be.

Carol Sue I sure hope your step-son doesn't have the shingles. I think when I took the Gabapatin, I didn't know to take it slowly. I took it and even though I didn't think it was working, I decided that it might be worse if I didn't. When the pain finally let up, I just st opped the meds and never went back to it.

This is day 2 on my IF. I am doing 2 meals within 5 hr window. DH saw where some fast every other day, but while this is works for me this is the way I will do although I would like to do 1 meal a day for 1 or 2 days once in a while, but I'm not on insulin and as long as I don't have to I probably won't. However, I was impressed with the woman who went 21 days, but I don't believe I have to. I think that is for special situations.

He says you can do this with very low calorie diets, but not lowfat low calorie as well as VLC and IF.

Carol Sue I had to do something because for the last week or so my fbs slowly inched back up all the way to 147 yesterday. One day on 2 meals of eating lower carb of 2 meals within 5 hr window, it was 129 this morning and my weight is back down exactly in line with my ticker.

I'm kind of using some of the rules of the Carbohydrate Addict's Diet of a RM using what I learned from the Magic Foods. I made a huge salad and ate half yesterday and will eat the other half today. We had pork 'n beans and I put ACV in my mixed frozen veggies, the beans and the salad. Since I still like my eggs for breakfast, I've just moved that to my last meal a day and make it a very low carb meal. And I use the CO to cook my omelet for dinner.

So main meal will have healthy carbs with the salad with ACV and veggies with butter and use the ACV to enhance the veggies. Breakfast will be moved to dinner. For a feeling of dessert effect, I'm finishing off the dinner with nuts.

There are a lot of things that I still want to learn to do in my lifetime. Shannon I used to do crafts and would love to take a class at one of our local craft shops to learn to knit. The day I feel like doing something again maybe I will do that. I think I need to set some goals for my life. Hope things are going good for you.

Mad I'm so glad you are back with us.

Hope everyone has a good day.

Trish, I think you are doing great, and maybe now your DH will start eating the same way after watching the videos. DH surprises me once in a while by making roasted veggies for himself. He puts ranch dressing on them, but at least he's eating vegetables by choice, not just because I cooked them. He also started buying bags of little mandarin oranges to eat each day and I'm starting to eat them, too. At first I would eat 1/2 of his, but now I am starting to eat a whole one. They are very small, and I will eat them as long as they don't start spiking my blood sugar.

I haven't had any tummy troubles since I stopped the ACV, even though I have still been eating the bagged salad, so I think the ACV was causing it. However, my blood sugar has risen a bit, too, so I am going back to it again today since I don't plan on leaving the house for the rest of the day. That could be a disaster. LOL I put 2 tsp in my 16 oz water bottle instead of 2 Tbs. Maybe my body can handle that. I am still adding a bit to my veggies because they taste really good with it.

I am not going to buy salad fixings anymore since it spoils before I can eat it all. I prefer hot cooked veggies anyway. I can always order salads when I go out to eat.

I looked up the Bone Broth Dr. Fung speaks about and thought I would share it. They drink it when fasting.

Bone Broth Recipe

– 2 – 3 lbs of bones

– 1 onion, coarsely choppedbone-broth-veggies-2

– 2 carrots, coarsely chopped

– 2 stocks of celery, coarsely chopped

– 2 tbsp of raw, unfiltered apple cider vinegar

– 1 tbsp of salt

– 1 tsp of whole peppercorns

– Other herbs and spices

(Optional) Roast the bones in the oven on a roasting pan at 350̊F/177̊C for 30 minutes. This gives a nice flavour to the bones.
Place the bones into a stockpot and pour cool water over the bones. Add the raw, unfiltered apple cider vinegar, and let sit for 30 minutes. The vinegar helps make the nutrients from the bones more available.
Add the vegetables and dried herbs.
Bring to a vigorous boil, then reduce to a simmer.
For the first few hours try to remove any impurities that are on the surface.
When 30 minutes are remaining, add any fresh garlic or herbs.
Remove from heat and let cool for 5 minutes, then strain.

Simmering Times
Chicken/Poultry 8 – 24 hours
Cattle/Bison 12 – 24 hours
Fish 8 hours


Freezing Tip: Freeze in ice cube trays. One ice cube defrosted is the perfect size for the average coffee mug!

Trish I have never made the bone broth but have heard great things about it.

Oh my goodness! My "H" key on my laptop is coming off and doesn't work half the time so I have to keep checking and rechecking what I type, it's driving me crazy. Honestly, I need a new one. My fan is also broken and it keeps overheating but the fan part was only $10 and can be installed yourself so we ordered one of those. I can't imagine though that it's going to last much more than another year.

