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Who is right? Diabetes UK or the NHS?

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smithjohns

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Diabetes.co.uk pushes low carb, whereas the NHS guidelines are to eat whole grain carbs and cut down on the fat. In fact, the NHS is against low carb dieting. What a morass of conflicting advice. Any help out there. John.
 
You could try a month of each and see which works better for your blood sugar control. Obviously to do that you need to test which your HCP is also probably against you doing....
Personally LCHF made the most sense to me so that's what I did. The Eatwell Guide is for the whole nation not just for Type 2 diabetics (although is is not much good for either IMHO) and therefore is not specifically aimed at lowering your blood sugar. By avoiding carbs wherever possible this lowering can be easily achieved by most of us. As I always say it is you that has the diabetes not your doctor or nurse. They can advise but you should decide how you want to approach the condition.
 
Hi smithjohns, and welcome.

When you mention Diabetes UK, do you mean this website (diabetes.co.uk), or the charity, Diabetes UK?

Diabetes.co.uk does favour a low-carb approach - and the vast majority of us on here have had considerable success with it, getting our diabetes well under control and losing weight too.

Diabetes UK, the charity, is pretty much in line with the NHS's recommendation on whole grain carbs etc.
 
I agree with @Tabbyjoolz in that you seem to be mixing up DCUK with DUK. The two are quite different. This forum and website is DCUK. The other is a charity heavily sponsored by Tesco.

As for low carb versus NHS guidelines. No brainer for me. Low carb all the way. I tried the other and it didn't work.
 
smithjohns said:
Diabetes UK pushes low carb, whereas the NHS guidelines are to eat whole grain carbs and cut down on the fat. In fact, the NHS is against low carb dieting. What a morass of conflicting advice. Any help out there. John.
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I would say anything that gets your HbA1c (IFCC) at a level long term under 37 is right

when you still feel and is all over healthy that is..
 
I believe the confusing dietary advice from all those different sources can apply to each and every one of us. Each of us has tastes different form every body else.
We all need different types of foods to make sure we are as healthy as can be.
Limiting yourself to a lot of foods means you are depriving yourself of experiences to your palette.
However, a lot of people have different tolerances to certain types of foods and those who have metabolic conditions including diabetes, can only tolerate, foods that are lower in carbs and sugars. The essential dietary advice is to find out how you personally cope with lowering your carb levels.
It is recommended on this site to reduce your carbs and sugars intake, reduce your plate size, increase your natural fat levels and exercise more if you can.
It has to suit you.
In my experience, for a typical T2 diabetic, just the simple adjustment in your lifestyle, will help tremendously.
Others have to be more extreme in their approach. There are certain metabolic conditions than have as well as high blood glucose levels but also high insulin levels and insulin resistance. When these people discover that the amount of carbs is reduced greatly there insulin resistance and their excess insulin is curtailed, which leads to lower blood glucose levels.
For some like me, carbs are carbs, regardless of label! I cannot tolerate grains or starchy vegetables, even small amounts of fruit will make me spike.
The nearer to normal blood levels they become, their health improves.
The more low carb higher fat approach is used, weight loss becomes achievable. This helps with health as well.
It is a personal choice and having the necessary knowledge of how to do it is essential. This is not widely used within the NHS.
 
smithjohns said:
Diabetes UK pushes low carb, whereas the NHS guidelines are to eat whole grain carbs and cut down on the fat. In fact, the NHS is against low carb dieting. What a morass of conflicting advice. Any help out there. John.
Click to expand...

In short and possibly slightly reductionist. Anything that increases your insulin above a certain level will invariably make you ill over time, particularly starchy carbs as they will increase insulin beyond your bodies ability to cope for a significant number of people. From this we can consider that type 2 diabetics have gone beyond this coping threshold and therefore any diet/ lifestyle that regularly includes starchy carbs should be avoided.
 
Well, as suggested above, we each need to find a way of eating that suits us, our diabetes and our individual bodies.

So the best thing that any type 2 diabetic can do is get themselves a meter, then start testing what they eat to see how it affects their blood glucose. At that point they can start tailor making their own way of eating to fit their personal requirements and keep their blood glucose under control.

