A new study suggests there is no difference between eating in a personalized manner to control blood sugar and eating a standard low fat diet. But before you conclude that blood sugar is useless for weight loss, let's understand the details of the study and really understand how monitoring blood sugar can help you achieve your health and weight loss goals.
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25 responses to “Does eating to control blood sugar help you lose weight?”
My doctor suggested “keto” in Jan 2019 because of high blood glucose in order to avoid drugs. I lost 80 pounds, blood sugar went to normal and the amount of added benefits was and still is mind blowing. I’m still low carb and all my health markers are great. Thanks Doc!
Decent study, bad interpretation online
Nuance in how we interpret nutritional studies will help keep us from trusting studies that may not add value.
I, too, am baffled by this study.
Thank you
Being on keto and IF at this point doesn’t allow me to obtain a CGM through my Medicare and even if it DID there’s no way I could afford it.
What I would LOVE to use it for is to see what foods might make my sugars rise either immediately or postprandial since I have at times tested a higher diabetic A1c.
Brett what do you think about the research replication crisis? I always think about that when I see videos analyzing studies
Through testing blood sugar and finding out which foods do what to me I’ve been able to lose 60 lbs. I was diagnosed 3 years ago with type 2, I weighed 290 lbs that time now I weigh 230 and still dropping. I had my metformin reduced from 1000 mg to 500 my most recent A1C was 6.3. I am generally low carb, I can comfortably eat less than 100 carbs per day. I do have heart diseases as well with two stents over the last 13 years, so I generally avoid high fats as well. To be honest I don’t exercise but I’m not giving up and I still plan to do so. If I could just get the exercise part I know I would hit my goal of 210- I will get there.
When I finally decided to tighten control of my blood glucose after decades of type 1 diabetes, I gained weight… because of course I simply took more insulin. Changing diet actually helped me lose weight, and going carnivore helped most.
I’m thinking about donating plasma once a week . I wonder about being Keto and plasma donation? Any experiences?? Anyone?
I have donated plasma for a long time. (Fortnightly donations are the most you can do in South Australia.)
Since I went semi-keto a couple of months ago, my BP has gone down slightly and my Hb has gone up slightly.
I have not noticed any other changes.
I haven’t watched the video yet but I lost over 100 pounds when I started to treat myself for T2 diabetes. At 63 I had been very obese for over 40 years and could never lost the weight no matter how much I tried. When I was diagnosed with T2 I refused insulin and decided to treat myself by eating only the foods that agreed with my meter. My goal was to achieve fasting blood sugars in the low 5’s (mmo/l) and postprandials not over 6.5, a fairly narrow range. I wasn’t trying to lose weight but to my surprise it just started falling off of me. As long as I kept to my blood glucose numbers the weight just continued to drop and I have kept it off for the last 8 years. I once weighed 360 pounds and am now 195. Also, my unmedicated blood pressure was 170/100 and I was able to go off meds and keep it at 120/70 within 2 weeks.
Based on what I have learned I probably had a high insulin problem (my doctor refused to check it) and lowering my glucose numbers most likely corrected that, allowing my body to release the fat from my cells, while normalizing my blood pressure. My biggest problem was so-called “healthy whole grains”, which were spiking my blood sugars dramatically. Once I quit wheat and other high impact carbs I was off to the races. I maintain an A1C in the low 5’s.
Well done. Trying to convince people to remove the carbs from their food intake isn’t easy.
This is good timing. I’m looking into trying the Signos CGM for a few months.
I look forward to your comments about how that works for you. I want to recommend a CGM to a family member but want to be sure I choose the right one.. I’ve seen several videos discussing how some are not accurate and others are better.
@Azalea Yeah, they are expensive and inaccurate. Do look at the CGM guide he linked to (don’t recall if it was in the description or at the end.)
@Carbage Man Oh, it is in the description. Thank you for this.
I never found that looking at the glycemic index ever helped.
I have a type one diabetic child so I deal with insulin a lot. You can have great BG control and still get fatter and fatter if you create an energy surplus. If you are in an energy surplus as a type one diabetic, it just requires more and more insulin to stay in range, and you will get fatter and fatter. Being in an energy deficit always require less insulin than if you aren’t.
Thanks Dr. Scher once again. I like how his experimental algorithm that didn’t change macros did not work. Let alone it fails to actually just include a blood sugar measurement. CGMs clinically help in my practice because it’s a biofeedback tool and another source of data for the patient’s metabolic response to food order or composition and their context of their meals.
I have lost 25lbs and decreased my A1C from 6.7 to 5.7 in the last few months doing keto and intermittent fasting BUT I tried those 2 things unsuccessfully for 2 years. It’s only once I focused solely on my blood sugar and lessened my eating window to not just skipping breakfast, but also eating dinner by 4pm. If it was too high, I didn’t eat, I’d wait for it to go down. Now I eat between 11am-4pm and a 24hr fast once a week. I use CGM even though it’s expensive. I’m on Medicare and they won’t pay for it unless you’re already a diabetic AND on insulin 🙄🤔. Sure, never mind helping me not become a diabetic in the first place! Unfortunately I think I’m now a hyper responder. I don’t think I’m that lean, but when I did keto before this my LDL didn’t go up. Now it’s 248 and the small size is high. My triglycerides are low, HDL high, coronary calcium score is 0. Starting to switch to Mediterranean keto. I tried multiple glucose meters with a finger stick, but the readings weren’t that accurate.
CGMs have been incredibly useful to bust so many of the dogmatic rules about choosing carbs and totally killed the sparking mythology surrounding the GI concept.
“Does eating to control blood sugar help you lose weight?” ABSO-FREAKING-LUTELY!! I work with a Type 1 diabetic, and I put him on Keto in January. Since then, he’s lost 20 lbs, went from a 48″ waist to 32″, blood sugars stabilized, CBCs much improved, BP much improved, energy levels higher, no more cravings for sugar/carbs, not wasting money on junkfood, sleeps much better, much better moods, fungal nails healing, skin on his feet getting better, vision getting better, and a whole slew of improvements to his overall health.
It‘s the carbs! There is no doubt in my mind whatsoever. Lost 100 pounds & reversed my T2 diabetes over 3 years ago eating very low carb. Never counted a single calorie; they‘re the most useless measure in all of this!
CGMs at the very least can help us learn more about our own personal health and how our bodies respond to certain things we eat. Scales are not made just for overweight people. They are a tool to help us monitor our weight. In the same way, CGMs should be accessible and affordable to those who want to use them. We shouldn’t have to wait until we are already sick.