I just picked up the Fall/Winter issue, and I have two questions.
Why is this magazine so repetitive? Every issue is the same. Here’s what to buy at the store. Here’s how to divide up your plate. Why don’t they do something useful like profiling people with diabetes who still manage to do interesting things (travel, exercise, whatever), or talk about research that is of interest to PWD?
2)Why does this magazine push the carbs? This issue has about four pages worth of “quick meal ideas” and all of them are useless to me, as they posit 45 carbs at a meal, even for breakfast. There’s an article advising people to cut down on dietary fats, and another one warning you not to limit healthful carbohydrate, even if it means adding some more meds to your regime.
When I was first dx’d I subscribed to Diabetic Living for 3 years. It was a waste of money. They always have a picture of a gooey chocolate dessert on the cover and in a big number will say 3 carbs. When you turn to the recipe you see it is 3 exchanges or 45 carbs for a small slice. They also use sugar and flour in a lot of their recipes. I have rarely seen them pushing any kind of carb counting diet. Most of the adds are medications or insulins. I finally just let my subscripton run out.
My bad. Then I guess it is just main stream bumbling and misinformation to blame. This was very confusing to me when first diagnosed. Everywhere I looked I was being told to eat MORE carbs than I would before my DX. Ultimately this obviously bad information (from all the “expert” sources) is what lead me to do my own research and experimenting. So, in the long run it served a purpose, but too many PWD follow this advise thinking they are doing just fine. Especially Type 2’s who are told only to test once a day and sometimes less! This sort of thing makes me furious!
Well, the editor of Diabetic Living is a member here. She is a diabetic herself and has generally been responsive to questions.
In my opinion, Diabetic Living has aligned itself to give “mainstream” ADA derived advice. If you look editorial staff, they are the “old guard” including Hope Warshaw and Marion Franz. The magazine is highly vetted and controlled by the ADA and the ADtA. By definition that means that it advocates a high carb diet, using extensive medications and the inevitability of poor blood sugar control and complications. And the reason it is repetitive is that it is focused on the “newly diagnosed” for whom it will always seem new (at least until they actually figure out the diabetes deal).
Seems pretty typical of “recipes for diabetics” whose main goal seems to be to tell us we can “eat like normal people” (good luck with that!). Not that so called normal eating is too healthy - at least not in the U.S. anyway! I only bought one diabetic cookbook early on and thank goodness I bought it used so I didn’t waste too much money. TuDiabetes members could do a much better job than anything that’s out there.
I am not sure I entirely buy the allegation that there’s a conspiracy between the ADA, Diabetic Living and other affiliated organizations and or publications? I can’t imagine the smoking gun is worth more than maybe a minivan?
Um, well I eat 45 carbs at a meal, and I am a long time diabetic and I happen to like recipes that boast nutrition which may include some carbs and may very well be lower in fat (I have other issues besides D!). So maybe the mag is for folks who can and do eat like normal people. If it isn’t providing any useful information for you, then quit reading it! And for g’ness sake…write a letter to the editor and tell them what you think of their rag.
Frances,
We have our own best diabetes living magazine right here! Up to date! Not controlled by ADA and moneyed interests.
When certain people get ahold of an organization, and when there is money to be made through it, it simply cannot change.
Even the professional arm cannot change it, and those who might exert an influence have given up, continue to pay dues to have it listed on resumes, but put their own efforts elsewhere. There’s just too much money to be made by too many big companies on diabetes.
I agree w/ Leo regarding the message board > magazines for information about diabetes. Magazines are nice but I don’t think they come close to the built-in “checks and balances” the message board format brings to the table.
I’m still not sure about the “moneyed interests” argument? I think people who benefit from marketing of “high carb”/ food pyramid dietary strategies would be farmers rather than diet book people? I suppose you can make a living writing diet books but you could write them however you want and they would probably still find a market place? Low-carb and high-carb diet books cost the same? I guess pharmaceutical companies might benefit a bit if T2 patients take twice as much metformin b/c they are eating more carbs but I am not sure if the choice is “medically” based, since doctors pass the buck on talking about food a lot of the time. I think that if doctors would adopt a different approach and consider food “medicine” to people with diabetes (which, of course, it is to people with T1…), publications, dieticians and everyone else would fall into line.
Given that this is a “superstructural” problem, from the “brains” (sic) of the operation, perhaps someone outside of the process might be useful to approach? If the president weren’t so beleaguered, I’d try the first lady, since she had involved herself with the health and fitness issue.
I find that the magazine is pushing too many carbs for me. Then again, I like to eat in a Primal, low-carb way. For a T2, who is trying to control their BG numbers through diet, and are used to eating 500 g carbs a day, DL magazine is a great resource, because it is automatically “Low Carb” when you compare it to their lifestyle.
As for catering to the low carb crowd? I can only see that happening when the demand for low-carb is greater. Right now the paradigm is that you can eat in the same style that you were before diagnosis - with the right medications of course.
The good news is that there are a LOT of free websites out there that cater to your needs. Mine just happens to be one of them.
I wish there were a magazine for experienced diabetics.
Thanks. Joanne