Comments Please; long.

I AVOID eating rice, pasta and potatoes! On occasion I'll
eat them, but not as a general rule.

dave

Philip Smith said:

Bay Area Dave said:

so exactly WHO tells diabetics to eat "lots of starchy
carbs?" No medical person or dietician ever told ME to
eat "lots of starchy carbs". I question this person's
"facts".

dave

Alan wrote: Thus, there is less and less

Quoted message said:

foundation for the advice given by dieticians for
diabetics to eat lots of starchy carbs and balance them
with meds.

For example, diabetes.org.ukmeal planOpen ↗
ning/eightsteps.htm has "Eat regular meals based on
starchy carbohydrate foods such as bread, pasta, chapatis,
potatoes, rice and cereals. This will help you to control
your blood glucose levels. Whenever possible, choose
wholegrain varities that are high in fibre, like wholemeal
bread and wholemeal cereals to help maintain the health of
your digestive system and prevent problems such as
constipation. " This is from the major UK diabetes
charity. Note that the recommendations are qualitative
rather than quantitative. {hilip

"Bay Area Dave" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I'm blown away by that, Ozgirl. I guess I ignore dietary
information at this point, as I've been on insulin since
'78 and don't bother to read current dietary fads or diets
for T1 or T2 diabetics as I know what works for ME. Thanks
for enlightening me to the nonsense that passes for
information these days. I was under the impression that
T2's would be on a very low carb diet. Having never spent
a day as a T2, I'm not familiar with their needs, but I'd
just ASSUMED that they would eat low carb.

Do the recommendations for high carb diets make ANY sense
to you for T2's? Is there some aspect of that diet that
can be explained?

The three dieticians I've seen advised neither a high carb
or a low carb diet. Yes, some people would call the diet I'm
on now high carb. On a good day, that would be about 170 g
of carbs. I've had to cut back though. Can eat very few
carbs at breakfast and now it seems, very few at lunch as
well. The last dietician I saw cautioned me against eating
too much fat or protein. She wanted me to have only 1 oz. of
protein for each of my three meals and none for my snack. I
don't know about you, but that's not enough to keep me from
being hungry. Also, when you take away the fat and protein,
there's nothing left but carbs.

--
Type 2 users.bestweb.net~jboveOpen ↗

thanks for the clarification, Alan. I'm still incredulous at
their suggestions. I discussed this briefly with my wife
late last night to see if she'd heard the same thing years
ago and sure enough, she said yes. seems crazy to me.

dave

Alan said:

Julie Bove said:

"Bay Area Dave" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

so exactly WHO tells diabetics to eat "lots of starchy
carbs?" No medical person or dietician ever told ME to
eat "lots of starchy carbs". I question this person's
"facts".

Nobody told me that either, and I've seen three
dieticians. All of them gave me similar eating plans
and all contained less carbs than what I would have
normally eaten.

Hi Julie, and Dave.

I mentioned the dietician's advice I received in the body
of the letter. I include the ADA as well as DA because
their recommendations tend to cross borders, so what
happens there can affect us here.

There are many sources of the high-carb advice, possibly
two of the most relevant are:

From the official ADA web-site (incidentally, Dave, you'll
note they don't distinguish between type 1 and 2):

diabetes.orgnutrition andOpen ↗
recipes/nutrition/starches.jsp

"The Diabetes Food Pyramid: Starches

The message today: Eat more starches! It is healthiest
for everyone to eat more whole grains, beans, and starchy
vegetables such as peas, corn, potatoes and winter
squash. Starches are good for you because they have very
little fat, saturated fat, or cholesterol. They are
packed with vitamins, minerals, and fiber. Yes, foods
with carbohydrate -- starches, vegetables, fruits, and
dairy products -- will raise your blood glucose more
quickly than meats and fats, but they are the healthiest
foods for you. Your doctor may need to adjust your
medications when you eat more carbohydrates. You may need
to increase your activity level or try spacing
carbohydrates throughout the day. "

