Diabetes Diet War (Hint: High carbing doesn't work)

US News ^ | 7/14/03 | Dara Mayers

[Nov3]

Diabetes diet war
The nutrition advice given to most diabetics might be killing them

By Dara Mayers
The bible says "make starches the star." That's the Diabetes Food and Nutrition Bible, published by the American Diabetes Association. "Grains, beans, and starchy vegetables form the foundation of the Diabetes Food Pyramid. The message is to eat more of these foods than of any of the other food groups." For 17 million Americans with diabetes, diet is a crucial part of treatment, And what the ADA bible preaches, many doctors, nutritionists, and patients believe.

But what if the ADA's high-starch diet--another way of saying high-carbohydrate--is not healthy for people with diabetes but harmful to them instead?

This possibility is now the source of heated debate in the diabetes community. It is "the most controversial aspect of diabetes treatment today," says Scott King, editor-in-chief of Diabetes Interview magazine. How controversial? "Malpractice!" is how physician and diabetes specialist Lois Jovanovic, chief scientific officer of the Sansum Medical Research Institute in Santa Barbara, Calif., describes conventional high-carb nutrition advice.

Excerpted, click for full article

[cubreporter]

There is too much emphasis on losing weight and looking anorexic like the shallow hollywood people. Most look like starved sticks. Unfortunately, we teach girls inparticular that the must be "stick thin" and look down our noses at those who are overweight for whatever reason.

Weight goes deeper than just eating something that has too much sugar. Actually, people need to mind their own business when it comes to someone else's weight and just thank God it is not them.

If someone wants to be thinner than a rail...so be it. If someone else is struggling with overweight or obesity even those who look down upon them without knowing a thing about them should step back and stop being so judgemental. Let someone who is judmental go on a diet or do without the things they love for one day even and see how they feel at the end of that day.

Then perhaps they might have a little compassion for someone who is where they are for God knows what PERSONAL reasons but am sure that person wants to be thinner...not skinny like a rail but thinner. Maybe these people who are suffering from this overweight problem are crying within.

We are all probably guilty of being too judmemental but I guess we should all remember the famous quote: "There but for the grace of God go I."

Your mother may have damaged her heart physically with this starvation diet but...you can rest assured you were in her heart and it was BIG not big from weight but BIG with love for you. God bless.

[crazykatz]

Well, let me introduce myself to you. I am a type II diabetic.

I was never real overweight, accept during one of my pregnancies.

I always excercised!!

I was an avid horseback rider( Eastern not Western), I took care of my own horses and tack, I enjoyed ice skating in the Winter or at an indoor rink for years, I am a former arobics addict and I loved hiking trips and camping.

I became a diabetic about 1986, according to old blood tests however, I was not diagnosted until 1993. My blood sugar was irregular all those years, but my doctor's just were not concerned. After all I was such an active person.

Well, here we are 10 years later and I follow a LOW CARBOHYDRATE diet but I also watch the fat in my foods.

I avoid sugar like it is the PLAGUE!!

I have problems with infections but heart is fine.

Just wanted you to know that I have several friends who are also type II and they are not fattys or hogs either.

I think the hidden sugar in the processed foods we have been consuming for years is making lots of folks fat and contributing to the epidemic of diabetics II.

[SamAdams76]

I also switched to a canola-based margarine, but recently I couldn't find any; perhaps that's why my total cholesterol number came down last year but then has drifted back up.

Margarine? That is nasty stuff and it doesn't belong in a low-carb diet. Full of chemicals and trans-fats. You are far better off with real butter. Or olive oil. I use olive oil for a butter substitute sometimes. Olive oil is very good for you.

[Nov3]

Oh, my bad. I thought you were preaching to the choir.

[Katie_Colic]

Every single Type II diabetic I know has overeaten their way into developing it.

Well, mewzilla, meet someone whose blood sugar problems started at 28 years old and 112 lbs. I started to get shaky and have panic attacks when I ate high carb meals. Then I had my second child and developed gestational diabetes. Even though it's supposed to go away after childbirth, my blood sugars are borderline now. I was probably already a burgeoning Type II before I got pregnant, even though I had worked my tail off to be at a great weight.

By the way, you think your friends would have an easy time of it if they just ate a "proper" diet and exercised? When I had gestational diabetes, the prescribed diabetic diet sent my blood sugar through the roof. I eventually found that eating one piece of the wrong fruit could send my blood sugar shooting up too high as could a sandwich on whole wheat bread, a casserole with bread crumbs or a sweet and sour sauce.

And there is NO motivation to control your blood sugar like knowing your unborn baby will pay the price if you don't. Diabetes can be hard to control no matter how dedicated you are, and it's especially hard if you listen to the advice of doctors who tell you to get most of your calories from sugar.

[Katie_Colic]

The first few days when the carbs are leaving my system I crave really strange things that I don't normally eat. Like cherry pie, frosting in the can, and tiramesu (sp?). Has anyone else had that kind of experience??

