Strict Low Carb Paleo

My “Very Low Carb, Strict Paleo Diabetes Experiment” is officially over. I am enjoying it so much however, I am continuing to follow the protocols.

  • 30 day, truly low inflammatory, very low carb diet
  • Consumed meats, leafy greens, coconut oil and butter
  • Food Journal, Blood Sugar and Exercise results.

 

For 30 days, I consumed only meats (no eggs),  leafy green vegetables, water, coconut oil and coffee.   No nightshades (potato, tomato, pepper, etc), no dairy (other than butter), no eggs and no alcohol.

 

This experiment was not drastically different from my usual meal plan, “Low Carb Paleo“, avoiding eggs and wine were the biggest changes. :)

 

Why do this Experiment?

I really wanted to know if following a VERY low inflammatory, very ‘strict paleo’ diet for 30 days would affect my diabetes, by reducing or remove my insulin resistance.

The thought is, by removing potentially inflammatory foods, my body may be able to heal itself more than it already has.  You can read my personal diabetes story, but in brief I’ve weaned off drugs and insulin, while maintaining truly normal blood sugars.

I always eat a low carb paleo meal plan but I wanted to go strict paleo “all the way”.  To do so I eliminated as many of the potentially inflammatory agents, namely nightshades ,  dairy and eggs.

I also eliminated wine (all alcohol) because it affects metabolism. Here is the best post I’ve read about alcohol and how it affects metablolism, “The Truth About Alcohol”.

So… for 30 days I consumed only leafy greens, meats, water, coconut oil and coffee.

Let’s dig into the ‘data’. :)

 

Food Journal

– see the note section after the picture below for my comments.

 

Notes: 

1)  ONLY 9 grams of CARBS PER DAY!!!  And after subtracting ‘fiber’ … less than 7 grams per day.  Truth is, had I not bought beef liver (which is relatively high in carbs) this number would have been around 2-3 grams per day… all from spinach (or leafy green veggies).

If your certified diabetes educator, doctor or nutritionist … tells you, you must eat carbs or fiber… please laugh in their face.

2) 59% of my calories from fat, I love that.  Historically I’m in the 65-75% range.  :)   If anyone tells you saturated fats are unhealthy … laugh in their face.   Hydrogenated veggie oils are bad… not saturated fats.

3) Protein Grams of 144 … is a little high, but not by much. Protein consumption goal is around 1g of protein for each lean body pound.  I estimate my lean body mass is about 135 lbs.

4) PUFAs – I really loved the Polyunsaturated Fat (PUFA) percentage.  Most knowledgeable people will tell you a PUFA percentage in the 3-4 range is preferred.

 

Blood Sugar & Insulin Resistance

 

Blood Sugar Levels

There is no doubt the reduction in carbohydrates lowered my blood sugar readings.  Above I posted a 72 mg/dl, my lowest during the 30 days.

Was the reduction due to eating less carbs? Or could some be due to reduction in an inflammatory food? … time will tell.

Nothing happens in a vacuum.  While the trend was lower for sure, I did have a few elevated blood sugar readings too.  I experienced significant stress during the experiment including an injury to my lower left leg.  It is healing nicely by the way, here is the post, “Primal Blood was Spilled“.  I decided not to treat with any antiseptics nor antibacterial lotions, potions nor chemicals.

I did coat with coconut oil and vitamin D3 a couple of times. :)

 

Insulin Resistance Improved?

THIS is the big question that I want answered.

I won’t know until I perform my next experiment…  I am planning on adding back carbohydrates (slowly) over a week’s time, until I reach approximately 100g of carbohydrates per day.

Then the plan is to maintain that level for a week, allowing my body to adjust back to burning glucose as it’s primary fuel.

Why?   I’ve read that once a person converts to a Very Low Carb diet, staying in ketosis, the body needs a couple of weeks to adjust back to burning glucose.  I am going to give it two weeks and see ‘where I stand’.   I will call off the experiment if my blood sugars remain elevated … I have not yet determined at what levels I will cancel the experiment…. but we shall see. :)

Note:  I will NOT eat ‘junk’ foods… no glutenous grains, no high fructose corn syrup…  my exact meal plan is still in the planning stages. :)

 

2017 Update:

 

I did perform an Oral Glucose Tolerance Test following this VERY low carb paleo experiment, you can read about it ‘here‘. I’ve performed several experiments with OGTTs afterwards, and my best result ever was this one.

