Radio 4 again - did you hear PM this afternoon?

[Anonymous]

They had a piece about red meat killing you and they asked an opinion from a food writer/journalist, Joanna Blythman
The last question was interesting:

PM: What is the wackiest piece of food advice you’ve ever heard?

JB: I think the government, the food standards agency advice which is the phrase “base your meals on starchy foods” which is encouraging taking per plates with pasta and rice and bread and floury things and so on. I think this is ludicrous advice because apart from anything else as probably you may have noticed yourself, you eat that kind of food you’re sort of satisfied for about an hour, hour and a half, and then you start thinking gosh I’m really hungry and you feel like eating everything that comes in to sight. I think that advice to base our eating on starch and carbohydrate as opposed to making sure we get enough protein and fats that actually satisfy our appetite is a very good reason why people are following government health advice and getting absolutely nowhere with controlling or reducing their weight.

 

[borofergie]

PM: What is the wackiest piece of food advice you’ve ever heard?

JB: I think the government, the food standards agency advice which is the phrase “base your meals on starchy foods” which is encouraging taking per plates with pasta and rice and bread and floury things and so on. I think this is ludicrous advice

:thumbup:

Sorry I missed it (I usually listen habitually, but I got stuck at work. I love PM, Eddie Mair is one of my favourite broadcasters).

Ludicrous indeed. What with this and with Briffa making a fool of DUK earlier in the week, Radio 4 have done a great job of exposing NHS carb mongering. It's good to see the "carbs make you fat" message hitting the mainstream media again.

 

[Browndog]

It really is time that the nonsensical advice that has been given to diabetics for years by the NHS about basing all of your meals around complex carbohydrates was consigned to history. The plain simple fact is that the last thing diabetics need to be filling their stomach with is carbs. Managing diabetes is a comlex problem that demands attention to detail, an understanding of how the body processes food and the effects that exercise and daily life have on your body. Diabetes killed my mother through a complete lack of understanding of the condition; she could only ever think of sugar as the granulated version that was spooned into tea and never considered carbohydrate as a threat to her wellbeing. I inherited her Type 1.5 diabetes and have suffered from years of advice about including carbs in my diet up to around 60% of my daily food intake. Ever increasing BGL, retinopathy, nerve problems, circulation issues, and an increase in cholesterol to 11.6 due to a round of glitazone tablets resulted in being set on the insulin route in September last year with little explanation, very low doses (5 units am and pm to start) and within weeks BGL of 30, ketones of ++++ and the prospect of hospitalisation. However, in January I met with someone who suggested adopting a low carb approach to diet and took their advice. By mid-March my BGL was down to a weekly average of 7.8, the new spectacles bought at Christmas are useless and the old prescription from two years ago is now being used, cholesterol is 4.1, weight has reduced by just over a stone, activity and alertness has increased, and the basal insulin in down to 44 units in the morning and NovoRapid reduced from 22 units before each meal to 8 to 10 units about 30 minutes AFTER each meal. All I can say is that low carb seems to work very well for me, the medication is reduced by over 50%, and, more importantly, I feel really well for the first time in nearly 15 years. It needs a little more testing during the day but once the balance is achieved this can be reuced. My conclusion is that the carbs simply kludge up the system and are not a good basis for the diabetic diet. In my case I intend to continue to ignore the NHS advice to eat beige food.

 

[Anonymous]

It is one of those things that makes you really cross if you think about it hard enough. I have only my own experience - would be doubly angry if it was hurting my nearest and dearest too.

I feel like lying down in front of the houses of parliament if I thought it would help any..

 

[xyzzy]

It really is time that the nonsensical advice that has been given to diabetics for years by the NHS about basing all of your meals around complex carbohydrates was consigned to history.

Yes and its good to know someone out there is talking sense. Sounds like you're doing well Browndog take care of yourself.