That happens to me! I can crave something like caramel or candy corn that I wouldn't ever think about eating if I weren't on a diet.

[Katie_Colic]

For the past couple of years, I've been having to manage my hypoglycemic daughter's blood sugar level....Eating a diet full of refined carbs would give her a glucose spike, followed by a crash, with all sorts of resulting behavior problems (which the idiots at the public school wanted to handle thru Ritalin)

When my 3 year old eats a lot of sugar, she's an emotional wreck. My husband and I were watching her wail in the kitchen one night, and I looked at him and said, "Nope. Sugar doesn't affect kids' behavior. No way."

[Katie_Colic]

Did you take any supplements for your yeast overgrowth? I'm dealing with that right now.

[jennyp]

Margarine? That is nasty stuff and it doesn't belong in a low-carb diet. Full of chemicals and trans-fats. You are far better off with real butter. Or olive oil. I use olive oil for a butter substitute sometimes. Olive oil is very good for you.

I do use a lot of olive oil. But for chicken or for sautéing onions you just gotta add a little butter or butter surrogate for the taste. Plus for those few times we buy bread. (Yes, we do eat bread sometimes!) I forget: Does butter have better fats than margarine? They're both solid at room temperature, so I assumed they both had lots of saturated fats.

[Ladysmith]

Not yet. A friend of mine who has a nasty problem with yeast knows alot about this issue and what it takes to cleanse the body of the excess. I want to talk to her about it first. In the meantime, I'm hoping that just eliminating those foods that create the yeast problem will bring it all into balance.

[R. Scott]

Strange … I’m a diabetic, and I was told to limit carbohydrates to no more than 40 grams four times a day – that’s half a cup of potatoes or rice, or about one slice of bread.
No more mashed potato sandwiches.

[diotima]

Take potassium or put Morton's light salt on your food.

[PJ-Comix]

The problem with trying to avoid sugar means no drinking orange juice which you really need. And don't tell me you can just take Vitamin C pills. Those pills just aren't as effective as consuming Vitamin C in its natural state.

[laredo44]

What ever happened to just eating right

That's exactly the problem -- what does "just eating right" mean? Do you suppose there is one "correct" diet for everyone on the planet? I sure don't.

[yhwhsman]

Don't know if anyone has answered your question yet, so thought I'd give it a try. :)

Normally, your body maintains a certain level of nutrients for it to function properly. With sodium, it has a certain amount it keeps, and if the sodium levels are too high the kidneys release the excess.

When you consume a high-carb diet, your body begins to pump out huge quantities of insulin to try to deal with the extra glucose. One thing, among many, that high insulin levels does is it tends to hold on to sodium, making it impossible for the body to 'pee' it out. So, in order to maintain the proper level of sodium, it instead begins to retain water in an attempt to dilute the sodium down. Hence, you suffer edema.

Once you start a low-carb diet, your insulin levels drop. One thing you will notice is that you will start making trips to the bathroom a lot more frequently then you did; your body is releasing excess sodium (btw, you should start drinking more water too, cause it actually helps you lose weight). Make sure you take a Potassium supplement, because as your body releases sodium, potassium tends to go right along with it.

Two and a half years ago, I lost my right foot. In the process, my kidneys got damaged and I have had to wear support stockings since because my legs would swell so bad. One of the benefits of the low-carb diet is my leg(s) aren't swelling up like they used to. Not to mention, you feel so much better, you sleep better, you think better, and I can even see better.

The plan I follow is called Protein Power by Michael and Mary Eades. They explained how the body operates in a way that made sense to me, and have actually been enjoying this way of eating. I started the day after last Easter, and have gone down three and a half belt notches since.

Yhwhsman

[SamAdams76]

Does butter have better fats than margarine? They're both solid at room temperature, so I assumed they both had lots of saturated fats.

Well the only reason margarine is solid at room temperature is because it is made from hydrogenated vegetable oil. (The animal fats in butter are naturally solid at room temperature.) The hydrogenation process is very controversial and many health experts claim that foods made with hydrogenated oils are very bad for your health because they cannot be processed by the body in a normal manner. The results of this process is also known as "trans-fatty acids", something you will be likely to hear a lot more about as the FDA is under considerable pressure to have foodmakers put trans-fat information on their nutrition labels.

Bottom line, butter appears to be much better for you healthwise.

[retrokitten]

On Atkins you can add fruit after the first couple of weeks. It's only the first 2 weeks that are really restrictive. They'd probably recommend fresh squeezed instead of concentrate, though.

I know this sounds mental if you haven't done it, but when you avoid sugary products for even a couple of weeks fruit tastes amazing!

[PJ-Comix]

How is Protein Power better than the Atkins Diet?

[Investment Biker]

I do not suffer from edema and never have. My weight gain was not related to fluids but to body fat.

[Johnny Gage]

Do you take any oil suppliments, like Omega-3 or 6?

I haven't, but I do try to eat salmon and other foods with those oils in them quite regularly.