My wife is likely in the same situation as you in that she is still insulin sensitive but was over weight. Insulin sensitive relatively speaking, in that when she ate carbs her blood sugar would spike modestly than come right back down, just like it should. She likely is (was) insulin resistant but not to the point her pancreas had maxed out and failed to keep her glucose levels in control. But she had all the signs. Her fasting glucose had creeped up over the years. An early warning sign of insulin resistance and pre-diabetes. Since she had me around checking blood sugar levels, she would check hers at my request once in a while. Most people that do not have a diabetic in the family never have a reason to check glucose levels except for the once a year (or less) checkup at the doctors office. So the insulin resistance is well advanced before the person even has a clue to a problem.

Current type II diabetes diagnosis is based in glucose levels. It needs to be based on insulin levels. The first is easy to check, the latter takes a blood assay so is more involved.

I also started the Atkins diet (basically a version of low carb or ketogenic) back in my early days of diabetes. I also was not able to stay on it, mostly because of social issues but also lack of incentive and will power. I loved my carbs. Plus I was young and bullet proof. I have no choice now, if I want my life to remain viable and enjoyable. More incentive.

The big key, very big key, is get enough fat and protein in your diet. If not, when you reduce the carbs, you are going to feel like you are starving all the time.

If you want to avoid the keto flu, phase into it. In some ways doing that is harder because it takes longer to kick the carbs craving. But it gives your body time to adapt which makes that part easier. Start out for a couple weeks just cutting your carbs in half of whatever you have been used to eating. Cut out sugar and fruit completely. Just cut your portion sizes of fast carbs in half, then be sure you replace those calories you are cutting out with some fatty meat. If you don't like fat cuts of meat (ribeye) slap about 4-6 slices of bacon on top of that lean hamburger, steak, pork cutlet or chicken breast, Bacon is your friend. Good fatty sausage - I love lots of kinds of sausages). Cheese is a good fatty product but there are some people that can't tolerate dairy as well. If cheese is ok for your body, it is good protein and fat and low carb (not the cheese "product" lookalike stuff, Gouda, Swiss, Cheddar, etc). Salt to taste. If you feel like having more salt and reach for the salt shaker, do it. If you get enough fat and protein in your diet, you will have very little problem with hunger between meals. If you do have to snack, keep some meat sticks (Iowa smoke house sold in our farm stores have some great tasting ones - watch out for sugar in the ingredients and only get the ones with 0 grams sugar), cheese sticks, pork rinds or something non carby around. The first few weeks (maybe up to a month I have heard - wife and I transitioned easily in two weeks) the important things are 1. Don't go hungry. That dooms you to failure eventually 2. cut the carbs way down by cutting out things like bread, pasta, potatoes, rice, most white starchy things. 3. Up your protein and fat to replace those carbs you are avoiding. 4 Did I mention don't go hungry? If you need a "snack" to get you through to the next meal, that is ok especially during the transition. Just make sure it is not a carb snack and instead contains fat and protein that does not spike your insulin while at the same time satiates your hunger. As you get "fat adapted" you will find that the between meal "snack" cravings go away. Till they do, make sure any snacks are fat/protein snacks instead of carbs.

We cut the carbs in half the first week. Felt so much better (didn't have scales where we were at so don't know if we were loosing weight yet) we threw out the rest of our carby foods and went cold turkey starting the second week. We tried to keep it down to about 20 grams of carbs total a day by looking up foods and being pretty strict for a while. If a person is trying to lose weight I would recommend that. Don't beat yourself up if you have a 50 or 100 carb day once in a while. Just try to not fall completely off the wagon and have a 500 gram carb day (mashed potatoes, gravy, copper penny carrots, maybe a little rice dish, piece of pie and 4 cans of soda - you get the idea). For someone not needing to lose weight many can go up to about 50 grams of carbs a day and still be slightly in ketosis (which has many metabolic benefits other than weight loss). But even staying under 120 grams carbs a day (low carb but not keto) would benefit many people that are currently on a high carb diet enormously.

It is more about what you don't eat and how often you eat, rather than what you do eat.

Good luck. Email is good in my profile.

John