Dr. De Vany said: "...no one can hit those numbers (ie the optimal numbers Dr. Bernstein recommends in his book) and you should not run your life by them. People who live by the numbers are miserable and they suffer many insulin shocks that are very damaging. Eat right, exercise simply and not too much, but with some intensity, and you will be the best you can be. Diabetes cannot be "managed". Particularly by continuous readings followed by misgivings and guilt. The main thing to aim at, and this is my experience and research, but is NOT medical advice, is a low basal insulin reading."
Explain “low basal reading”?
i think professor de vany is thinking of people who eat high carb diets and so have to put out a lot of insulin to deal with the resulting high bg coming from a high carb (ie 6 servings of grains a day from the food pyramid) diet. he advocates low carb. my problem with him is that i don't think i put out a lot of insulin because of genetics that cause me to be insulin deficient and very sensitive to the insulin i do produce (TCF7L2, CT alleles). i am also not overweight and my triglyceride number is excellent, reinforcing that i am insulin sensitive. so i think that his advice to keep basal insulin low is good advice for people who have a pancreas that can produce sufficient insulin- they change to a low carb diet and reduce their basal insulin levels. that advice wouldn't help me. i think. i am posting here to see if my logic is correct, or is it is incorrect because i have misunderstood some mechanism.
i also think i don't have excessive circulating insulin because i am never hypoglycemic. my ogtt was 90: fasting/165: 30 min/128: 60 min/128: 120 minutes. i never had a big surge of insulin to bring the 128 down like some people do. therefore i conclude that i do not overproduce insulin, if anything i underproduce. so the professor's advice isn't helpful to me. i have to be more concerned with insulin levels dropping and bg rising because of continued deterioration of my beta cells'ability to secrete sufficient insulin.
I don't know where this posting is that Dr. De Vany wrote. Send us the link. Vany sound like a quack to me. Not very motivational. I have hit Bernstein's numbers most of my adult life, even before Bernstein wrote his book. It's not easy. I am not miserable. You do have to be careful. But, that's what having Diabetes is unfortunately all about.
https://www.facebook.com/art.devany?fref=nf&pnref=story
sorry i don't know how to find a better link. you have to scroll down to his 12/2 post about myopia and then go down to the end of the discussion. i post with my husband's facebook account, so i am 'jacky'. professor de vany is one of the founders of the paleo movement. his wife had type 1 and his son has type 1.
I'm with Clinitest. Low carb, low numbers, no insulin shocks, yes managing my diabetes! NOT miserable. Feel great. Nobody says it's easy, but what's the alternative -- I think blindness/foot ampuations/heart disease/etc., would make me a little more miserable than not eating bread.
Me too! I am a strong Dr B advocate as find low carb gives great control. As others say, it is not totally easy but I am much happier Dr B way than staggering from high to low with no control!!
Dr. De Vany has no clue. Any diabetic can hit those numbers and type II diabetics in particular can hit them many times without need for insulin or supplemental medications or daily blood glucose monitoring if on a very low carbohydrate diet. I highly doubt Dr. De Vany has even read Dr. Bernstein's book because he obviously doesn't understand the direct and quantifiable relationship between blood glucose, carbohydrate and insulin requirements. As a type one diabetic I can personally attest that multiple daily injections of insulin and multiple daily fingerstick measurements are indeed miserable, but the standard ADA and AACE treatment protocols aren't any less miserable and they don't work. I'm pretty sure I kidney dialysis is even more miserable and that's what happens to diabetics who listen to garbage like Dr. DeVany's.
Professor De Vany supports carbohydrate restriction in the context of a nutrient dense diet/high intensity training/intermittent fasting. his ideas helped me lose weight and my A1c went down from 5.9 to 5.6. however, he has a post up on his fb page that references the old results of the ACCORD study, which initially found intensive control to be dangerous. jenny ruhl posted the reanalysis of that study which was published in this year's Nov. journal of the Lancet. I was trying to explain this on De Vany's fb page, but he deleted my comments and the link to the article. when i asked what was so controversial about posting a link to the Lancet, he said i was taking up too much space on his fb with my comments and i wasn't addressing his points. i guy john mitchell asked me a question about tight control, and i told him i would answer him on his fb page. that line was also deleted by de vany. i don't know what is in his brain. his fb is more for him just posting his thoughts, not actually debating. i have lost a lot of respect for him.
I think we all need to experimentally check ourselves when it comes to Bernstein low carb. When I follow his regimen I have the absolute best blood sugar control. This way of eating is best for me. In the beginning I resented it. But I have come to understand that I also would resent amputations, blindness and all the limitations of diabetic complications of crazy high blood bugar. So I don't complain. I just suck it up. :)