What are carbs? (!!!!!)
 

I have a friend who is a reasonably intelligent woman of about 70. We were never close friends, and both of us have moved, so these days we just keep up on Facebook.

A couple months ago she posted sadly that she had just found out she had to give up sugar as she'd learned she had " too much sugar" in her blood.

A different friend replied. "It's not just sugar. You'll need to be careful of all carbs" (yay)

To which OP replied: "carbs? What are they? I guess I should do some googling."

We still have a long way to go....

Years ago a relative announced - while pouring maple syrup on pancakes - that he had given up sugar. Eye rolling all around. To him, sugar was that white stuff you put on cereal or in coffee - & he did give that up. And in spite of the carbs & the SAD, he was pretty healthy.

Husband just told me about an old man waiting to pick-up his meds at the pharmacy. While standing there, he announced to everyone that he was drinking a Coke and that he is diabetic! He then proclaimed that all he drinks is Coke and Beer as if he's in defiance of what he should be doing...

His doctor may have told him to just "cover" the coke and beer with more insulin - once a patient, always a patient (until death).

That's probably it, covering it with meds.
I just thought it was so funny how he wanted everybody to know. My Mother-in-Law use to do that with her 2nd husband. They ate pies, cakes, jelly and all the other carbs, with the insulin . :daze:

Recently joined a forum for people in my age group and got into a nice relationship (online only) with a woman a few years older than I. We took to email, and she expressed an interest in fasting. I told her it's easier without hunger, and now I'm trying to school her in LCHF + IF eating. Whew! It's hard to do from scratch. Thank goodness for Diet Doctor! The information he aggregates is marvelous as an educating tool.

This will be my first "convert." I hope I help her to better health and mobility.

Because I've spent my entire adult life studying and practicing LC eating, it's hard for me to get my head around the fact that people don't know what "carbs" are.

That's part of the problem when we read articles and reports on carb and fat intake, many don't know what they are or are able to distinguish between sugars or high carb grains. Many think they are different, and because the "healthy high-carb" drumbeat has been so persistent over the years, people don't understand that once you've consumed it, it's all sugar.

As for fat and being able to distinguish among natural fats and manufactured seed oils advertised as healthy fats, that's another area of disconnect and confusion. To understand the nutritional arguments, one needs a basic and factual understanding of fats, proteins, and carbs. Unfortunately, I'd venture to say that most of the population doesn't have this understanding.

The world is awash in ignorance. I find it astounding what people do not know. Growing up I knew the difference between protein, fat and carbs and even the difference between low carb vegetables and high carb "starchy" vegetables. Our suppers were always planned around protein, low carb veggie and starch. We never had soda in the house and dessert was always fruit except for special occasions. I no longer eat fruit and have eliminated all the "starchy" stuff but still my early education about food has served me well. Just lucky I guess. When I switched to lchf I didn't have as far to travel itellectually as some other people.

Jean

One of my coworkers informed me yesterday that she's leaving, and it's because of peripheral neuropathy. She was describing it to another coworker, who asked her, "can't they do anything about that?" She replied, "no, it's just part of the disease."

I really like her and I'm sad to see her go, but I don't think I know her well enough to offer unsolicited advice. I'll have to mull it over. We're friends on FB, so maybe I'll just talk about my own experience and see if she hits the like button...

This is what makes this kind of ignorance so sad, the amount of avoidable suffering it causes.

Jean

What drives me crazy is the new emphasis on only sugar, and mainly added sugar at that. Seems like it it is becoming like the low-fat situation where a food is "helthy" because it is low sugar even if the overall carbs are sky high.

Jean, 100% agree. It enrages me. And Mycie, I agree, and I'm not sure what makes me more angry: telling people that they can just go ahead and have their Coke and cupcakes and just "cover it with insulin", or the idea that they should eliminate granulated sugar and problem solved. So they'll put Splenda in their coffee but have it with oatmeal and bananas, and beam about how they don't eat sugar anymore.

It's criminal.