It's unbelievable! happened in France-1824: Case of Diabetes, Cured by bleeding, the Vapour Bath, &c

[Md2t]

William Banting's 'A Letter On Corpulence Addressed To The Public', published in the early 1860s after he reversed his diabetes, described a low carbohydrate diet which his doctor had advised after learning about it from a French colleague. It would seem that the French were using low carb diets in the 19th century.

 

[Guzzler]

I can also only hazard a guess.. Really old school, methodology "witch finder general" bleed the evil? (Though, by this time the persecution should have stopped?)

However. Is it advisable to create & open a wound on a diabetic with high BGs?

I was thinking of the 'cheat' peeps have mentioned, you know the one about donating blood prior to having an A1c? Though who they would be cheating is questionable. But yeah, open wounds not advisable (it might have brought on the hysteria, weren't they obsessed at that time with women's wombs and all kinds?).

 

[Bluetit1802]

I was thinking of the 'cheat' peeps have mentioned, you know the one about donating blood prior to having an A1c? Though who they would be cheating is questionable. But yeah, open wounds not advisable (it might have brought on the hysteria, weren't they obsessed at that time with women's wombs and all kinds?).

Yes, I have seen on an American forum not related to diabetes but more to body building and lowering haematocrit levels before drug testing. Donating blood prior to a test seems to be fairly common. Please do not for one minute think I am a body builder (lol) I was looking for ways to lower haematocrit levels because high ones skew the HbA1c test upwards. I can see how blood letting would lower BS levels easily for a temporary period.

 

[Jaylee]

I was thinking of the 'cheat' peeps have mentioned, you know the one about donating blood prior to having an A1c? Though who they would be cheating is questionable. But yeah, open wounds not advisable (it might have brought on the hysteria, weren't they obsessed at that time with women's wombs and all kinds?).

Lol, oddly. I was in mind of a recent thread, with regards to the "blood letting?"

The "focus" regarding women's health in general, at the time of the OP's featured publishment would have been misguided at that time..
Votes for women wouldn't have occurred for another 94/5 years?

But, there seemed to be a good guess in the carb direction...
Ho hum, 1 out of 3 ain't bad..

 

[Guzzler]

Interesting, too, is the vapour bath (sauna?) treatment as this has come up in a couple of things just recently as opposed to the cryotherapy advocated by others.
Sauna makes me slightly claustrophobic while freezing cold showers or immersion isn't something I'm prepared to take up on a regular basis.

 

[KK123]

What a fascinating article you found, SO interesting reading how things were perceived and diagnosed from over a 100 years ago. The 50yr old Louise with 'melancholia' is lucky she didn't end up in an asylum as a woman going though the menopause or in hospital from lack of blood!. I wonder what eventually happened to her. I'm guessing the type 2s of old went on for a while eating 'animal' and a bit of bread the type 1s of old did the same but died after a short while. Truly fascinating.

 

[KK123]

William Banting's 'A Letter On Corpulence Addressed To The Public', published in the early 1860s after he reversed his diabetes, described a low carbohydrate diet which his doctor had advised after learning about it from a French colleague. It would seem that the French were using low carb diets in the 19th century.

I suspect a low carb diet has been around for millennia but was considered normal, long before an abundance of cakes, pastries, rice, spuds, bread became the staples.

 

[Robinredbreast]

I suspect a low carb diet has been around for millennia but was considered normal, long before an abundance of cakes, pastries, rice, spuds, bread became the staples.

My mum was a nurse and she had an old nursing book, Handbook for Nurses, dated around 1910/20, lower/reduced carb intake was used, amongst other things a fascinating read

 

[Deleted member 308541]

I suspect a low carb diet has been around for millennia but was considered normal, long before an abundance of cakes, pastries, rice, spuds, bread became the staples.

Bread has been a staple item of food for millennia, it's only in the last hundred years or less since has been over processed.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_bread

 

[Bluetit1802]

Bread has been a staple item of food for millennia, it's only in the last hundred years or less since has been over processed.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_bread

Yes, it was all freshly milled wholegrain flour, sold direct from the miller