It’s 04/18/2017 and I will be conducting another OGTT following my current, “Diabetic Carnivore” experiment, I am hopeful the results will be EVEN better. #FingersCrossed

 

Exercise

Despite a reduction in over 800 calories per day… you would expect a slight drop off in energy, right?

Wrong, I felt no drop off at all.  I maintained my workouts and noticed no ill effects… alternating weight resistance with intense cardio.

Due to the cessation of wine, I even added two to three evening  ‘intense cardio’ sessions to help reduce stress…. naturally. :)

15 Minutes of Hell – In support of my contention that I experienced no reduction in energy levels … I set new personal records in “Maximum 45 lb Kettlebell Swings in 15 minutes” several times during the 30 days.

Here is the last post where I achieved my long term goal. “Goal Achieved“.   I completed 405, 45 lb kettlebell swings in 15 minutes.  That is over 18,000 lbs, over 9 tons in just 15 minutes… and yes, I am just a little proud of that. :)

 

 Body Composition

I do not believe in ‘calories in, calories out’ theory … however, if you remove 850 calories for an extended time and have a slight increase in intense exercise levels … I do believe weight loss/fat loss will follow.

Guess what??? … it did! :)  My weight trended lower during the experiment, about 6-8 lbs in the 30 days.

 

The End

This experiment like most… answers a question or two…

One thing I am more certain about today than ever …

 

we do not require dietary carbohydrates to survive… nor to THRIVE!

 

Please…  do not believe ignorant and intellectually lazy diabetes educators, doctors or nutritionists who tell you that you MUST eat carbohydrates to LIVE! … it’s a lie.

 

Additional posts on the Very Low Carb Strict Paleo experiment
Intro – Nagging Question … a new challenge
Week One – Very Low Carb Paleo Experiment
Midpoint – Half Way, 30 Day, Very Low Carb, Strict Paleo – Update 

 

Lower Your Blood Sugar Naturally

If your blood sugars are elevated and you cannot achieve truly normal blood sugars with diet alone…

BUY MY BOOK! How to Reduce Blood Sugars.

managing diabetes

 

42 thoughts on “Strict Low Carb Paleo”

  1. Nice work Steve!

    Looking at your numbers there, and comparing them to mine, I suspect that I’m going to have to bid farewell to dairy sometime soon. Which is a shame as cream is so delicious and cheese is so convenient. Ah well…

  2. What is the point of coffee if you can’t have cream? :)
    Also, you said “Due to the cessation of wine, I even added two to three evening ’intense cardio’ sessions to help reduce stress…. naturally.” I was under the impression that exercise increases cortisol which is stressful in itself. Am I wrong about that? (Or, do you consider “evening” before dinner?) I have to avoid too much exercise after dinner or I can’t sleep but exercise before dinner is fine for me. And one last question – how did your diet affect your nutrition – vitamins and mineral intake?

    1. Suzie… I swear I thought I replied to this. Apologies.

      re: Coffee and cream … sigh … I am a cream addict and you are pimping cream!?!?! :) I drank my coffee black most of my life… for the last 2+ years I’ve really gotten addicted to cream. It wasn’t too diffiultt to give up but I do miss it.

      re: cortisol and exercise – I am sure you mean intense exercise? I’ve exercised intensely … almost since diagnosis and I’ve had normal blood sugar and improving health ever since… so regardless of cortisol production, I can’t see doing anything differently. I do agree that too much intense exercise can be bad and I have been guilty of that in the past. I try to listen to my body more now.

      I normally exercise in the morning or lunch time. Occasional evening workouts do not seem to affect like they once did. In the past, if I worked out too late, I’d be up most of the night.

      By the way, I had an overnight fasting blood sugar of 65 mg/dl this morning… so yes, I am loving life. :)

      I get lazy about vitamin consumption, even vitamin D3 which I want to take daily. I bought and ate grass fed, grass finished beef liver during the experiment and when I eat beef liver, I purposely do not take a multi-vitamin due to the vitamins/minerals in the liver.

      After the leg injury, I did take my vitamin D3 more regularly to help with the healing process.