From Diabetes Australia "Healthy Eating" diabe-diabe-Open ↗
tesaustralia.com.au/multilingualdiabetes/healthpros/foodn-
ut/healthy.htm "A good eating pattern for a person with
diabetes will:
* Contain mostly high fibre carbohydrate foods -
wholegrain cereals and bread, vegetables and fruit
* Be low in saturated fat
* Provide adequate protein for good health

Diabetes and your Diet

Healthy eating helps control blood glucose levels Choose
* Mainly carbohydrates (for example, wholegrain
breads, pasta, rice (eg Basmati or Doongara),
legumes, vegetables and fruit)
* Be moderate in protein intake (for example, lean
meat, skinless chicken, fish and eggs)
* Select foods high in fibre (for example, wholegrain
bread, fruit and vegetables) etc"

DA has a similar recommendation specifically for eating
fruit, but with a slightly more balanced approach at: diabetes.orgnutrition andOpen ↗
recipes/nutrition/fruit.jsp

Hope this partly clarifies my reason for writing.

Cheers, Alan, T2 d&e, Australia. Remove weight and carbs
to email.

In article <[email hidden]>,

Bay Area Dave said:

I'm blown away by that, Ozgirl. I guess I ignore dietary
information at this point, as I've been on insulin since
'78 and don't bother to read current dietary fads or diets
for T1 or T2 diabetics as I know what works for ME.

I have not been on insulin that long, but I do not ignore
dietary information. Even before the glycemic index came
out, I questioned the almost universal objection to fats and
the recommendation to get more carbohydrates. I have
recently changed to a lower carbohydrate, higher fat diet,
and I seem to have better lipids, and at least as good
control of blood glucose.

Thanks for

Quoted message said:

enlightening me to the nonsense that passes for information
these days. I was under the impression that T2's would be
on a very low carb diet. Having never spent a day as a T2,
I'm not familiar with their needs, but I'd just ASSUMED
that they would eat low carb.

Quoted message said:

Do the recommendations for high carb diets make ANY sense
to you for T2's? Is there some aspect of that diet that can
be explained?

Quoted message said:

dave

Quoted message said:

Ozgirl wrote:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Bay Area Dave wrote:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

so exactly WHO tells diabetics to eat "lots of starchy
carbs?" No medical person or dietician ever told ME to

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

eat

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

"lots of starchy carbs". I question this person's

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

"facts".

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Mine did. 4 carb exchanges per main meal, 2 per snack.
Each carb exchange was approx 15 gr carb - so 60gr per
main meal, 30 per snack (3 snacks I was told to eat). I
see recommendations daily from different sources, that a
type 2 diabetic should eat high carb diet.

--
This address is for information only. I do not claim that
these views are those of the Statistics Department or of
Purdue University. Herman Rubin, Department of Statistics,
Purdue University [email hidden] Phone: (765)494-
6054 FAX: (765)494-0558

"Bay Area Dave" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...
Having never spent a day as a T2,

Quoted message said:

I'm not familiar with their needs, but I'd just ASSUMED
that they would eat low carb.

compared to how i used to eat - i am eating much lower
carbs.

Quoted message said:

Do the recommendations for high carb diets make ANY sense
to you for T2's? Is there some aspect of that diet that
can be explained?

i think it would be pretty hard to find a doctor that does
not promote high fat and or high proteins diets to call -
what is believed by most to be the heathiest diet for people
( with or without diabetes) by most scientists a high carb
diet - they will most likely call it a low fat diet. to
answer your question above The message today: Eat more
starches! It is healthiest for everyone to eat more whole
grains, beans, and starchy vegetables such as peas, corn,
potatoes and winter squash. Starches are good for you
because they have very little fat, saturated fat, or
cholesterol. They are packed with vitamins, minerals, and
fiber. Yes, foods with carbohydrate -- starches, vegetables,
fruits, and dairy products -- will raise your blood glucose
more quickly than meats and fats, but they are the
healthiest foods for you. Your doctor may ( may does not
mean will )need to adjust your medications when you eat more
carbohydrates. You may need to increase your activity level
or try spacing carbohydrates throughout the day. " before
anyone starts on the medications band wagon - I am off
medications. Thomas Muffaletto

