Danielle,

That is so sad about your father.

So many people take the path he chose because they don't see alternatives. For decades doctors scared people with diabetes about how dangerous it was to cut the carbs and how fat would kill them, so anyone diagnosed in the 1970s or 80s was likely to be convinced their only choice was to eat that horrible low fat diet that left them ravenously hungry all the time or to give up. In that case, giving up the diet was often the sanest choice.

Doctors also expect people with diabetes to deteriorate and because of their defeatist beliefs, let it happen. My last doctor at various times said things like, "of course you must have heart disease because you have diabetes." Or "You probably heal slowly because you have diabetes." He never once mentioned that tighter control could prevent such complications--complications that after ten years of diabetes I do not have.

I'm an ornery cuss and by the time of my diagnosis I had already had a decade of horrible experiences where stupid doctors that I trusted ended up giving me and my kids terrible permanent doctor-caused problems. So by the time I found out my blood sugar was way out of control I didn't trust my doctor one bit and that freed me up to try Bernstein's approach--which was considered crazy by most people when I started eating his way in 1998. I posted about my results with his diet on a diabetes newsgroup and was accused of trying to murder diabetics since everyone knew that eating fat would kill you.

That distrust of doctors probably saved my life. But if diabetes is a person's first serious health condition they are at the mercy of a terribly flawed medical system and that system kills. Your dad probably didn't have a chance.

Jenny, thank you for your kind words.

My Father's death was very sad indeed and quite unexpected. Sadly, his Mother passed on at the age of 61 due to diabetic complications. You can see why I am proactive and a bit scared of making the wrong decision. I'm not planning on leaving this world at 61 - at least not without a fight.

I had a conversation with my Mother, not too long ago, about the cause of my father's death. Although, he wasn't proactive about his health and could have done much more than pop a pill and live a sedentary life. I do feel strongly that the advice given to him wouldn't have helped much. I don't think he was given much more help than I have been given by the medical community. He did not go to his doctor every three months. I never saw a glucose meter until a month ago so, he never tested himself. He really was only told to lose weight, stay away from sweets, eat low fat, exercise and make sure to take his medication. See you in a year - the end. Again, he didn't do any of the things I mentioned, other than taking his pill but, I'm not thoroughly convinced they would help him to the point of saving his life - maybe he would have had a few more years. He had a stroke and the hospital sent him home. They did discover he had an A1c of 11 and needed insulin and he knew he needed insulin for some time but, kept it a secret. He was afraid of needles and I guess the thought of being dependent on insulin. I'm not going to even get into what the hospital fed him for his diabetes! He later admitted, during recovery, the insulin shots were no big deal and felt great shame that he put it off to that point. That first stroke was on his 61st birthday mind you. He had a second stroke about a week later. He thought he was dying and waved goodbye to my Mom as he stroked. He survived and made it out of ICU to rehab and was expected to recover and go home within two weeks. He also had heart problems. Well, about a week before being discharged by the VA hospital he had a heart attack on the way to PT.

I don't tell this story for sympathy or to sadden anyone out there reading it but, rather to help save your life. Don't ignore the symptoms. Things can be done and you can lead a healthy long life. I'm sure there are people lurking that have either ignored their condition or feel guilty (I did at first)..or whatever. Don't end up like my Father - too young to die! especially from something that could have been avoided. We are blessed to be part of the information age. There are wonderful books out there giving us the truth and wonderful people here and elsewhere leading you in the right direction.

Okay, I feel like I'm running for president.

Peace,
~Danielle

Danielle,

The guilt and denial you describe are the single most damaging thing people with Type 2 have to contend with. A major theme of my bloodsugar101.com web site and the related book is explaining to people why, despite all they read in the media, they did NOT cause their diabetes. Then I explain why their doctor's negativity is based on flawed research and why they do NOT have to accept the idea that they must deteriorate.

I have gotten more mail from people about the power of freeing themselves of that guilt than about anything else I have ever written (and I've published 8 books!)

You really can change your health and survive. The ADA and its drug company and junk food company corporate sponsors have fought every step of the way against telling people with diabetes that it is carbs that raise blood sugar and that cutting carbs will normalize it. If cutting carbs isn't enough, then lowering carbs and taking small, carefully dosed amounts of insulin, with metformin if it can be tolerated will normalize it.

Weight loss can help, but contrary to everything people read, it is not essential. Telling people who are obese and have failed at every diet they have ever tried (including low carb which many people stall out on after a first burst of weight loss) that their only hope to recover health is to lose a lot of weight is to condemn them to hopelessness.

Cut the carbs, but in a way you can live with long term--i.e. don't make yourself feel deprived and crazy, insist on insulin if you can't get your blood sugars down below the dangerous level by cutting carbs, and you can turn your life around.

I really like the alt.support.diabetes newsgroup approach towards cutting carbs because it works so well with people who think they can't diet: http://alt-support-diabetes.org/newlydiagnosed.htm

I agree with Jenny. There have been several women who came to these forums recently with diabetes and PCOS, who embraced low carb enthusiastically and had less than enthusiastic weight loss and continued to have elevated blood sugars. They quickly disappeared and I'm afraid that they've given up because the one thing that was supposed to work for them didn't work as everyone said it would. I'm sure they will all eventually be on insulin, but I'm equally sure that they will wait until they've developed complications and very high blood sugars.

Jenny - I had no idea your wrote 8 books!

