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Hello

B

Bluefoxy

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Hi,

My name is Ray and I am a 67 year old decrepit male. I was first diagnosed with type 2 some 7 years ago and am currently on metformin, gliclazide and a twice daily injection with a Byetta pen. I am overweight and find it difficult to exercise due to chronic arthritis, particularly in my lower back. I thought I understood what a sensible diet for diabetics was until I caught the tail end of a discussion on Radio 4 this morning. An apparently emminent doctor challenged the dietry advice given by the medical profession in general and this website in particular. His premis was that carbohydrates, all carbohydrates, are poison to diabetics. His advice was that if we ditched carbohydrates in total there would quickly come a time when we could also ditch our medication. I don't know if he is right but I do know that a plate of spag bol increases my blood sugar level far more than a large steak.

I am due at Guys Hospital tomorrow for my annual eye check so my condition is once more to the front of my mind and thought I should perhaps take a greater interest in what is going on, hence joining this forum.

Ray
 
I thought I understood what a sensible diet for diabetics was until I caught the tail end of a discussion on Radio 4 this morning
Click to expand...

Ray

what you heard today has been known for some time, but was less widely understood, even 7 years ago.
There is a growing awareness (other than on this forum where it's been known for some time, it would seem) of what Dr Briffa said - the problem with carbohydrates for diabetics.
When I walked out of my dr's surgery with a diabetes diagnosis some 3 months ago, I went straight to the library, ostensibly to pick up some books on low GI foods. One of those was a book by ... you guessed it ... Dr Briffa !
I've since read two more by him, as well as others who agree with eliminating or reducing carbohydrates.

Carbs are the problem, because they're just a form of sugar in disguise, and sugar pushes up your blood sugar, and when this keeps happening over time, either your pancreas stops producing insulin to control your sugar, or your cells become resistant to the insulin.
Over time when the culprit carbs are eliminated or reduced, insulin resistance can lessen, and our blood sugar stay more stable.

Sadly, here in the UK, the number of GPs or practice nurses who understand this is SHOCKINGLY low : ((((((

When carbs are reduced this will also lessen your intake of wheat, which some have long considered a prime cause of arthritis. Read the linked story ( or just google 'wheat and arthritis.')

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/woman/health/health/3911383/How-cutting-out-wheat-has-beaten-my-arthritis.html

Good luck with your recent 'discovery' and come back to this forum for any questions you need answering. You'll get loads of good advice.

Be well
Geoff (a sprightly soon-to-be 60 y.o.)
 
Ray posted the same thing on your other thread so just making sure you see it...

There are a number of ways of controlling your diabetes. The eat starchy carbohydrate and take lots of medication is just one. The other main two are go on insulin and a third way is reduce your starchy carbohydrates as this will allow (as Dr Briffa says) many people to reduce or even give up their medication and achieve excellent control of their blood sugars through diet alone.

This third way is what many of the people on this forum recommend. A forum of 35000 people. It is not radical and is roughly what you would be advised to do in other countries with more enlightened health care systems such as Sweden.

I was diagnosed T2 3 months ago with average BG readings in the 20's. Within 3 months my BG's are between 4 and 6.5 95% of the time i.e in the range of a non diabetic. The other 5% is when I have the occasional treat! I just take 2 x 500g sttandard Metformin tablets a day and suffer none of the normal Met problems. This forum has been an absolute lifesaver. Running at those BG levels I am actually doing the same as 19 out of 20 non diabetics although admittedly on a restricted carbohydrate diet. It is not a cure as if I eat something high in carbs I will still spike horribly.

My advise is hang around on here, read and ask lots of questions. Many of the posters on this forum are enlightened health care professionals who also want to change what goes on with diabetes care in this country in the same way as Dr Briffa does so I'm sure if any disagree with what I just written they will post their viewpoints.

Take care
 
Hi Ray,

I am a convert to a low carb diet, but since you've already had 7 years of the medical profession's best efforts it couldn't hurt to try the low carb route for a few months, could it?

It's not instead of your meds - it'll help them cope with the avalanche of sugar from those carb filled foods. Set yourself a realistic target and treat it as an experiment - and then post lots of results on here cos we're a nosey bunch :D - I think you may be surprised at the results.
 
Thanks for all the advice and encouragement. I will try and restrict carb intake (can't promise to eliminate them entirely!). Will have to get out the cookery books and source some low carb recipes.

Ray
Not quite so confused and disheartened :D
 
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