Comment by BadMoonT2 on March 31, 2012 at 8:34am

You are going about this the right way in that you have baseline numbers so that you can see what effect the diet will have on your body. I would caution that you may find your blood lipids may get worse before they get better, as it takes time for your metabolism to adjust. Since you seem to be already restricting carbs this may not be a factor for you.

Don't know if you are familiar with Dr. Richard Feineman. He has a Phd in biochemistry and his observations on diet are all based on peer reviewed studies. Here's a recent post on LCHF and diabetes. At the end he outlines what further research needs to be done to understand what is happening with a LCHF diet compared to more traditional approaches. He advocates researchers on both sides of the diet divide participate in the design of the study so that both will accept the conclusion as definitive. He also thinks the peer reviewers need to be truly neutral, again so the results can be accepted as definitive. This highlights the fact that many peer reviewers are not in fact neutral which muddies the conclusions of many studies.

To me he sounds like someone who is confident that the conclusions of such a study will favor his point of view. He is tired of the delaying action personified by the latest ADA pronouncements ie: LCHF may work in the short term but no one can stay on it and it's long term effects haven't been studied.

Some time ago I read an article by Feinman where he described a fictional discussion with and endo. He asks the endo if he knew of a diet intervention that dramatically improved A1C and had a positive effect on blood lipids, but had not been studied long term, would he wait for long term studies before he recommended it. The fictional endo says no he would not wait. High blood sugars are a clear and present danger, something that helps reduce them is useful, even without the long term effects being clear.

Comment by Dave Riley on March 31, 2012 at 4:44pm

Yes I had read the 15 Theses. My view is that since I'm caught in a cl de sac -- what have I got to lose. I'll give it a few months and keep reviewing what happens before tweaking.

Comment by Gerri on April 1, 2012 at 2:02am

Please keep us posted on your progress. I've been low carb/moderate protein/high fat for almost 4 years. My former diet for decades, prior to T1 diagnosis, was high carb vegetarian & extremely low fat. I've only experienced positive from LCHF & I use portion control. Interestingly, I had no weight problem on the high carb life.

Like you, eating many carbs made no sense to me. Even knowing virtually nothing about diabetes, I was stunned by the dietary guidelines. Everywhere were the the same recommendations, of course, so I continued searching until I found an alternative.

The only concern I have with VLC is that there's good research suggesting that LC can have negative effects on hypothyroidism, which I have & is common with T1's. Hoping more studies are done in this area with clearer guidelines about the amount of carbs that have a negative impact on thyroid.

Comment by Dave Riley on April 1, 2012 at 5:41am

Ironically the change has led to early morning gastric rumbles -- no discomfort but at 4am my gut starts gurgling of its own accord, like a performance. I assume that that is a gut flora response as fewer carbs and more fat which changes the ecology.But it's a weird feeling housing an opera like that and you just lie there while the performance proceeds.
The other response is a minor out beak of boils...
These consequences may have more to do with my fibromyalgia than any metabolic reaction.

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