In that case my diet would consist of nips of lettuce and water. Meat (with no sauce), veggies, stevia/splenda (omg stevia), tofu, gourds, wheat, rice, cheese, etc tend to bring my blood sugar up. Certain times of the month bring my blood sugar up, impending colds, the fact that it is a Tuesday and overcast can bring up my blood sugar. I’m pressed to think of one thing that doesn’t bring me up, and I’ve tried a lot of food in my 16+ years of type one!
What had caught my eye in my (brief) readings on the MODY for the children that this type of diet had worked on was “Absence of positive antibodies or other autoimmunity (e.g., thyroiditis) in patient and family”. Did they test for the antibodies that type ones carry (but type twos do not)?
Also, from the diabetes monitor:
“Might I have MODY?
You might have MODY if you have a strong history of diabetes in your family, and you developed diabetes before middle age, you are not overweight, and you are treated on meal planning alone, diabetes pills or on low doses of insulin (less than 0.5 units of insulin per Kg of body weight) more than 18 months after you were diagnosed with diabetes.”
Testing isn’t usually done for MODY, so a lot of people are diagnosed at first as having type one if only because insurance companies don’t want to pay for the additional test. It’s not that I don’t necessarily believe that the method that was brought up here couldn’t work for a type one…it is more that I’ve been working with what effects my body and how in regards to food vs. insulin amounts and I have yet to find a food the minimally effects my blood sugar that isn’t plain old lettuce. The only time that I could have gotten away with eating like that was when I was still in my honeymoon period.
Though, as a side note, your recipes look absolutely delicious and I think I’ll be trying some at home. I’m all for healthy eating!
We know that autoimmune T1 diabetes often occurs with other clusters of autoimmune conditions, which includes problems with foods like gluten. And it is known that the inflammation caused by these foods causes inflammation and elevated blood sugars. In fact, food allergies also cause inflammation reactions and elevated blood sugars.
So I believe you when you say your daughter is doing better with these foods eliminated. In fact, if your daughters has autoimmunity against these foods or allergies I would “expect” she would do better, have better blood sugars and require less insulin.
But the leap that you make is suggesting autoimmune diabetes is caused by these food issues and the autoimmune reaction can be “fixed” by removing those foods. Research has not shown a causal relationship. Dan Hurley discusses the correlation but he did not find anything suggesting a causal relationship.
You say you are being careful about your daughters insulin use and I think it is fine to remove foods from her diets that cause problems. I think you are doing a fine job. But as a parent with a child who has been diagnosed with T1, you know how desparate you are to help “cure” your daughter and other parents feel the same way. The concern is that some parents who may not be fully informed will see what you are saying and blindly remove the same foods from their child’s diet and stop insulin in the belief that it will “cure” their child. I know that is not what you are saying, but your words suggest that you believe it.
Okay… Here’s how it works. Regardless of the amount of carbs eaten, if a child is not getting her hourly basal rate of insulin either through Lantus or the pump, that child would die, and quickly. If disconnected from the pump accidentally, in the absence of any food or drink, we have seen numbers in the 400s after two and a half or three hours (which is the most time she has been accidentally disconnected; it happened twice in five years). She is on a pump so no Lantus which lasts 20 hours or more. Once a child has been diagnosed and is past the honeymoon stage, if basal insulin is not supplied by an external source (because they are not getting what they need since their beta cells have died), they will be in trouble fast. I believe, after about eight hours if on a pump, you would have an emergency situation and go into DKA. You have 24 hours plus another four or eight if you are on Lantus. No insulin equals death. With or without a no carb diet.
It does not work for one or two kis, if the child in question has Type 1 diabetes. It could work as long as they are in the honeymoon stage. There are some children who do experience long honeymoons, though it is very rare. You must supply the hourly basal needof insulin your body would give you if your beta cells were still functioning. Plain and simple. It is approximately .70 to 1 unit an hour for each 100 pounds of weight for most adults, I believe. If you are drinking nothing but water and you don’t get this basal need met, you will die. I don’t know why there is so much confusion about this issue.