  3. Cream is so um, . . . creamy!
    Concerning your 65 blood sugar, Dr. Su (from http://www.carbohydratescankill.com ) had a cancer researcher doctor type on his podcast a few weeks ago by the name of Dr. Seyfried who worked with ketogenic diets. If I remember correctly,he said that in order to be really effective the diet had to also be calorie restricted enough to get blood sugars down to 55mg/dl to 65mg/dl to get the cancer cells starved enough of glucose so that they die. That seems so low to me to achieve since I have only gotten mine to drop from 100 to in the 80’s. Maybe I will have to follow your lead with more intensive exercise than what I do. I really like eating more than the 1000 to 1200 calories he says to eat to achieve those glucose levels. So, not only are you benefiting your health concerning diabetes, you should also be preventing cancer. You are doing an interesting experiment.

    1. If you want to reduce blood sugars…. here are other ways in addition to my most recent experiment https://www.diabetes-warrior.net/2011/04/22/coconut-oil-fast-is-over/

      I do believe that Low Carb Primal and Ketogenic Diets are great for allowing the body to defend itself against diseases and sickness in general but … I am not aware of any study that proves Ketogenic Diets prevent cancer… and that type of ‘reporting’ without proof is counterproductive to the cause in my honest opinion.

      Here I talk about Cancer and “Low Carb Primal” …. https://www.diabetes-warrior.net/2010/04/02/i-did-sleep-at-a-holiday-inn-last-night/

  4. Thanks for the info. Did you listen to the podcast? Dr. Seyfried is a researcher and it has been a while since I listened to his podcast, so I don’t remember everything. He may even have been researching with rodents as I don’t recall (will have to revisit the podcast myself). I only mentioned it as I thought you may want to research it further.

    1. Apologies Suzie, I hope I did not offend you. :)

      I have not listened to the podcast, there are so many websites, blogs, podcasts… the main sites I read are the ones on the right hand side of the blog “DW’s Sources” and I have been tardy reading those lately.

      There are so many ‘claims’ of cures, reversals, prevention etc … I believe language like that is just wrong unless it’s proven. If it is proven… please shoot me a link and I will gladly shout about it on my small mountain top. :)

  5. “Laugh in their face and tell them to call me.” LOL! This is great stuff. I am very interested in food experiments.

    I have been doing well on Atkins for over 20 weeks (<30 g of carbs, no gluten/grains or fruit) but I am considering starting to eat some fruit and giving up dairy…not sure if it will be at the same time.

    I am so fascinated by how different foods affect different people.

  6. How on earth do you put away 1500 calories in cream in your coffee? I’ll consume maybe 150 calories in a day (a tablespoon added to each of 3 mugs of coffee, say) and I think I’m being pretty decadent. Sounds like you’re just adding a dash of coffee to your mug of cream.

    1. “Sounds like you’re just adding a dash of coffee to your mug of cream.” … that sounds about right. :) And I was drinking a lot of coffee, which has as expected been cut in half with the cessation of cream.

  7. I heard about your blog today on FB from “Free the Animal” who linked to the Carolina Journal. All I can say is great timing! I’ve been primal for about 2 months and just stared playing with fitday for the last couple of days. I was actually relieved to see my pie chart look very similar to yours. I’m really looking forward to reading more of your web site. (I have a few pages open now.) Good luck with the legal situation! I guess if you can get in trouble then so shouldn’t anyone who’s ever written a cookbook? I mean, really…

  8. I am studying with the Institute for Integrative Nutrition (IIN) to be a certified Holistic Health Coach. I’m doing this because I’ve had a long-held interest in nutrition. I’ve read books about nutrition and related subjects for fun. I’ve always talked to other people throughout the years about what they could do to improve their diet and/or health.

    It is not illegal to talk to people and share that you’re eating a certain way and becoming healthier and advocate that others may want to try it themselves. People need to get educated and think for themselves. Everything is a choice, even peanut butter sandwiches can be healthy or unhealthy. Will you choose Jif peanut butter (loaded with sugar, molasses and hydrogenated oils) on white bread, or will you choose a healthy peanut butter (where the only ingredient is organic peanuts!) on whole grain sprouted bread?

    I am employed as a Service Provider to a 24/7 live-in individual (age 22) with an intellectual disability. She *was* diabetic when she moved in with us and she then took meds 3x a day for diabetes. We checked her blood and recorded her number every morning. [She had been off insulin for four months from the year she lived with previous Providers before she moved in with us.]

