Do you know someone with pre-diabetes, Type 2, Type 1?
Please share this video with them and ask them to give themselves 9 minutes that could possibly change their life, because to understand how to gain stable blood sugar levels and avoid the complications of diabetes, they need to understand how to eat for diabetes (all types).
How To Eat For Diabetes
Dr Bernstein's Diabetic Solution
Dr Bernstein's solution helps you solve the core problem of diabetes. He encourages a high level of responsibility and believes anyone with diabetes must take responsibility for their health rather than an intervention by a doctor.
We must understand how avoiding insulin resistance is the key to improving control and reducing medication.
See the infographic below and read the full article here. The article explains so much more than insulin resistance, but how and why you need to monitor your food as well as your blood sugars.
If you are new here this page will help understand why/how/tips to ditch the carbs and eat healthy real food that may stabilise your blood sugars.
Insulin Resistance
Here are two more videos to watch. The diary of a diabetic kid, and insulin resistance, an excellent TEDx by Dr Sarh Hallberg.
You may also wish to join TypeOneGrit. An incredibly supportive group of type 1's and parents who follow Dr. Bernstein to achieve fantastic control.
Further resources
If you wish to learn how to eat for diabetes, how a low-carb and keto diet may affect your cholesterol and you can print off a copy of the low-carb FAQ.
There's also a simple diet sheet with some quick and easy meal ideas to get you started.
Jan
As I don't see any recent comments, I'm in hopes this will actually be seen. I've been a Type II diabetic for 13 years. I actually eat more carbs now then I did before I was diagnosed. I've always thought there was something wrong with the ADA diabetic diet. I'm getting ready to start a LCHF diet, I have my cupboards/fridge cleaned out and will be going shopping tonight to get my new "foods". I do have 1 concern, however, in November 2017 I had weight loss surgery (a sleeve gastrectomy) is this counter-intuitive to LCHF?
Libby www.ditchthecarbs.com
Hi Jan, hello and a warm welcome. I am overjoyed you have discovered low-carb. And yes, I agree. The current ADA diabetic diet is ludicrous. No one should be eating as many carbs as they suggest, let alone for those of us who are carb intolerant. Come over and join my Low Carb Support Group. It's free and on Facebook. There are quite a number of people in there in exactly that same situation as yours. I'll see you there.
Mary
I'm managing the low carb part quite well. It's the high fat that is giving my stomach problems. Will this subside?
Libby www.ditchthecarbs.com
Only eat enough fat to feel full. It sounds like you may be overdoing it a little.
carnut52
So why is the am diabetes assn recommending such high number of carbs??!!
Libby www.ditchthecarbs.com
Damn good question!!!
Susan Hawthorne
Because if they show you how to control your diabetes with a ketogenic lifestyle, they lose patients! ?
Kaye
and the food companies will stop sponsoring them and the drug companies will lose sales of diabetes drugs.
Matt
This ^^^^^^
Nurse
Absolutely
txgrandma
Great question!
I began to understand the craziness of this diabetic situation when I stumbled upon the TEDx talk by Dr Sarah Hallberg that is referenced above. One of the things that jumped out at me was the statistic that diabetes is 250 billion dollar a year industry. When you start to wrap your arms around that stat, you know that most major players (or experts, lol) have no interest in healing diabetes but rather in "treating" it. I suspect that the ADA gets a lot of money from drug companies who are more interested in selling diabetes supplies than they are in helping diabetics. I believe in free markets and so it is us, the consumer, who need to become informed and make our own choices.
When I got my initial diagnosis of diabetes in 11/15, my doctor told me that I could beat this and that if I was able to get my A1c down to a normal level, he would take diabetes off my chart. Unfortunately, most of the info he gave me was from the ADA, but I already knew that was flawed. I'm not sure if he thought I could really do it, but after years of watching my mother die a slow death from diabetes related diseases, I knew that I was going to try. Nearly a year of LCHF later and after a lot of education and hard work, I am over 40 pounds lighter and my A1c is in the normal range. On a recent follow-up, my doc removed diabetic from my chart, just as he promised. I really felt that I had won the lottery on that day. I also came to understand that it is my responsibility to stay healthy and not some drug company or pretend diabetic "support" group. Thanks to Libby and other good people who share their time and talent with us, myself and many others are able to live a healthy lifestyle. They are the real heroes!
Susan Hawthorne
Hooray! That's awesome 🙂 I run a keto group on fb (KetoKitty) and I see this happening every day.
Inez Aultman
Great information. I think it should be noted, however that many, many people can eat carbs to their heart's content and never experience insulin resistance. It is a genetic predisposition and needs to be noted as such. Otherwise, there is a lot of unmerited blame placed on those, like myself, who had insulin resistance issues even when very thin and active.
A more articulate perspective on this issue can be found in Peter Attia's TED talk: "What If We're Wrong About Diabetes".
Great to name the solution, but let us be very careful about placing blame. We all live in a fallen world and the effects fall on the just and the unjust. Just. . .saying. 🙂
Susan Hawthorne
Not everyone is insulin resistant, diabetic, or overweight, but everyone will be healthier with a better diet. This way of eating also helps people with PCOS, MS, Fibromyalgia, Arthritis, Cardiovascular Disease, Epilepsy..oh the list goes on and on... More importantly, it helps you avoid all of the above, +++
Susan Hawthorne
And I LOVE Peter's Ted Talk. It makes me cry every time I watch it. God Bless him!