I wanted to respond to your post because I know Kim personally and have witnessed what she has discovered. I actually just found this thread when I was searching for a recipe on her website and I need to respond. I have been a Type 1 Diabetic for 12 years and spend a lot of time counseling to Type 1 and 2 diabetics as well as creating meal plans. When I first heard what Kim was doing I was just a skeptical as everyone else here and bombarded her with questions, stating over again that I wouldn’t last 1 hour without insulin, how can this be possible for her daughter? She graciously invited me to begin attending their meetings (trust me, she is an excellent mother) and I got to know all of these young children that have Type 1 Diabetes who had gone from pump users to no insulin at all. This kept me up many sleepless nights in wonder of how it is possible. The difference between standard western medicine and Kim’s idea is she is getting to the root of the problem as it begins, instead of masking it with drugs. Over time, after needing all the evidence everyone else wanted, I really feel like this is a cure. Keep in mind, this is not an easy lifestyle! The diet is very rigid and would require a lot of home cooking. Yet the difference is, the children will not have to live their life being a slave to insulin injections. If they chose to live this way forever, they can have a relatively normal life. I’m 28 and recently married and my husband and I want to have children. I think everyday about how I need to prepare for this high risk pregnancy, and even worse, how life will be if my child gets Diabetes. I am very knowledgable about Diabetes and I would practice Kim’s plan on my children! The difference is, I had no choice when I got Diabetes. I started injections that day and suffered horrible control for many years. Who knows if I would have chosen to stick to such a diet in my teens, but I would bet that I would have. The difference is, families can have a choice. I was not given a choice. Please do not disregard this but take the time to research. Why is Diabetes so prevelant and getting worse? Why are more and more people getting Type 1? I know it is the genetically modified foods we eat. Toxins create disease. I used to read stories of poeple that reversed Type 1 by eating a plant based, organic, clean diet. It angered me that they would make such impossible claims! But now I’m a believer. But keep in mind, if you have had Diabetes for more than a year or two, your beta cell production is gone and this plan is impossible. The idea is to rest the pancreas while 20% of insulin production may be available (the honeymoon period) and let the body heal and rebuild itself, which it will do! But I know this could not work for me and I am on an insulin pump, continuous glucose monitor, and of course many glucose tests each day. But I guarantee if you tried the plan even at a later stage, you will notice much better clontrol with low glycemic increases and more energy. I have not talked to Kim in years and it would break my heart if she saw this thread and what people have accused her of. She was a mother that insisted on finding a cure. I’m reading the book right now of the family that first had their daughter use insulin. What if that family had not insisted there was more? Ok…I’m ready to face the firing squad. Feel free to contact me with questions or my personal story. I have run marathons, been a professional dancer and traveled the world with Type 1 so I’d be happy to lend support to anyone who needs it.
Sorry, DI, I don’t believe you one iota, and I do not believe there is a cure. A pancreas that has lost its capacity to produce insulin does not all not all of a sudden start working again because of a change in diet. As a person with diabetes, I get so tired of the false claims and charlatans. Please, stop! If you want to honestly help those with diabetes, please!, let’s keep it real.
I’m really glad you think that way. I too think it’s a “honeymoon phase” The diet might help for a bit but the D will come back full force. Bless that child b/c in the long run the child will be the one that pays the price not the mom.
It’s the newby T1 who are most vulnerable to such nonsense. They are the ones who are most desperate to be taken in by the miracle cures. I’ve been around the block a few times, so I know better. But hey, if YOU want to believe her, be my guest.
False hope is much more cruel than little hope or no hope at all.
I totally agree with you BMD! If there was such a cure my mother would have found this years ago. Yep she tried every new idea put out there and none of them worked.
