The holy grail

Yes, anyone can follow this diet/lifestyle and many do. It is basically Atkins or Paleo. My own family members live the Paleo way so it has become natural to us and many of our friends use it to lose weight. It's how our ancestors lived and thrived (without getting diabetes) after all.

Yes they can, my 22yr old son started low carbing when I did and lost 2 1/2 stone and his weight loss was much quicker than mine.

swimmer2 said:

Is there something about my condition that makes low carbing more effective, or less risky? If a non-diabetic ate what I eat every day, wouldn't they lose weight in the same way (accepting that all of us are different to a degree) ?
Is it a motivational thing? - "lose weight or your feet will fall off" is a powerful argument.

Also, I suspect that my medication may act as an appetite suppressant, but I am much less hungry now without the carbs in my diet than I was before. Would a non-diabetic who was low carbing experience the same thing?

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It's all a bit too good to be true isn't it?

Would a non-diabetic experience the same thing? Probably. I agree the motivation of dying with both feet still on is a pretty good reason to stick with the programme, but the truth is that, if you want to do it enough, then it really isn't difficult.

I don't think that there is a physiological reason why it should be any easier for a T2 Diabetic than a "normal person", in fact it should probably be slightly more difficult as our endrocrine system is much more prone to fat-storing spikes from even small amounts of carbohydrate. My aim right now is to never spike my BG or my insulin, so in those terms I'm not much different to a non-diabetic.

I think that the "insulin as a fat storage switch" thing is only part of the reason for the success of low-carbing. Eating relatively more fat in your diet increases saitety and eliminating the blood glucose rollercoaster means you are less prone to snacking, as does the fact that it's much more difficult to find easy snack foods for a low-carber.

I'm convinced that, although the majority of us[humaniy] can handle carbohydrates, they form only the tiniest part of our natural diet. I'm equally sure that many examples of ill health are down to eating too much starch. Cases of Coeliac disease are on the increase too. I used to teach sciences and many times I've demonstrated that we cannot digest RAW starch properly, thus most of the carb sources that people eat are necessarily heavily processed.
Humans evolved with raw foods and ccooking and even farming is a recent development.
Pretty much everybody does well on natural, unprocessed foods That pretty much eliminates so-called Healthy foods like breakfast cereals and bread, or any other baked goods.
So yes
Non-diabetics CAN eat low carb and be fit and well.
The maindifference between a diabetic and non-diabetic metabolism is in the ability to cope properly with carbohydrates. Eliminate the carbs and we're nearly indistinguishable.
Hana

When my friend was diagnosed, I shared my reduced carb diet with him. He took it up, and his extremely overweight wife followed the same plan to be part of it with him. She lost more weight in the ensuing few months than she ever had in her previous 35 years of various diets.

hanadr said:

I'm convinced that, although the majority of us[humaniy] can handle carbohydrates, they form only the tiniest part of our natural diet. I'm equally sure that many examples of ill health are down to eating too much starch. Cases of Coeliac disease are on the increase too. I used to teach sciences and many times I've demonstrated that we cannot digest RAW starch properly, thus most of the carb sources that people eat are necessarily heavily processed.
Humans evolved with raw foods and ccooking and even farming is a recent development.
Pretty much everybody does well on natural, unprocessed food

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Big +1

borofergie said:

If you want to do it enough, then it really isn't difficult.

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That is the key statement imo as I think you can want it enough and still find it impossible.

An informed diabetic who is told the truth about their condition is likely to want it enough. The only difference is that in a non diabetic or a non informed diabetic the threat hasn't become immediate so maybe its harder for those people to want it enough.

For example in simple terms if you take an overweight but newly diagnosed diabetic who chances on this site and a similarly overweight average non diabetic who has no need of immediate advice then I would imagine they would both run similar risks of heart attacks and strokes. Which one would be more likely to change their life prospects? The answer to me is pretty obvious.

I would argue its a similar mind state to any other addiction so for example when people try and give up smoking they need to want to do it enough and it's actually harder as the threat for most has not become an immediate thing like with an informed diabetic.

It is exactly this that irritates me about the NHS treatment of diabetes. The hiding of the truth so as not to make things too difficult for people to achieve. At the local T2 clinic I've found out that T2's are told "just try and keep below 12 if you can" so not even advising at the NICE 8.5 guidelines let alone the IDF 7.8 recommendation and of course we have those dreadful NHS diet guideline leaflets that someone posted up the other week.

Even if someone wants to inform themselves and want it enough they're stuffed before they start.

So to me it seems there is a step before wanting it enough which is to be shown truthfully why you need to want it enough.