Do UK Dietitians have their Head in the same place as the Aussies ?

lbd said:

Shocking situation in Australia ....

“Nutritional advice to clients must not include a low carbohydrate diet. Jennifer will be advised on the information that she may provide to clients…. ”
Can you imagine having to tell a client with diabetes, who has lowered his BGLs, lost weight and come off all diabetes medications by reducing his carb intake, that he now has to start eating more carbs because SNSW Health says so !?

http://www.babyboomersandbellies.co...trict-says-no-to-low-carb-diets-for-diabetes/

Does the UK suffer the same head in the sand(or other posterior region) approach from so called health experts ??

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At the official/state level yes. At the individual level, some enlightened people seem to be starting to recognise the advantages of a reduced carb' diet for diabetics.

Oh yes!
But, things are slowly changing as advice is to lower your carb intake and eat more complex carbs!
Carbs are carbs, no matter the label!

Well...I think there is little improvement happening in UK...and I said 'little' I've heard that in Nottingham Queen's Medical Centre ...which is university hospital, they have patient (maybe more..I don't know...)that is currently under trial with LCHF diet...and this particular patient that I've heard of is showing great improvement to his/hers diabetes and have achieved great weight loss. Maybe some new doctors and nurses are already learning new things there...and hopefully some older ones too!
It is only matter of time that the info is starting to filter through...I keep hearing about LCHF or ketonic diets from all over the place now and it is not only associated with diabetics.
You'll see, Daily Mail will soon jump into band wagon and will have article on paper about 'low carbs '..

Lol. All I know is when I mention LC to the D nurse, she turns round & says were concerned you might have too many hypos..
But I've lowered my insulin to factor this? She does not compute.
I'll tag in a couple of Australians who may have some input..? @Mike D @Indy51

Yes, it's just as bad over here. Have a look at the UK's British Dietetic Association's website and food facts for Diabetes T2:

https://www.bda.uk.com/ as an example. It has the new Get Well (unwell?) Guide.

Some would say it's pure ignorance; others that it's a food industry conspiracy. It is getting slightly better, however. I always say to people that if carbs are not a problem for us why do I increase my insulin Bolus to match the carbs and avoid a blood sugar rise? I've heard the stupid argument that a low-carb diet isn't proven not to be harmful. That may be so but I'd rather take the risk than having a high carb die that IS proven to be harmful (=obesity)

@lbd Australian dieticians are shockers atm. Australian GP's and Specialists are better in most respects.
Having just seen a newby dieticians this week she pushed the eatwell place big time. Didn't want to listen to my opinions and my decreasing BS levels while low carbing. Informed me that low carbing was unsustainable in the long term and was detrimental to my health as well. And pushed Plant oils as the best to use but would not contemplate coconut oil at all.

My GP and my Diabetes Specialists are all for me low carbing and are so far pleased with my drops in BS levels.

I think until big business gets out of recommending what should be on our places a lot of countries are doomed. There also need to be a closer look made at countries that have changed and the benefits in the their health systems.

I listened today to an interview with Dr Brian Mowll of the Diabetes Summit and he was discussing the American Diabetes Assn's guidelines which are pretty similar. He said as an accredited diabetes educator, he hears their side of the story and it's quite nonsensical. The 3 reasons for the stance are as follows:

(1) It wouldn't be "fair" to ask diabetics to eat differently to the rest of society (how paternalistic can you get???)
(2) Fear of severe hypoglycemia - because conventional medical care assumes that the patient will be on drugs, ignoring the fact that those not on drugs as a general rule don't need to be worried about hypos - their practice is medication-centric.
(3) They still push the low fat message because they haven't caught up with the science that lipids in the blood are caused by carbohydrates and not because of consumption of saturated fats.

Thanks @Jaylee

I won't generalise (can't as I only deal with one doctor) but he supports LCHF completely as he saw my evidence of controlling BS in double quick time. The nutritionists? Dumb as. The one I first met thought bananas were OK and eggs weren't :***: had NO idea about bread and thought it was OK to have "treats". That was before I landed on DCUK island and learned a damned sight more about what I would and should not do. Second nutritionist spent all of our session writing notes given she saw the results plummet and needed to know how I did it.

Fortunately, we have a long weekly health segment on commercial radio reaching a vast audience and the host has embraced as few carbs as possible and "gets it". She makes some stupid assumptions from time to time, but I give her a pass on that. The guts of it is this. I don't expect every GP in this country (or any other) to understand what we endure but to watch my guys who look after me copy down the DCUK internet address it shows they have an intense interest. I also have that unfortunate habit of pushing the argument and when my results are self evident, they listen. Like the statins stoush ... won that too.

We (OZ) have a long way to go and I find it ironic we could teach them a lot more than they could us when it comes down to diabetes.

Finsky said:

Well...I think there is little improvement happening in UK...and I said 'little' I've heard that in Nottingham Queen's Medical Centre ...which is university hospital, they have patient (maybe more..I don't know...)that is currently under trial with LCHF diet...and this particular patient that I've heard of is showing great improvement to his/hers diabetes and have achieved great weight loss. Maybe some new doctors and nurses are already learning new things there...and hopefully some older ones too!
It is only matter of time that the info is starting to filter through...I keep hearing about LCHF or ketonic diets from all over the place now and it is not only associated with diabetics.
You'll see, Daily Mail will soon jump into band wagon and will have article on paper about 'low carbs '..