It is CRUEL to tell a newly dignosed diabetic there’s a miracle cure for the d out there and all you have to do is this…
You must understand. This is a community of diabetics. The vast majority of people here believe in the science that T1 is caused by autoimmune reaction where your body destroys your beta cells, eventually leaving you unable to produce insulin. Eating some diet, exercising and even praying can help. But in the end, the autoimmune process is relentless and over time none of us knows how to stop it. Every so often, somebody comes around, they tried a particular diet, they took some natural herb and their diabetic symptoms seemed to go away. Well I’ve been waiting here for evidence. I’ve never seen any strong evidence that anything stops the progression of T1. And when I hear yet another claim that someone has a cure for T1 I am dubious. And when I hear about these cure’s being applied to children I am not only dubious, I am scared. Our children are not given a choice. When people come around making such claims, people can and will think this stuff is true and put children in danger.
I would urge parents to take heed, I’ve seen no evidence of any kind that you can halt (let alone reverse) the T1 autoimmune process. If you want to follow some organic low carb diet, that is fine, but please, never withhold treatment (such as insulin) from your child in the mistaken belief that T1 can be reversed or cured. Such claims are irresponsible and outright dangerous.
kenx, I’m a scientist, so I’m all for finding solutions to problems and answers to life’s deep mysteries. By the same token, I’m very sensitive when it comes to people making wild claims that fly in the face of science and evidence-based research. Does the sun rise each morning because it hears the rooster crow? Some people may think it so because to them it seems that way, but I know better. I’m happy as a clam letting you go about believing what you wish; however, if you try to indoctrinate me or my children with nonsense, I’m not going to put up with it. I feel the same way when people try to take advantage of diabetics and the plight of our disease. Enough is enough.
Believe me, if there were a CURE for T1, JDRF would be all over it.
Also, when you paraphrase or quote someone, please get it right. I NEVER said little hope was better than no hope. I said the following:
False hope is much more cruel than little hope or no hope at all.
BTW, when marketing ideas, such as diets, building a foundation of devoted believers is often the goal before the diet is marketed in printed form.
If it dosen’t hurt the child then try it alls I’m saying is it NEVER woked for me and those ideas of something getting anyone over a lifetime desease can hurt the child in the long run. I’m not really missing the point here, God knows how many things I’ve done to find a “cure” but alast it never worked. I just don’t want any false hopes and the child having to go what I went through as a child, then an adult (those hospital stays and being in DKA isn’t fun at all)I haven’t read this thread I just stated my own opinion on those “you can control it by diet alone” things when it comes to us Type 1’s.
In other words be sure and have the insulin avalable to these ppl you want to put through these “cure thingys”
kenx, you just don’t get it. The isn’t about MY research. It’s about claims being supported by evidence-based research. Someone can come on here and post that drinking 32 ounces of pickle brine per day, sleeping on one’s back, and running around a gym track backwards 2 miles, 4 times per day is a promising cure for diabetes. Are you going to believe it? Are you just going to let that get posted without question or challenge? I won’t. But again, hey, you can believe what you what you want to believe. Go for it!
The first written record describing Type 1 diabetes was more than 3,500 years ago. That was way before modern society, human-made toxins, genetically engineered foods. If in fact this woman cured her Type 1 child, surely some scientist would have studied this and documented it, but that has not happened. Yes, the honeymoon period can be prolonged and last a long time, but no one has found a way to halt the autoimmune process. Sadly, especially when newly diagnosed, people are so desperate and so vulnerable to false claims and false hopes. The most important thing is, if you have Type 1 diabetes or if your child has Type 1 diabetes, do not stop administering exogenous insulin. Before 1921, people with Type 1 diabetes were kept alive for several years on a starvation diet (that we now know prolonged the honeymoon period), but sadly of course all of them ultimately died within a few years.
I’m pressed to think of one thing that doesn’t bring me up, and I’ve tried a lot of food in my 16+ years of type one!