I was diagnosed in November 2015 and had the same scary journey as you. I got the same talk with the doctor.. eat a little bit of beans, some bread, not too much etc.. but I read
Dr. Bernstien's book and that gave me hope. I am a vegetarian (no meat, no eggs), so it was doubly hard for me since I cannot eat any food that has zero carbs. I stopped eating ALL GRAINS except for Soybean and am on a very low carb diet.
To cut the long story short. I have been eating cheese like the cookie monster since that is the only source of calories that is dense enough to provide me enough to go through the day. When I went for my first 3 month checkup, the doctor there was saying that my cholesterol would be out of whack but true to what Dr. Bernstein's book had mentioned, my cholesterol was actually the best it had ever been and 100% normal in years. I am still continuing with the same diet and will let you know how the next test comes out.
I must mention that I strenuously exercise 4-6 times a week for about an hour including weight training and lost about 40 pounds (from 186 lb to 145lb) in the 6 month period.
Anyways, hopefully this puts you more at rest.