I was disappointed that very tight control of BGs through diet and exercise did not stop, nor barely slowed, my progression with diabetes. But it did greatly slow down my retinopathy. A very good reason to continue with very tight control. Looking back at a prior 15 years of FBGs between 90 and 110 I wonder how it might have gone had I started 20 years ago. (doctor was rabid that I ignore all of this)

Its the same with my mom. She's a Type 2 diabetic. She's never been overweight though.
Its not very low carb but definitely much lower than before. She's added O3 and Vit D to her diet too. More than 10 months now ... still no greater control. OTOH its been slightly worse lately.

Of course my dad's been ill and she also had a severe sub-lingual infection lately and I guess all that's made it worse. But restricting carbs has really not helped my mom much at all.

My mother (age 90) started Bernstein a year and a half ago. She followed it "to the letter of the law" and she achieved good control. She has slacked off now, having lost 30 pounds, and her fasting BG has crept up to slightly over 100, whereas before it was staying from 96 to 105, roughly. She severely restricted carbs, 30 a day as Bernstein suggests. Is your mom severely restricting to 30 carbs a day? I am "pre-diabetic" and I am finally seeing some action with my blood numbers. My last fasting BG was 98, not the greatest, but not the worst, and down slightly from a couple months ago. I have cut back carbs and alcohol, plus am doing treadmill three times a week, 25 minutes at 2.5 mph. My C reactive protein is down from around 6.5 to 4.5. It's taken me several months to even get this far. I have only lost a pound a month in the meanwhile, nothing dramatic, but I seem to be going in the right direction. I have added pycnogenol and bilberry to my supplements (100 and 150 respectively) because I read that it lowers ocular tension by 3 or so points over six months (according to one study). My father had macular and glaucoma so I am trying to avert those disasters, too.

Hi Katerina. My mom is lacto vegetarian, she does not even eat eggs. Very hard to severely restrict carbs.
She eats mainly veggies, dairy, some fruits and nuts. Very little rice.

But she is eating much lesser carbs than before. And I dont see the corresponding decrease in BG levels. She's also having Omega 3 1500 EPA+DHA and 5000 IU Vitamin D3 daily.

That really does restrict your options. Sorry to hear, as I know it's hard to juggle and balance. All the best to her.

My own experience is that stress and sickness can both cause blood sugars to run higher. Lower carbs is better than higher, but if a person is still exceeding their body's tolerance for them, it's possible to not see much, if any, improvement.

If she's extremely carb sensitive, and let's assume she is that sensitive, then she's not even close to a low-carb diet for herself. Being a veggie is not a good excuse.

The author of Blood Sugar 101, Jenny Ruhl, got her numbers in order by eating an 85% calories from fats diet. Rice of all kinds should be totally stricken from her diet, and even too many salad veggies, especially if eaten in large volume, will cause high BS spikes. Milk and/or yogurt are loaded with carbs and sugars, especially the "low-fat" kinds.

Also, yes, infections can cause the liver to dump extra glucose into the system, but that diet is not in order even without an infection source.

And, her fruit intake might need to be discontinued until she gets things under control. There are very low-carb berry powders that give most of the health effects of the berries without much of the sugars.

Her omega 3's are not good enough either for someone like her -- 1500 mgs of EPA/DHA are good enough for a healthy person, but she should try for around 5000 mgs e.d.

We don't use low-fat at all.

tuberman, I agree with what you say, but really don't want to force my mom to eat eggs or meat. She feels a distinct revulsion for them, and, at 72, that's not something I want to force her to do.

I can reduce or eliminate her fruit and rice intake but what will she eat instead ?

Yes, she had a severe sub-lingual gland infection but that's treated now. We're going to a dentist anyway on Friday just to be sure.

Hmmm. Maybe I can ask her to increase that.

Fats... the answer is fats, healthy fats.... fish oil, coconut oil, olive oil, and rice bran oil, heavy creams, or even organic butter. she can get the majority of her calories from fats.

She could use soy or one of the pre-digested proteins such as Peptopro for protein needs -- which wouldn't be very high for her.

Salads are good in moderation, but exclude things like tomatoes and legumes, and most dressings.

Shobha,

To be fair. as carb sensitivity gets far along it does become hard. the best book on the subject is Dr. Berstein's Diabetic Solution, and you should get a copy of that or at least Jenny Ruhl's Blood Sugar 101 (the 2nd best book).

The good news is that if she can get tight control for a couple of months the disease tends to regress (it can get better), and sometimes a lot.

Not sure if her's can regress. She's 72, has had T2 for 15 years or so now. And vegetarian.

My mother was 89 when she started Bernstein. She is 90 now and has completely turned it around. She had had diabetes for ten years prior to starting Bernstein. That would indicate that it is possible to change it, even for the very elderly. She has lost 30 or so pounds and her fasting numbers went down to around 100 from 130's or more.

I see. Is she vegetarian ?

No, she definitely is not vegetarian. I know it would be much more difficult for a vegetarian, but my point was that if you eat "the right stuff" (not taking into consideration personal issues ), you can control it quite well, no matter how old you are, no matter if you have had it for years.

I would not know if that is possible if you are a vegan, vegetarian, lacto-ovo vegetarian. I only know if you are willing to eat as Bernstein says to do, you can control it. Otherwise, you do the best you can. It's certainly not a perfect world, and as I have found at my ripe old age, it almost always comes down to choices. Good luck!

Don't forget avocados!

Don't skip over nuts & seeds either as healthy fats....