I was recently diagnosed with Type II diabetes, but I am still confused about what I should eat. I know from experience that eating carbs makes me feel lazy and it also makes me crave more carbs so I had adopted a low-carb diet upon finding out that I was diabetic. I quickly lost 20lbs and my fasting sugar levels dropped down from 165 to 145. I then went to a diabetic nutritionist at my gym who explained that lowering my carbs was not a good decision. I am confused. I thought that anything I did to lose the excess weight and lower my blood sugar was a plus. I altered my diet to her plan and immediately put on about 5 lbs. My fasting level jumped back up by 6 pts to 151. I am craving carbs again and don’t feel as well as I did when I was managing my diet with a lower carb intake. Does anyone have good solid information about how I should be eating. I hate to read nutritional books but I will read one if I can get agreement from several people as to the validity of the information behind them. Call me a doubter but I am so skeptical about studies these days. It really seems as though pharmaceutical companies pay for many studies to benefit their drugs so how does anyone really know if the study is accurate information. Also, my doctor basically just told me I have diabetes and left it to me to figure all this crap out. Thanks a hell of a lot Doc! I have no idea how often I should test, how long after meals I should wait and what my range is. I am 6’2, 250 lb guy. I have a large frame and most people tell me they don’t consider me overweight. I do exercise at least 3 times a week. I would be grateful for any advice. Honestly, this disease scares the crap out of me!
I think you should listen to your body. If you lost weight and your fasting BG went down, then you were doing the right thing. I personally believe the lower carb diet is the best way to go for all the reasons you mention. (Unfortunately, losing weight was a side effect I didn’t want but that’s another story.) There is very good research out there that documents low carb eating improves blood sugar levels but many doctors and dietitians don’t recommend it, not because it doesn’t work, but because they think people won’t comply and that is too hard to keep up. I don’t think you need the research however, as you have your own research project with your diet and your meter. Like you, I found that my craving for carbs disappeared when I cut back, and my energy is back to pre-diagnosis levels. I suggest you check out Dr. Bernstein’s Diabetes Solution if you want some hard facts about why low-carb diets work for people with diabetes. But in the meantime, trust your own findings and do what works for you. Good luck!
Along with Dr.Bernstein’s diet; take a peak at Eat To Live by Dr Joel Furhman;)
I think they are on to something:)
I do agree with the previous post! You know your body and what it does for you.
Eat and test! Look at what gives you energy and health. Dont turn back!
It’s your life and your health, take control of it. 
Check out the thought of others on the
Alternative treatment Forum or check out the Weight Loss Team.
Check out the many wonderful recipes throughout tudiabetes.com We love to share good eating and encouragement.
Remember, your choices and your decisions are up to you. You can make a difference.
Sometimes, it is easy and sometimes it is not.
MeadowLark … Good Health To You!
I have a whole web site that was put together to answer questions like yours: http://www.phlaunt.com/diabetes
The very short version is this: high blood sugars cause the complications of diabetes, including heart attack. The diet that keeps your blood sugar within normal ranges is the best diet. Any diet that does not is damaging your body. Doctors are still wedded to the idea that the low fat diet is healthy despite a decade of solid research showing that the claims made for it do not hold up and that low carb dieting provides better cardiovascular outcomes including lowered cholesterol, better blood pressure and of course, lower A1c.
Any doctor who doesn’t support you in cutting back on carbs should be your ex-doctor.
Thanks for the information Libby. I am glad to hear there are others that have found that a low-carb diet is a good way to go. I am going to give that a try again. I will look for Dr. Bernstein’s book. I am so glad I stumbled upon this site. I think that the best help I can get is from others fighting the battle. Thanks!
Dan
I have type 2 and I test first thing in the morning, fasting, before I eat or drink anything, just before lunch and 2 hours after dinner. I eat breakfast, 2 hours later, a snack, 2 hours lunch, 2 hours, snack and 2 1/2 hours later dinner. I eat a LOT less carbs than I used to. I lost 65 pounds and I needed to. Find the best hospital diabetes center and take a basic class. I learned so much! The first thing I learned is Americans eat far too much food. As diabetics we should eat to live, NOT live to eat! Carbs raise blood sugar! A high carb diet will keep your BGs up! It does take a while to get the hang of the whole thing. Don’t give up!
Thanks Meadowlark for the additional book suggestion. I will check it out. I just didn’t know whether I should trust the results my body (and instincts were giving me). I feel some relief with the information I am getting from the group. Thanks again.
