So had my first follow-up visit to the diabetes doctor today, and my labs came back very good after one month of LC. Most values were still high, but just a couple of points high, whereas a month ago they were ridiculous. So...stay on meds, so far so good. But get this. When I asked a month ago if he wanted me to start monitoring glucose with a kit, the doctor said no. (Glucose was 313 at that time.) Today the glucose was 100...and NOW he orders the kit and monitoring. A1C will come a little later, but it is too soon for any real diff yet

I didn't want to get into it with him since I had nearly used the allotted 5.231 minutes of his time...but any ideas what he was thinking? I would have thought he would have started me before with the lancets, and then perhaps told me to stop now, as my numbers were so good. How does this work?

Not a clue what he was thinking the first time ...but now he may be worried that your BG goes too low. He might have suggested that you reduce or eliminate meds too, but that option either didn't occur to him or fit in your 5 minutes.
This post by Dr Davis is helpful http://www.wheatbellyblog.com/2013/...r-hypoglycemia/


But now you have the meter to help you fine tune which foods impact your BG.

Yeah, now that I've successfully guessed most of it (with help from the glycemic index) a little fine tuning won't hurt. I'm just happy my insurance covers this stuff. I thought about getting a kit before on my own, but the strips are so expensive. What a racket that is!

The GI can be helpful, just understand it has some flaws when it comes to managing BG and insulin response. Dr Fung explained it well:
http://intensivedietarymanagement.c...-index-idm-2-2/
A few carrots aren't the kiss of death, but the GI is useful in showing better choices, e.g. Liquid sucralose is 0 where Splenda has a GI of 80. However, with some other sweeteners, the GI does not account for delayed response, etc.
Suggest you spend some time reading back through this sub-forum to check member advice/experience with various LC plans that focus help with diabetes, e.g. Dr Bernstein, Fung, Westman, Eenfeldt, or a Paleo approach. There is an Atkins Diabetes book published after his death. See that you have been using DANDR since 2002, maybe a slight adjustment in the meal carb allowances or timing may also help you.

Please forgive me if it seems like I'm picking on Dr. Fung, but I clicked the link above and read the following:

"The GI index is always based on the consumption of 50 grams of a particular carbohydrate (2). That can be a lot when talking about the consumption of certain carbohydrates, such as, a carrot. In order to obtain the effect of consuming carrots found in the GI index, you would have to eat about a dozen, full-sized carrots in one sitting."

50 grams is less than two ounces. You know what a pound of carrots looks like...maybe 10 or so medium size carrots. A dozen full-sized carrots would weigh a pound and a half I'd say...not 50 grams (less than 2 ounces). Am I missing something?

Also...I don't get why you have to eat exactly 50 grams to get the effect of consuming a food on the glycemic list. If that's the case, the Glycemic Index is even less useful, as I don't think anyone eats exactly 50 grams of everything. What am I missing here? Does the rate of digestion not apply if you eat more or less than 50 grams? Or change somehow?

That is why the Glycemic LOAD can be a useful guide, which factors in real portions by weight or measuring, but the Glycemic Index pretty much useless.

http://urbanext.illinois.edu/diabet...ubSectionID=100

Jonny Bowden on the topic, he even has videos explaining it online.
http://jonnybowden.com/the-blood-su...-glycemic-load/

He's referring to 50g of carbohydrates, and since carrots are mostly water, you have to eat a lot of carrots to consume 50g of carbs.

ohhhh I *was* missing something! Thanks.