Warshaw Interview

So. Please don’t think this is about being rude! But Hope Warshaw’s approach to keeping us well is standard ADA and not always appropriate.

I understand that now she is in a position of Power and we have to deal with her in a non-confrontational manner. The timing of the interview is difficult for me to manage live. I have read one or two of her books. I have watched her in interviews where she wouldn’t even admit to a small carb moderation being necessary.

And now here she is: With huge power of dollars and a bully pulpit and millions of us undiagnosed or newly diagnosed about to follow her over a dangerous cliff.

I will put aside everything to try to be there and offer a politely phrased question or two. I’m hoping someone else will be there for such a challenge—politely! That time of day is hard for me plus I am very slow on typing in questions. By the time I listen, think about a question and type it in, the Moment is Long Past…Blessings on us all for however we navigate this scourge…

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Judith, if you would like to ask a question, let us know right here, and I will make sure it gets asked, anonymously.

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I had heard that the ADA was warming up to more moderate carb approaches? It’s pretty huge in the Beachbody/ P90X community and a lot of people there report awesome results. I don’t disagree that it’s a great methodology, is pretty workable if you don’t mind meat and, whenever I do it, I will find my BG becomes easier to control. I also think that it can be useful for “fine tuning” insulin dosing and has helped me find success having a bit more carbs than would “qualify” as “low carb” but still maybe less than the FDA dietary guidelines might call for.

It seems reasonable to hear what Hope has to say before assuming anything.

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One of the biggest problems (aka vexing annoyance? :pouting_cat: ) I have with the current interview structure is the perplexing (to me) apparent insistence on “being there” in order to ask a question.

My gut feeling is that not all questions are equally good. I also don’t think the best time to attempt to evaluate a question’s potential value is while multitasking under the time pressure of a live interview.

A suggestion. Supplement the current approach by opening a a discussion topic a week or three in advance of the actual interview date where people could propose and possibly debate which questions to ask. Then @Emily_Coles could review this and tentatively plan to possibly include some of the proposed questions during the actual interview.

It certainly would not be expected that these would be the only questions asked. Depending on how the interview goes, perhaps they would all get tossed. It may also often happen, unfortunately, that no one comes up with any suggestions prior to the interview. :disappointed:

But trying to involve the community in the pre-interview planning feels like it’s worth trying and might actually be a good thing. It could also provide those of us who are rarely able to be “shouting from the sidelines” during the live interview a chance to have our voices heard.

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Judith - When I attend these live interviews, I try to jot down some questions in advance using Microsoft Word. That allows me to pay attention to what’s going on and then to quickly cut and paste my question when I think it’s appropriate.

Like you, I am ambivalent about Hope Warshaw’s appearance here. Over the years she has stubbornly maintained the position of eating lots of carbs, including whole grains. She questioned limiting carbs as a viable way to live with diabetes.

Things are changing in the dietary world. The United States Department of Agriculture released its Scientific Report of the 2015 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee earlier this year. This report made some significant changes to previous government dietary guidelines. Just last week the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (AND) released their comments. Hope Warshaw is a Registered Dietitian and a member of the AND.

Here’s a good summary of the AND’s new positions, taken from the Low Carb Dietitians website:

“The Academy supports the decision by the 2015 DGAC [Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee] not to carry forward previous recommendations that cholesterol intake be limited to no more than 300 mg/day, as ‘available evidence shows no appreciable relationship between consumption of dietary cholesterol and serum cholesterol.’”

Conclusion: No restriction on cholesterol

“In the spirit of the 2015 DGAC’s commendable revision of previous DGAC recommendations to limit dietary cholesterol, the Academy suggests that HHS [Department of Health and Human Services] and USDA support a similar revision deemphasizing saturated fat as a nutrient of concern.”

Conclusion: Saturated fat no longer a villain

“There is a distinct and growing lack of scientific consensus on making a single sodium consumption recommendation for all Americans, owing to a growing body of research suggesting that the low sodium intake levels recommended by the DGAC are actually associated with increased mortality for healthy individuals.”

Conclusion: Restricting sodium can lead to negative health consequences

This final one fundamentally undermines Hope Warshaw’s long-held position on carbohydrates:

“Carbohydrate contributes a greater amount to the risk for cardiovascular disease than saturated fat, so the replacement of carbohydrate will necessarily result in a greater improvement in risk.”

