Low Carb Diabetic and Gluten Free?

I just joined today after finding your site last night. I have been so confused by everything. Different doctors say different things and I have seen the dietitian/diabetes education a couple of times now and each time I am more confused.

I am a type 2 diabetic that was diagnosed in Feb. 2013 with average glucose levels in the 250's. I had gotten myself down to averaging below 100 and A1C of 5.6 when my doctor said I could stop taking my metformin and see how it goes. Well a year later and with a new doctor my numbers were back up in the 190s with an A1C of 7.5. Needless to say my new doctor started me back on the metformin and so far as of 12/8 I am back down to averaging in the 140s with an A1C of 6.6.

I was hoping that someone here has done both the low carb and gluten free diets together and could tell me their thoughts and or suggestions. I have a family of 6 and my daughter has recently been told to go gluten free and I am diabetic so to make things a tiny bit simpler I was hoping that her and I could eat the same so I am not cooking 3 different meals each night.


Any thought would be much appreciated.

Thank You,
Cathy

cathycox0211 wrote:I just joined today after finding your site last night. I have been so confused by everything. Different doctors say different things and I have seen the dietitian/diabetes education a couple of times now and each time I am more confused.

I am a type 2 diabetic that was diagnosed in Feb. 2013 with average glucose levels in the 250's. I had gotten myself down to averaging below 100 and A1C of 5.6 when my doctor said I could stop taking my metformin and see how it goes. Well a year later and with a new doctor my numbers were back up in the 190s with an A1C of 7.5. Needless to say my new doctor started me back on the metformin and so far as of 12/8 I am back down to averaging in the 140s with an A1C of 6.6.

I was hoping that someone here has done both the low carb and gluten free diets together and could tell me their thoughts and or suggestions. I have a family of 6 and my daughter has recently been told to go gluten free and I am diabetic so to make things a tiny bit simpler I was hoping that her and I could eat the same so I am not cooking 3 different meals each night.


Any thought would be much appreciated.

Thank You,
Cathy

Hi Cathy welcome on board   I understand your confusion with the dietitian just like in the UK they give dietary advice that is incompatible with Type2 management, your A1c is not to bad just a little tweaking of your diet could get it lower.

As far as gluten free goes I'm no expert but I do believe it's compatible with low carb, there are plenty of recipes that are both low carb and gluten free check out the links below

http://www.ditchthecarbs.com/

http://alldayidreamaboutfood.com/2013/12/the-top-13-low-carb-gluten-free-recipes-of-2013.html   

http://authoritynutrition.com/15-low-carb-bread-recipes/

Cheers
Graham

Hello Graham,

Thank You for your response. I will be checking out those sites for sure. One thing that was confusing is that a lot of the recipies I have found so far have either guar gum or xanthum gum and I have been told that these might cause my bgl to plummet when taking metformin as well?

I have a serious problem  with wheat but I don't think gluten is the cause in my case, I suspect wheat germ agglutinin which affects insulin receptors. IMO wheat is pretty toxic to many people (see cardiologist William Davis on wheat belly and his other blogs) and little harm will come from entirely deleting it from your diet.

Metformin works principally on insulin resistance and on many levels and is unlikely to cause hypos unlike some other diabetes drugs.

Try this for a while. The protocol was created by diabetics back in 2002 if not earlier, and in all that time it has never been subjected to an RCT, nor will it be. Yet it works, and helps you to learn what is and is not good to eat.

Chris,

Thank you for the suggestion. I am going to start doing this first thing in the morning for a few days and see how things go.

Thanks again.

You'll soon find significant differences in what you can and can't eat, and at different times of day. You'll probably also soon find you can delete some of the tests - for example my BG peaks around 1 hour postprandial so the 2 hour tests are redundant, and my fasting has never been out of range. OTOH my mother's peaks were around 2 hours, but she never suffered the BG drops I had at 3 - 4 hours.

Best of luck!

Hi Cathy - and welcome to the Forum

Reading your post you talk about both a low carb and a gluten free diet ... and you have been given some great sites to read and check out. I do think you will find it helpful to research both low carb and gluten free, and then look at recipes that can be more easily incorporated into your family lifestyle. It can be done - although sometimes may seem a little daunting.

You will of course see so called 'gluten free' food items available to buy in supermarkets, which annoyingly are always more expensive. However, if you read other sites you will often find readers sharing the views that these products are expensive and not always what you think! Read the packaging carefully.

I am not a medical expert, so can only speak from personal experience, but I would always recommend that if you can do try to use recipe ideas that are made from whole fresh foods ... take things steadily and I'm sure you will find some great recipe ideas that the family will enjoy.

You may also find these helpful

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/howto/guide/top-10-tips-gluten-free-diet

http://www.lowcarbdiabetic.co.uk/

All the best Jan

cathycox0211 wrote:Hello Graham,

Thank You for your response. I will be checking out those sites for sure. One thing that was confusing is that a lot of the recipies I have found so far have either guar gum or xanthum gum and I have been told that these might cause my bgl to plummet when taking metformin as well?

Wouldn't worry too much the amounts of the gum used in recipes is small and unlikely to have much effect on BG let alone make it plummet, even so as Chris said metformin is not a hypoglycemic drug and it's only very rarely that hypos are problem and that's probably down other factors rather than the drug.

Jan1 wrote:Hi Cathy - and welcome to the Forum

Reading your post you talk about both a low carb and a gluten free diet ... and you have been given some great sites to read and check out. I do think you will find it helpful to research both low carb and gluten free, and then look at recipes that can be more easily incorporated into your family lifestyle. It can be done - although sometimes may seem a little daunting.

You will of course see so called 'gluten free' food items available to buy in supermarkets, which annoyingly are always more expensive. However, if you read other sites you will often find readers sharing the views that these products are expensive and not always what you think! Read the packaging carefully.

I am not a medical expert, so can only speak from personal experience, but I would always recommend that if you can do try to use recipe ideas that are made from whole fresh foods ... take things steadily and I'm sure you will find some great recipe ideas that the family will enjoy.

You may also find these helpful

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/howto/guide/top-10-tips-gluten-free-diet

http://www.lowcarbdiabetic.co.uk/

All the best Jan

Thank You Jan I appreciate your insight. I will take a look at the links.

graham64 wrote:

cathycox0211 wrote:Hello Graham,

Thank You for your response. I will be checking out those sites for sure. One thing that was confusing is that a lot of the recipies I have found so far have either guar gum or xanthum gum and I have been told that these might cause my bgl to plummet when taking metformin as well?

Wouldn't worry too much the amounts of the gum used in recipes is small and unlikely to have much effect on BG let alone make it plummet, even so as Chris said metformin is not a hypoglycemic drug and it's only very rarely that hypos are problem and that's probably down other factors rather than the drug.

Thank You for your post. I appreciate it.

cathycox0211 wrote:

graham64 wrote:

cathycox0211 wrote:Hello Graham,

Thank You for your response. I will be checking out those sites for sure. One thing that was confusing is that a lot of the recipies I have found so far have either guar gum or xanthum gum and I have been told that these might cause my bgl to plummet when taking metformin as well?

Wouldn't worry too much the amounts of the gum used in recipes is small and unlikely to have much effect on BG let alone make it plummet, even so as Chris said metformin is not a hypoglycemic drug and it's only very rarely that hypos are problem and that's probably down other factors rather than the drug.

Thank You for your post. I appreciate it.

No problem Cathy hope the recipes work out OK for you

I tried to go without metformin and found that my glucose was 10-15 points higher (on the mg/dl scale). So I plan to continue it.

Now I view metformin as one of the good drugs that most of us should take particularly since it reduces insulin resistance.