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Well I'm going to spend some time in there Queens that is in a week or so. I hope they are going to be a bit more enlightened about the choices I may wish to make concerning my diet.

JohnEGreen said:

Well I'm going to spend some time in there Queens that is in a week or so. I hope they are going to be a bit more enlightened about the choices I may wish to make concerning my diet.

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I'm looking forward to hear if you get to know anything more. It might be that because it is under 'trial' that they won't 'preach' it to anybody else yet. But I hope they have at least more understanding for those of us who are 'on it' too.
I wish you all the best for on coming week...

I will report what happens on here that is of course if I make it back.

JohnEGreen said:

I will report what happens on here that is of course if I make it back.

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Oh YOU WILL! ....just keep off from that hospital food, no good for your sugar levels...

This image came to mind

But there ARE some good ones out there!

I must admit I was disappointed with the Canadian Diabetes Assoc's website ... my doctor referred me there as having great information - it didn't, most of it is pretty vague and 'refer to your diabetes health care team' - yeah right - I waited 3 yrs just to get a family physician/GP and end up with this diagnosis. The general tenor of the website is 'eat healthy' (really they're just quoting Canada's Food Guide parameters which while not BAD certainly doesn't account for diabetics needing to watch/limit their carbs), lose weight, and there's also a fair focus on reducing blood pressure. (fortunately not an issue for me). In fact the only mention of carbohydrates is in their list of definitions. (although the definition does include that they need to be monitored. (mind you they do have an excellent video explaining what hbAC1 is and how it differs from home blood glucose testing)

That said, my doc did offer me an appointment with a nutritionist - I deferred said I'd like to see how I manage on my own first, being that I am already an astute educated food savvy woman (and I hate being lectured to by bubbly 20 somethings ....). The advise I was given by doc in regards to eating was 'reduce the simple carbs, avoid the white starches, swap out more complex carbs for the simple ones ... ie sweet potato over white potato, and home self testing is not only encouraged but pretty much demanded ... so it would appear that this is the information/education that the medical profession is getting. And I will say that the diabetic cookbook I bought years ago from the Canadian Diabetes Assoc does focus on eliminating simple carbs and reducing complex ones .. so maybe their head isn't completely up their ****.

All I can say is carbs are carbs simple or complex they will raise your blood sugar.

OceansEdge said:

That said, my doc did offer me an appointment with a nutritionist - I deferred said I'd like to see how I manage on my own first, being that I am already an astute educated food savvy woman (and I hate being lectured to by bubbly 20 somethings ....). The advise I was given by doc in regards to eating was 'reduce the simple carbs, avoid the white starches, swap out more complex carbs for the simple ones ... ie sweet potato over white potato, and home self testing is not only encouraged but pretty much demanded ... so it would appear that this is the information/education that the medical profession is getting. And I will say that the diabetic cookbook I bought years ago from the Canadian Diabetes Assoc does focus on eliminating simple carbs and reducing complex ones .. so maybe their head isn't completely up their ****.

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I'm also in Canada (Alberta) and my doc got me an appointment with a dietitian also. She gave me some papers on controlling blood sugars and what to eat when your type 2. Over all it was good advice but the recommended 200 to 250g of carbs a day it recommends was about 150 to 200 to high for my blood sugar. My second appointment after this discovery was interesting. When I told her I had to limit my carbs to less then 100 a day she was sceptical. When we where flipping through the pages of what I ate over the past two weeks it became very clear then if I had two pieces of multi grain bread (the supposed good carbs) my BG went really high. Potatoes not quite as bad but still not good. A cup cake (no icing) was a heart attack when I saw the number (12.3 mmol/l). So while she's not quite on board with the LCHF she's looking in to it more. I don't see her again until September as I was doing well enough on my own and don't need babysitting. Well I do sometimes. Shouldn't have had that second soft taco at lunch. Should have had a taco salad instead. BTW those two shells where only 30g carbs total. Fillings maybe had 1 or 2. Still sent my numbers to the mid 10's.

yeah I'm not convinced on the whole 'two slices of multigrain for lunch and a potato for dinner' thing myself that doesn't seem much like reducing carbs, that said I'm not sold on the whole LCHF thing either... I'm just not one for extremes, so far I'm not counting calories (or carbs either for that matter), just trying to be sensible and avoid carbs and when not avoiding them limit them and chose better ones, not obsessing over fat or weight loss, but minding I don't over do that as well...... so far it seems to be working, the heh... early days yet, I may well change my mind yet

Can't comment on UK but they should be pretty similar as with this latest farce it appears we are cut and pasting the UK NHS template right down to Desmond downunder

Best dietician I have found with many different options is DUK

Do the UK authorities have there head in the sand? You judge. Here is what they say.

"1.3.3Emphasise advice on healthy balanced eating that is applicable to the general population when providing advice to adults with type 2 diabetes. Encourage high‑fibre, low‑glycaemic‑index sources of carbohydrate in the diet, such as fruit, vegetables, wholegrains and pulses; include low‑fat dairy products and oily fish; and control the intake of foods containing saturated and trans fatty acids. [2009]"