Conclusion: High intake of carbohydrates is more detrimental to heart health than high intake of saturated fat

I believe that Hope Warshaw’s past positions regarding consuming over 50% of daily calories as carbs, even for people with diabetes, has profoundly harmed people in our community.

It’s good to see that the USDA guideline committee and the AND finally recognizing the damage that excessive consumption of carbs is the real nutritional villain.

I’ll be curious to hear what Ms. Warshaw has to say in light of her past position on carb limits, especially daily limits less than 100 grams, as an excellent way to control blood sugar in both T1D and T2D. The old “carb-up, shoot-up” advice appears to be crumbling.

I believe that interview guests be treated politely and with respect but Hope Warshaw’s case sorely tests this ethic. I think she owes our community an apology. I have no illusion that one will be forthcoming.

I will show up and intend to remain civil. I hope that Emily will allow some questions that calls her guest to task for past positions that harmed people with diabetes.

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I liked this TED talk: Reversing Type 2 diabetes starts with ignoring the guidelines | Sarah Hallberg | TEDxPurdueU - YouTube

It inspired me to immediately change my diet (like the NEXT DAY which was about 12 days ago). My bg’s are more level and I’ve lost 7 lbs and have another 19 lbs to hit my target weight which I haven’t been at for about 2-1/2 years. Eating carbs is a PITA for me. Too much bolusing, too much yo-yo’ing, and getting low too often from large boluses.

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I enjoyed that video, too. The presenter is energetic, concise, and totally nails how to control diabetes. I’m not a fan of the “reversing diabetes” term, however. I believe that while diabetes symptoms can be reversed, the underlying metabolic weakness remains. She makes this point in the video.

Your experience closely parallels mine and many other people with diabetes that have used a low carb way of eating as a great way to control blood sugar. The positive effects of eating low carb are dramatic and immediate. I too, lost weight, reduced BG variability while bringing down my averages. Most importantly my time-in-range numbers skyrocketed.

I don’t know if you’ve followed Dr. Bernstein. He’s been advocating reducing carbs to a very low limit (< 30 grams/day). He writes about the law of small numbers: fewer carbs = less insulin = smaller dosing mistakes.

Hope Warshaw has been the face of institutional intransigence regarding using a low carb way of eating as a sound and practical method to control blood glucose.

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Nice to see you around and posting again Judith! This changeover has been trying even for us tech types.

It will be interesting to see if she recants her past position regarding carb intake. She has written a whole stack of books advocating high carb consumption for all diabetics.

The new AND guidelines make all her books obsolete if not downright dangerous IMHO. This is especially true for folks like Judith and I who are controlling our T2 without the use of insulin. We do not have the option of a correction bolus, instead all we can do is endure the high blood sugar and the concomitant loss of a little bit more of our limited insulin production capacity, not to mention escalating neuropathy etc…

In light of the new guidelines all her books should be withdrawn from publication. Cynic that I am, I’m not holding my breath. Maybe I’ll be pleasantly surprised :smiley:

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Hey all,

As the description of the event indicates, “this interview with Hope will focus on how people with diabetes can eat healthier restaurant meals and count grams of carbohydrate more precisely”. I think this is a very useful topic for a lot of people, and I’m going to endeavor to keep us on topic.

I know that many of you have some very well-reasoned questions you’d like to ask Hope regarding the carb/low-carb “debate”, and her position in it, but this is not the venue for that. She was specifically invited to discuss her new book (and app) about eating in restaurants, and I don’t want to spend any more time debating the relative merits of different diets any further than that topic naturally allows.

You can ask Hope questions directly through her website, HopeWarshaw.com

Perhaps in the future we should host a panel of guests with differing approaches to, and beliefs about, diet and diabetes, to hash the topic out in a more rounded fashion. Would you guys like me to look into that? Who would you like to see represented on such a panel?

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Understood, Emily. I’m sure it will be helpful to someone. I figured that one out years ago, though, and prefer not to offer the woman any more attention. I’m certainly not going to waste money on any of her books…Blessings…

Thank you, Terry. Very helpful in all aspects!..

As you’ve read, Hope Warshaw is a sore topic with some of us. I respect your role as facilitator and your decision to limit the scope of the conversation. I will cooperate.

It does irk me a bit that she can come here to promote her book without answering for her long history of bad dietary advice to our community. Now that current events (the AND and USDA reports) are moving against her long-held beliefs, she should come to terms with her past. If you say that that will not happen in this forum, I respect that.