Quoted message said:

dave

I don't ignore the labels, OR what I eat. I just don't read
articles pertaining to the current thinking regarding what a
diabetic "should" be eating.

dave

Herman Rubin said:

I have not been on insulin that long, but I do not ignore
dietary information.

Alan:

Quoted message said:

To the editor,

I would hope that you will publish this letter,
despite the obvious disagreement with your standard
dietary policy.

I suppose that what you are proposing for your letter is
about what I am in agreement with so I would not critique it
negatively. In most of the letter's to the editor sections I
have seen clauses that permit editing by the staff.
Hopefully the heart of your message won't get clipped.

Frank

t2_lurking said:

It all seems good to me personally. Has it been cathartic
for you? Do you think it will be printed in its entirety?
And the correct spelling is realize, stabilized, and of
course program, not programme. Oh, wait that's right, upside-
down land, so I guess it is programme.

Good for you! It's always encouraging to see people
speak out.

--
gingersnap

Hi t2

I thought I knew the true meaning of cathartic, but I
double-checked.

\Ca*thar"tic\, Catharical \Ca*thar"ic*al\, a. [Gr. ?, fr. ?
to cleanse, fr. ? pure; akin to F. chaste.]

1. (Med.) Cleansing the bowels; promoting evacuations by
stool; purgative.

2. Of or pertaining to the purgative principle of senna, as
cathartic acid.

or:

adj 1: emotionally purging [syn: psychotherapeutic] 2:
emotionally purging (of e.g. art) [syn: releasing] 3:
strongly laxative [syn: evacuant, purgative] n : a purging
medicine; stimulates evacuation of the bowels [syn:
purgative, laxative, physic, aperient]

I suspect you meant the emotional sense of the word; but no,
it isn't cathartic - in either sense:-)

Now, if we were speaking about some of the trollsters....

Cheers, Alan, T2 d&e, Australia. Remove weight and
carbs to email.
--
Everything in Moderation - Except Laughter.

Cheri said:

The dietitian I HAD for one. 45 gram of carbs at each meal
3 times a day, 15 gm of carbs for snacks 4 times a day.
Close to 200 carbs a day while BG was out of control.
Things like rolls, bread, oatmeal, OJ, milk, fruit, etc.
Lots of starch IMO. :-)

The dietician I had gave exactly the same carbs levels at
meals and snacks as yours did. I believe that this is a
prescription for failure when it comes to blood glucose
control. Ten years from now or less these dieticians will
probably get sued for malpractice if they are still
promoting the same diet.

Frank

"Wes Groleau" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

In the U.S., this doctrine comes from the American
Diabetes Association, from people who believe what they
had to say to earn the "Certified Diabetes Educator" and
from doctors and dietitians who haven't paid any attention
to medical research in the last umpteen years.

--
Wes Groleau

A bureaucrat is someone who cuts red tape lengthwise.

This "Certified" thing bothers me - what if the certificate
was obtained in 1952? A few doctors I met didn't seem to
bother with updating their knowledge....

Henry Australia

Alan:

Quoted message said:

Hi t2

I thought I knew the true meaning of cathartic, but I double-
checked.

\Ca*thar"tic\, Catharical \Ca*thar"ic*al\, a. [Gr. ?, fr.
? to cleanse, fr. ? pure; akin to F. chaste.]

1. (Med.) Cleansing the bowels; promoting evacuations by
stool; purgative.

