If you've been following my blog, you know that I was officially diagnosed with diabetes last year, after 13 years of being a pre-diabetic from having a distal pancreatectomy and splenectomy in 2007. For the first several years I only changed my diet enough so that I wasn't eating too much fat or protein, as not producing enough digestive enzymes made my digestion difficult. After a while, I started to get hypoglycemic episodes again, when I started to develop more pancreatic neuroendocrine tumours. These episodes would occur about 1-2 hours after eating carbohydrates and my blood sugar levels would plummet very quickly, making me tremble and sweat. It was quite scary so I decided to see a doctor who suggested I see a dietitian about it. She told me to make sure that I always ate protein with my carbohydrates. This made a world of difference and I found I was having less of these episodes. I also took her advice to eat every 2 hours and my body got used to that. If I went more than 2 hours without eating, I would also have a low blood sugar episode. This went on for many years and I found that this need to eat so frequently to maintain my blood sugar was not only a pain in the butt, but I was gaining weight. I like to do outdoorsy things and I couldn't leave the house without a Larabar or something that I could fit in a bag, purse or pocket. The blood sugar fluctuations were causing me to feel weird all the time. Fast forward to a couple years ago when I discovered that the paleo diet would help eliminate foods that cause inflammation. I started to notice a reduction in overall pain and digestive discomfort, except I did develop a weird shoulder pain (this is called referred shoulder pain and is often caused when internal organs are angry about something). In my case it was because the digestive enzymes I was taking weren't enough to keep up with higher protein and fat levels in my diet. It took many doctors and much complaining to get this figured out but once I upped my digestive enzyme dose, the pain went away! Unfortunately, my blood sugar levels continued to climb and I was finally officially diagnosed with diabetes last year and told to take 500mg of Glumetza daily (slow release metformin). I was also given a prescription to get the Freestyle Libre flash glucose system and have loved using it this past year to really see how my blood sugar reacts to all foods and situations. Very eye opening! So this last year I was in discovery mode and learning all that I could about my diabetes. After a while, I realized that my blood sugars were going higher and higher and so was my weight...
The Interesting thing is that my tumors have remained stable. When I went for the Gallium 68 scan in May, I was quite apprehensive because that test often reveals neuroendocrine tumors not previously found. I was quite relieved that it did not pick up any other tumours. I attribute this stability to my new clean lifestyle and the addition of a few supplements, including CBD and LDN. I truly believe that inflammation can make tumours grow and that's why I'm so passionate about reducing the inflammation. At the very least my skin looks better, and digestion and pain have also improved.
My biggest concern now is my liver and that stubborn fat in and around it. I did some research and found that a keto diet is the way to go because the reason for these fatty deposits is that excessive insulin is storing up fat deposits in my liver and other tissues. Thus a diet low in carbohydrates will reduce the amount of insulin. When your body uses ketones for fuel, it means its actually turning fat into energy! That's good news for those with a fatty liver!
Looking around at some of my friends and so many people on social media, I was seeing that this keto diet was working for weight loss but whenever I researched it, all I could find that it was not appropriate for diabetes; or especially diabetics like me, who also have issues with digestion, absorption and hypoglycemic episodes. Many things I've read have also talked about keto being hard on the body and possibly raising cortisol levels or affecting how the thyroid performs. Other things I've read say that keto is the only way to balance hormones! Agh! It can be so complicated!
That was of course until I stumbled across a Facebook group Keto for diabetics and learned about Dr. Richard Bernstein (not to be confused with the Bernstein diet in Canada-that's Dr. Stanley Bernstein). Dr. Bernstein is a senior, type 1 diabetic who has controlled his blood sugars with diet and is extremely knowledgeable about diabetes and how things like food and everything affects it. I discovered, through this man, and countless others who do this each day, that not only "could" I try this very low carbohydrate diet, but I "should" try it. It just might be the thing that keeps me safe from nerve damage, kidney failure, heart disease and all other things that diabetics have to deal with!
Not only that but getting rid of this fatty liver and some weight loss would be great! I began on a Monday, tracking all of my food with an app called myfitnesspal and changed my macro goals to suit my needs. My goals are set at 5% carbs, 75% fat and 20% protein. Ideally carbs should be 8% for me and 17% protein but myfitnesspal only let's you do that with a premium service. Another good app that many people use us called Carb Manager. I was using it before they changed it to paid services, but it was also great because of the recipe section!
How I do keto: I made sure that I was eating as many leafy greens as possible to keep things moving, as well as I had to up my enzymes a bit more to accommodate a diet with mostly fat, moderate protein and less than 20 grams of carbs a day. It's extremely important to eat those greens, I cannot stress that enough. And most people eat a ton of dairy and eggs on keto but I still follow a dairy free lifestyle to thwart off tumor proliferation and inflammation. (Check out the post I made previously about dairy for the reasons why and for dairy substitutes suggestions. Caveat, I'm not a doctor, but I've researched this and have found that many people seem to have better tumor marker numbers when off of dairy.) Dairy also contributes to constipation and sorry if TMI, but after having the distal pancreatectomy and splenectomy surgery, I'm plumbed differently and have to be extremely careful what I eat so as not to get constipated. This is generally a big issue with anyone doing keto, and even more so for people with digestive issues.