    We have always eaten homemade, home cooked whole foods: protein, *complex carbs* (never white carbs), whole grain sprouted bread, lots of veggies, and fruit. We served her the same meals. We did not follow a special diet. Just good, healthy, whole foods, no processed food and NO sugar. We eat organic (and local!) as much as possible, but all of our food is not organic.

    She was used to drinking 1 litre of soda pop every day before she moved in (with the other Providers — at her own home she drank 2 liters of soda pop a day, so they thought cutting her habit in 1/2 was an improvement!). When she moved in we started a new plan. She enjoyed a ‘reward’ of one 8 oz. glass of pop (diet soda) with her evening meal only if she had taken a 30-45 minute brisk walk with us that day. She walked 3-4 times a week. Prior to living with us, she had never walked more than 5 minutes at a slow pace. Last summer, we dropped the pop ‘reward’ because most people do not drink pop after a brisk walk. You drink water. The ‘reward’ for taking a walk is a healthier, more fit body. The agency we work for believes in the motto “a life like yours” for our individuals. Since we don’t buy and only drink it at special events in the community–we figured that would work for her, too.

    Now, almost two years later, she is a very healthy young woman. She weighs 125# and wears a size 8. Her weight has been stable for 18 months. When she moved in she weighed 185# and wore 16/18 (down from 22/24 and 235# when she moved in with first Providers). We haven’t checked for numbers in over a year. She’s been off diabetic meds for 18 months. She only sees the doctor every six months for a follow-up. She eats yogurt and dessert occasionally. She enjoys drinking water (particularly with lemon). She enjoys taking long walks and asks to go on one if we haven’t for a couple of days.

    Her life has completely turned around.

  9. Just to point of the obvious: our hunter and gatherer forebears did not eat meat daily. Meat was hard to get (no rifles) and it had to to be consumed on spot since there was no refrigeration or salt preserve. So staple was shubs, berries, and nuts with feasts of meat interspersed. The the wolf was domesticated to help in the hunting, then farming, ets, then obesity epidemic with concentrated/processed foods.

    1. um have you actually spoken to an archilogist about food availbility when we were scavengers?
      And yes we are a scavenger species the victorians liked have history follow christianinty hence man the hunter woman the gatherer.
      The eveidence is that their was a food abundance, we could obtain food to last us days with a few hours of work, the seashores were we mostly lived were filled with food the close in shoals were full of fish, we could get water from rivers,
      yes their is strong evidence that we became symbiotic with dogs which made us powerful hunters, but even prior to that their is good evidence that we don’t like fresh meat. We like meat that is old and rotted (we call it well hung now) we like the meat from inside bones.
      we are scavengers (oh and that’s why we are inteligent)

  10. Hey you may want to check out this video on YouTube called “Sugar, the Bitter Truth”.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBnniua6-oM

    At the end of the video Lustig mentions Paleo diets and diabetes. And he also points out that fruit juices are pure crap. Any nutritionist who recommends them is living in the 80’s.

    Good luck!

  11. I called and left a message earlier, asking for your views on canned vs frozen vs fresh veggies.

    Canned veggies are cheap, frozen vegetables are medium-range in price, and fresh veg are pricey.

    Do you have any specific anecdotes or experiences, or possibly helpful links to find a good balance?

    1. John, the only thing canned I eat is sardines and canned tomatoes which I put in my primal chili. I eat chili about once a month, not now since I am sans nightshades at the moment.

      Why? Unless you get BPA free cans… they are not healthy … especially on a regular basis. Google it … it’s bad stuff.

  12. I read about your problems with the North Carolina Board of Diatetics/Nutrition. I think there are numerous people who have sold nutrition books advising various diets who are not licensed dieticians. I hope they grow up and decide to either ignore you or study you.

    I am a self-diagnosed T2. My first symptom was neuropathy and doctors repeatedly said that I did not have diabetes after 1 fasting glucose reading. I bought a meter (at the advice of my wife) and started testing after eating. It didn’t take too many meals with rice to figure out that rice could kill. After a couple of weeks I met with a doctor who agreed that I was diabetic.