2. Of or pertaining to the purgative principle of senna,
as cathartic acid.

or:

adj 1: emotionally purging [syn: psychotherapeutic] 2:
emotionally purging (of e.g. art) [syn: releasing] 3:
strongly laxative [syn: evacuant, purgative] n : a purging
medicine; stimulates evacuation of the bowels [syn:
purgative, laxative, physic, aperient]

I suspect you meant the emotional sense of the word; but
no, it isn't cathartic - in either sense:-)

How about a cerebral cathartic? It wouldn't hurt some people
to have a new deck. 🙂 Maybe even me!

Frank

"Jefferson" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Alan:

Quoted message said:

Hi t2

I thought I knew the true meaning of cathartic, but I
double-checked.

\Ca*thar"tic\, Catharical \Ca*thar"ic*al\, a. [Gr. ?,
fr. ? to cleanse, fr. ? pure; akin to F. chaste.]

1. (Med.) Cleansing the bowels; promoting evacuations by
stool; purgative.

2. Of or pertaining to the purgative principle of senna,
as cathartic acid.

or:

adj 1: emotionally purging [syn: psychotherapeutic] 2:
emotionally purging (of e.g. art) [syn: releasing] 3:
strongly laxative [syn: evacuant, purgative] n : a
purging medicine; stimulates evacuation of the bowels
[syn: purgative, laxative, physic, aperient]

I suspect you meant the emotional sense of the word; but
no, it isn't cathartic - in either sense:-)

How about a cerebral cathartic? It wouldn't hurt some
people to have a new deck. 🙂 Maybe even me!

Frank

How about the old game of 48 card pickup? ;-)

Annette The scatter-brain.

On Sun, 6 Jun 2004 23:43:19 +1000, "Annette" <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

How about the old game of 48 card pickup? ;-)

Annette The scatter-brain.

You do realise that means you weren't playing with a
full deck?

Cheers, Alan, T2 d&e, Australia. Remove weight and
carbs to email.
--
Everything in Moderation - Except Laughter.

Alan said:

Annette said:

How about the old game of 48 card pickup? ;-)

Annette The scatter-brain.

You do realise that means you weren't playing with a
full deck?

Does that mean the joker and 3 others?

"Alan" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Annette said:

How about the old game of 48 card pickup? ;-)

Annette The scatter-brain.

You do realise that means you weren't playing with a
full deck?

Cheers, Alan, T2 d&e, Australia. Remove weight and carbs
to email.
--
Everything in Moderation - Except Laughter.

Yes.

Well, I do now!

See what I mean?

Poker anyone?

Annette

On Sun, 06 Jun 2004 20:19:06 -0400, Jefferson <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Alan said:

Annette said:

How about the old game of 48 card pickup? ;-)

Annette The scatter-brain.

You do realise that means you weren't playing with a
full deck?

Does that mean the joker and 3 others?

I think I may hold a high stakes poker night; you and
Annette are the first to be invited:-)

Joker makes 53. A-10, JQK x 4 = 52.

Over here, not playing with a full deck is like "his
elevator doesn't go to the top floor" or "a shilling short
of a quid", in modern times "ten cents short of a dollar".

Cheers, Alan, T2 d&e, Australia. Remove weight and
carbs to email.
--
Everything in Moderation - Except Laughter.

Alan said:

Over here, not playing with a full deck is like "his
elevator doesn't go to the top floor"

Same here. As well as "a few bricks short of a load" and
many other similar sayings. :-)
--
Debbie

Alan said:

G'day All

X-posted to misc.health.diabetes, alt.support.diabetes

I would appreciate comments on the draft letter below. The
letter is intended for my local Diabetes Australia
quarterly magazine.

I feel a little like Spartacus heading off to the arena;
"we who are about to die salute you". I'm not an expert,
so I know I'm asking to be drawn and quartered here, but
I'd respect informed, civil criticism before I "go to
press" :-)

If I'm wrong or uninformed, I'm happy to debate the point
or modify the letter as long as things stay civil.