I noticed a change in blood sugars the first day! No more ups and downs! After the first couple weeks, my blood sugars were in the normal range and I was able to get off of my Glumetza. It took a couple weeks of adjusting but I am now having normal blood sugars and not taking any meds for diabetes!! In fact I'm very much looking forward to having my A1C taken next month and cannot wait to see my doctors reaction when I tell him what I've done!! I also had to slightly increase my digestive enzymes again to make sure I'm digesting and absorbing the extra fat. I'm very happy to say that I haven't had any pancreatitis pain or anything because of these changes. Now I know that I'll probably get some slack from some people for doing all of this on my own but my doctors know me well and have always supported my decisions because I've always been the take-control type when it comes to my own health. I'm not one to sit around and accept the status quo and I'm very in tune with my body now. Pretty sure I would have done this anyway even if my doctor said no, just because I've always believed in a low carb lifestyle for diabetics, and unfortunately doctors do not get enough education about nutrition, in my opinion. Even dietitians are only taught according to the Canada food guide or pyramid or whatever thing the government tells them to. Those pyramids and plate guides are also created with industry lobbyists so they want to make sure everyone is consuming dairy and grains to support those industries. Your body does not need dairy or carbs that don't come from fruits and vegetables, don't kid yourself.
I'm always looking for ways to not only be involved in decisions regarding my health, but I research everything to the 'nth degree and implement them only when I feel safe doing so. I don't think I would have attempted to try this before getting a continuous (flash) glucose monitor either. The first month, I did experience a few lows, in the afternoon and at night, but as time went on, because I wasn't eating enough carbs to cause any spikes in blood sugar, the lows also evened out. I also learned that I had been over correcting the lows when that's not necessary. No need to drink a whole juice box like before! Now I only need one or 2 Dex tabs instead or some protein! The lows I've experienced in the past were quite frightening and so the first reaction is to get sugar into me as fast as possible but that was just making more spikes. And then more lows...but as I mentioned things have really evened out. No more rapid highs or lows.
All in all, I've been feeling pretty darn good. There was a rough patch when I learned I had what they call the keto flu. This typically happens when your body adapts to using ketones as fuel as opposed to glucose. My rosacea came back temporarily, I did get a horrible headache and one morning I felt sick to my stomach, but I learned to drink lots of water and to make sure I'm replenishing my electrolytes daily and that made it all better! I have been faithfully taking liquid magnesium (my doctor prescribed this and it is in a sugary liquid form so I take it in the afternoon when my blood sugar is at its lowest) and found the ketoaid to be a good booster as well to get those electrolytes! I've even slightly altered my matcha tea drink for this diet, using non GMO, organic stevia in place of honey and a pinch of potassium salt. That and the magnesium from to cacao powder really helps with electrolytes.
If you're a diabetic and on the fence about it, I recommend not to jump on any bandwagon until you've done your own research and are confident in what you want to accomplish. I'm not one to jump on any bandwagon and made sure to really look into it before deciding it was the right thing for me.
Have a plan and know what you're going to do in situations where your blood sugar starts to trend down. I've heard this and noticed it myself: the body gets used to blood sugars being high, so when they come down to normal levels it can feel like you're low when in fact you're finally normal! It takes the body a bit of getting used to it. This is a huge topic in his (Dr. Bernstein's) books and on his podcast. You should have the glucose tabs available just incase, but even though I was worried (because I have a history of hypoglycemic episodes) to my amazement, they stopped almost completely!! Another great thing I've noticed about this way if eating is that I no longer have to eat every couple of hours because my blood sugars are so stable and because I don't feel hungry! My cravings are almost nil and I only eat when I'm hungry. This has given me incredible freedom and I've even lost several pounds when I have tried everything else!
Can you see why I'm so excited to share this news?? Every type 2 diabetic can do this and reverse their diabetes or at least put it into remission!! Every type 1 diabetic can cut their insulin intake way down and we can all prevent all of the scary manifestations that uncontrolled diabetes can bring!
A quick word about ketoacidosis vs ketosis: These are 2 completely different things and this should not be a reason to not try ketosis. Ketosis happens when you don't eat too many carbohydrates so that your body burns ketones as energy. Your blood sugar is lower because you do not consume many carbohydrates. Your blood sugar would not get high enough to go into ketoacidosis on a low carb diet. Ketoacidosis is very serious and can be life threatening but happens when you have extremely high blood sugar levels AND high ketones, where high blood sugar is basically the cause of Ketoacidosis, low blood sugar is the cause of ketosis. Hopefully that clears up any confusion. A person on a keto diet wouldn't worry about this unless they became ill and dehydrated and in Dr. Bernstein's book he explains how to manage this.
Some good resources, as I've mentioned, please be sure to read Dr. Bernstein's book- the Diabetes Solution, and watch his videos! He's put out a ton of videos on YouTube that are ultra informative. Dr. Ken Berry or Dr. Eric Burg are also very good at explaining all things Keto as well.
Please let me know if you've also found success in this way if eating as I have!
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