Low Carb Diet for Diabetics
 

I had an appointment scheduled with my diabetes educator (RN) for today, but she cancelled. We had an opportunity to talk, though. She, unlike Dr. Swartzbein and other lc proponents, did not think that a low carb diet was good for diabetics. She said that diabetics, according to the ADA, needed to get about 60 carbs a meal. I have not lost anything since I started on Feb. 24, but I feel better. I am able to go to the bathroom without constipation or diarrhea, a luxury I was denied for some time due to irritable bowel syndrome. (If I have grossed some of you out, forgive me:exclm: ) How long have many of you been on a lc diet or WOL? Have you been successful in keeping your weight off? Have you heard such woes from your health professionals? I know, personnally, I could never go back to the way I used to eat. It was so unhealthy. I have not been totally successful with the lcing, but I am working on setting patterns I can follow for the rest of my life.

Shelia

Diabetes educator
 

Hi Shelia,

This is your choice, but try not to listen to the diabetes educator until you give LC at least 3 months. The more carbs you eat, the greater the chance that you will require medications to control your blood sugar. As I've said to you in another post, I am a Type 2 diabetic. On Mar 4th I reported in my journal that my blood sugar has gone from .068 to .049 in 13 months. The bottom end of normal range is .048 so now I have to beware of hypoglycemia. LC has been my WOL for 11 months and it is the reason why my blood sugar is so well controlled.

Do you keep track of everything you eat each day? If you start a journal & report the exact amounts and type of foods, we might be able to pinpoint something you are doing that could be preventing you from losing weight. Keep the faith with lowcarb and it will work for you.

I was also told this by my dietician and two of the doctors I have been to. That's why I chose the Insulin Resistant Diet. It is lower carbs than many, but you still have high fiber carbs and fruit. You can have up to 30 grams at a meal balanced with 14 grams of protein. And they encourage you to eat smaller meal every 3 hours or so. I think we have to remember as diabetics that weight loss is not our primary goal, but balanced blood sugar levels are. Weight loss is just a perk. I have been on the IR diet for 5 weeks and have lossed 15 pounds. And I feel great. Good luck on whatever you choose.

For any diabetic, I would highly recommend purchasing and reading cover to cover, Dr. Richard Bernstein's Diabetes Solution. I credit this book with literally saving my life. Dr. Bernstein is an insulin dependent diabetic himself who actually became a doctor in his mid-forties to gain some credibility for the diet that he had been using for some years already to control his blood sugars with great success (I believe that he actually predates Dr. Atkins with this approach). He reports in his book that eating a low carb diet actually reversed many of the diabetic complications that he had developed following the standard higher carb diabetic diet. I started doing this WOE in May last year. By July, I had to cut my Glucophage dosage in half and by September, my HgA1C had dropped from 11.8 (average blood sugar of 250) to 5.8 (average blood sugar of 100). Even my doctor says he's never seen it drop that fast. In the 10 months that I've been doing this, I've also droppped 65 lbs. It would probably be more if I hadn't stupidly taken a "break" from this WOE over the holidays. I now no longer need ANY medication to control my blood sugars and my average blood sugar is now 85. This WOE WORKS for diabetics far better than anything else out there.

Not diabetes, but IBS
 

I don't have diabetes, but I do have IBS and I relate to you on that. NO ibs since lowcarbing. Amazing. It's a new world.
:) N :thup:

As far as diabetes goes, isn't that all about controlling your blood sugar? What better method than Atkins? Or am I missing something...

Always learning.

Can you tell me the basic plan
 

for the Dr. Richard Bernstein's Diabetes Solution. Is it different than Atkins? I'm a vegetarian so am limited. I eat lower carbs now but not carb free by any stretch. Am just interested on how it's different. Since I'm new to diabetes the information and its conflict is just overwhelming!! Thanks for your help :confused:

Pamlose...

The basic Plan for Dr. Bernstein is that you drop your carb intake to 30 grams of carb per day (no more) and stay there. It's different from Atkins in that there is no induction period and not so much focus on being in ketosis. The main goal of this approach is to stabilize your blood sugars and keep them that way. I'm not sure how this would work with a vegetarian approach and I don't believe that Dr. Bernstein addresses that in his book. His approach is very much like Atkins' in that all of your carbs come from nutrient dense veggies and it does include meat. I can tell you that as a diabetic, this has worked beautifully for me. I feel better on this than I have in years and my blood sugars rarely deviate by more than 20 points even after a meal.

Lisa is absolutely right that this is the plan that diabetics should follow. The Bernstein approach involves measuring of blood sugars as the basis for establishing the appropriate diet, he also covers many diabetic symptoms and methods for dealing with them. This is a truly magnificent book and one that I have given to many diabetic friends.

Bernstein and vegetarianism
 

It is possible to follow the Diabetes Solution WOE as a vegetarian. The LC soy products in the freezer section of your grocery store has them. There are others in the refrigerator section. But a person has to read labels. The book does suggest certain brands.

I am not a vegetarian. But we do eat quite a few vegetarian meals. And they are no problem.