    My strategy has been to eliminate any foods which cause problems. I have discovered that I can eat Ezekial bread and barley which are OK for me now. If I don’t eat too much I can generally cheat a little from time to time. I am about to retire which will give me more time to prepare proper food and I hope to improve my health and exercise more.

    I take no drugs to reduce blood glucose. In about 3 or 4 years I have shed 30 pounds and now weigh about 175 at 6 feet tall. I went through several sizes of jeans as the pounds went away. I also am ready to swicth from XL shirts to L.

    I think I too am an example of how diet can control diabetes. I expect that it will become harder to control as I age, but I could cut carbs more. I really think T2 diabetes can be dealt with by diet by nearly everyone. The problem is that most people won’t face the problem properly. I view the diet as a choosing to live whereas eating lots of easily digested carbs is simply a decision to die. I think that many doctors assume that their patients will not adopt a strict diet. Of course a lot of doctors think that taking meds and insulin and continuing with the same diet is optimal. They hear it from sources they think they can trust. I trust my own experience.

    1. Good for you Ray! …

      re: I really think T2 diabetes can be dealt with by diet by nearly everyone. … absolutely agree and my experience helping others supports that as well.

      re: “The problem is that most people won’t face the problem properly.” — true BUT … when the medical industry promotes a high carb, grain based meal plan for all …and for diabetics… it’s nearly impossible.

      I equate it to telling an alcoholic … ‘it’s ok to drink 1/2 a bottle of jack black’ …

  13. What is your opinion on the long-term risks of eating an almost solely animal based diet? Specifically, the research that suggests a significant risk in heart disease and various forms of cancer?

    1. if you look at the inuit the have lived on only meat and fat and no had a problem, The ususl explantion for this is special genes, but people not from the local population who have lived with them have been equally as well

      besides you don’t have to just eat animal products, you can get fat and protein from other sources its just that they are more likely to contain carbohydrates

      their is evidence that vitamin c and glucose compete for uptake so people eating a diet low in viatmin c still recieve enough because the absence of glucose

  14. I heard you on WWNC 570 today and it doesn’t surprise me that you have had excellent results with a low carb diet.
    I am doing a modified Atkins for the second time since I was a “back slider” and developed Type II diabetes. I’m still taking one metforam a day but the low carb diet quickly melted away the pounds with positive results on blood sugar, cholesterol, and tri-glicerides.
    I can manage the blood sugar simply by reducing the sweets, use Splenda, and exercise. I have got to reduce my food intake to get below the plateau that I’m on.
    I started at 245 and got down to 200. My typical breakfast has been 4 fried eggs and a porkchop. I do use Metamucial, two teaspoons, at a meal when I’m home and love the stuff.
    I showed my test results to my diabetes coach and she congratulated me on the results but would not buy my diet. I guess that she thinks that I am killing myself. If I run my sugar up with a small desert, say to 140, I can walk 20 minutes and drop it to 95 to 120 depending whether I walk the hill or not.
    I’m still getting too many carbs to break the plateau but I know how to do that. I would be happy with my wt. around 170.
    The Atkins books were valuable to me even though I modified them to suit myself.
    Congrats on your website!

    1. Thanks for the comment John. I avoid sweeteners, natural or not … I think they can lead to cravings and extend the sugar/grain addiction. I don’t believe in fiber consumption… if the proper diet is consumed… but that’s me. If you aren’t consuming coconut oil… I suggest you try it. All the best.

