[QUOTE="What does everyone else think?[/QUOTE]
Hello Rosie
I know this is some time from your original post but I felt the need to encourage you as many others have done. Although I live with Type 1 diabetes rather than Type 2, my story is that for 30 years I followed the NHS advice that I had to eat carbohydrates, count them , and dose appropriately with Insulin - I now have peripheral neuropathy, have lost about 70% of my eyesight, have had numerous hypo induced seizures and a diagnosis of having multiple TIAs - aka mini-strokes; i'm lucky to be alive. Four years ago i started on a 'food as medicine' journey, started cutting out all processed foods and then coming across a healthy ketogenic lifestyle and feel - and believe I am - a much healthier person in mind and body than i was before. I do not believe that ketosis is a natural state for humans to be in all the time but we have evolved / been created with the ability to convert both glucose or ketones to energy and thus it must mean that both states are natural at least some part of the time. Our problem these days is we are taught - and to be kind to the medics, they are taught - that you need carbs for energy when that is only half or less of of the story.
If it were me I would - given my current level of knowledge - ask the Prevent Diabetes people why I need to eat carbohydrates at all? What are the essential Carbohydrates - much like the essential Fatty Acids, Vitamins and Minerals? Pose the question that if I had presented to my GP having been eating low carb for 10 years with a BMI considered to be healthy, and a glucose level considered to be healthy, that I would not have been talking to them in the first place. There are also excellent Medical Doctors who are proponents of low carb lifestyles for people living with Diabetes Mellitus such as Dr Moseley, and Dr Cavan who may provide them with 'food' for thought.
I think you were doing fine before you were referred to these people and hope that you were able to continue what they would have seen as an experiment on yourself and have proven that - not only have you averted a type 2 Diabetes diagnosis but also become a much healthier person in mind and body all around.
Top banana too your!