After reading Tragedian's post asking for help for friend and then writing another post about my mom (a die hard bread lover) and her 2 TIA's last year, I thought it might be interesting and helpful to see what illness's and health issues other LCers see around them that they believe could be helped by low carb or other diet changes.

I'll post my list in a few minutes.

Ooh this is a tough one. My daughter has epilepsy (diagnosed a year ago) and I think a ketogenic diet would do her good. She already feels a little bummed about being gluten-free and doesn’t want to restrict her diet any more.

Now that she’s back home living with me I’ll maybe just sneak some lower carb stuff into her diet. Win her over with deeds instead of words as it were

my boss, definitely. He see a cardiologist for his heart condition (he had to have surgery for blocked artery) plus, he is trying to lose weight / eat healthy, but the problem is he's a die-hard Italian/pasta/bread-loving foodie! He loves the cakes, cookies, pies, candy... especially peanut M&M's. I bring food to work with me whenever I can and I try to show him all the wonderful things I eat on a LC "diet" (I use that term loosely) that perhaps he would be interested in as well. When we order Italian food, I always go for the eggplant rollatini (no pasta) and a side salad and skip the rolls. He could easily do the same thing, but NO, he wants that stromboli! I think the change would do him worlds of good.

My mother ...Bilateral hip and knee replacements, arthritis, and poor circulation...she just doesn't get it...she just won't give up her go to foods and try induction for two weeks and it would benefit her so much as she is about 80 pounds over weight. I think it would be a blessing if the doc told her she was diabetic or had high blood pressure, I know that sounds harsh...but she is ok there and uses the fact that her sugar is ok to remain obese and in pain...how do you get through to someone like this? She has seen me lose over 65 pounds and still will not try this woe.

Here is my list.

MY MOM

Up until last mother's day she appeared to be a healthy 59 year old. She came to help with my daughters sleepover and just as the last guests were leaving she had a small TIA (mini-stroke). It took us completely by surprise but I'm glad I recognized it right away and new of our huge family history of heart disease and stroke. A week later she had a second one. Body weight, blood work, and all the other normal indicators were normal. In the end we found out her arteries in her neck never grew bigger than a toddlers and so just a tiny bit of plaque build up which would not affect a normal person was very dangerous for her. Since then I've been trying to get her to give up wheat (and not substitute other high carb alternatives). I think if she does that then the rest of her diet is mainly LC veggies, meats, and other whole foods and on most days I'd guess she would be around 40 to 60 total carbs. Other problems she has that may be related to the ups and downs of insulin are Night Eating Syndrome, she grazes all day long and is never hungry enough to sit and eat a meal but at the same time never satieted enough to stop grazing, severe eczema and psoriasis and needs to nap daily - sometimes twice a day.

Her mom had severe heart disease and her family also has a large number of people with severe thyroid problems too. My mom has 7 brothers and sisters. Most of them are overweight, have diabetes, gout, heart and stroke problems, skin problems, wake up nightly for a "midnight snack" (many times enough food to be a meal), severe dental problems, acid reflux and none of them are willing to give up bread or potatoes, but would be willing to live without everything else. My mom also has a younger cousin who she is close to who had two severe strokes, even after a few years of physio she is still partially paralyzed on one side.


MY DAD
My dad has always had a big Santa type belly. He has arthritis, colitis (has a sister with it bad too), diabetes, had a small stroke this spring, had knee replacement surgery in his early 50's, needs the other knee replaced but doesn't want to, has had bad circulation in his legs for longer than I can remember, has severe seasonal allergies and asthma (had a sister die of asthma complications when she was a child), eczema and he too can't give up bread, pasta, or potatoes. He is an excellent cook and is finally starting to start to pay more attention to his blood sugars now that they are spiralling more and more out of control.

My grandmother was always small but my grandfather was always big, bigger than my dad from what I can remember. Most of his brothers and sisters are a bit overweight, but I wouldn't call any of them obese.


DH'S FAMILY
MIL has diabetes and heart problems, as do most of her brothers and sisters. She also has arthritis and other complications from her diabetes. FIL has arthritis and I believe his family has Birt-Hogg-Dubé Syndrome but nobody is willing to go get tested. I don't know how well this syndrome could be controlled with LC but there is an increased risk of renal cancer which I could see being controlled by LC. (FIL, DH, SIL, and BIL all had cysts on their lungs that would spontaneously burst causing pneumothorax so they all had surgery to "glue" their lungs to their chest cavaties so they could no longer collapse. FIL's sisters and their kids also have typical skin tags of the disease.) FIL's family also has high incidence of diabetes, heart disease, stroke, cancers, fibromyalgia and a whole bunch of other health problems. Nobody in DH's family (except for a few of his cousins) pay any attention to what they eat and are not willing to give up any foods or follow any kind of diet whether is LC, LF, calorie restriction or any other kind of diet and don't believe food really has much to do with these problems. Then they blame the doctors and hospitals for not being able to give them a pill or surgery to fix them. They are great people but I'm so thankful they live 3 hours away so my kids are not constantly influenced by them. Oh, and most of DH's family is either very underweight or very overweight. Not many in betweens.

