I am so mad at these people. They just don't get it.

Today was my 6mo followup visit for my diabetes class. It started out ok I showed her my bloodwork with a 6.1 HBA1C and my 2 week bg log. She said everything looked great and I get an A+ for controlling my bg so well. Then she asked me how I was doing on their diet plan. I hesitated a minute and thought here we go. When I told her I was doing Atkins she looked at me like I had just crapped on the floor or something.

Then she said that is going to kill you. All the fat and protein is going to blow out your kidneys. All I could say to her was if this was going to kill me then why are my bloodwork numbers so good. She said it was just temporary results and things will get worse. She kept going on and on about all the protien so I asked her what was the maximum amount of protein a person could have in a day to be safe. She said 80g was all anyone should have. I asked her what scientific study made that recommendation so I could research it and she said that was what they were taught in class.

I could see we were headed into a argument so I just smiled and said that this was working for me and I was going to continue on with it until I croaked which would probably be long after her and I got up and walked out. I didn't even schedule the 1 yr followup visit.

The just don't get it. If they would be open minded enough to realise that everyone is different and not everyone can follow their recommended plan, then maybe more people might be able to control their health problems better by using alternative methods to theirs.

Sorry I just had to vent some frustration.

Good for you! Only you can decide what health and nutrition plan is good for you and your results are proof that you chose the right one. You're right... if only they would get it, many more people could be healthier.

No, Bill they just don't. You, however, handled yourself beautifully Hopefully you've given her something to think about. If not, at least you said what was on your mind and you didn't cave into 'them'. Nice job.

Nat

Maddening, isn't it? Just remember if 1,000 people say something wrong - it's still wrong!
Current medical knowledge is being proven wrong all the time (remember how oat bran was supposed to save us all?). You're way ahead of the medical community on this one. Keep up the good work!

Gee, I've been LCing for the last 4 years. Am I going to croak soon?

To BillW,

1) What in general is their diet plan? It seems that most of the diabetic diets are talked about on this site.

2) How much protein do we really eat with Atkins anyway. Not all of us eat gobs and gobs of meat. I don't eat any more meat on Atkins so I am not eating more protein now than before. I had this same argument with a friend's wife. She kept telling me but you eat all that protein. I said I have the same amount say one chicken breast for dinner. She said well that is protein! I said well how is it more? She just blew a fuse I have another friend who is a bright analog electrical engineer. He just rambles on to me about how all that protein is going to damage my kidneys. What all that protein?

3) There are so many misperceptions about Atkins does this happen with other low carb diets. Say you are on Sugar Busters which I have seen many people on this site say their doctors recommended it for diabetes. Do people talk crazy about Sugar Busters?

Keep up the good work!

Hi, this morning on my local news station here in North Carolina they were telling how Duke University has now proven that the Atkins diet is safe and affective. The anchor man did say but he wondered what the long term affects would be. haha there have been people who work with my mother in the hospital who have been doing Atkins woe since the 70's. How much more proof do people need.

just my 2 cents

Babybear

BTW I ate two cheeseburgers when I was not on Atkins now I still just eat two cheeseburgers I just dont eat the bun.

The proof is in the low carb pudding!
Hey, all this protein talk is making me hungry. Think I need a steak (picture Fred Flintstone - rack of ribs big enough to upset the car - LOL!).

Hi Gary,

1) The diabetic diet that was recommended for me was <30g fat 80g protein or less and about 200g carbs. The typical lowfat high carb diet.

2)I usually consume between 100g and 150g of protein each day. I walk 3 miles daily Monday-Friday. I lift weight 3 days per week and take the weekends off. Your body needs extra protein to repair any muscle breakdown from exercising. I could see someone who is not doing any exercise maybe shouldn't eat more than 100g of protein. Where is any study that indicates what the maximum intake should be? So far no-one has been able to answer that question for me. As long as my uranalysis tests show negative on the protein i'm doing fine. BTW(my uranalysis was positive for protein when I was diagnosed with diabetes but since I have got my bg's controlled with atkins my last 2 tests came back negative.

3)In the beginning my doc told me to read the sugar buster book to understand how the body dealt with whole wheat type foods vs refined flours and grains but said don't follow the diet. The more research I did the more I realized I needed to be LC'ing. So I started atkins and have never turned back. My last 2 visits to the doc's office were eye opening experiences for her and she is now more open minded about LC'ing. She said she has never seen anyone go from a 12HBA1C to 6.1HBA1C in 7 months and was able to be med free as of 2 weeks ago.

I feel like Atkins has cured my Diabetes.

If this is going to kill me then I am going to die happy.

Bill

Well handled! I probably wouldn't have had as much self control. Next time they throw that "the way you're eating is going to kill you" line, ask them to show you the study that shows how many people have been shown (conclusively) to have died as a direct result of eating low carb. They'll probably quote all the studies regarding high fat at which point you can also point out that in those studies about high fat, the subjects were also eating high amounts of carbs, so it doesn't apply to your situation. I often wonder how many dieticians keep up with the cutting edge of nutrition once they are done with school. From what I'm hearing, it's not many.

Bill...

I follow the protein power recommendation for the minimum amount of protein that you need to conserve lean body mass. For someone who is exercising like you, that would be 0.6 grams of protein for every pound of lean body mass. For me, that works out to about 78 grams of protein a day, but thats a minimum not a maximum. 100-150 grams sounds about right for a man of your size and activity level. My doctor was also amazed at how fast my HgA1C came down...from 11.8 to 5.8 in about 5 months. He also said he's never seen it come down that fast and the first thing he said when I saw him was "What are you doing? I've never seen an HgA1C test come down this fast!". Great news about being off the meds! I am too.

good for you bill

I don't know why people don't get it either. Were it not for "low carbing" and were it not for ketosis, homo sapiens would have never survived long enough to mis-educate themselves about diet.

Razzle (writing, apparently, from The Other Side )