South Beach Diet anyone??

[at your cervix]

I've done the South Beach Diet a few times in the past and I've always lost 10 lbs in the first two weeks. It has always worked well for me to get a jumpstart on weight loss. I have tried to restart it a few times in the past couple of months and this time, everytime I try it I feel terrible by the second day. I will eat some fruit or drink some chocolate milk and I'm a new woman within a few minutes. Anyone else experienced this and how did you get past it??

[llg, PhD, RN]

I didn't do South Beach by the book, but I went "low carb" for a couple of months when I was newly diagnoses with very early-stage diabetes. After a couple of months, I eased into "moderate carb" with an emphasis on the whole grains -- still staying away from the high glycemic index foods. So, it's basically a self-designed version of South Beach.

I certainly can't "diagnose" your problem -- but it sounds like a typical response when people go low carb to break their addiction to carbohydrates. I went crazy from day 2 though day 5. I dealt with it by eating frequent small snacks of high protein, moderate fat snacks to keep my energy levels constant and prevent episodes of hypoglycemia. After a few days, my body adjusted to the low carb lifestyle and it was no longer a problem.

If that's your situation ... by eating high carb foods (fruit and milk), you are raising your blood glucose fast, but risking having it drop to give you a rebound low. By eating frequent small low carb snacks (with protein and fats to provide a slow but steady energy source), you avoid the big swings up and down of your blood glucose.

I suggest you read up on blood glucose control and the whole rationale of the low carb diets before you start making drastic changes to your diet. You need to understand how blood glucose levels work to be successful on a low glycemic index level diet. It has been terrific for me as I lost about 30 pounds, have kept it off for over a year, and have my diabetes very well controlled with no meds. But I did lots of research on it and discussed it with my doctor before trying that approach.

[nightmare, RN]

I didn't do South Beach by the book, but I went "low carb" for a couple of months when I was newly diagnoses with very early-stage diabetes. After a couple of months, I eased into "moderate carb" with an emphasis on the whole grains -- still staying away from the high glycemic index foods. So, it's basically a self-designed version of South Beach.

I certainly can't "diagnose" your problem -- but it sounds like a typical response when people go low carb to break their addiction to carbohydrates. I went crazy from day 2 though day 5. I dealt with it by eating frequent small snacks of high protein, moderate fat snacks to keep my energy levels constant and prevent episodes of hypoglycemia. After a few days, my body adjusted to the low carb lifestyle and it was no longer a problem.

If that's your situation ... by eating high carb foods (fruit and milk), you are raising your blood glucose fast, but risking having it drop to give you a rebound low. By eating frequent small low carb snacks (with protein and fats to provide a slow but steady energy source), you avoid the big swings up and down of your blood glucose.

I suggest you read up on blood glucose control and the whole rationale of the low carb diets before you start making drastic changes to your diet. You need to understand how blood glucose levels work to be successful on a low glycemic index level diet. It has been terrific for me as I lost about 30 pounds, have kept it off for over a year, and have my diabetes very well controlled with no meds. But I did lots of research on it and discussed it with my doctor before trying that approach.

Well done to you,this is an excellent way to control your diabetes,I've been doing the same and my sugars are now in acceptable limits as well.