MY DH
He's always been underweight. He's on various pain meds for years because the surgery he had on his lungs left scar tissue and a rib out of place. These meds have had all kinds of side effects, including nausea making if hard to eat even when he wants to. He gets severe migraines which also cause severe nausea to the point where about 50% of the time he needs to get IV fluids in the ER. He constantly eats any junk food whenever he can and snacks from the time he gets home from work until he goes to sleep. He does not eat breakfast most days and has a small lunch and supper. He also snacks on junk food at work. He gets acid reflux, every little virus going around knocks him off his feet for days, his bowels go from being constipated to diarhea, he's always cold and he's always tired with some upswings of energy, he has all kinds of hobbies and things he likes to do but can never get motivated or the energy to do them. I think eating LC/HF and upping his protein (which he eats very little of) and getting rid of wheat (and grains) would help regulate his appetite, which would help his body weight, energy levels, migraines, and pretty much every other aspect of his life. Since he grew up with his family, it's been an uphill battle getting him to change but slowly over the years he has been open to eating healthier options in addition to his junk, and he also empasizes the healthier options with our kids. He still believes "kids are kids and should have these things" but he's gotten much better at limiting these things. Most times when he eats junk he doesn't let the kids see it so it doesn't influence them as much. He knows it's bad for him, but doesn't want to give anything up or limit it.

MY KIDS
My kids do eat many LC foods but it has been hard to get them completely LC with DH. (But we are working on it, I told him I'm going to cut them of wheat for the summer to see if helps them with their problems and he didn't argue about it. ) I'm trying to get them to make their own healthy choices and teach them all I can. When they are grown and no longer under my control (and even now when I'm not around) I want them to weigh the pro's and con's of eating certain foods and know how it affects them so hopefully as they grow they will eat healthy and be healthy. I don't mind occasional treats and they understand that once in a while is ok to have a small treat, but not all the time.

My oldest is 11 years old, she has seasonal allergies, small sporadic bouts of eczema and started getting migraines last year. We think the migraines are from hormonal changes with puberty (and we all know how insulin "helps" with hormones). Two of my nieces went through this around puberty too. The oldest has outgrown it. My DD is a good weight, is tall and other than these problems seems to be healthy except for normal colds and viruses. Out of my 3 kids she's going to be the hardest to get her to eat completely LC or wheat free, but I'm working on it.

Next is my 8 year old. She has mild asthma, seasonal and animal allergies, acid reflux, constipation (which also causes occasional UTI's), a combination of eczema and psoriasis on her bottom, gets upset stomachs and vomits easily - especially when we go visiting somewhere and she eats too much junk (even if it's "healthy" carbs). Most days she does eat fairly good, with the exception of wheat products. (Ex. today she chose a spinach salad for lunch and has strawberries, a babybel cheese, a small container of grapes and an apple for snacks in her lunch bag - all chosen by her.) She is the main reason why I was able to convince DH to cut all wheat out of the kids diets this summer to see if it helps. I'm convnced it will. Oh, and she is the biggest of all my kids but still in a normal weight range. She has a big appetite and is active. When we go on holidays and don't eat our normal foods, DH has noticed (I have too) that her pants get really tight and all her symptoms get worse. This has really helped him see that they are better eating lower carb and so he helps encourage them to eat better now that he's discovered this. She also knows and understands that when she doesn't eat well she doesn't feel good. This helps her make her own healthy choices and even when we are at family parties I no longer need to remind her that she'll feel bad if she eats too much of the wrong stuff and limits herself.

Last is my 6 year old. She has asthma, no allergies, but does get eczema easily as soon as her asthma isn't controlled properly. She's small, but does grow consistently, just slowly. She also eats very healthy like my 8 year old. She doesn't have a huge appetite but she does eat enough and makes good choice. I don't know how big of an effect cutting wheat will have on her at this point in time but I know in the long run it will prevent other problems.



So, I guess this got really long, but it really helps to reinforce that eating LC is so very important in so many ways! (Oh, and because this is so long I'm not going to check it over for spelling mistakes or missing words. haha)

My diabetic sil (who is the one that ultimately got me to do Atkins back in 2003). She's had several surgeries in the past year dealing with her colon and her numbers are always wonky.

My youngest son. He is severely overweight. He's never been able to stay lc for more than a week and dh won't support it. I've tried to be a good example and all the kids know what they should/shouldn't be eating. My next step is I'm going to look into to celiac/gluten intolerance testing.

My dh. He's not that much overweight, but his cholesterol and blood pressure aren't all that great. He would see some improvement if he'd lose the wheat! He's Italian and can't imagine a life without pasta and bread....and beer.

Pretty much every single freakin' patient I see.


I'm not kidding, if metabolic syndrome were a non issue, I'd almost be out of a job (home care nurse). What's sad is they're getting younger and younger, I've got patients disabled from metabolic syndrome issues that aren't old enough for medicare yet.

Probably more than half of the people I know or am related to would benefit.

My boyfriend: At risk for prostate cancer (has a rising PSA count), a wheat belly, knee pain, and chronic pain in the foot. He's been low carbing for 2 weeks and the foot pain disappeared in 3 days! He was astounded. He gets the results of his latest PSA test tomorrow. I don't think 2 weeks is enough to stabilize it, but fingers crossed. Oh, and the wheat belly is definitely diminishing.

My childhood friend in England: Fybromyalgia, sleep apnea, palsy in left hand and foot, 50-70lbs overweight. She won't take my advice seriously. Sigh.

Almost all my girlfriends in the US: They ooh and ah over my weightloss, they listen to what I say, but they do their own thing. Sigh.

My boss: Diabetic. Italian. Food lover. He's doing what his diabetes doctor told him, which is eat anything he wants in moderation (!). He has lost 17lbs but has much more to go and who knows how long this approach will be sustainable for him - it sure hasn't been for any of us here!

My sister: obese, PCOS, hypothyroid, adrenal fatigue. She tried Atkins for a few months, lost 20 pounds, complained that was too slow, and quit. I know that it's hard to lose weight when you have other issues working against you, but we do not live in a land of instant gratification. No one takes off 100+ pounds overnight.

My brother: about 50-60 pounds overweight, Type 1 diabetic. Wheat Belly now that he never used to have. Has gained all that weight in the last 5 years.

There are others but these are the people who I think would benefit most.

--Melissa