Thanks to everyone who gave advice on my draft letter, both
here and by email. I've included a copy of the final epistle
below. I sent it today, so too late to tell me it's a load
of garbage now :-)

It will be interesting to see if they publish, I may be too
late for this quarter's edition. I cut the words down from
1200+ to about 520.

Thanks again for the constructive advice.

Letter:

To The Editor I am eternally grateful for the work the
pioneers at Diabetes Australia did in helping us get the
NDSS and the support system that we now have. The
organisation continues to do a great job. But I have a basic
difficulty with the logic of the dietary advice recommended
by your dieticians.

I see their advice like this:
1. Dieticians advise high complex carbohydrate consumption,
apparently for heart, kidney and vascular health;
2. High complex carbohydrate consumption causes high blood
glucose levels;
3. High blood glucose levels cause diabetic
complications such as retinopathy, neuropathy,
nephropathy and heart disease;
4. DA dieticians therefore recommend balancing the high
complex carbohydrate consumption with medication or
insulin to control blood glucose levels. This advice
appears to be in line with the recommendations of
overseas organisations such as the American Diabetes
Association (ADA).

Specific examples can be found on the DA web-site at ht-
tp://www.diabetesaustralia.com.au/multilingualdiabetes/-
healthpros/foodnut/healthy.htm or the ADA web-site at
diabetes.orgnutrition andOpen ↗
recipes/nutrition/starches.jsp .

My difficulty in understanding this is because no-one
seems to be investigating the alternative approaches. I
don't mean herbs and supplements, just a better diet for
diabetics, together with exercise, to enable minimal
medication.

To me, the most obvious alternative is to search for a
diet for the diabetic which provides adequate nutrition
for good health but does not cause high blood glucose
levels. If such a diet is possible it would minimise the
need for medication, particularly for type 2, with side
benefits for overall health and health costs. I can
attest that it is possible; I've done it, as have many
others. However, when diabetics write to give examples,
such as K ...... in the Autumn issue, they are dismissed
and told that their improvement must be because of
exercise, or weight loss, or some other factor.

The method I followed, as a type 2, was simple. I
started with a standard, sensible diet to lose weight.
Then, as I followed that diet, I tested everything I
ate one hour and two hours after I ate it. If I
consistently found that something led to high blood
glucose, I changed
it. Sometimes I changed the food, sometimes the quantity,
sometimes the timing, but always the aim was to
minimise "spikes". Gradually I found I was eating
significantly less carbohydrates, a little more protein
and a little more "good" oils. And I did a little "lazy
man's" exercise along the way. I also gradually reduced
the high level of initial testing as results became
predictable.

After attaining a degree of control over my blood
glucose, I now progressively review my diet to ensure
there are no missing nutritional requirements and to
further improve lipids etc. At diagnosis in 2002 my
HbA1c was 8.2, now it's 5.9 and I take no diabetes
medications. It's a long time since I've seen a "spike"
over 8, rarely over 7.5. The improvements continued long
after I reached my target weight. And my heart, blood
pressure, lipids, kidneys and so on are also in good
shape. Why do your dieticians continue to promote high
carbohydrate consumption? What is it I'm missing, apart
from complications?

Cheers, Alan, T2 d&e, Australia. Remove weight and
carbs to email.
--
Everything in Moderation - Except Laughter.

well done...... hope they print it all for you!

kate
--
Join us in the Diabetic-Talk Chatroom on UnderNet
/server irc.undernet.org --- /join #Diabetic-Talk More
info: diabetic-talk.orgdiabetic-talk.orgOpen ↗

"Alan" <[email hidden]> wrote in
message "]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Alan said:

G'day All

X-posted to misc.health.diabetes, alt.support.diabetes

I would appreciate comments on the draft letter below.
The letter is intended for my local Diabetes Australia
quarterly magazine.

I feel a little like Spartacus heading off to the arena;
"we who are about to die salute you". I'm not an expert,
so I know I'm asking to be drawn and quartered here, but
I'd respect informed, civil criticism before I "go to
press" :-)

If I'm wrong or uninformed, I'm happy to debate the point
or modify the letter as long as things stay civil.