I bet when they do that, they end up cutting down on carbs. It is astonishing how motivating high blood glucose can be, especially when you educate yourself on the damage those highs are doing to our eyes, kidneys, nerves and blood system.

Ideally the food would be varied with plenty of veg, enough protein and enough fat to get the necessary proteins, vits, minerals, omegas and various fatty acids. The one type of food that isn't needed for survival is carbohydrate - foods like grains and starchy veg, since they contain no nutrients that can't be found in other foods, so we can reduce those as necessary to maintain blood glucose control.
 
Also, there is a persistent belief that low carb is not sustainable, it is very much so!
The so called experts believe that denying your body so called important carbs can lead to brain and mental illness. The glucose everyone needs can be derived from the liver, and not food!
Most mental health symptoms occur when a patient with metabolic conditions can be ascribed to high levels of glucose or insulin. The constant rollercoaster up and down of your glucose levels will cause the high amount of differing symptoms.
When a patient has high levels of hormones of any type, the condition will give that patient symptoms similar to other metabolic conditions. Such as thyroid problems will be asymptomatic with diabetes.
The one size fits all of the NHS treatment is standardized to suit the many rather than the few. Indeed, most diabetics have so many differentials in their symptoms and the need for individual treatments is so crucial in their future health.
 
Almost two years of following the 'healthy carbs' diet I was given to lower cholesterol and I was thinking of installing a stair lift and had got around to making a will. Then I was diagnosed with diabetes.
Less than two months into low carb eating and I am able to manage the stairs easily, I'm over a stone lighter, feel more cheerful and my blood glucose is down to normal levels after meals. My cholesterol might be elevated - but that is great, it means I'll have a good chance of living longer. The only down side is that my waist is shrinking and I'll soon need an entire new wardrobe.
To me, that's no contest.
 
Results speak for themselves: logic, common sense, and personal experience all tell me LCHF works. But get a meter and check things out for yourself: the proof is in the (low carb!!) pudding.

I also get (often food related) migraines and so I avoid the foods that can cause them, and if I had a food allergy, I'd certainly not be advised to, or actually, eat that food, so I fail to see why the high carb Eat Well Plate will do anything to improve my diabetes when I've become "carbohydrate intolerant". (Too many) carbs raise my glucose levels so plain common sense says avoid all carby (particularly high carb) food that cause this problem.

My GP has always agreed with this approach, and at my last, recent, review the nurse was also happy for me to continue eating this way.


Robbity
 
Ditto - when your HBAC1 goes from 102 down to 50 in 3 months doing this you just know it works (not to mention over 2 stone weight loss in that time).
 
Hi. If you dig around the 'research' sources that the NHS and DUK use you will find that much of it comes from University projects that are strongly funded by food and pharma companies. The new Eatwell Guide was approved at a meeting attended, apparently, almost exclusively by food company attendees. As food companies tend to make most of their profits from carb-based products I leave you to draw your own conclusions. Your meter will readily show that carbs push our blood sugar up. Proteins and fats have little effect.
 
I'm down 90- 44in 5 months -, 23 Kilos, 3 dress sizes, and I look fantastic . (if I say so myself)

Low Carb , High Fat all the way for me

I LOVE this new diet - its what I would have wanted to eat for my entire life if I hadn't been pratting about trying to stop eating fats in some misguided belief that I was following good advice !

Anyone for a pork scratching?

I was having a poke about in the butter section of the supermarket this afternoon trying to understand what gunk I had been eating by accepting "spreadable" lurpak light instead of the real stuff at xmas. I noticed that there is only one product there that has run out of stock
LARD - which is a pity because if there had been any I would have bought it. maybe the message really is getting through to people. Ditch low fat dieting and treat anything labelled lower fat like the plague!
 
The NHS dietery advise is for everyone, every ill they dont give different advise for heart or diabetic patients
You know your own body, if you give low carb a try and it works then for you it is correct if it doesnt try something else, one fit doesn't fit all
 
so far since diagnosis I have had 2 x 10 minute sessions one with GP who said "take the tablets feel better" and one with the HCP who filled in the tick box questionaire and gave zero nutrition advice, but I can go on a course, when I asked why I had been given statins without them having tested my cholesterol that gave me all the answers I needed from the NHS
I will take diabetes.co.uk advice every day of the week and twice on sundays
 
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