What do you make of my doctor's comments?

[Melodious1]

Hello fellow Atkineers,

I posted this in another forum, and I am reposting here because I really need an answer! What do you make of this?

I went to the doctor today and he was not even hearing me on the low carbing. He said 1. Atkins will kill you 2. I am eating too much meat regardless of how it is cooked (I mentioned grilled and baked) 3. I should not eat meat every day because I am diabetic and need to follow a low fat program 4. When you eat a diet high in fat, it causes your insulin to work ineffectively, which in turn causes your fat cells to get larger, which in turn makes it harder to lose weight. 5. There is a study out there where two groups of men were followed. Group one at a diet consisting of 65% calories from fat and group two ate a diet consisting of 10% calories from fat and as much sugar as they could tolerate. The high fat group had blood sugars above the normal range and the low fat group had blood sugars in the non-diabetic range.

I am thoroughly confused now. I know that when I am on plan, my blood sugars are great! Plus, I lost 30 pounds in a little over 2 months, including a three week unexplained stall. If I ate a low fat diet and all the sugar I could tolerate, my blood sugars would be through the roof, and I'd gain double the 30 pounds, or more, I've lost! What's a girl to do?

Seriously Conflicted,

Melodious 1

[jimmie 48]

Re: What do you make of my doctor's comments?

a lot of doctors are not on board with the low carb lifestyle. we could specultate on why but his reasons are his.

i saw your post in the other forum.
i don't know if this is the place for anyone to recommend a doctor as it might lead to legal issues but i could suggest that you do an online search for dr.s in your area. some bio their work and other information. once you find someone, a simple phone call to his office would tell you if he is low carb friendly.

not being the diabetic know it all person, i'll leave that part to the experts.
as for 'Atkins will kill you'. i think you know that is not true.

[Chef Kevin]

Re: What do you make of my doctor's comments?

as a diabetic, my advice is for you to find another dr.

besides, even the ADA is beginning to accept low carb eating for diabetics, and we all know they don't want to end diabetes, they are funded by drug companies that make diabetes drugs.

[Sweet Strudel]

Re: What do you make of my doctor's comments?

Just posting this for your information.

Study - Low Carb Diet best for weight, cholesterol
ATLANTA - The Atkins diet may have proved itself after all: A low-carb diet and a Mediterranean-style regimen helped people lose more weight than a traditional low-fat diet in one of the longest and largest studies to compare the dueling weight-loss techniques.

A bigger surprise: The low-carb diet improved cholesterol more than the other two. Some critics had predicted the opposite.
"It is a vindication," said Abby Bloch of the Dr. Robert C. and Veronica Atkins Foundation, a philanthropy group that honors the Atkins' diet's creator and was the study's main funder.
However, all three approaches — the low-carb diet, a low-fat diet and a so-called Mediterranean diet — achieved weight loss and improved cholesterol.
The study is remarkable not only because it lasted two years, much longer than most, but also because of the huge proportion of people who stuck with the diets — 85 percent.
Researchers approached the Atkins Foundation with the idea for the study. But the foundation played no role in the study's design or reporting of the results, said the lead author, Iris Shai of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.
Other experts said the study — being published Thursday in the New England Journal of Medicine — was highly credible.
"This is a very good group of researchers," said Kelly Brownell, director of Yale University's Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity.
The research was done in a controlled environment — an isolated nuclear research facility in Israel. The 322 participants got their main meal of the day, lunch, at a central cafeteria.
"The workers can't easily just go out to lunch at a nearby Subway or McDonald's," said Dr. Meir Stampfer, the study's senior author and a professor of epidemiology and nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health.
In the cafeteria, the appropriate foods for each diet were identified with colored dots, using red for low-fat, green for Mediterranean and blue for low-carb.
As for breakfast and dinner, the dieters were counseled on how to stick to their eating plans and were asked to fill out questionnaires on what they ate, Stampfer said.
The low-fat diet — no more than 30 percent of calories from fat — restricted calories and cholesterol and focused on low-fat grains, vegetables and fruits as options. The Mediterranean diet had similar calorie, fat and cholesterol restrictions, emphasizing poultry, fish, olive oil and nuts.
The low-carb diet set limits for carbohydrates, but none for calories or fat. It urged dieters to choose vegetarian sources of fat and protein.
"So not a lot of butter and eggs and cream," said Madelyn Fernstrom, a University of Pittsburgh Medical Center weight management expert who reviewed the study but was not involved in it.
Most of the participants were men; all men and women in the study got roughly equal amounts of exercise, the study's authors said.
Average weight loss for those in the low-carb group was 10.3 pounds after two years. Those in the Mediterranean diet lost 10 pounds, and those on the low-fat regimen dropped 6.5.