Thanks to everyone who gave advice on my draft letter,
both here and by email. I've included a copy of the final
epistle below. I sent it today, so too late to tell me
it's a load of garbage now :-)

It will be interesting to see if they publish, I may be
too late for this quarter's edition. I cut the words down
from 1200+ to about 520.

Thanks again for the constructive advice.

Letter:

To The Editor I am eternally grateful for the work the
pioneers at Diabetes Australia did in helping us get the
NDSS and the support system that we now have. The
organisation continues to do a great job. But I have a
basic difficulty with the logic of the dietary advice
recommended by your dieticians.

I see their advice like this:
1. Dieticians advise high complex carbohydrate
consumption, apparently for heart, kidney and vascular
health;
2. High complex carbohydrate consumption causes high blood
glucose levels;
3. High blood glucose levels cause diabetic complications
such as retinopathy, neuropathy, nephropathy and heart
disease;
4. DA dieticians therefore recommend balancing the high
complex carbohydrate consumption with medication or
insulin to control blood glucose levels. This advice
appears to be in line with the recommendations of
overseas organisations such as the American Diabetes
Association (ADA).

Specific examples can be found on the DA web-site at

diabetesaustralia.com.auheOpen ↗
althpros/foodnut/healthy.htm

Quoted message said:

or the ADA web-site at diabetes.orgnutrition andOpen ↗
recipes/nutrition/starches.jsp .

My difficulty in understanding this is because no-one
seems to be investigating the alternative approaches.
I don't mean herbs and supplements, just a better diet
for diabetics, together with exercise, to enable
minimal medication.

To me, the most obvious alternative is to search for a
diet for the diabetic which provides adequate
nutrition for good health but does not cause high
blood glucose levels. If such a diet is possible it
would minimise the need for medication, particularly
for type 2, with side benefits for overall health and
health costs. I can attest that it is possible; I've
done it, as have many others. However, when diabetics
write to give examples, such as K ...... in the Autumn
issue, they are dismissed and told that their
improvement must be because of exercise, or weight
loss, or some other factor.

The method I followed, as a type 2, was simple. I
started with a standard, sensible diet to lose weight.
Then, as I followed that diet, I tested everything I
ate one hour and two hours after I ate it. If I
consistently found that something led to high blood
glucose, I changed
it. Sometimes I changed the food, sometimes the quantity,
sometimes the timing, but always the aim was to
minimise "spikes". Gradually I found I was eating
significantly less carbohydrates, a little more
protein and a little more "good" oils. And I did a
little "lazy man's" exercise along the way. I also
gradually reduced the high level of initial testing
as results became predictable.

After attaining a degree of control over my blood
glucose, I now progressively review my diet to ensure
there are no missing nutritional requirements and to
further improve lipids etc. At diagnosis in 2002 my
HbA1c was 8.2, now it's 5.9 and I take no diabetes
medications. It's a long time since I've seen a
"spike" over 8, rarely over 7.5. The improvements
continued long after I reached my target weight. And
my heart, blood pressure, lipids, kidneys and so on
are also in good shape. Why do your dieticians
continue to promote high carbohydrate consumption?
What is it I'm missing, apart from complications?

Cheers, Alan, T2 d&e, Australia. Remove weight and carbs
to email.
--
Everything in Moderation - Except Laughter.

In alt.support.diabetes Alan <[email hidden]> wrote:
: On Thu, 03 Jun 2004 11:03:56 +1000, Alan
: <[email hidden]> wrote:

: >G'day All
: >
: >X-posted to misc.health.diabetes, alt.support.diabetes
: >
: >I would appreciate comments on the draft letter below.
: >The letter is intended for my local Diabetes Australia
: >quarterly magazine.
: >
: >I feel a little like Spartacus heading off to the arena;
: >"we who are about to die salute you". I'm not an expert,
: >so I know I'm asking to be drawn and quartered here, but
: >I'd respect informed, civil criticism before I "go to
: >press" :-)
: >
: >If I'm wrong or uninformed, I'm happy to debate the point
: >or modify the letter as long as things stay civil.