Dan
I have yet to meet a single diabetic who does not keep to a low carb diet. I find that very interesting because diabetics have much more to lose than nutritionist when it comes to their diet. I’m not an overweight guy, and my high blood sugar caused me to have a heart attack at age 35, weighing 138lbs. Now I’m a strict low carb guy and it has almost immediate positive results. I’ve had many neuropathy symptoms that went away once my sugar was lowered. If non-diabetics have blood sugar between 80-100mg/dL then the body is designed to operate at those conditions. If you find the way to lower your sugar toward non-diabetic levels, then you must follow that path.
Take it from me, the alternative is NOT pleasant.
Wow! Jenny I was just reading the information from your site and I have to say: THANK YOU! I felt so judged by my doctor and after reading the information “You Did Not Eat Your Way To Diabetes” I feel a lot better! It looks like there is still so much to learn about this disease. I didn’t mention in my post that about a year ago I was diagnosed with near fatal sleep apnea. My neurologist told me it was not due to weight gain but due to the actual structure of my throat and respritory passages. Her message to me was I also didn’t eat my way into apnea. It seems I have suffered since childhood with apnea and it had gotten worse over time. I do know that many type II’s also have apnea. I wonder if you know of any studies that are underway in this area. It seems to me that both would effect metabolism. I have no idea what my numbers were before I started receiving CPAP treatments (as I was treated for apnea before the type II diagnosis) but it would interesting to see if they were higher. I suspect they may have been. Thanks again for your time and your site. It’s a great resource.
The GI diet is a wonderful resource. It rates foods based on their glycemic index which is how long it takes the body to turn them to sugar, thus raising sugar levels. You end up eating a lot of fruits and veges and cutting back on the breads and pastas but not completely eliminating them. I lost quite a bit of weight doing it and my neuropathy went away as well. My fasting sugar went down as well.
The book is THe GI Diet by Rick Gallop.
Dan,
Thanks for the kind words about the site!
There are some studies that show that interrupted sleep may promote Insulin Resistance, which looks to be a major cause of obesity.
I remember a report from a woman on the old alt.support.diet.low-carb who had been unable to lose weight despite rigorous dieting being treated for sleep apnea and experiencing dramatic weight loss while eating the same diet as before. So perhaps it is true.
I hope you are on the road to improvement!
Chuck,
So sorry to hear of your heart attack at such a young age. Glad you survived!
I am coming to believe that diabetic heart attacks may have something to do with autonomic neuropathy. Neuropathy of the vagus nerve explains a lot of diabetic complications. It can derange the heart beat and that can lead to heart attack or sudden cardiac death. It also controls the tone of the blood vessels and blood pressure, and thus can promote stroke. It also turns out that the vagus nerve plays an important role in the immune system and its ability to locate and fight infection. So a damaged vagus nerve may promote ulcers leading to amputation.
Sudden heart death with no previous history of heart disease runs in my family and hits people at exactly the age I am now. I have some troubling symptoms of autonomic neuropathy and you better believe they really motivate me to keep my blood sugar normal.
Jenny
I read the article on your site about A1C as a predictor of heart disease and I absolutely agree. From my recent blood work, my total cholesterol was less than 140 ( 38 HDL, 96LDL). They calculated my risk was 0.48, which anything less than 1 was considered low risk.
My A1C was 9.5, but in reality, it was probably much higher at the time of the heart attack. The doctors were quite certain that undiagnosed type 1 diabetes was the #1 cause of the heart attack.
The bad news is that once you have a heart attack, the damage is permanent and the chance that I will have another heart attack is much higher than the average person.
My best chance for a full, healthy life is to control my blood sugar through low carb diet and tight BG control using insulin.
Thanks for the encouragement Jenny. I think I can begin to build a better plan for dieting and exercise now that I am getting better information. This site and your diabetes site are great resources. I do believe that the apnea has had a long-term effect on my sugar levels so I guess I will continue to low-carb and see if the improvements continue. I do want my numbers to be below the “high” good for a diabetic numbers.
Chuck,
Though you may have some damage to contend with, you are young and once you get your blood sugar back under control your youth and physiological resiliance will be a huge asset. My ex-father-in-law had a heart attack when he was pretty young in the mid-1970s and he’s still very much alive.
Chuck, sorry to hear about the awful way you discovered you were Diabetic.
As a 31 year T1, I don’t eat a low carb diet. I average about 200 grams daily and my last A1C was 6.2. The key to good glucose control with carbs is the proper timing and dose of insulin balanced with the carb intake. And test frequently. Eating a low carb diet definitely works at keeping glucose low, but it’s not the only way for a T1.