I've been doing pretty well staying on my plan. I haven't cheated (off plan foods) since last Thursday. That is pretty good for me. Everytime I've started back before I could never seem to string more than two or three days together so five, almost six, days is pretty good. This plan is definitely slower weight loss, but that is probably good. I did 3 days of all S meals (not on purpose, just how it worked out) and was really dragging. It was very freeing to know that I could have the slightly higher carb meals so yesterday I did two of my meals as E and feel much better today.

Shannon I haven't made bone broth in years. I used to do it all the time when my kids were young so I could use it to make homemade soups/stews. I haven't made it the way Dr. Fung suggests. Years ago there was a diet that had you make up big pots of veggie soup that you cooked until all the nutrients were in the soup, but you had to drink it between mealtimes. They said there wasn't too much in it but it made you feel satisfied so you didn't eat between meals. I couldn't do the diet because it was a rice diet 3 x a day and of course there was no way I could eat that much rice. But I really did like the soup. Congratulations on staying OP. Glad you have found something that works for you.

I only had the one meal today and doing my 1st 24 hr fast. I wasn't hungry when it was time for the second meal so I decided to just drink some broth since that is one of the noncaloric drinks recommended by Dr. Fung. I had some boxed chicken broth without sodium so I heated up a cup of it with a little bit of salt and Mrs. Dash for flavor. I usually do not like broth, but it hit the spot. I drank black decaf coffee this morning. I'm looking forward to seeing how this works for me as my fbs before my only meal today was 110. This is getting exciting.

I used to eat this way, but thought maybe I shouldn't, but I did great the times I have done it in the past. I remember reading in the original CAD book that Rachel Heller lost a lot of her weight eating 1 meal a day. I think when she married that her husband felt it was important to eat more meals.

I wrote a thank you note to the lady who shared about Dr. Fung. She wrote me today and said that she had been able to go to weight management group which Dr. Westman at Duke in N.C. She said as things progressed with the group some people were able to do better eating one meal a day and he approves of this way of eating for those that it works best for. He is one of the doctors who helped write the new Atkins book. I decided to look him up on line. He has a small pamphlet on Amazon for sale. So I read one of the reviews by a cardiologist.

He said that his patients were complaining about the fact that they followed his diet to the letter and were gaining weight and not getting better. So he put himself on the diet plan that he gave his patients because he said it bothered him that they were trusting him to help them and were getting worse instead of better.

He found that he began to gain weight and his health became worse. So he said he did the thing he wasn't supposed to do. He crossed over to the low carb way of eating. He said his weight came off and his trigycerides came down and his cholesterol came down and the good cholesterol came up and the bad came down. So he uses it with his patients and they got better. He said if you have a doctor that questions what you are doing then get Dr. Westman's book and give it to him to read and if he won't work with you then find one who will.

Girls I am totally convinced that Low carbing works. I have decided that low carbing and or fasting is the way to naturally get diabetes under control. According to Dr. Fung, all illness seems to come from the way our insulin works whether we are diabetic or insulin resistant. Get that working right and everything else falls into place. However, like someone told a younger woman on another low carb site, when you learn to eat LC for our health we have to remember that we can never go back to eating like we did before. This is the way we have to eat the rest of our lives. Dr. Fung calls it reversing or curing diabetes, but I am proof that you can get rid of it, but only as long as you keep eating healthy. I've done it 2x before, but I went right back to eating like I did before.

Good night. I'll see y'all tomorrow.

Trish, I hate to hear when people say this or that will "cure" diabetes. They say they don't have to take meds again, but in fact, they can never go back to their old way of eating or their BS would spike. Their body will never go back to processing carbs the way a person with a fully functioning pancreas does.

When I lived alone and was thin, I ate a good breakfast and lunch but rarely ate dinner. If I did get hungry at dinner time I would eat only vegetables, which are hardly any calories. My reasoning was, during the day I was at work, I was actively burning calories, but in the evenings I was relatively sedentary and did not need calories. This kept my weight in line. Then I met DH who is the direct opposite. He can and often does skip breakfast and/or lunch, but dinner is imperative to him. Even after we married, I would cook dinner for him and the kids and then I'd go read the paper while they ate. It was after the kids moved out and he wanted me to eat with him that things changed and I gained all this weight. I was adding an average or 800 calories or more to my daily allotment. It didn't take long for the pounds to pile on. He has tried to get me to skip breakfast and lunch like he does, but it doesn't work for me. The only resolution I see for me is to just eat less and less at the evening meal.

Right now I am really hungry for my morning eggs, but I am waiting until DH gets up to see if he wants to eat with me. If I eat alone, sometimes he's disappointed that I didn't wait for him. When I am ready to eat, I don't care if no one else wants to eat or not, I eat!

I have simmered bones for soup, but never as long as that recipe says to simmer them. I can't see myself doing that.