More surprising were the measures of cholesterol. Critics have long acknowledged that an Atkins-style diet could help people lose weight but feared that over the long term, it may drive up cholesterol because it allows more fat.
But the low-carb approach seemed to trigger the most improvement in several cholesterol measures, including the ratio of total cholesterol to HDL, the "good" cholesterol. For example, someone with total cholesterol of 200 and an HDL of 50 would have a ratio of 4 to 1. The optimum ratio is 3.5 to 1, according to the American Heart Association.
Doctors see that ratio as a sign of a patient's risk for hardening of the arteries. "You want that low," Stampfer said.
The ratio declined by 20 percent in people on the low-carb diet, compared to 16 percent in those on the Mediterranean and 12 percent in low-fat dieters.
The study is not the first to offer a favorable comparison of an Atkins-like diet. Research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association last year found overweight women on the Atkins plan had slightly better blood pressure and cholesterol readings than those on the low-carb Zone diet, the low-fat Ornish diet and a low-fat diet that followed U.S. government guidelines.
The heart association has long recommended low-fat diets to reduce heart risks, but some of its leaders have noted the Mediterranean diet has also proven safe and effective.
The heart association recommends a low-fat diet even more restrictive than the one in the study, said Dr. Robert Eckel, the association's past president who is a professor of medicine at the University of Colorado-Denver.
It does not recommend the Atkins diet. However, a low-carb approach is consistent with heart association guidelines so long as there are limitations on the kinds of saturated fats often consumed by people on the Atkins diet, Eckel said.
The new study's results favored the Atkins-like approach less when subgroups such as diabetics and women were examined.
Among the 36 diabetics, only those on the Mediterranean diet lowered blood sugar levels. Among the 45 women, those on the Mediterranean diet lost the most weight.
"I think these data suggest that men may be much more responsive to a diet in which there are clear limits on what foods can be consumed," such as an Atkins-like diet, said Dr. William Dietz, of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "It suggests that because women have had more experience dieting or losing weight, they're more capable of implementing a more complicated diet," said Dietz, who heads CDC's nutrition unit.

[aquaryus]

Re: What do you make of my doctor's comments?

I second Chef Kevin's suggestion and I'd like to add my personal opinion/facts. First off, only *YOU* know what's good for you when it comes to food. For instance, I am a type 2 as well, and if I go on a binge (high carb/sugar) I feel like poop (groggy, tired, horribly moody.) After a few days on Atkins, I begin to feel really good, however, I do get the low blood sugar jitters for the first few days. (I warded them off with canned pumpkin this time around. I ate about a cup a day until the jitters stopped. 1/4 c of pumpkin is allowed during induction, but I had to eat more for my situation.) Anyway... now the facts.

My very first attempt with Atkins was in May of 2006. I did well, losing about 70 pounds. In Sept 2006, I was hospitalized for MS related issues and the first thing they did was bloodwork. When I told the Dr I was on Atkins, she was shocked. My triglyceride, HCL and LDL were all in normal range, as well as my blood glucose.

Show your doctor that this diet is for you. Get a full blood work up as soon as you can, then six months down the road, ask for another round of tests and have your doctor compare. Unless you are one of the unlucky 5% or so of people who don't benefit from this woe, your doctor should see results.

*by the way, I'm not a health care provider. I just help process pharmacy claims.

[rweeks]

Re: What do you make of my doctor's comments?

Remember that the earth used to be flat.............

[OzLover]

Re: What do you make of my doctor's comments?