: Thanks to everyone who gave advice on my draft letter,
: both here and by email. I've included a copy of the final
: epistle below. I sent it today, so too late to tell me
: it's a load of garbage now :-)

: It will be interesting to see if they publish, I may be
: too late for this quarter's edition. I cut the words down
: from 1200+ to about 520.

: Thanks again for the constructive advice.

: Letter:

: To The Editor I am eternally grateful for the work the
: pioneers at Diabetes Australia did in helping us get the
: NDSS and the support system that we now have. The
: organisation continues to do a great job. But I have a
: basic difficulty with the logic of the dietary advice
: recommended by your dieticians.

: I see their advice like this:
: 1. Dieticians advise high complex carbohydrate
: consumption, apparently for heart, kidney and vascular
: health;
: 2. High complex carbohydrate consumption causes high blood
: glucose levels;
: 3. High blood glucose levels cause diabetic complications
: such as retinopathy, neuropathy, nephropathy and heart
: disease;
: 4. DA dieticians therefore recommend balancing the high
: complex carbohydrate consumption with medication or
: insulin to control blood glucose levels. This advice
: appears to be in line with the recommendations of
: overseas organisations such as the American Diabetes
: Association (ADA).

: Specific examples can be found on the DA web-site at
: diabetesaustralia.com.aumultilingualdiabeOpen ↗
: tes/healthpros/foodnut/healthy.htm or the ADA web-site
: at diabetes.orgnutrition andOpen ↗
: recipes/nutrition/starches.jsp .

: My difficulty in understanding this is because no-one
: seems to be investigating the alternative approaches.
: I don't mean herbs and supplements, just a better diet
: for diabetics, together with exercise, to enable
: minimal medication.

: To me, the most obvious alternative is to search for a
: diet for the diabetic which provides adequate
: nutrition for good health but does not cause high
: blood glucose levels. If such a diet is possible it
: would minimise the need for medication, particularly
: for type 2, with side benefits for overall health and
: health costs. I can attest that it is possible; I've
: done it, as have many others. However, when diabetics
: write to give examples, such as K ...... in the Autumn
: issue, they are dismissed and told that their
: improvement must be because of exercise, or weight
: loss, or some other factor.

: The method I followed, as a type 2, was simple. I
: started with a standard, sensible diet to lose weight.
: Then, as I followed that diet, I tested everything I
: ate one hour and two hours after I ate it. If I
: consistently found that something led to high blood
: glucose, I changed
: it. Sometimes I changed the food, sometimes the quantity,
: sometimes the timing, but always the aim was to
: minimise "spikes". Gradually I found I was eating
: significantly less carbohydrates, a little more
: protein and a little more "good" oils. And I did a
: little "lazy man's" exercise along the way. I also
: gradually reduced the high level of initial testing
: as results became predictable.

: After attaining a degree of control over my blood
: glucose, I now progressively review my diet to ensure
: there are no missing nutritional requirements and to
: further improve lipids etc. At diagnosis in 2002 my
: HbA1c was 8.2, now it's 5.9 and I take no diabetes
: medications. It's a long time since I've seen a
: "spike" over 8, rarely over 7.5. The improvements
: continued long after I reached my target weight. And
: my heart, blood pressure, lipids, kidneys and so on
: are also in good shape. Why do your dieticians
: continue to promote high carbohydrate consumption?
: What is it I'm missing, apart from complications?

: Cheers, Alan, T2 d&e, Australia. Remove weight and carbs
: to email.
: --

: Everything in Moderation - Except Laughter.

Very nicely said, Alan. I hope your pleasant manner in this
letter doesn't cause them to take it lightly.

Wendy