Shannon, some of the letters wore off the keys of my PC keyboard but we just bought a keyboard at Goodwill for a couple dollars. It didn't matter to me because I touch type, but DH has to see the letters. LOL

I got another book. LOL I bought this book at Goodwill. It is The Sugar Blockers Diet. $1.99. I am not mentioning this as a recommendation, but I looked through it in the store and it caught my interest. It is from Prevention. It is not a diet, per se, but information on keeping your blood sugar under control. It expands on information we already know, like drinking the vinegar. For example, it says that the vinegar should be consumed before eating a carb meal, to slow down the absorption of the carbs. A small amount of fat before a meal is similar. Therefore, having a salad before your meal with oil and vinegar will slow the absorption of the carbs in the meal. I was just drinking the ACV water throughout the day rather than concentrating on having it before my meal.

It mentions other foods or combination of foods that do the same thing, and I will post anything I read that might be of interest to you guys. A lot of the information is the same as the Magic Foods book.

The book also talks about Acarbose, a prescription starch blocker. I don't think it is prescribed very often anymore. But the book says following the suggestions in the book, foods can do the same thing as the med. The proof will be in the pudding....that is, if I eat the pudding with some protein. LOL

Happy Friday ladies and Happy (early) Valentine's Day! Yesterday I had a really long day as all of my Thursdays are now with Bible study in the next town over and then spending the rest of the afternoon with my Mom. I broke my on plan status by having a donut at Krispy Kreme (she wanted to take Olivia) and then when I got home super later I let DH pick for dinner and we went to Chili's and ate their chips and salsa and I had the shrimp tacos (with the flour tortillas). The best thing about this new program is that I honestly do not feel guilty when I eat off plan. The "mentality" on this plan is that your body burns through the fuel source in approx 3 hours so if you screw up a meal then you just get back on plan the next meal or 3 hours later. Now, I realize that if you were a rational person you would already know this but remember I have long term disordered eating and I am a perfectionist (who never really gets ANYTHING perfect!) so in the past when doing LCHF I would read all the other people saying "I ate wheat (or some other off plan thing) and it took weeks to get back on plan" and for some reason that was my experience too, once I failed it was like I just could not get myself back straight. On this plan, not sure if it's the "3 hour mentality" or the fact that I have not completely eliminated any food group but when I get off plan I do not feel the guilt I did all last year and I seem to be able to pick myself up the next meal or next day with no problem. Perhaps it is all the power of suggestion??? At any rate, I am GRATEFUL! So, all that to say, I had an off plan day yesterday but have been on plan all day today :-)

My weigh in is on Fridays and I lost 1.8 lbs this week so my total since my restart is now 5.8 lbs - Yay!

Now, I know that you ladies do not like the pork rinds like I do - or you have issues with them - but I have to tell you about this. In my hometown, where I spend Thursdays, there is a grocery store that is "famous" for it's pork processing. I have never been in there before but the DH has been begging me to buy sausage there so I went by and picked that up. I also bought two bags of pork rinds (the store's, not a brand name). I kind of balked at the $2 tag on the not even 4 oz bag but tonight I tried them out and HOLY PIG! These are like going from skim milk to whole milk! They taste completely different from any others I've ever had before!

I have been super busy lately and have not checked my FBS or BS at all this week! I did pretty good last week checking it but have just fallen out of habit again. Mornings are so hectic here. But, I'm going to try to improve on that so I can see what is going on.

I went out today and bought a bunch of cute Vday balloons, cupcakes and a cookie cake which I hid. Tomorrow I am going to have a "tea" for the DH and Olivia and surprise them. I'm hoping to find time to make some cute little sandwiches too. Olivia is always asking for tea (though she wants it with ice to cool it down) so I think she'll be really happy and the cookie cake is totally for the DH.

Happy Valentine's Day! For me, it signifies that February is half over so spring can't be far behind.

Shannon, I have heart shaped cake pans, and I remember one year I used them to make 9 in chocolate chip cookies for the kids and DH. Last year I made a big heart shaped brownie for my grandson as that's his favorite.

I'm glad your attitude is changing. That really helps. I like pork rinds, but rarely buy them because I'm really not that interested in salty snacks. I'm glad you found some that you really really like. It's always good to have a safe food in that category.

I have been using the vinegar, but not as much as I was. I will increase it gradually until I reach a point that it bothers me, then cut back a bit. I had red wine vinegar on my veggies at a buffet yesterday and loved it, so I had to stop and buy some on the way home. It is not the raw organic, but very tasty. My blood sugar has come down, but not quite to where it should be. I'm just glad not to be getting the 200s anymore. I really don't think it can be carbs causing it as I am not eating many carbs. I still think it's portion size, as my weight is not going down.

Regarding the new book, I want to go back and read this section where it tells how to get your insulin to respond quicker. It says that the quicker the insulin responds the less of it you need, and insulin stores fat. I need to quit storing so much fat! LOL