Interesting T2D Article in todays Guardian

[Mr Hairyman]

Thought this would be worth sharing. From todays Guardian - written from an American perspective. I had assumed (wrongly) that America was more advanced in using low-carb as a treatment for T2D, but not if this article is to be believed: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/dec/04/diabetes-diet-solution

 

[ianf0ster]

American Diabetes Association CEO Tracey Brown was a T2 D in remission on a Low Carb way of eating.
Unfortunately (for her) she made a video about this and thus mightily upset the ADA's million dollar sponsors.
Result she had to step down and shut up.

edited to correct the spelling of her first name.

 

[andromache]

Thought this would be worth sharing. From todays Guardian - written from an American perspective. I had assumed (wrongly) that America was more advanced in using low-carb as a treatment for T2D, but not if this article is to be believed: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/dec/04/diabetes-diet-solution

Thank you - I would have missed this if you had not drawn attention to it. This site and its contributors are ahead of the game in so many ways!

 

[ianf0ster]

This isn't the Tracey Brown video that I originally saw, but in this she mentions: exercise, ultra Low Carb, more sleep and less stress.
Perhaps I was mistaken about her remission (or perhaps that came later than this video) but she did come off Insulin and 3 out of 4 oral medications, saying she could probably come off the 4th but had not yet. - I would guess that one was Metformin.

 

[MrsA2]

The Doctor in the article was probably financially motivated to prescribe drugs rather than diet changes. Big Pharma and Big Food have no interest (aka profit) from having a healthy population who buy and cook Real Food.

 

[HSSS]

The Doctor in the article was probably financially motivated to prescribe drugs rather than diet changes. Big Pharma and Big Food have no interest (aka profit) from having a healthy population who buy and cook Real Food.

That certainly is likely in some countries. I’m not sure that nhs drs have that motivation (unless they are a partner in the practice maybe??).

More likely they simply have never been educated on suitable diets as the nhs official advice, and thus drs training, is very much drug oriented still. In some areas the low carb program and the spin off from the Newcastle diet is being prescribed as an alternative. There are more drs that support low carb now than when I first came to this forum in 2018. Its changing…..slowly

 

[MrsA2]

That certainly is likely in some countries. I’m not sure that nhs drs have that motivation (unless they are a partner in the practice maybe??).

More likely they simply have never been educated on suitable diets as the nhs official advice, and thus drs training, is very much drug oriented still. In some areas the low carb program and the spin off from the Newcastle diet is being prescribed as an alternative. There are more drs that support low carb now than when I first came to this forum in 2018. Its changing…..slowly

The article was about diabetes treatment in the USA, and that's what I was responding to.

I think, proportionally we are probably more advanced along the low carb route here

 

[ianf0ster]

The article was about diabetes treatment in the USA, and that's what I was responding to.

I think, proportionally we are probably more advanced along the low carb route here

No we aren't, Low Carb community is strong in the USA, but some of them are crazy, taking exogenous ketones and medium chain fatty acids etc. instead of eating real food for example!

 

[J_P]

More likely they simply have never been educated on suitable diets as the nhs official advice, and thus drs training, is very much drug oriented still. In some areas the low carb program and the spin off from the Newcastle diet is being prescribed as an alternative. There are more drs that support low carb now than when I first came to this forum in 2018. Its changing…..slowly

As someone who has seen good progress with a diet and lifestyle only approach i have had this discussion with Mrs J_P many times - along the lines of why arent Drs pushing this.

Her well reasoned reply is that making diet and lifestyle changes and sticking to them is hard and most patients wont follow through to make a difference. If you prescribe medication its simple and takes no effort and can easily show a quantifiable change - taking Metformin and other drugs works initially...........

So if you are a Dr and need to show improvement what do you push - self motivated hard changes (which are also costly as good food - especially not cheap 'fill up' carbs is expensive) or simple tablets which generally require less effort from the patient.............

 

[HSSS]

As someone who has seen good progress with a diet and lifestyle only approach i have had this discussion with Mrs J_P many times - along the lines of why arent Drs pushing this.

Her well reasoned reply is that making diet and lifestyle changes and sticking to them is hard and most patients wont follow through to make a difference. If you prescribe medication its simple and takes no effort and can easily show a quantifiable change - taking Metformin and other drugs works initially...........

So if you are a Dr and need to show improvement what do you push - self motivated hard changes (which are also costly as good food - especially not cheap 'fill up' carbs is expensive) or simple tablets which generally require less effort from the patient.............

All true, except the drugs addressing symptoms still lead to diabetes being a progressive disease whereas the diet option dealing with the causes seems to have better long term results.

I understand that not everyone will succeed or stick to it 100%. But it all helps and to not even give people the accurate and relevant diet information as a goal - to work towards - is negligent imo even if they support that with medication as needed.

And they too often not only fail to do that but they give misinformation that actually makes things worse, ie base meals on starchy carbs and don’t test.

 

[J_P]

Agreed - not only do they not not pushed a proven treatment regime but their own advice as you say is wrong.

Totally agree about the longer term effects of medication and disease progression but if i was cynical i would say that an immediate difference fixes the patient in front of you today and the longer term issues will be another Drs problem in a few years.........

 

[ianf0ster]

My main argument against doctors who just prescribe drugs for dietary/lifestyle 'diseases' is that - certainly there's a failure rate amongst those who try to control their diabetes, blood pressure, obesity with diet/lifestyle, but unless the patient is informed, they don't even get the chance to try it!

When I told the DN what I was going to do, she first said "nobody ever succeeds". Then when I was succeeding You won't keep it up".
Then when my HbA1C was below even pre-diabetic "none of our other patients would be able to do that".
To which my reply was - "well if you don't tell them that it's possible, how do you expect any of them to do it"! And of course, they don't!

You may wonder why almost all interaction has been with the DN rather than the GP specialising in diabetes. - Simple, they don't want to waste his time on those who are doing OK. It's the HbA1C results which determine if I see the GP or not, so I only saw him after the first and then the confirming HbA1C, never in the 4 yrs since then.

 

[J_P]

totally agree - if you dont inform and educate then how will people know

Yet to see a Dr on the NHS - even with an initial reading of 125 i got a 5 minute phone call.

Our DN in the surgery apparently only does phone calls but in fairness im not annoyed - my choices seem to be working for me - therefore NHS resources are precious and they should focus on helping those not doing so well

 

[zand]

I was very pleasantly surprised today. I went for my annual diabetic bloods and the nurse asked me what I ate. I told her I generally low carb but have lapsed a bit recently due to illness. She said low carb was the right way to go! She gave me a print out about low carbing...and it really was 'proper low carb', with a hint of maybe going keto.
After 12 years of hearing that carbs are necessary I was ready just to nod and leave and go away on my own low carb path. This was so refreshing and I feel motivated again.
I still feel I must have been dreaming.