"My pancreas has carked it - I'm a diabetic for life"

(Brian) #41

If she can’t live without lava cake, there are keto versions!!

Gotta try, at least… (sigh)

(Jeff Gilbertson) #42

This is a good video by Tom Naughton discussing experts (doctors) versus the rest of us.

(karen) #43

Do you think that ‘sugar addiction’ independent of SAD is really a thing? I mean, if you take someone and get them out of the crazy energy spin of a high carb diet and substitute keto eating, do you think there are certain people who will still desperately want/need their sugar fix? I understand that people may not believe they can live without their chocolate / Smarties (that was me), / bread, because they’re unwilling to try and see, or their ‘keto flu hump’ is so unpleasant they don’t make it over, but do you really believe it’s impossible for some people to give up sugar?

(Ron) #44

I started a thread looking for a video that I wanted to show a friend of mine who is in the same mindset as your friend in an effort to encourage a deeper strength in will power. Don’t know if it will help or not but just feel the need to try. Maybe it would be a suggestion for your friend if you choose.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcbQmILeDTs

(Jane) #45

I think some people would rather be ill and in pain than give up their sugar. They usually have “enablers” to keep them from going long enough to get over their cravings. And their willpower is not strong enough to do it on their own.

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #46

That is a classic addictive situation; the addict surrounded by co-dependent family and friends who work out their own addictive issues by helping the addict avoid recovery. The only way out of that situation, when I was in it, was to get desperate enough to ask for help, and I had to be extremely desperate in order to be able to do that. In my case, I had to go through this twice with alcohol; once to deal with my obsession with another person’s drinking, then to deal with my own addiction to alcohol. I am going through a similar process now with my addiction to sugar and other carbohydrates.

The funny thing is that once one reaches that truly desperate place, suddenly the formerly impossible becomes dead easy. I have found from experience, though, that I have to go through a lot of banging my head against the wall (usually metaphorically, but a couple of times, literally) before I can surrender enough to recognize that I need help. But it is also why I and many others I know refer to our recovery as a miracle.

(karen) #47

I just found that once I was over that 3-5 day hump (during which, the first time, I was absolutely sure going ultra low carb was crazy, some nearly-medical production that seemed at best complex and difficult and at worse dangerous), sugar lost a lot of its hold on me. But I guess it can be like any other addiction - even if the physical substance isn’t necessary to keep the body from being miserable, the emotional craving for it doesn’t necessarily disappear.

(Doug) #48

Paul, great post. Thank you. It’s good for me to read this.

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #49

Tell me about it! It can take quite a long time. It took years after my most recent drink before I stopped wanting to drink all the time. Fortunately, as a very wise man once told me, it wasn’t that I wanted to drink, given what I knew alcohol could do to me, what I wanted was the numbing effect of alcohol. Guess that’s what I want from sugar, too, given all that I know the damage glucose and fructose can do to my body. I expect the sugar cravings to take fully as long to go away as it took the alcohol cravings.

(karen) #50

I still drink occasionally but not very often because of keto. What’s amazing me is seeing how many tv shows treat booze like medicine. Like, you had a bad day so you really NEED a drink. That is so sad, you GOTTA have a drink. It’s sort of weird, standing on the other side. I mean if you want to drink then drink, it has its upside for sure :smiling_imp:, but there’s no way it’s actually some kind of cure for your emotional problems. I think the same could probably be said for that bag of donuts!

(Sharon) #51

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(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #52

LOL! One doughnut is too many, and a thousand aren’t enough . . . :grinning:

(Adam Sheather) #53

Hi Karen, new to the forum.

I started the keto diet initially because I was looking at the best way to lose weight. I took some blood tests before starting after basically a lifetime of avoiding doctors & found I was type diabetic as well which gave me even more incentive.

For myself, even though I had a definite sweet tooth, I dumped the sweet stuff including artificially sweetened food/drink.

I live in the same house with my ex for the benefit of my child. She initially called me an idiot when I started the diet. Eventually after I lost weight & put my diabetes into remission, (first 3 months) she decided to do my diet too. She started bringing home artificially sweetened protein bars & I eventually found a keto chocolate mug cake recipe for her that has artificial sweeteners in it.

I feel like the artificial sweeteners have slowed me down a bit but it was a compromise as the ex thought that there was no way she could do without sweets.

Maybe look at it like methadone for heroine addicts.

A practical way to start could be to try & make something sweetened with artificial sweetener & feed it to your friend. If they like it, then you have an argument for no sugar, then go from there.

If it helps, the artificial sweetener that we used was a mixture of stevia & erythritol which was the best that we could find at our local supermarket here in Australia.

Good luck.

(Cheryl) #54

I developed Chronic Pancreatitis in 2009 due to extremely high trigs, and was told I would never produce insulin again. My endocrinologist calls this Adult Onset diabetes mellitus (pardon my spelling). It is the equivalent of Type 1 diabetes. I’m sorry to say this will never go away. This question is the absolutely most frustrating part of being Type 1, as well meaning friends and coworkers often offer diet advise or miracle cures.

(Consensus is Politics) #55

But you are able to keep a better balance of BG and Insulin levels if you are low carb, yes? I figure there is probably some kind of balancing act you need to perform, to stay in the green.

(Linda) #56

This is great. Thanks for posting it!

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #57

Look for information about Troy Stapleton and his experience with developing Type I diabetes at age 40. He started out trying to manage his condition by following the advices of the Australian Diabetes Association, and quickly discovered that he didn’t like the results. His experience managing his condition with a well-formulated ketogenic diet is both fascinating and inspiring. Look on YouTube for some of his presentations to Low Carb Down Under events.

Also, check out http://typeonegrit.blogspot.com/