Hi A good friend of mine has type 2 diabetes he is slowly getting worse. I have suggested that maybe Atkins would be of help in controlling it. He does not want to lose any weight. Any information or help would be very much appreciated.

Regards Graham

Hi Graham!

If your friend isn't interested or in need of weight loss, then perhaps Atkins isn't quite the plan he needs, especially induction levels. He might be better off with another plan such as Protein Power, The Schwarzbein Principle or Dr. Bernstein's Diabetes Solution. I'd recommend the last one myself, but that's the plan I've been following as a diabetic and it has worked wonders for me. I was able to get off my medication for blood sugar quite quickly and can now keep my blood sugars in the normal range at all times with diet alone.

Bumping!!!!!!!!

Hi,

I am new here. But what is the Bernstein's Diabetes Solution?

Thanks.

Usha

Hi there, Usha.
It's a book that clearly outlines the causes of diabetes and explains how a low carb diet can lover the blood glucose levels (BGL). It is a bit less strict than Atkins Induction but severely limits and controls carb intake. I borrowed the book but ended up buying it! Maybe your local library has a copy. There is a section on Bernstein on this board - perhaps you can get more info there.
Good luck

I did Atkins over a year & a half ago. The first thing I noticed (almost immediately) was that my blood glucose readings improved to the point that in a few days I had to go off my diabetes medication. For well over a year I was medication free.

When I fell off the wagon, my BG readings climed and I had to start back on the meds. Now I've started eating low carb and here I am, day #1 and my reading two hours after eating was (4.1) Canadian reading (or 77.9 US reading). Whoopie ...


Low carb regardless of the plan, lowers blood sugar. I would also recommend Dr. Bernstein's plan for diabetes, especially if your friend isn't interested in loosing weight.

Good luck to your friend.

Is there a major difference in Dr. Bernstein's diet and the others?

I purchased the book about a year ago, and...altho interesting..I must admit that I never finished reading it. Now I've either lent it out or just can't find it.

My DH was place on insulin a couple months ago and for the first month....we struggled with keeping his BG down....even on the insulin. After a few days on PP his BG levels dropped dramatically! Now I worry about bottoming-out! So slowly, he's dialing the insulin back down til he finds a good level.

This is all SO frustrating. But I've seen for myself the IMMEDIATE effect LC'ing has on blood sugar. For the life of me I don't understand why this is not the plan of choice for doctors to prescribe!!

Sure, call me paranoid, call me suspicious, but IMHO (in my humble opinion) some reasons why LC is not widely promoted among the medical profession (aside from Dr. B and Dr. A) oh and also Suzanne Sommers and other non medical people is:

a) DOCTORS Doctors were trained in the old school of thought about blood sugar and the national food guides (which have been proven to be wrong ... not only wrong but contrary to what the truth is). They stubbornly stick to what they were taught and unfortunately they are too busy and too caught up in paperwork, HMO's and other crap that they (many, anyway) don't have time to re-educate themselves or to find out if there just may be something to this LC business .

b) DRUG COMPANIES Drug companies don't want you to know because if you were able to control your health & diabetes through low carbing they the drug companies wouldn't be able to make a profit by selling you drugs to do the same thing LC does.

c) MEDICAL PERSONNEL Medical personnel such as diabetes associations would be out of a job or grants or ???? if less people became diabetic or if those who needed diabetic counselling took their health in their own hands and lowered their BG levels through LC.

... and I'm not the ONLY one who has this opinion. What does it take to get doctors to admit they need to re-evaluate this issue:

In all fairness, not all doctors are against low carbing as a means to control diabetes. Mine was 100% in favor of my going low carb to control my blood sugars and has been very impressed with the results that I've gotten.
As for the "Old School" of thought, I guess it would depend on how old the school is that we are talking about it. My dad first started practicing medicine in the 1940's and tells me that low carb was the diet of choice (at least in the Netherlands) at that time for diabetics. Of course, they also prescribed a low fat version, but at least they had the low carb part of it right. He still doesn't understand why the recommendation was changed to allow diabetics more carbs and doesn't approve of it. He's been very encouraging to me with what I'm doing and we've had some interesting discussions about the high fat portion of the diet (which we don't agree on BTW), but my test numbers speak for themselves on that matter.
Slowly but surely, more and more doctors are starting to come around to the idea that the best way to control diabetes is to cut the carbs, I think in large part because more and more diabetics are getting fed up with uncontrolled blood sugars on the standard diet now prescribed and are taking matters into their own hands and they see how much better their patients are doing on it.
Since the ADA isn't likely to change their position on this anytime soon, it's up to US to tell our doctors what's working for us and educate them that way. I would hope that results speak much louder than official positions of organizations.

Lisa, my doctor is one of those who listened to me when I told him I was LC. He gave me a list of supplement information I would need to ensure I was getting the proper vitamins, etc.

He also listened to me when I decided not to go on HRT for menopause and told me that if things like Dong Quai and St. John's Wort was working for me then by all means to continue it.

I'm fortunate that he is a doctor who is always studying and reading and ready to listen to me when I tell him what messages my body is sending me. And one of those messages was that my body must not eat a high carbohydrate diet.

You're right of course about not all doctors thinking that way and how nice for you to have a doctor and a doctor/father who have had other schooling on diet & diabetes. There really are some good doctors out there. I suppose I was at first only thinking about the pill pushing doctors, forgetting of course about my very own doctor. Is my face red ... ?