I say find another doctor & also do what works for you. If you feel great & are losing weight on Atkins then keep on low carbing!!

Good luck!

[Labarum]

Re: What do you make of my doctor's comments?

My doctor recommended Atkins. You will see the results in the signature below.

Blood pressure right down, cholesterol fell.

The doctor after later confessed I had probably saved myself from Type 2 diabetes.

You will find doctors who take a very different view to yours.

[boonie stomper]

Re: What do you make of my doctor's comments?

Did the doctor mention to you that if you stay on Atkins and happen to be successful despite his scare tactics, you might see him less, jeopardizing his 3rd car fund?

[JimboK]

Re: What do you make of my doctor's comments?

First, I would find another doctor.

If that's not an option, then ask him, "Have you reviewed all the research behind dieting and obesity or just this one article?" I think you and I both know the answer. If you want to have some fun, ask, "Do you always base your clinical practice on the results of just one study out of hundreds?"

Challenge him to review with an open mind all the relevant science going back as far in time as he can. Odds are he won't do that either. (Odds are, he can't, unless he commits several months to it full time.)

Then ask him to read the book, Good Calories, Bad Calories by Gary Taubes. I just finished reading it after seeing it mentioned in another thread here. I don't see how any clinician who buys into the low-fat-diet dogma can read that with an open mind and not come away with a radically altered view of dieting and obesity.

Finally, if he declines that, ask him to at least read The New England Journal of Medicine paper cited in the article posted by Sweet Strudel. That study is what finally made me (a health care provider) give the Atkins diet serious consideration.

[liv]

Re: What do you make of my doctor's comments?

There was just a new study released that suggested that the "normal" diabetes recommendations need to be overhauled. Now they do not directly embrace Atkins but on Atkins we eat low glycemic foods.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/19/health/19diet.html?_r=2&ref=health

[ceemarie]

Re: What do you make of my doctor's comments?

I would like to echo others, you should really get a second or even third opinion on your health. As it all professions, there are good and not so good. When you go to see the other doctors, come prepared with documention on your diet and what it has done for your health. I recently had a health scare and even though they told me everything was ok, I went for a second opinion, just to ease my mind and I was glad I did. Don't be afraid to stand up for your body, ask questions and be heard.

[Sherri]

Re: What do you make of my doctor's comments?

These are the side effects that I experienced with Atkins-
1.) I lost 145 pounds.
2.) My Type 2 Diabetes disappeared in 47 days, never to return again, kicking meds to the curb.
3.) My blood pressure returned to normal, kicking meds to the curb
4.) My blood chemistry are all in healthy ranges.
5.) I no longer listen to doctors that say that Atkins will kill you.
Sherri

[FLdoodette]

Re: What do you make of my doctor's comments?

Did the doctor mention to you that if you stay on Atkins and happen to be successful despite his scare tactics, you might see him less, jeopardizing his 3rd car fund?

Bwaaah! And so true!

Oh, I hear you about the naysaying ... I think your doc and mine might be related ! He just about had kittens when I said the word "Atkins" ... finally, after sputtering and stammering, he did say: "Well, stay on it to lose the weight, if you must, but then I want you off Atkins!" I could tell by the set of his jaw that no amount of contradictory info was going to change his mind.

So I'm going to stay with it ... and just not tell him; which is sneaky but really my business not his, since all he's really interested in is the bottom line ... lipid profile, blood pressure and weight. And, truly, as a doc I like this guy ... other than his tunnel vision regarding low-carb. Next time I'm due in for a check-up, I'm going to print out that study from the New England Journal of Medicine that exonerated Atkins, and leave it in the exam room behind me !

[Melodious1]

Re: What do you make of my doctor's comments?

Well, forget what the doctor said! I went to get my lab results today and they are all in normal range! Here are the stats:

Triglycerides 140
Total Cholesterol 182
HDL 56
LDL 98
CHOL/HDLC Ratio 3.3

Now here's the best part. My HbA1c was 5.8! This is my personal record low, down from a scary 9.25.

Now why in the heck would I try a low-fat, carbohydrate loaded diet with all the sugar I can tolerate, as suggested by my doctor?