This forum is a great place; it has drastically improved my diabetic control over the course of this year. I am, as a consequence of that, fairly vocal in putting forward the same advice I have been given here. I am a proponent of a low carb diet. I try to be as factual and logical and coherent as possible in my support of that low-carb approach.
I have no ‘political’ adherence to it though; it is not an act of faith for me; if it turned out that the best way to control diabetes was to eat cheesecake and whelks whilst walking backwards I’d be shouting about that instead.
This approach that I support does not, as we all know, have the support of dieticians or the majority of medical practitioners in the NHS. It is by its nature controversial. But I think a bit of controversy and a bit of argument is a good thing if people’s health is being improved as a consequence. It’s important that people don’t confuse argument with instruction though; I’m absolutely sure that no one has ever posted here instructing people to follow their advice. Why would they? That would be madness and worthy of a good flaming.
I hope that I do not offend anyone or prevent anyone from posting if they would like to but I think it is important to pick up errors or mistakes and correct them. No one likes to be corrected; we are all human with our delicate and wobbly egos, but it’s important that we try and get as many facts to the fore as possible. If I make a mistake I may wince when someone pulls me up on it, but in the end that’s for the best. It must be, right?
I really hope that that is not controversial; I’ll give you an example. Yesterday someone as part of a critique of the low-carb bias of the site described how some low-carb advice was given to a pregnant women, when ‘everybody knows’ that pregnant women need an extra 3,000 calories a day in their diet. Here’s the problem; firstly they don’t. They require between 300 and 500 more a day and secondly there is a suggestion that low-carbing is a form of calorie restriction, which is also wrong. So, surely it’s in the interest of us all to point those type of errors out?
Let’s not, of course, argue about who is uglier than who (I’d win
...) but let’s by a process of arguing and exchange try and enlighten ourselves about what is a chronic condition that left to itself will do us a lot of harm. But if we all were of one mind then there would be no need for this forum at all, so disagreement and arguments are always going to be a part of it.
Dillinger