Just been on my 1/6 sessions of X-Pert for an audience of newly diagnosed, mainly non-insulin T2s. Well intended, but the staff besides being very nice and polite, didn't seem to be an expert...
Key concepts so far:
-major cause of T2 is genetic / !
-no need to test if not on BG lowering meds / ?
-when I mentioned I am on Dapagliflozine / Forxiga, the staff had no idea what it was, even though the workbook she gave out mentioned it / ?
-balanced, healthy diet emphasised, with carbs in each meal / ?
-when she asked if we know what HbA1c is, I replied Glycated Haemoglobin, to which she looked confused, and explained it as the glucose attached to blood red cells /!?
So, I'll keep attending, hoping next week when another lecturer will join, will be more "scientific" ;-)
Second lecture, went much better.
New lecturer with wider knowledge, within guidelines but flexible about "what works best on individual level".
Lots of good information mingled with outdated guidlines, being told nevertheless, that diabetes management has changed very much over last 5 years, and still changes.
An interesting duplicity noticed, ie while the instructor advised the NICE/NHS endorsed number of carbohydrate portions, we were warned about the dangers of carbohydrate over-consumption. For some reason, fats while mentioned, did not receive the expected emphasis, as once...
Alternative diets as the Atkins diet, were mentioned as a way of weight loss, with a mention about limiting them to no more than 6 weeks.
As I privately mentioned during break my results with LCHF, she seemed curious and appreciated my efforts to loose weight and control my BG, emphasizing and acknowledging that controls are very individual as they should indeed be.
So overall, positive evaluation so far.
I'll come back next week with session 3 insights.