Balance: Very few carbs diet effective! New letter Nov. 2014

[IanD]

They've done it again with the Nov/Dec issue:
Letters pp 50-51 "Carb control"

Type 1 diag in 1988 at 25
Weight rose to 19 st (121 Kg)
With GP's approval cut out all sugar & starch
after 1 year -
lost 4 st (25 Kg) & HbA1c & chol improved & don't need to count carbs
----
I'm surprised low carb diets aren't recommended .... This is a simple seemingly healthy solution & it works for me.

Editor replies:
It's brilliant that you're feeling better
DUK realise that some T1s reduce the amount of carbs in their diet
a low carb diet is not recommended for T1s because there is not enough evidence about its effectiveness on longer-term health.
Also .... could impact on cardiovascular & kidney health ...​

When will DUK begin to listen to their supporters? An every increasing number come to this forum, learn about carb reduction, try it & get the benefit with improved health & control. DUK know that diabetes is progressive, which, of course, means that their diet recommendations result in a deterioration of long term health.

Why will they not put together a low carb diet to be offered to both newly diagnosed, & long term patients with poor control & complications as an alternation to their regular diet?

I've been low carb for 6 1/2 years, & that cleared the complications I was suffering from 8 years with the DUK diet. Also, I have been a subject of a long running UCL health project "SABRE" & the latest comprehensive scans on heart, liver, etc, blood test & physical tests indicate NO SIGNIFICANT ABNORMALITIES REQUIRING INVESTIGATION.

The previous tests were 4 years ago, with the same results. Does that count as a long term study?

 

[donnellysdogs]

They've done it again with the Nov/Dec issue:
Letters pp 50-51 "Carb control"

Type 1 diag in 1988 at 25
Weight rose to 19 st (121 Kg)
With GP's approval cut out all sugar & starch
after 1 year -
lost 4 st (25 Kg) & HbA1c & chol improved & don't need to count carbs
----
I'm surprised low carb diets aren't recommended .... This is a simple seemingly healthy solution & it works for me.

Editor replies:
It's brilliant that you're feeling better
DUK realise that some T1s reduce the amount of carbs in their diet
a low carb diet is not recommended for T1s because there is not enough evidence about its effectiveness on longer-term health.
Also .... could impact on cardiovascular & kidney health ...​

When will DUK begin to listen to their supporters? An every increasing number come to this forum, learn about carb reduction, try it & get the benefit with improved health & control. DUK know that diabetes is progressive, which, of course, means that their diet recommendations result in a deterioration of long term health.

Why will they not put together a low carb diet to be offered to both newly diagnosed, & long term patients with poor control & complications as an alternation to their regular diet?

I've been low carb for 6 1/2 years, & that cleared the complications I was suffering from 8 years with the DUK diet. Also, I have been a subject of a long running UCL health project "SABRE" & the latest comprehensive scans on heart, liver, etc, blood test & physical tests indicate NO SIGNIFICANT ABNORMALITIES REQUIRING INVESTIGATION.

The previous tests were 4 years ago, with the same results. Does that count as a long term study?

This makes me mad. I'm 30+yrs T1. My whole life has been low carb and no complications...

Just seems that DUK AREN'T listening...

 

[Sid Bonkers]

----
I'm surprised low carb diets aren't recommended .... This is a simple seemingly healthy solution & it works for me......

​

When will DUK begin to listen to their supporters? An every increasing number come to this forum, learn about carb reduction, try it & get the benefit with improved health & control...... ..

The previous tests were 4 years ago, with the same results. Does that count as a long term study?

The problem is as I see it Ian is that my story is very similar, 18.5 stone at diagnosis, prescribed insulin and lost 4 stone over the next year and weaned myself off insulin, then over the next 4 years I lost another stone and apart from the first 7 or 8 months havent needed to low carb, I do not class myself as low carb by your definition and thats the problem, I eat fewer carbs than the rda but still am able to eat carbs with most meals. So does that mean everyone should be the same as me and I should be the model for all NHS advice? No of course not.

One persons experience is meaninless and is not a long term study, there are as many diabetic diets as there are diabetics not even 2 low carbers eat the same diet.

We could agree that the NHS could advise a reduction in carbohydrates as you mentioned in my highlighted text in the quote but you have to remeber that not everyone is a low carber as you might define it, and carb reduction does not have to mean under a certain amount of carbs, so instead of always talking about low carbing perhaps we should be talking about carb reduction and then we might get somewhere as LC or LCHF just sounds too severe to many people and quoting this study and that study does nothing to change general opinion.

 

[IanD]

I understand your points, Sid, but surely DUK could work on a low carb diet as an option to the diet they recommend to everyone.

The regular checks we have will find any deficiencies & problems - & solutions. I spent 8 years on a diet that was destroying my health, was a regular reader of "Balance" & never saw any suggestion that carb reduction could be beneficial.

The NHS & DUK acknowledge the ever-increasing problems & costs of obesity & T2, & link them. Surely it's time somebody official added the recommended high carb diet into the equation & took notice of diet "crazes" instead of warning against them.

The obvious reason why "One persons experience is meaninless and is not a long term study, there are as many diabetic diets as there are diabetics not even 2 low carbers eat the same diet" is that LC is not a diet but a lifestyle, adapted to suit individual needs, but does have the common factor of reduced carb & increased natural & fresh fats. The fats from convenience foods, normally combined with carbs, tend to be processed or reused, rather than in the natural state.

 

[Spiker]

The problem is as I see it Ian is that my story is very similar

Hi Sid. How's Doris?

 

[IanD]

I had no reply to my email, & of course it wasn't published in the next issue.