Insanity!!!

I have been reading Regina Wilshire’s blog on a regular basis, and she has been posting about the ADA and it's stance on low carb diets to control diabetes.

A few posts ago, Regina called the ADA "Irrelevant" and I have to say I agree!!!!

Even though the ADA recognizes that low carb diets are effective in lowering blood sugars and allowing people to better control their blood sugars with low carb, they not only refuse to endorse it, but they specifically call out low carb as being a "fad" diet that should be avoided. Even though the ADA recognizes that low carb helps diabetics control their blood sugar, they don't recommend the diet because” patients find them too restrictive".

Too restrictive? Obviously these people have no idea what low carb really is!!!!

And besides, even if it is "too restrictive", is that a reason to not recommend it????

How about all those people with gluten intolerance.....are we now going to tell them to eat gluten containing foods because otherwise their diet is "too restrictive"??? If someone has a nut allergy, do they tell them to eat them anyway??? no! But for people who can't tolerate carbohydrates, what are they told??? To eat at least 45-55% of their calories from carbs!!!!

The other arguments against low carb diets is that they're high in fat (some are); high in protein (most are, since the "requirements" are so low); limited in vitamins, minerals, and fiber; (not if followed properly).

My all time favorite, though, is”it's not good to cut out a complete food group". There was never a problem with attempting to cut out fat as much as possible.....but we can't cut out carbs?!?!?! (Not to mention the FACT that almost no low carb plans completely cut out carbs!)

Apparently it's ok to attempt to completely remove one macronutrient, but not another?

We have fat, which is actually quite good for us, especially saturated and monosaturated fats....but we can't eat them. Fats are required by the body to sustain life.....but we can't eat them??? Makes no sense to me! Well, actually, yes, I do agree that there are fats we should avoid, namely polyunsaturated and trans-fats. Transfats have no "safe" limit, because the "safe" limit is none. Transfats are incorporated into cell walls, but not correctly, leaving the walls weak and damaged. Many feel that this is at least partially the cause of many degenerative diseases. Polyunsaturated, on the other hand, are believed to cause damage to DNA/RNA strands, which leads to cancer, heart disease, immune system problems and much much more!!!

So we can't eat one of the fats that are good for us, and we're supposed to replace it with two fats that are known to cause illness??

And! On top of that, not only are we "wrong" to restrict our carbohydrate intake, we're supposed to gorge on them, even though there is NO minimum requirement!!!!! Make sure they're "good" carbs....well at least half anyway.....but enjoy!!!!

We have millions that are unable to properly metabolize carbohydrates.....so do we tell them to restrict their intake?? NOOOO We encourage them to eat more!!!!

Here's what they're doing to diabetics:

"Susie" presented to the doctor's office with a fasting blood sugar over 700. By late that afternoon, still fasting, it was almost 900. So, what was she told to eat each meal? AT LEAST 90gms of carbohydrate!!!! That's 360 calories JUST from carbs? For EACH meal? That means at least 1080 calories a day from carbs......so, what else can she eat??? Mind you, this is also a woman who is seriously overweight, possibly even morbidly obese! She's about 45 and has several other medical issues unrelated to diabetes.

"Callie" is on 2 oral meds and still has A1C above 7. Her husband was (or is, not sure) doing low carb, and her nutrition counselor told her she could eat the same food, but in smaller quantities, but to "add a potato or rice or bread" to each meal. Her "normal" breakfast is cold cereal (cheerios) with lowfat milk and blueberries and a banana. At minimum, that's 60g of carbs....along with a small amount of protein (less than 10g) and a tiny bit of fat. And they wonder why, even with 2 meds, her blood sugar is in the 160's or higher?

"Joe" has an insulin pump.....does he restrict his carbs? Nope, he's been instructed to adjust his insulin dose to match his carb intake!!!! He's already had vascular problems, including a heart procedure, but continues to eat carbs and adjust his insulin.

I read a post on a message board where a woman said she had a smoothie "LOADED with fruit", a bagel and some cream cheese. All in one meal!!!! I mentioned that was a lot of carbs for one meal, and the poster's response was that it was a whole grain bagel! A day or so later the board's dietician posted.....and all she did was point out that "All fruits can be eaten on the diabetic (carbohydrate counting) plan. It all depends on the amount of furit that gives you 15 grams of carbohydrate per serving." And then proceeds to list a bunch of fruits and what the serving size is. No mention that more than one fruit, along with a bagel (whole wheat or not), is too much for one meal!!! (although in her defense she did recommend a diabetes class and to find out her carb level for each meal). Later the original poster responded "I'll try eating some fruits with a meal to make it easier to digest... but perhaps I just need to give an extra boost of insulin before eating the fruits so that by the time the sugar of the fruits hits me, it already has insulin to counteract it so I don't feel so icky." Wonder what the dietician will say to that post??? Anyone wanna take bets????

i know of men and women in their 20's and 30's, with Type 2 diabetes, that are being put on statins because their lipid levels are "bad". But if they simply cut their carbs, transfats and polyunsaturated and increased their mono and saturated fats and got good quality protein, their levels would all likely normalize. Blood lipids as well as glucose and insulin leves would normalize.

And finally, I read a post today written by a young person who is in medical school. He states that they are still being taught low fat, high carb.....but he has faith that soon the truth will come out.

Boy I wish I had that kind of faith!