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Really nice, as ever, to encounter you, too, Gentleman Moon! I am also not holding my breath for any change. Her reputation, ill-deserved though it is, is such that she can’t afford to change her mind. When I saw the new guidelines, I was doubly amazed they let her into their inner circles of power. Perhaps she is good for fundraising efforts.

I have never forgiven her or her “ilk” for the hell I went through my first few months after dx when my emotional life swung in a very narrow arc from rage to despair because those damn guidelines didn’t give me one iota of control…Sigh…

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John - I like your idea. This interview topic of discussion could have been talked about/debated to get a sense of what the community would like to discuss with this “expert” guest. The scope of the topic is much narrower than it needs to be in light of this guest’s published record and history.

Since this is under the “Diabetes Advocacy” umbrella, this narrow scope of the topic seems like weak tea to me. Something tells me that the gay AIDs activists of the 1980’s and 1990’s would have not let an opportunity like this to slip by without some kind of active challenge.

Perhaps we could pursue your idea in the future; I think it would serve us better.

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I agree that a “pregame” would be useful. I would think that a person being interviewed would like a chance to get a sense of what the community was interested in talking about. Although it sort of bothers me that everyone seems so loaded for bear about this particular guest. Eating out is tough and if a tool can help somebody, it’s probably worth talking about. Although it seems like the success rate for the low carb tool sort of speaks for itself, at least here? I’ve known some of you folks for years and you seem to be doing great with it!

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Good points, AR. I also said to Emily that it could be helpful to some. I am perhaps being dismissive and not remembering what was and was not difficult for me. But eating out actually never was difficult for me. Even spending 3 days on the road getting to my Mom-in-Law’s funeral, it was easy to get a protein source and a salad at a fast food joint when necessary. And these days, even on Amtrak cross-country, kitchens and servers are so used to special requests—burger, no bun, for instance—that they don’t bat an eye.

And I have listened to her once too often already. I’ll check back in with others after the event. But I am wishing those who find her helpful all the best!..

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Thank you, thank you. I always like to have my ideas liked. :two_hearts: :grin:

And, yes, one of the other potential benefits I could see for trying this approach is that it could give the guests a chance to see questions and comments without the potentially discourteous pressure to respond. In that way I think it might encourage a more interesting discussion.

Heck, once they see a question raised a guest may want to respond if only to explain their side or position.

I know nothing at all about Hope Warshaw’s publications so I am also a little taken aback by the acrimony her interview seems to incite. While I can understand @Emily_Coles desire to not appear to be “trolling” Ms Warshaw, I do sorta hope that if time permits that the apparent controversy could also be touched on, even if only indirectly.

I would be curious to hear the perspective from the other side of the fence. Does she even feel that a controversy exists? :confused: Does she perceive any difference between her views & those recommendations on diet in the comments Terry referenced from the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (AND).

Of course, if one of the conditions of the interview was that only a narrow set of questions on pre-selected topics would be permitted, then that in itself would appear to say a lot in my opinion.

Oh, well. The only thing I know about “low carb” is that whatever it means, I’m probably not intentionally headed in that direction in any time soon. So it’s not surprising to me that this is all “new” to me.

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The reason I see red whenever Ms. Warshaw’s name comes up is the same as yours, Judith. I was diagnosed with T2 and given a diet that was guaranteed to fail. I discovered the DOC and “Eat to your Meter” and was able to try different diet ideas, and they worked!

This result was duplicated again and again in the DOC and yet our dramatic improvement in A1C was dismissed out of hand by the dietary establishment, after all they were the experts. In addition results of numerous studies seemed to say their advice was wrong and yet they continued to dispense the same advice.

This is not how science is supposed to work, new evidence demands that working hypotheses be reevaluated. I must say I feel nothing but contempt for these people.

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Fair enough Emily. I wonder if you could ask Ms. Warshaw about any advice she has for eating out for T2’s following a 30 to 50 g/day diet and not using insulin.

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@Emily_Coles - In the spirit of BadMoonT2’s question, I would like to add mine to your list:

I am T1D with lots of insulin resistance in the morning. I limit my breakfast carbs to 12 grams. Can you suggest some alternatives to bacon, eggs and grilled tomatoes, one of my favorites, when I eat at a restaurant?

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