I'm in my second week since being diagnosed with type 2, and like a lot of people on this forum I've soaked up an enormous amount of information from here, from the NHS and other sites where the dietary recommendations are somewhat different. Here is what I think is going on:
The LCHF methodology espoused here along with frequent self testing is clearly, to me, more optimal. My body's production of, or ability to use, insulin is deficient, and I need to reduce my carb intake to match my body's ability to deal with it. I will do this by careful analysis of what carbs are in which food, by frequent testing pre-and post meals, by learning what my body copes with well, and what it doesn't. I will lose weight, and I will exercise effectively, and I will understand the way my condition adapts to these changes over time.
The motivation, the discipline, the knowledge and, let's be frank, the ability to do all these things is not universal within the population.
Let's imagine that there is a population of a million type 2 diabetes patients and the NHS changed its tack and put them all through the education and support needed to follow the course we espouse here. A significant proportion of this million people, maybe 50%, maybe more, maybe less, simply couldn't do this. They's mess up the carb counting. They'd screw up the testing. They'd cross-contaminate with other family members. Many of them will have other health complications, heart trouble for example, and would make them worse through eating the wrong fats etc. The self-discipline needed to follow this path would falter quickly. Understanding test readings and responding and learning appropriately would be lacking. In short, and not to be patronising, to a significant proportion of our million patients, we'd be doing them a great disservice.
So, the NHS tells our million patients to stop eating junk, to eat balanced meals consisting of "good" carbs, fibre, proteins and low fat. To take more exercise. To take their meds as prescribed. To visit the health care team when advised and to let the professionals take the test and to interpret the results for them. This isn't bad advice per se. The overwhelming majority of our million patients will be in better health and have better blood glucose control if they followed this advice than they would have had if they had continued in their old ways. The NHS is promoting a typical "healthy" lifestyle rather than one especially focused for type 2 patients, in the belief that this will, in general, be to their advantage. The advice is simple, consistent and practicable.
So, the advice perpetuated through the NHS is a compromise designed to provide some benefit to the majority. Those of us here, who probably DO have the discipline, the motivation, the knowledge and the ability to take control of our own illness the way we espouse herein, this advice is far from optimal, and we therefore discard it in an informed and confident manner. Good for us.
But, to be fair to the health care professions, dealing with a million of us, the majority of whom are NOT like us here, they are dealing with a population of type 2 patients who are in general, different from us. A truly great practitioner will recognise patients like us, and deal with us differently, but they would be exceptional, I fear.