Susan - Low carb, so far, has worked very well for me. I have lost 12 lbs. A drop in the bucket but, beats gaining as I did on other diets. I'm losing at a steady pace of 1lb per week. I think I will stick to this diet for the rest of my life because it has cut my cravings and constant thoughts of food to nil. However, as you have both mentioned, to what extent does one cut back where they see results and are happy. I started out with being able to eat up to 40 grams a day with normal or close to normal BG #s. Now, that is going lower and eating 20 grams for the rest of my life will wear thin. I'm fine with the 30-40grams a day anything lower and I'll need some medication to feel happy with my diet. I'm not even asking for refined carbs but, a whole grain here and there or a piece of fruit.

Throw me a frickin bone - LOL

~Danielle

Danielle - one of the things you need to do (I normally don't tell people what they need to do, its usually presumptious) is to come up with your own list and cook book of new comfort foods. Mine include low carb fudge (make it myself), pumpkin cheese cake, low carb catsup and barbeque sauce, shrimp and meatballs in the freezer. I had to take nuts off the list - just too many calories.

Susan,

There is some recent research that found that putting Type 2s on insulin for a few weeks right after diagnosis made a huge improvement in their blood sugar YEARS later, even though they stopped after those weeks and never went back on.

I wish people would consider Insulin a first line drug for rescue when people's blood sugars are so high that they are getting secondary insulin resistance from continually running high, rather than a last resort!

But that said, even sadder to me are people who eat low carb and make huge improvements in their blood sugar but get so frustrated because they can't lose weight that they end up blowing off the diet.

Separating out blood sugar control from weight loss seems to work best. Tell people all they have to do is lower their blood sugars--not that they have to lose weight, and most people will feel so much more successful (and most will control blood sugars much better if they cut the carbs).

But if you tell people that weight loss will reverse their diabetes, etc (which they told me) they will end up in a futile attempt to lose weight, imagining they'd be "all better" if they could (which they wouldn't, usually) and feel like horrible failures when "all" they could accomplish is bring the A1c down from 9.5% to 5.7%.

That is exactly what my doctor told me. He said you need to lose weight and if I lose 20 lbs by my next appointment I could be "out of the doghouse". However, he told me that 5 years ago when he suspected I was "just IR". We see where that got me.

Today I woke up at 104mg/dl and only bounced from 94-104mg/dl all day. Go figure! Yesterday morning, I had 1 slice of double fiber bread with lots of natural PB and it shot up to 156 2hr PP. I suspected a raise from bread but didn't think that much. I walked for an hour on the treadmill and it went from 156 - 104mg/dl. I did cut out the carbs today so, I expected better numbers but, even on other days when my carbs were very limited they lingered between 110-125mg. So not predictable diabetes!

My husband think I may need a little carb to get myself that low - maybe I'm not eating enough to kick in my insulin. Is that flawed thinking? The other question becomes - how much carb is just enough which I suppose only I can truely answer.

On a seperate note, some Costco woman tried to sell me some diabetes meal bars. I looked at the nutrients and it had 18 grams of carbs. So, I said - gosh too may carbs -to my husband but, she decided to chime in by saying only 5 grams of net carbs due to fiber and sugar alcohols. So, I said sugar alcohols raise some diabetics blood sugars not to mention they often have a lovely laxative effect. She said that the sugar alcohol they use doesn't cause that problem. I picked up the box and read malitol. I told her it might as well read metamucil. Then she went on to tell me about the agave nector and I stopped her and told her that I understood that it raised BG slowly but, it's still a sugar...like honey, like beets, like sugar cane, burger buns, corn, HFCS and meal bars...etc. It's still a carb and it's still a sugar. I told her I could only speak for myself but that bars ingredients, basically, told me it was chocolate flavored ex-lax. She was speachless. Sorry. That is what she gets for walking into my conversation with my husband. She didn't realize that I was a person who actually educated myself about diabetes. I think the woman next to me dropped her box. I guess a job in sales at Costco is not in my future?

~Danielle

Rob,

I have done that and it has helped greatly. Thank you for passing that on to me and others. I've really only gotten as far as cheesecake but, if you get the chance can you pass along the pumpkin cheesecake recipe and fudge? The holidays aren't too far and I wouldn't mind making a batch for friends and keeping a small bit for me.

~Danielle

Sometimes I have to wonder about the kinds of people who sell horrible glucose-filled crap to people with diabetes along with the hype that tells them it is good for them.

I am tempted to start mailing out that photo of the diabetic foot minus toe that is floating around the internet to the executives of these companies.

That is what they are doing to people.

Maltitol raises me almost as high as regular sugar, but it also makes me far hungrier than regular sugar.

Most people aren't aware of secondary insulin resistance. It doesn't take very high BGs for me to notice it either - 160 or so and my bolus ratios change.

Most type 2s who need insulin and finally accept it usually bemoan the fact that they waited so long.

I'm guilty! What is secondary insulin resistance?

~Danielle

High blood sugars themselves can cause insulin resistance to increase, and then you need even higher doses in insulin to get the same result

Secondary insulin resistance is the extra insulin resistance you develop when your blood sugar is high.

A person like me, who is not usually insulin resistant will become
insulin resistant if our blood sugar goes high which leads to a vicious cycle. Your blood sugar hits that threshold, and then it becomes harder to bring it down because the insulin you do produce stops working.

This is one of the reasons people with Type 2 often see a huge difference in their blood sugars after they start low carbing. When they drop the blood sugars the same amount of insulin covers a lot more carbohydrate.