Another lesson learned...long stall broken


(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #21

Simple: insulin is the primary fat-storage hormone, and too high a level of it in the bloodstream keeps adipose tissue from releasing fatty acids for your body to metabolize. So keeping insulin as low as possible (we do need some) is the key to losing excess fat. The 20g/day limit on carbohydrate recommended on these forums is intended to get even the most insulin-resistant among us into ketosis and fat-adaptation.


(Sarah Howe ) #22

Its not conflicting info…stevia itself is 0 carbs. You just need to take the time and read your labels and not assume anything about a product without reading the ingredients.


(Ruthanne Robertson) #23

My weight management doctor said that sucralose can spike insulin the same or more than sugar! I couldn’t point you to the studies on that. She recently went to a convention where Dr. Jason Fung was a featured speaker. She came back armed with all kinds of info!


(C Del) #24

I did the “test” once. My question is what is considered a “significant” drop in blood glucose?


(Rob) #25

I’ve wondered the same thing. I’ve read (and I’m sure the more senior folks will correct if inaccurate) that you have to account for up to a 20% variability with the home glucose monitor. Two consecutive readings can vary by as much as 20%.

When I’ve done my n=1 tests, I look for something of at least a 20% drop. From a prior reading in the 30, 45, 60, 90, 120 sequence that I do when I test for an insulin response. If my lowest reading in a series of tests is 90, I’d only consider something an insulin response if the new reading was 72 or lower. Otherwise I’d write the difference off to the variability of the monitor.

Not being dogmatic. If someone has a better way I’d love to hear it.


(Lucrecia) #26

Yessss! Good for you! I finally got that I had a sweetness addiction and put the stevia down almost 6 months ago. HUGE life-changing moment that was. I think it’s going to take years for me to see the full magnitude of the healing I’m experiencing. No more insulin dumping! Yay!


(Auden) #27

Thank you!


(vicki Jackson) #28

What do you use for sweetner? Nothing?


(Bella Tricks) #29

yay. go Dave.


(Bella Tricks) #30

Those sweet habits are hard to break. Good on you, Deb. Best of luck :grin:


(Bella Tricks) #31

QUOTE FROM @skinnyjeans13 “Ok, I’m really confused now! If you eat something and your blood glucose DROPS , that means that is a BAD thing??”

Skinnyjeans… To clarify, I’ve done this test also with different foods. In my experience, the BG goes up and then plummets (lower that usual) indicating an insulin spike.


(Bella Tricks) #32

My “sweet tooth” is completely satisfied with a half ounce of Montezuma’s Black 100% dark chocolate Trader Joe’s (no added sweeteners of any kind) and some black berries and coconut cream on occasion.

That’s cool @anon82178291. I feel you. I also use grated lemon rind, cinnamon and pure vanilla to ‘sweeten’ things. It’s a hard habit to break!


(Bella Tricks) #33

@skinnyjeans13, Deb, another thing… When I stall, I strip back the variety of foods im eating for a few days, and it seems to help trigger fat loss again. By that I mean, I eat only a few ingredients on those days such as:

Chicken
Green veges and herbs
butter
almonds

I might use eggs or minced beef instead of chicken but not more than one protein in that day. I often make a version of San Choi Bao using chinese cabbage and chicken mince, cilantro and green veg, butter and toasted almonds. Im pretty happy to eat that all day (in my 4 hour IF window). And it works!!!
It seems so hard for me to lose fat So I have had to learn how to trigger it. And eating simply seems to really help (other people talk about ‘egg fasts’ and 'ground beef and butter ’ fasts.
Good luck!


(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #34

The reasoning is as follows: if you eat something sugary, your blood glucose will go up at first, because sugar. But then it will go down, because the sugar stimulated insulin production. (The point of the insulin is to get the excess glucose out of your bloodstream before it can do any damage.) You may even see your blood glucose drop below your starting point, if your pancreas secretes too much insulin. So this is one of the reasons why we don’t want our insulin to go up.

But artificial sweeteners are odd, and some people react to them oddly. If you eat some stevia, say, it won’t make your blood glucose go up, but suppose it stimulates a spike in insulin directly. We have no way of measuring insulin at home, unfotunately, but if, after you take the stevia and your blood sugar doesn’t go up, what happens if it stimulates insulin secretion? It makes your blood glucose go down. So we’re not saying that the actual drop in blood glucose is bad per se, only that we don’t like it because we think it dropped because insulin went up. Insulin is a wonderful hormone and does a lot of necessary things, but too much of it is bad for the body in many ways—and if you are trying to lose weight, you don’t want your insulin spiking because insulin is the primary hormone that make the body store fat.

I hope it all makes more sense now. If not, you can message me privately and I’ll be happy to (try to) be clearer, rather than taking up (more) space in someone’s thread.


(Marilyn Cox) #35

Oh dannngggg…well heck. (Imagine stronger words and you’re on the money) I was wondering the same thing. As my stevia intake has increased, my progress has slowed, stalled and very slightly improved and I was thinking I hope it’s not the sweetener…I guess I’ll go cold turkey and see what happens. I heard if your tongue thinks it’s sweet, your brain does too and so does your body and reacts accordingly. Well I guess we’ll see!:metal::stuck_out_tongue:


(Sunny Parker) #36

This is such a difficult point to get across to people, partly because of the keto gurus who still don’t recognize the issues with sweeteners for a lot of folks, partly because of all the glorious keto cookbooks that make it seem like everyone is indulging, so it can’t be bad, and partly because people are so attached to their sweeteners, that they would rather jump off a cliff than give them up. I firmly believe that there are many ways that your body is reacting to ingesting something with a sweet taste that does not always have to involve calories or raising your glucose levels…inducing and perpetuating cravings is just one of them. I was the gal that used to like a splash of coffee in my mug full of sweeteners and heavy whipping cream. It took me five years on keto to recognize the correlation. I’m one year sweetener free and I lost almost as much weight in this one year as I did in the 5 previous years while still trying to desperately hold onto my sweeteners with both hands in a tight grip. But yet, when people come to me for advice and I mention that they might want to try to give up their sweeteners, they look at me like I just turned red, grew horns and I’m holding pitchfork in my hands. Their reaction is enough to prove just what an addictive hold they have over us.


(jim schafer) #37

i just thought i’d chime in here…i’ve been going up and down the same 10 pounds over and over for about a year now anywhere from 250 to 258lbs…I just do the best i can do… and i think i need to fast more…but aside from that…and it’s been a month or two since i’d last checked/weighed … and i’m now in the 240’s…so progress is being made (slowly)…but it’s encouraging to know the stall has lifted at least for now. we’ll see if i can be in the 230’s in a few months (trying to be realistic here)…honestly i don’t check for ketones via blood but since i’m T2D i do check my glucose a few times a week and it’s been really bad like over 200 !! my goal is to fast more… maybe one day a week and when i get good at that i can do 2 days a week… i know the weight loss will help overall… but this blood sugar must also get back to normal !!! I do put stevia in my coffee but that’s about it…i used to use splenda til i found out what i does to one’s gut biome. i’m considering stopping the coffee but i’m addicted to it… a giant travel mug every day for the long commute to work.