Why is a high carb diet most recommended for diabetics?

[G-Mom]

This was a verrrry interesting thread. Thanks! I passed it on to a friend who has diabetes. A lot of the questions I have been asking for a while, you folks raised. I wrote my first 2 diabetic-style cookbooks, when I also didn't have a clue. Today I try and talk every diabetic I come across out of their high-carb diet, and sadly I mostly fail, as they trust their doctors and dietitians.

I learned a lot too! Isn't it sad we can't convince more folks that this WOL can help so much? :anger

[Jen111]

I know it is sad, G-Mom. You've done really well on this WOL. Congrats!

[G-Mom]

I know it is sad, G-Mom. You've done really well on this WOL. Congrats!

Thank you, dear! Everyday I keep pluggin' away!

[IrishIrish]

Re: Why is a high carb diet most recommended for diabetics?

I think it is ignorance that has so many medical professionals running from the Atkins WOL. Whether diabetes educators, edocrinologists, dieticians or whomever it might be ... they tend to be delighted with the results of my HmgA1C, weightloss, blood sugars, use of meds ... until the big question ... How did you do it??? Answer them honestly and they will walk away shaking their heads like we are the ones who are misinformed. I personally believe there is a general bias against diabetics due to the fact that it is easier to be judgemental than to rethink their position and tell us why this works for us. I'm happy with my medical professional ... sometimes it just takes some time to find one who is willing to be enlightened!

Best wishes to all.

[not2late]

Re: Why is a high carb diet most recommended for diabetics?

Thanks to borntolose, who sparked this question for me with this link: http://www.joslin.org/education/libr...oodsugar.shtml

I saw this statement there:

Sooo....if carbs have this effect, then why do doctors recommend a high carb diet for diabetics when a low carb diet seems like it would be better for your condition?

Low carb used to be the number 1 recommended diet for diabetics several decades ago, what happened?

I'm still putting the finishing touches on my diabetes and controlled carbs essay on my personal site, but I'll give you the lowdown in a nutshell.

Insulin wasn't discovered until the early 1920s. Before that diet was the only real option for the management of diabetes. Yes, there were herbal home remedies that have blood sugar lowering properties, but by far, diet was the way to manage the disease.

There were several diets. However the one that became the standard was the diet by Elliot Joslin, MD (yes, the doctor for whom the Joslin Centers are named). His diet was a 100 gram carbohydrate (or less depending on the degree of severity of the diabetes) per day. His diet decreased the diabetic death rate from 27% to 4% at Massachusetts General Hospital between the years of 1913 and 1919.

Joslin's attitude towards insulin was that it (insulin) would allow diabetics a greater variety in their diet, but the controlled carb diet was still the mainstay of management. So what happened?

2 Things (well 3 if you subscribe to my boss's ideas...)
1. Insulin became more readily available. It was still expensive because in the early years it had to be purified from pig pancreas, but it was alot more available. Today, insulin is synthetic (no pigs are harmed in the synthesis now).
2. There were preliminary studies done in the 1940s and 1950s that showed fiber had little effect on blood sugar. (If you look through the articles Atkins has in his book about fiber and blood sugar, the reference other studies, that reference studies dating to the 40s and 50s).

So....if insulin can control blood sugar, then a diabetic can eat a piece of white bread, right? Because if the white bread raises their blood sugar too high, the insulin can keep it within normal limits. Also, if fiber doesn't have much of an effect on blood sugar, then a diabetic can eat something like a banana (which Joslin in his books said diabetics should avoid unless they can tolerate the amount of sugar in the banana), right? Okay so if a diabetic can eat white bread and bananas because of insulin and fiber, then a diabetic can eat banana bread or banana cake, right? See the line of thought at work here.

Therefore, the focus of diabetic management shifted from controlling diabetes/blood sugar levels primarily with diet and secondarily with medications (if they are needed at all) to controlling it primarily by medications and "oh yeah, diet isn't a bad idea too (but be sure you take your medications)". Which leads to my boss's idea that the pharmaceutical companies won't profit from a diabetic if their diabetes can be controlled by diet alone or by diet and a reduced dosage of the medications....

[shawnee]

Re: Why is a high carb diet most recommended for diabetics?

Bottom Line
Its just another area of your life where you find the traditional powers that be operating in that sphere are 'totally full of sh1t!

A diabetic on meds, is indeed the drug & medical communities' meal ticket, as they 'manage' the disease & keep you coming back like a junkie to dealer while you slowly get sicker & sicker & die but not before having expensive 'life saving' surgery like having your foot amputated

Bernstein is the diabetic's best resource, read, learn, practice & spread the word

[matawguro]

Re: Why is a high carb diet most recommended for diabetics?

What About the Widely Advocated Dietary Restrictions on Fat, Protein, and Salt, and the Current High-Fiber Fad?

HOW DID THE COMMONLY PRESCRIBED HIGH-CARBOHYDRATE DIET COME ABOUT?

When I first developed diabetes, in 1946, little was known about why this disease, even when treated, caused early death and such distressing complications. Prior to the availability of insulin, about twenty-five years earlier, people with type 1 diabetes usually died within a few months of diagnosis. Their lives could be prolonged somewhat with a diet that was very low in carbohydrate and usually high in fat. Most sufferers from the milder type 2 diabetes survived on this type of diet,without supplemental medication. When I became diabetic, oral hypoglycemic agents were not available, and many people were still following very low carbohydrate, high-fat diets. It was at about this time that diets very high in saturated fats, with resultant high serum cholesterol levels, were experimentally shown to correlate with blood vessel and heart disease in animals. It was promptly assumed by many physicians that the then-known complications of diabetes, most of which related to abnormalities of large or small blood vessels, were caused by the high-fat diets. I and many other diabetics were therefore treated with a high-carbohydrate, low-fat diet. This new diet was adopted in the mid-1940s by the American Diabetes Association (ADA), the New York Heart Association, and eventually by the American Heart Association (AHA) and other groups around the world. On the new diet, most of us had much higher serum cholesterol levels, and still developed the grave long-term complications of diabetes. Seemingly unaware of the importance of blood sugar control, the ADA raised the recommended carbohydrate content from 40 to 50 percent of calories, and then more recently to 60 percent. The ADA’s most recent guidelines have backed off by vaguely stating that some diabetics may do better with less carbohydrate.

...

WHY IS PROTEIN RESTRICTION SO COMMON?

About 30 percent of diabetics develop kidney disease (nephropathy). Diabetes is the greatest single cause of kidney failure in the United States. Early kidney changes can be found within two to three years of the onset of high blood sugars. As we discussed briefly in Chapter 9, the common restrictions on protein intake by diabetic patients derive from fear regarding this problem, and ignorance of the actual causes of diabetic kidney disease.

...

In summary: Diabetic nephropathy does not appear if blood sugar is kept normal. Dietary protein does not cause diabetic nephropathy, but can possibly (still uncertain) slightly accelerate the process once there has been major, irreversible kidney damage. Dietary protein has no substantial effect upon the GFR of healthy kidneys, certainly not in comparison to the GFR increase caused by elevated blood sugar levels.*

[JennyO]

Re: Why is a high carb diet most recommended for diabetics?

And you know, I tried to sue the American Diabetes Association and the American Medical Association when I first tried Atkins and the lawyers told I did not have a case since I did not have permanent damage. I wander what they call the ugliness of my body from gaining and lossing so much weight during the 60 years of my life. I call it permanent damage...