Dr Bernstein's solution works for him and there are many anecdotes though I have actually seen very few T1s that follow his principles rigidly.
He has though never published any data apart from one paper containing extracts from case histories selected by himself, These are not good evidence .
His actual patients are motivated; they have to be but not all who go to see him decide to stay with him You don't stay with an expensive private doctor if you aren't happy. See the chapter in Cheating Destiny James Hirsch . (you can read much of the Bernstein chapter on Google books)
If you are motivated and his diet suits you then fine but don't suggest it is the best way for all of us.
Personally, I would lose my quality of life with such a diet; I couldn't even eat the amount of veg I normally do. let alone enjoy my Christmas lunch with my book club as I did today. I suspect I would become depressed and give up.
I can however get good results with a more liberal diet plus some knowledge about using insulin, together with an emphasis on exercise. I'm 62, happy and according to my latest round of blood tests, heart and arterial scans healthy. I will never have to spend as long as young onset T1s on insulin but it's approaching 10 years
I also know of a lady who was on my first course. She sticks rigidly to the way I was originally taught, with fixed amounts of carbs for each of the 3 meals ( about 180g of carbs ) and a sliding scale insulin regime. She is actually scared to deviate and is totally compliant but you know she normally has an HbA1c of 6.2% it works for her. .
Motivation or compliance are really important .and really hard to instil .
With young T1s, the future is a whole lifetime away.
Many miss insulin , fabricate readings, even using methods like using control solution to record a reading on a meter. On top of that insulin needs can rocket during puberty so even when they do the 'right' thing it doesn't always work.
I think it must be best to try to help them learn to be able to manage their BGs to 'good enough' levels, whilst still being able to go out and enjoy themselves with their friends.
(Ian also look at a much larger and later study of 'normal glucose levels using CGM
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2892065/ )