Controlling Type 2 Diabetes with Low-Carb, Keto Diet

I found out I had T2 diabetes when my mother gave me her old blood sugar meter. Her doctor had ordered up a new one in a different brand for her, and she didn’t like to waste stuff that was worth money. My mother had acquired T2 diabetes shortly after her doctor put her on a statin drug, which raises blood sugar.

I got some scary-high readings when I first tried the meter, so I made a doctor’s appointment. Since I have been low-income most of my life— I have an autism spectrum disorder— I hadn’t been to a doctor in years. The doc confirmed what my blood sugar meter told me, and I was put on Metformin.

Metformin helped at first, but then it didn’t and we added Actos to the mix. I had read one of the Dr. Bernstein diabetes diet books and he recommended Actos and Metformin for those who needed to take diabetes drugs. 

Before long, I discovered that I needed to stick to a low carb diet in order to have decent blood sugar readings. I regarded any blood sugar below 200 as a step in the right direction, and when my diet was right I was getting readings like 140 or 127. Not normal, but not as bad as a reading of 250 or 300.

Now, I was not strict enough when I was doing my low-carb. Since Atkins allows you 4 teaspoons of cream, I was allowing myself 2 or 3 or even 4 Tablespoons. I was not measuring portions when I should have been. And during 2003, I was eating a lot of sugar-free, low-carb candy, which was enough of a fad at the time that Walmart carried a good selection of the candy bars. But I was largely giving up real sugar, bread and pasta, and the kinds of chips I used to love.

I had some social issues for a while. My father died in November of 2004, and I had to spend a lot of time with my mother. My mother wanted to go out to eat, and the restaurants we used didn’t exactly have anything low-carb on the menu. And when I could get low-carb things— like eggs and bacon for breakfast— the waitress was always pushing bread or hash browns on me, and I could resist anything but temptation.

Later on, I had some complications of the diabetes, and as a result a specialist I was sent to insisted I stop my current meds. She said the only thing that was safe for me to take was insulin, but neither she nor my ‘health care provider’ (a physician’s assistant) made any move to get me started on insulin.

Stopping my diabetes drugs led to one shocking result. I continue to take my blood sugar every morning, and it did not go up as a result of stopping the drugs! I didn’t know it, but I had been controlling my blood sugar with my diet, and the pills had not been helping, really. 

After that I sometimes stuck to my low-carb very well and had better numbers, and sometimes I didn’t, or I cheated, and my numbers were worse. I found that if I ate my cheat foods at one time of day only, sometimes I had decent numbers the next day. That is, a cheat limited to one meal or snacktime wasn’t as harmful as if I had 2 cheat meals-or-snacks in one day. 

I still didn’t have the good numbers I wanted. Dr. Bernstein said you should go for normal blood sugar numbers, and mine weren’t that. I know, I had to stop the cheats, for one thing. But it took me a few more years to discover ways to improve my blood sugar numbers even more. In a future blog post, I will share what I did to help my blood sugar even more.

Disclaimer: I am not a medical person and do not give medical advise. If you have diabetes, consult your doctor about any changes. If you go on keto/lowcarb, your medications will have to be lowered. You need your doctor to help with that. 

Some Helpful Books:

Dr Atkins Diabetes Revolution

Dr Atkins Diet Revolution (the original Atkins,  YOU NEED THIS!)

The Diabetes Diet 

Dr Bernstein's Diabetes Solution

The above are affiliate links. I put them up because I am on disability with an autism spectrum disorder, and I want to get off it. Or at least have a little more money to fix things in my home like my broken stove and my antique electrical wiring and my malfunctioning plumbing.  If you buy through my links, bless you! And if you don't, well, that's OK too. Just reading my blog's a kindness.