  15. Steve,
    I am sorry to hear that my tax dollars are being used to persecute you. Thank god there are no more important things for the state of North Carolina do do with them, like balance it’s budget, or arrest, and prosecute the scum that burglarized my home, a few years ago. Situations like this, are one of the reasons, that I am a libertarian.
    Professional licensing laws, which interfere with the right to contract, are defended as protecting the public, but in reality, only inflate the income of the privileged providers of some services. This is demonstrated by the fact that they do not protect the public. How many successful medical malpractice law suits are there, against the members of the intensely regulated medical profession? How many more cases of malpractice, don’t make it to court, because the doctor, and the hospital, have covered them up? However, licensing laws certainly do enhance the earning potential of physicians. Why should someone need the permission of the state to lance my boil, for pay, If I am happy with their work? Why else would I pay someone these ridiculous prices to test my A1C, and write prescriptions for drugs of moderate utility. Why, if the Boards of Whatever, certify someone as being safe to patronize, do they not issue a money back guarantee? In reality they are the modern, statist version of guilds. They are of, by, and for the members of whatever profession has lobbied the state legislature, to create them.
    I read about the boards attempt to shut you up on SlashDot. That is a quite auspicious site, if you are a technophile. I suppose you are now an official body hacker, perhaps more correctly, a metabolism hacker.
    I too am a diabetic, but I suspect I have a more severe case than you. Two of my grand parents were diabetic, despite them living on farms, and eating mostly their own produce. One died in 1945, and the other in 1962, both of heart attacks, or so their physicians said. I’m pretty sure they didn’t get a lot of high fructose corn syrup, although they probably did eat a fair amount of corn bread. I am on what I describe as a low grain diet. It’s much lower in carbohydrates than that of the average American’s, but not super low. I don’t avoid potatoes, tomatoes, or peppers, all of which I grow for myself, as I consider them to be nutritious foods, particularly the potato, which I consider a “super” food. My A1C runs around 6.5. I protect myself from sugars with two supplements to avoid, and reverse protein glaciation. One is benfotiamine (a fat soluble version of vitamin B1, which is not excreted by the kidneys). It is metabolized into the active form of B1 within the cells, and greatly increases the activity of an enzyme called transketolase. It is part of the pentose phosphate metabolic pathway, which detoxifies/metabolizes sugars. The second is levo-Carnosine (a dipeptide, found predominantly in muscle, and brain tissue). It actually deglycates proteins, is an excellent antioxidant, and chelates heavy metals, so they are removed from the body. I recommend any diabetics look into both of them. Since I began using them, the last of my diabetic symptoms have resolved (I was a victim of gastroparesis), my rosacea has cleared up, my energy level is much higher, and I “feel” much better. I’ve also lost what I call the diabetic stink, caused by bacteria metabolizing the peptides, and sugars that I was losing through my sweat glands. Since sweat glands are virtually identical to kidneys, on the cellular level, I assume my kidneys are better too.
    I take issue with your assumption that ethanol was not part of the paleo diet. Humans did, and do eat lots of fermented fruit. Many species are know to get drunk from them. Besides, ethanol is a normal product of digestion, albeit from carbohydrates.
    Good luck with your legal problems. If you live in another state, just avoid North Carolina(you won’t miss much). Extradition is rare for minor misdemeanors. Oops, that is legal advice, I hope the NC bar doesn’t have me arrested. LOL
    If you ever return to the Charlotte area, get in touch. We’ll eat some raw vittles, in my extensive vegetable garden.

    1. Thanks for the comment. …and I take issue with what you actually said. :)

      “I take issue with your assumption that ethanol was not part of the paleo diet.” … I never said it was not, I never said it was. I simply said I removed it for metabolic reasons and I provided a link supporting it.

      “I too am a diabetic, but I suspect I have a more severe case than you.” … may be… but don’t let that be an excuse for not improving your BG. I say that because that’s a common statement used as an excuse to accept the current conditions.

      As for me, I was drug and insulin dependent… and I was taken to the hospital with an A1C too high to read… and both my grandmothers were diabetics too, one a T1 and one a T2.

      All the best.

  16. cam here via a post on slashdot

    just wanted to say I am following a ZC diet similar to yours although not in any way a paleop diet. It based on Inuit eating which I found out about via Gary Taubes excellent medical history text good calories, bad calories. If you haven’t read it can I encourage you to do so as it might explain a lot of why we are here

    for example the title of Atkins book should have been Atkins old diet counter revolution and that Ansel Keys used really bad science and in my opinion misrepresentation to support his hypothesis that fat was linked to heart disease especially in relation to the McGovern enquiry in the 1970’s. Ansel keys used 6 studies of countries to show a direct correlation between fat consumption and heart disease, the problem is that he also ignored 16 other countries where studies showed no such correlation

