Comments on: New Way to Lose Weight: Don’t Eat Till Your Blood Sugar is Low Enough

by: catabolic foods

Wed, 26 Nov 2008 17:53:38 +0000

Does this have anything to do with catabolic foods at all? I read on that and it seems to be very interesting when you can eat more and lose weight. Any opinions on that?

by: Tom

Wed, 17 Sep 2008 05:18:25 +0000

Mary Lee said:

According to Bernstein, it’s called the “dawn phenomenon.” He experiences it himself:

Ordinarily, the liver is constantly removing some insulin from the bloodstream, but during the first few hours after waking, it clears insulin at an accelerated rate.
[…]
Because of it, my blood glucose can rise even though I haven’t eaten.”

by: Magicmike

Tue, 16 Sep 2008 17:49:34 +0000

In my view this is a bad idea, or more precisely, a case of the cure being worse than the disease.

It seems that effects that come with low blood sugar - delayed onset grumpiness, slower reaction times, etc., (to say nothing of less visible effects) are so overwhelming that it is simply nuts to do this.

mmmmm……nuts…..mmmmm

by: Mary Lee

Tue, 16 Sep 2008 14:54:31 +0000

When my blood sugar gets well within normal range, if I don’t eat it begins to rise anyway. What’s going on. This happens over night also, so my “fasting” reading is usually hi, sometimes as high as 130’s. Doctors don’t give me an explanation, but they want to medicate me on the basis of the hi morning readings. Anybody got any clues?

by: Mike

Tue, 16 Sep 2008 03:52:20 +0000

I think the real lesson is, measure! I can easily picture someone who tried the same diet but because things were bouncing around and they didn’t “notice” their weight drop, to cheat every once in a while, and then to forget it altogether. Putting numbers to the test really makes a diet mean more than just self-regulation practice. Weight takes a while to move, but blood sugar measurements make the effects of the diet almost instantaneous.

Even if “wait until your blood sugar is low” wouldn’t help some people, if they were rigorous about what’s actually going on in their body, maybe that in and of itself would help diet commitment and further the original goal, weight loss.

by: seth

Mon, 15 Sep 2008 23:12:39 +0000

Andrea, early on I did 10 duplicate tests: measured my blood sugar twice (keeping everything the same). The average difference between the two readings was about 6, if I remember correctly. That gave me a good indication of the accuracy (variability). Now that you bring it up, I have two Freestyle Lite meters and should probably use both of them to see if they are calibrated accurately. Whether they are calibrated identically is a test of that. What your assessment leaves out is that Miriam (a) actually got her morning blood sugar to go down and (b) she lost weight. So whatever the measurement problems, they didn’t get in the way of her glucometer being really useful.

by: MT

Mon, 15 Sep 2008 19:59:45 +0000

Andrea — did you try testing the same meter at the same site? Wondering if there is variability within the same product as well.

by: Andrea

Mon, 15 Sep 2008 18:59:54 +0000

Seth,

I am really glad that you are looking at diabetes and blood glucose regulation. Let me remind you that current glucose monitors are at best, highly inaccurate and unreliable. I believe that this is because the strips are not individually sealed. When I was first diagnosed, I used the Glucometer Elite (Bayer) recommended by Richard Bernstein. The strips were individually sealed. I now use the Bayer Contour (25 strips in a bottle). I have several monitors all over the house and ordered a free one (I liked the color:-) Here are the readings I got from the same finger on three different monitors during the same ten second period: 104, 122, and 98. Here are the results of the control solution provided by the company to test the meter. Same solution in four different Contour meters: 125, 117, 110, 134. There are NO government standards for accuracy and reliability. If you test at 100, you could be anywhere between 80 and 120. The Freestyle is just as bad if not worse. Dr. Bernstein now recommends the Accucheck Aviva. I doubt that it is any better.

The best way to test is using the same meter and at the same site on your body. At least you can see trends because you are certainly not seeing actual glucose levels.

by: MT

Mon, 15 Sep 2008 13:23:50 +0000

Very interesting results. Seem similar to the benefits of intermittent fasting (eating same daily calories, but in a smaller window of time each day), which seems to lower blood sugar on average.

by: John

Mon, 15 Sep 2008 13:20:48 +0000

I think this boils down to: Tim went on a low carb diet and lost weight. You don’t need to measure your blood sugar to do this, but it does sound like it might be fun.