Since my diagnosis in Sept, I have seen the benefits of not eating a lot of carbs at once and eating less than 150g of carbs a day. I am training for a half marathon and probably can’t go too low carb (I drop 50-200 pts just in 45 mins of working out). But on days I don’t workout, how do you stay so low carb? I would like to try to go lower but I love fruit and have little to no time to prepare meals! How do you do it? Any examples of what you eat for a day?
The American Dietetic Association (ADtA) has claimed the role of providing public health recommendations for diabetic nutrition. And the ADA has supported establishing the ADtA as the “front” for this dietary agenda. But the diet is a huge travesty. The ADtA studied the effect of carbohydrates on glycemic control and although everyone admits that carbohydrates are the primary driver of blood sugar levels, they were so “incompetent” (or corrupt, I can’t tell) that they were able to dismiss all evidence and conclude that following a lower carb diet does not improve glycemic control.
The sad thing is that in order to pass the certification and befome a Registered Dietician (RD), you need to spout the lies. If you don’t, you don’t get certified. And the ADtA is moving aggressively to quelch oppostion, they have introduced legislation in CA to make it illegal for anyone else to provide nutrition advice.
Oh, do I wish they had allowed me to collaborate on my treatment when I was in the hospital recovering from a coma. It could have spared me many hours of suffering with BGs over 400, and gotten me out of there sooner. In Spanish, ¡Ojala!
Really sorry to hear that. Especially for all the non-diabetic insulin-resistant people for whom low-carb might be the only thing that helps them with their weight and forestalls hypertension, hyperlipidemia and early heart disease. And especially since there IS evidence that low-carb works MUCH better for the insulin-resistant then low-fat. 
Hopefully you can get her to understand. Any chance she would be at least willing to read Bernstein’s Diabetes Solution?
Maybe she should read Good Calories, Bad Calories by Gary Taubes, it references all the literature.
You can’t fault her for wanting the best for you. She just doesn’t know that she doesn’t know what’s best. If you would be willing to do the experiment just to educate her, you could go on a 55% carb diet for a week, and show her and record (photograph) the lines, and then go low-carb for a week, and record the lines there, too, and let her compare the results. Seeing is believing. The reason I say a week is that if my own experiences are worth anything (and maybe they aren’t!), it takes a couple of days to adjust to low-carb, and I would assume a couple of days to adjust to high-carb.
And if she wants to be a dietitian, she had better get to know ALL types of diabetes INTIMATELY (no, I’m not talking about THAT!! LOL). There will be Type 1 AND Type 2 women who want to get pregnant, or who are already pregnant, gestational diabetics, newly diagnosed diabetics, and diabetics with kidney disease who will all need dietary advice. Diabetes is the most common reason for people to consult a dietitian, although, of course, there are others too. If she wants to be a professional, then she needs to be an expert!
Taubes is solid because it’s all based on real science, hard to argue with it. So many theories about diet have no real basis in scientific research, it all anecdotal evidence, this is not true of Taubes
Getting certified would be difficult for many of us who have experienced success with lowering our carbs. Consider the multiple choice question “What is the optimum percentage of calories from carbohydrates for a Type 2 diabetic”. Would you answer the “correct” answer, 55%, or what you believe is true, say 20 or 30%. If you don’t answer 55% you will be marked wrong.
Organizations like the ADtA fiercely defend their orthodox positions. In 2005 a Swedish Dr. named Annika Dahlqvist was reported to the government by 2 nutritionists for recommending a low carb high fat diet to her overweight and diabetic patients, apparently for endangering their health. She was under threat of losing her license.Dr Dahlqvist’s story had a happy ending and in the end the Swedish government endorsed the low carb approach.
In many ways this is a strange position for an organization which claims to be scientifically based. There are few absolute truths in science. The “truth” is always being modified as new evidence comes to light.
Dietitians are spouting just what they were taught, maybe years ago. They honestly believe what they tell you, and really are trying to keep you healthy. It’s just that newer studies are showing things in a different light, and there is MUCH controversy about what the best diet for diabetics is. And it may NOT be the same as for the general population, although that is way up in the air as well. You need to do some reading and research, and make the decisions that seem best to you. If you want to see the extremes, read 1) Dr. Neal Barnard, who advocates a strict vegan diet, and 2) Dr. Richard K. Bernstein, who advocates an extreme low-carb diet. Then you can figure out where the middle ground is, and make choices that fit your preferences and lifestyle.
For me, low-carb is clearly the way to go because I just don’t like fruits and vegetables, and I am much more comfortable eating meat and cheese. Which is not to say I never eat vegetables, but I have to force myself to do it. I was a carb addict, and wish I hadn’t had to give up the carby grains, potatoes, rice, pasta, etc. but it has made a tremendous difference in my control. My lipids have never been better, and I have lost 27 lb. (gained by bingeing on carbs) so far – would like to lose 10 lb. more.
But there are certainly other people who thrive on the vegan diet (as long as they get their B-12), and if it’s working, I would never tell them not to do it. And there are people who do well somewhere in the middle. So you need to experiment and figure out what works for you. If lowering carbs helps you, then go for it. The dietitian doesn’t know everything (wish they did!), and doesn’t live in your body, and won’t experience complications. And that’s the best argument I can think of for diabetic empowerment, and self-management!
Natalie is right there is no one right diet. The right diet is the one that allows you to meet your goals. Lots of research has been done on low carb because of the Atkins Diet craze a few years ago, and most agree there is nothing unhealthy about eating low carb. Now the main criticism seems to be that people can’t stay on it. For some this is undoubtedly true, but you’ll find many on this site who would disagree. For me every time I stick my finger I receive positive reinforcement and I can’t see changing any time soon.
That’s a very nice utility! What program do you use for that? I have used Glucosurfer that produces neat long, lines that I kind of like. I’m not sure about saving the pics though? And a nice job on the BG too. All I can get are these little dinky pics though…
!
Right now, I would KILL for a line like that in a place like that!!!
Alan, wow! Beautiful & done without a pump or CGM. You’re proof it’s very possible.
Thanks for the info! The MM software comes up with charts like that, similarly broken down. I don’t play with it that often though, I just print out the reports and check them out before I go to the doctor. I have a Contour USB I got free that I keep meaning to play around with too. I will have to check their stuff out. I thought it would be smaller for running but it’s sort of a “push” between that and the case turned out to be a shade bigger than the One Touch Ultra Mini so it’s just sat in the box.
That chart is truly a thing of beauty. For those in “that country” which won’t use standard measures, the green is 70-140. And I believe Alan is on shots, not a pump. We so often hear about how difficult blood sugar control is. There are some of us who proudly display “flatlines” of our “good” days. This is much better than just a good day.
She has no time for reading being a mom and a student.
me too!!
Doglady, Ketones are a normal biochemical by-product of burning fat for energy. There’s nothing unusual or harmful about low ketones. Most everyone has low ketones in the morning from not eating overnight. (Entirely different from having consistently high BG accompanied by high ketones which can signal DKA.) So, if someone lowers carbs & starts using their fat reserves (which is the purpose of stored body fat), there will be ketones present.
They way healthcare people state “spilling ketones” makes it sound similar to spilling protein in urine. Makes you wonder if they know the difference.