    In the past I have followed an Atkins type diet and found it to be effective, but inevitable I got myself readdicted to sugar. I no chosen to stop using carbohydrates for life, obviously I fall off the wagon at times but basically their is no reason to eat carbohydrates we are designed to run on free fatty acid and glycogen and both of those are easily obtained from protein and fat

    when I try to explain why carbohydrates are so bad, I try to explain that heart is like a turbine engine it can run on all sort of things, the problem is storage, Petrol(gas0 is explosive and if it leaks it can very dangerous even in small amounts, oil (diesel) isn’t explosive and is very safe. If you could use either and could convert petrol (gas) to oil but when you showed up at the filling station what would you do. you would probably use what petrol you could now and change the petrol/gas into oil for long term use. which is exactly what the body does with insulin. The other problem is that if you cant switch all the petrol/gas to oil then you have petrol washing around your vehicle with a strong tenancy to go bang in accessible parts of the vehicle causing damage, just as glucose does in the body when it cannot be mopped up by insulin – nerve damage, eye damage, heart damage, joint damage etc leading to loss of limbs, blindness, heart disease, joint pain

    what Gary Taubes helped me recognise was that I was diabetic already, I not clinically diabetic, but just being fat is diabetes. Anyhow its now 4 months on for me and I’m about 2 stone lighter and I just had 2 bits of bacon and two eggs for breakfast and I probably will be full for another 12 hours. Frankly it doesn’t matter how long it stakes me to lose the fat I plan on eating this way for the rest of my life

    as I say

    if you want to get fit: exercise
    if you want to get fat: eat carbohydrates

    best of luck

  17. Steve,

    I heard about your blog from a paleo/crossfitter friend in the UK who was appalled by the article in the Carolina Journal and linked to that.

    I support what you do and your right to free speech! Carry on!

    John

  18. Thank you so much for all your work with this and sharing! I am a type 2 diabetic that has been struggling with my blood sugar for years due to insulin resistance. I have been seeing a naturalpath and she has me on a Paleo diet now. I have lost 60lbs and I feel much better but I am still struggling with the high blood sugar. I do include dairy and eggs in my diet so I think those will be the next to go and perhaps some of the nuts and seeds. Keep sharing!

    1. Eggs do not raise my blood sugars… and the only dairy that raises it significantly is milk. It’s typically 11-14g per cup of carbohydrates. Thank you for the comments and all the best. :)

    2. as i said in my reply try reading good calories bad calories by gary taub

      I wouldadvise youto read it and make up your own mind, but this is what i suggest but be in mind that it may be worth exactly what you paid for it

      if you have high blood sugar you are presumably eating carbohydrates of some sort, since carbohydrates break down to either glucose or fructose. fructose damages your liver (like alcohol) and glucose causes your insulin to rise to deal with any excess sugar

      thus if you don’t eat any glucose forming food i.e. any carbohydrates then your body is only recieving fats and proteins. This also means that your body will much more easily break down your triglycerides into their components free fatty acids and glycogen. the glycogen you need to run your brain and the free fatty acids run your body, anything else you need is derived from either fat or protein except possibly vitamin c (you can get enough if you eat kidneys) but supplemation is useful

  19. Steve, I do not believe in fate, but this is unreal, my distant, distant cousin! I ran across your site at Yahoo News, of all places. Bob Atkins’ theories and research have been at my side for decades. When I ramp the carbs down, I lose weight and keep it off, but I am a gourmet cook. Someone in my family has been in rural Oklahoma for well over 100 years, but I am the last. My younger brother, his kids and grandkids, live near Fresno, CA. Irony, his name is Steve. Second irony, I was born in ADA, Oklahoma in 1951. :-)

  20. Steve,
    I have been trying. I go for several days on low carb. Then suddenly the cravings come. I mess up. I realize this feels just like an addicition!

    What did you do? How did you get past the addiction?

    1. ggarden, try to find your ‘why’ …your ‘reason’ to do this. Make it big enough to get you over the weak moments. If you are diabetic or have another disease… you should not have a problem finding one.

      For me… I knew where the ‘diabetes’ road lead me if I continued on the ‘carb up and shoot up’ path… more drugs and more illness.

      Also I keep a picture of my original insulin ‘pens’ in the refrigerator as a reminder of what awaits me should I fail.

      1. What a great suggestion. You are right. I just have to keep reminding myself that the last place I want to be is at the doctor office. That is really good aversion thinking because no food is worth a trip to the doctor, at least not to me.

        I am diabetic, type 1.5. I am just getting started and thank you for the inspiration, motivation, and information you provide.

      2. Thanks. :) I misspoke … I do have pictures of my insulin pins … but I still keep them in the refrigerator door. :) Wishing YOU all the best.

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