3 years or so ago, being overweight, probably pre-diabetic and lethargic I came across some lectures by researchers Jeff Volek PhD, RD and Stephen Phinny MD, PhD on you tube. They were extolling the virtues of a low carbohydrate diet. Very low, it varies from person to person but approximately 30grams per day. 1 slice of white bread is about 15 grams so really almost no carbs at all, well no carbs that cause an insulin reaction but you can eat quite a bit of the carbs that hardly cause any insulin reaction like broccoli and cauliflower and lots of others and salads of course. It's the root veg thats usually high in sugar, like carrots, so go very easy on those and absolutely no potatoes, pasta, rice and the hardest of all no bread. You would have to do a bit of trial and error testing of your blood sugar after meals and work with your doctor, explain the diet to him if he doesn't know about it, some do. If you manage to keep off the carbs (we're all addicted to them) you may start to see improvements in your blood sugar very quickly and there is a danger that your usual insulin dose may be too high so as I said, you need to be monitoring your blood sugar after each meal and working closely with your doctor. They and other qualified doctors and researchers explain low carbohydrate living very well, Jeff Volek especially goes into great detail about how much more efficient and anti-inflamatory our energy producing cycle is when on a low carb diet. They all say that type 2 diabetes is totally reversible and that the lives of type 1 diabetics can be manage more easily. I am 65 years young in January and since starting this life style I have been reinvigorated, in fact I would like to stress caution, if like me, a month or so into the diet you'r full of energy and suddenly get the urge to run beware there maybe parts of your body that are not up to the task. Unfortunately over a period of months running up and down some hills where I live I got tendonitis on one heel which meant no running or long walks. I was restricted to an exercise bike which was very frustrating, especially as I felt great. After 12 months of that I felt I could start running again but shortly after starting back up the other tendon began to be painful and so now I don't run on a regular basis I just walk quickly and do the occassional burst when I can't help myself. This website advocates a low carbohydrate lifestyle, check out the meal plans etc and the lectures on youtube, get the books, find out all you can then get your doctor on board and go for it. I am not a doctor of any sort and I am very lucky in that I have not and do not suffer from any diseases or illnesses nor have I ever smoked. I have always enjoyed the outdoors and tried to eat healthily but I always liked animal fat and would sometimes eat more than I thought was good for me and now scientist and researchers are saying it's not the fat that makes us fat it's the carbs so that's good news. I'm probably preaching to the wrong crowd here, you may already know this stuff but I feel obliged to put it out there incase someone doesn't know that type 2 diabetes is totally reversible with a whole lot of commitment and no going back. I sometimes have a carb night but when I do Feel bloated and tired and wonder why I do it, they are getting less and less. Altogether I lost about 22lbs or 10kgs without being hungry.
