Do not go to the Joslin Diabetes discussion board unless you want to be berated constantly by anti-low-carbers! After correcting a bunch of assumptions about low-carb (and I was talking about Dr. Bernstein's diet which is a bit more liberal on the carbs than Atkins [at least the induction phase anyway, don't know enough about Atkins to compare]), most everyone kept posting links to studies etc saying how horrible the low-carb "fad" is. The last straw was when one person said (more or less), "Well, those who believe in the fad diets won't be convinced so we just have to let them go on with their experiments." And the moderator said, "Yes, they're adults, they can choose what they want to eat, all I can do is tell them what has been proven by credible studies." Oy vey. That was the last straw for me -- I took the link there out of my favorites.

Oh, this is what I posted, BTW:

There is a big difference between a low-carb diet and a no-carb diet. Low carb [and here I refer to Dr. Bernstein] means eating a small amount of carbs at each meal so that one's body is not overwhelmed by the amount of glucose entering the bloodstream. Typically this means only about 15g of carbo per meal -- but this is a salad AND a cup of broccoli! And this doesn't mean one has to pig out on fatty meats -- one can break up one's meal eating into 5 or six small meals a day and eat enough lean meats to feel satisfied. Eating this way means one could have at least 75g of carbohydrate a day -- hardly seems like one is depriving oneself. You said cutting out carbos is cutting out too many calories -- I thought cutting calories to lose weight was a GOOD thing?

I do agree with you about one thing -- glucose IS the body's preferred energy source. But that doesn't mean one needs to consume more carbos than the body needs. The body is also quite happy to use fat stores and dietary fat as energy sources. Fat in and of itself is not the harm -- overconsumption of fat and/or carbohydrates is.

According to my biochemistry text book (Stryer), glucose (converted into acetyl coenyzme A) is not only used for energy but is also the buildling block for cholesterol and triglycerides. And insulin facilitates the building of these fatty acids. Just because a diabetic's cells are resistant to insulin does not mean the insulin is not still quite effective at its other jobs. If one eats more carbos than the body requires for energy, the blood sugar will go up and the body will use the excess carbos to make more fat and cholesterol.

Speaking of which, just because one limits dietary cholesterol does not mean one's cholesterol levels will go down. Dietary cholesterol inhibits the production of in vivo cholesterol, but even without dietary cholesterol the body will make more IF it has the building blocks to do it. And look at all the people who cut fat and cholesterol out of their diet and still have to take Lipitor. Obviously, something else is going on here to make people have high cholesterol besides eating fat.

Can't beleive they didn't know this Fact. All I can say, forgive them for they do not know

Welcome abaord Deb,

Anyone who needs studies can just click on the "Studies" menu option above, we list both arguments for and against, for any open-minded person to see for themselves. Now if they're closed-minded, better not waist one's time!

Tel us more about you, not them How long have you been following Dr. Bernestein's?


Wa'il

Whoop! Good for you.

And a year from now, your health will be so improved and they'll still be struggling with the same old same old....

I'm slowly familiarizing myself with Dr. Bernstein's program .. I think it's excellent ... and useful for blood sugar levelling even for the non-diabetic ... someone with difficult craving problems related to glucose swings ...

Welcome aboard, and I look forward to reading more posts from you...

Doreen

hey Wa'il,

We've got it down to a real art, this posting at exactly the same minute ..

Doreen

Down to the minute!

Wa'il

Will post more info about me in a sec in a whole new thread

Debbie