I live with my life partner who was with me at the doctor's office last week and visited a local health food store today.

My doctor says : "I would never suggest anyone do Atkins as a way of life, it is really hard on your kidneys."

This doctor must think that my previous diet of tootsie rolls and carbo binges were better

Health food store employee "know it all" says to my SO:

"Ugh I heard Atkins is terrible, one guy's kidneys actually exploded."

ARE THESE PEOPLE FOR REAL? I think what ticks me off the most is that my SO wants to listen to them before listening to me.

signed,

very very pissed off (again )

<sigh> Why is it that people only listen and regurgatate the horrible, untrue things they hear? It's pathetic. As far as doctors go, I can sympathize. Some of the people on this board are so lucky to have LC friendly docs, the rest of us.........
Hang in there. You know these people have no clue. As for your SO, my hubby was completely anti-LC in the begining. It took a while to get him to come around, but it finally happened.

Good luck!!!!!

Melissa

BTW: Slap, bludgeon and beat them to your hearts content. (I believe in punishment for stupidity.)

In the state where I live, doctors are retiring and leaving because of the high malpractice insurance. Because the govt and the American Heart Association has their guidelines, if a doctor were to prescribe this woe and you had an undetermined pre-existing condition that caused a problem, you could sue him blaming the woe. I just happen to have a doctor who is open to this plan and even encourages it.

As for the health food stores, just remember that clerks there are just regular, uninformed people working at a minimum wage. Probably the only training they get is what they are told when they start work and what they can read when they are not busy.

But I agree with you, it is sad when your SO or DH believes every word they hear from the "professionals". I have that with my husband. He is overweight, takes blood pressure meds and today he had a doc appt where he is probably being told he also needs cholestrol meds. He won't listen to me-----I'm not a doctor!!

While I can certainly understand the frustration, I wouldn't recommend physically assulting someone. Besides...the stupidity of another person isn't worth assault charges. Doesn't mean you can't THINK about doing it, though!
Seriously...stick with what you KNOW is true and ignore the uninformed idiots who just repeat what they've heard without actually checking to see if it's true or not. As for your partner, I'd encouarge them to see if them can find any legitimate studies that support any of the BS that they have been believing.

I wouldn't worry about preconceived ideas anymore.

As far as doctors go, I studied the history of science in graduate school, there are a LOT of things that people in the medical profession think was the right thing that turned out to be totally wrong or bad. I think even today with modern medicine, there is some of that around. I don't see a doctor as anything more than someone who just spent a lot of years in school, they all have preconceived notions so it is best to find one that suits your needs, not one where you suit their needs.

Health food store clerks, probably around the same knowledge base as a McDonalds employee. They are there just to sell the product, and that is probably it. Luckily I have a low carb store in my area, makes a big difference...

Thanks for letting me vent and for your thoughtful and informed replies

You all always know how to say the right thing.

Also, don't worry, I won't be assaulting anyone anytime soon...but in my HEAD, well that is another story

How funny, and yet, sad too.

ROFL! Kidneys exploding! I laughed at that so loud when I read it that I got my dog to barking! hehehehe -- needed a good chuckle today

I have to say that I must have a rare find in my doctor....she actually talked ME into the Atkins diet!! She said that an Endocrinologist suggest it, especially for diabetics. I have to say within 2 weeks my blood sugar numbers have been lower than they have been in years!!!!!!!!!!

Patty

PATTY..

congrats on your good blood sugar readings. Mine normalized and stabilized rather quickly too. As a matter of fact, my doctor says he's never seen an HgA1C test come down as fast as mine did. Keep at it...this is the best WOE for diabetics there is!

Patty and Lisa, I can't wait for my appointment with my Endochrinologist in May to have my test again. I'm also hoping that I can come off of some of my Glucovance at that time. I'm not getting the major highs and lows that I was prior to LC WOE. I hope that they come down even more.

The LC way really seems to be the ticket for those of us who have diabetes. Maybe as we show our docs how successful we are, they will be more willing to recommend this WOE to others! Hey, we can be walking advertisements for LC-ing!

Imready...

For more information on controlling your blood sugars with low carb, I'd highly recommend purchasing and reading cover to cover Dr. Bernstein's Diabetes Solution. The program is very similar to Atkins, but much more focused on low carbing as a way to normalize your blood sugars and keep them that way. I think it's a must-read for any diabetic out there! If you stick with low carbing, it's a pretty sure bet that you will be able to at least decrease the amount of medication that you are taking if not stop it altogether. Good luck!

I had an experience recently that I couldn't believe ...

I went to the local Health Food Shop (in the UK) and after browsing through the vitamins, I asked the Shop Assistent if they stock any low carb foods. She looked at me with a puzzled expression on her face and asked me what I meant. Then I said I am looking for some of the foods recommended by Dr Atkins for people on a low carb/high proteien diet. She said she never heard of it !!

HELLO ... can that be true??????

Rey

sure, you slap yours and I'll slap mine for bascally telling me cancer is better then Atkins.

A couple of weeks ago, I went in to see my doctor (at that point I had been doing Atkins for about 4 weeks). I expected her to yell at me and tell me everything bad about LC diets. Well, wasn't I surprised when she said that she'd had a number of patients be very successful on LC and she was very open to seeing how it worked for me!!

She said that typically a person's cholesterol levels will rise temporarily, then decrease, but that if mine were elevated after about 6 months, then we should think about modifying things. Other than that she was very positive!

By the way, I'm a Type II diabetic, and on Atkins I have been able to totally normalize my blood glucose levels and go off medication completely. I never even bother testing my blood anymore because it's ALWAYS between 80 and 120 -- NORMAL!!! My doc was pretty happy about that, too!

day