Anna Funnell
Awesome stuff. This is what every diabetic should know! I'm not even diabetic, since I started low-carbing in time, but I ordered a diabetic meal on my British Airways flights on holiday last week (as I assumed it was the closest I could get to low carb) and what I got was incredible: two pitta breads filled with hummus and what appeared to be falafel with rocket and grated carrot, a packet of crackers with low fat spread and low fat Philadelphia and a packet of dried apricots. About the only low carb thing there was the rocket!!! Bizarrely, the normal meals had chicken and cheese in their roll and wrap, and a small piece of hard cheese instead of the cream cheese, and the whole thing was probably actually lower in carbs! This sort of thing really makes it clear what the whole problem is with diabetics and food! Okay, I guess the pitta bread and apricots were at least an attempt at slow release carbs, but good lord, if I'd eaten all that my blood sugar would have been through the roof!
Marion
I hear ya! I was in the hospital last year for heart surgery, and the "diabetic" meal in the hospital, where you'd think they'd be more educated about such matters, consisted of very lean chicken (read dry, dry, dry), a slice of white bread, mashed potatoes or pasta, a few baby carrots and sugar-free pudding or cobbler. And it was all low-sodium (bleck, and unnecessary ... if they'd put me on a low-carb diet, which is diuretic, sodium would not have been an issue (I don't have high blood pressure).
Kim | Low Carb Maven
Great video and awesome infographic. Thanks for sharing Libby!
Jamie Alison
My father in law with type 2, lost two stone, and also lost his diabetes. It CAN be cured,by eating right, and losing weight. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Big Pharmas job,is to keep you ill, so they can make fortunes selling you not needed medications.
Rachel Mistwood
I'm a Type 1 Diabetic diagnosed 20 years ago and I never had normal blood sugars while following the ADA diet....I never thought I'd EVER be able to have normal blood sugar levels. When I first heard about Dr. Bernstein last year, I was so excited to finally have hope! My blood sugar levels have never been better. My A1C reduced from 11.1% to 6.0% while following a low carb diet! I will never go back to eating carbs. I finally feel in control of my diabetes and my healthy, and I feel better than ever. Dr. B saved my life. I feel more empowered to handle my health than I ever have in my life.
Libby www.ditchthecarbs.com
Thank you for your story Rachel. Dr B is the unsung hero of diabetes. He is saving lives across the globe yet the high carb wholegrain 'diet' is still being pushed. It beggars belief.
DJ
I'm living proof that this is true. I changed my diet to a ketogenic one 4 years ago. At the time I was on Metformin, Lisinopril, and Lipitor (T2 diabetes, blood pressure, cholesterol meds) and my A1C topped out at 14 (omg). Add in morbid obesity, and you have a recipe for disaster. Today, my blood sugars and A1C are that of a non-diabetic person, my blood pressure and cholesterol are within normal ranges, and I'm not on any medications at all. I'm still obese (I have issues with exercise), but I did drop 25 pounds, so that's a plus. I really hate having to depend on medications for life, so changing my diet was the obvious solution.
Lou
Congratulations DJ - I would like to do what you did. I am in your before range, working on getting to your after.
Kitty
Part of the reason I'm enjoying low-carb meals is to work on lowering blood glucose before it gets to be a problem. I've lost 12 lbs in about 50 days, and recent test shows very good cholesterol numbers. That darn glucose level is 114, and I'm taking it seriously. That number needs to come down. I teally like Ditch the Carbs, so many new ideas in low carb meal planning, I had no idea! I am pretty new to all of this, but am getting into the groove fairly easily. I'm a huge fan of the MFP food diary, I use it religously, what a great tool. I'm sure I couldnt succeed without it. Thanks for all the help on this site, much appreciated.
Shirley
I too was recently diagnosed with type 2. My doctor told me about Banting ( LCHF) eating, as a way to control my blood sugars, loose weight, and in turn, eliminate my diabetes. In the first month I lost 15lbs!! I think LCHF should be replaced by the current so-called Nutrician Guide in both Canada and USA.
Libby www.ditchthecarbs.com
Shirley you have a wonderful doctor, don't let them go - ever! I believe within the next decade we will see a shift in the guidelines and LCHF will be widely accepted. However it will take a lifetime of re-educating the health professionals and re-writing the syllabus they are taught. Until then, it's up to us to spread the word an educate ourselves. Say hi to your fabulous doctor and well done you for finding him/her 🙂
Kristy
Yep. I was diagnosed a year ago as a Type 2 diabetic with an A1C of 11 (yikes) as well as pretty high cholesterol/triglycerides. New bloodwork shows an A1C of 5.4 and LDL/Trigs/vldl are all well in to the healthy range. With no medication. Just cutting out the carbs, which also helped with weight loss due to increased fats and proteins making me feel fuller for longer. My doctor told me he wishes he had more diabetic patients that actually took their care into their own hands 🙂
Ruthybabe
I totally agree it is all up to the person but such a good suggestions and I will share this to my love ones