It was the carbs all along!

Hi everyone,

I thought this link might be of interest to you. I know I've been preaching the benefits of a low carbohydrate diet for some time, but here's some good research on the subject, published in the UK newspapers today.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=&xml=/earth/2007/07/02/scigenes202.xml

I live in hope that the ADA / Diabetes UK will realise they've been badly advising us before too much longer.

All the best,

fergusc

 

NEVER FOLLOW AN ADA DIET if you are diabetic, it will only make you sicker, for whatever reason I cannot imagine they tell you to eat so many carbs its impossible to cover it with insulin, please try the low carb diet, I am on no carbs from starch , fruit or milk, only from protein and vegetables and feel much much better

Well, I'm naturally sceptical about conspiricy theories. And of course I know that without the insulin that the good people at Lilly make for me, I would meet a rapid and unpleasant end.
That said, I now use 25% of the insulin I used to use before I went low-carb and I'm a great deal fitter and healthier as a result. I think the real reasons for the ADA and Diabetes UK's attitude to diet can be traced back to some poor science in the 60's and 70's by Ancel Keys and the like.
It leaves it to people like us to spread the word about what contitutes a proper diet for diabetics and everyone else.
Keep up the good work everyone!

All the best,

fergusc

You guys are no fun- I love a good conspiracy story -

Jeannie- you are right - of course. It's so much easier to hear- you can eat everything as before, just less of it (hah one bite or less), than to hear that you can't eat anything that you love-but the truth should be plainly spoken.

There's plenty of evidence to show that the current ADA diet does little if anything to reduce blood sugar levels without drugs or insulin. There's new evidence every day that shows prediabetics have the beginnings of retinopathy. There's plenty of evidence to show that diet and exercise combined do more to beat back insulin resistance ( even when weight is NOT lost in great amounts) than any diabetic drug. There's evidence that shows eating the Bernstein way, the Atkins Diabetic way, or the Cave-Man way causes BG to lower naturally into normal ranges or close to - but the doctors don't tell you that. Not the GPs, not the high priced endos - they send you to the CDEs and the diabetic dietitians who train you to eat the ADA way and everybody congratulates you when your A1c falls to 7.0. 

They don't tell you that an A1c of 5.5 or lower is what people WITHOUT high sugar complications have. You have to find that out for yourself- that's what I object to. And when I hear about doctors like the one fergusc sees telling diabetics that their normal range numbers are unacceptable- I just want to scream. 

 I asked specifc questions like that and got a cookie cutter answer based on outdated research- it's our lives and limbs on the line. 

Sorry to be so full of vitriole- but I get so frustrated by it all...

peace - sandy

I am so totally in line with you all! The problem is that this new "no white stuff" way of eating hasn't been around all that long... And to be totally honest, when I first was diagnosed with diabetes there were NO HOME BLOOD SUGAR TESTING KITS available.... The doctors were as much in the dark about our day to day blood glucoses as we were. In fact, the A1C has only become available since I became diabetic. The total lack of knowledge in the medical community is SCARY, big time!

The one thing we can do is educate everyone who has the guts to come to this site and stay and learn. We can't save the world, just those we reach. And the doctors learned what they learned about diabetes many years ago in med school.. They don't all stay up on the latest news, (and heaven knows it keeps changing!!!) in carbs and blood sugar control..

My doctor and I are on this quest together to find optimum health benefits for me with the available money, time, lifestyle and motivation that I am dealing with at present. If you have found a doctor like mine you are blessed. ... Maybe we should make T-shirts and wear them everywhere that say "Diabetics United Against Carbohydrates" LOL!

No, there's no conspiracy here. But the ADA / Diabetes UK's adoption of the idiotic USDA food pyramid is a severe dereliction of duty at the very least.

From my research, none of the dietary health studies done in my time have considered anything other than the amount of fat in our diet. There's almost no consideration given to the amount of protein or carbohydrate we consume. So the assumption even before these studies were carried out was that carbs are good, fats are bad. And the resultant over consumption of carbs worldwide is leading us to an unprecedented era of obesity and diabetes.

But I'm preaching to the converted here........!

All the best,

fergusc