My philosophy is that diabetics are entitled to the same blood sugar as the non-diabetics. This is exactly the opposite of the policy of the American Diabetes Association. I have related philosophy that to get normal blood sugars you have to do certain things. And one of the key things is a very low-carbohydrate diet. Because nothing else works. I've tried it all. I've had 64 years of diabetes.
I got my first meter in 1969, so I've had plenty of time to experiment and see what works. There's no way the ADA diet or any high-carbohydrate and low-fat diet enable you to control blood sugars.
It turns out that the kind of diet I recommend is essentially a paleolithic diet - what humanity evolved on. Our ancestors did not have bread, wheat, sweet fruits, and all of the delicious things that we have today. These have been specially manufactured. Our ancestors had a paucity of roots, some leafs, and principally meat to eat. If they lived near the shore, they had fish.
My dietary recommendations boil down to what our ancestors ate. The American Diabetes Association repeatedly says that while low-carbohydrate diets may work, it's an experiment and we haven't enough years of trial of these diets to see if they do any harm. But the ADA diet is an experiment. It was never based on any history. In fact, it is the cause of the epidemic of obesity and diabetes. Whereas the original diet, the paleolithic diet, has been tested for tens of thousands of years. And it's only when you deviate from it that you end up where we are now.
http://www.diabetesdaily.com/edelman/2010/03/interview-dr-bernstein-on-low-carb-diets-treatments-politics.php
Some of this article is diabetes centric, and you can skip that part if it does not apply, but much of it is just as relevant to what you need to do to be healthy as it is for someone who needs exogenous insulin. One more cut:
How do you define normal blood sugars? Are you going by blood glucose reading variability or do you have an HbA1c target that you strive for?
We have both A1C and blood sugar targets. The A1C target for most people is 4.2 to 4.6. This is a non-diabetic range. The target blood sugar we seek is 83.
Now how on earth did I get such an odd ball number like 83? I got it because we used to be located on a major thoroughfare, and we had a sign outside that said diabetes center. All of the meter salesmen would stop by and want to demonstrate their meter. And I would say, "Yeah, I have had enough finger sticks today. It's your turn." So we would stick their finger. And what would we get? It was amazing. People in their twenties and thirties all were around 83. And I said, "My God, that must be what a normal blood sugar must be." That was before the days when they started hiring diabetics. Most of the pump companies nowadays hire diabetics.
Since that time, I have looked at the epidemiologic studies. It looks like the cut off point for mortality and heart disease is around 85. Those above 85 have higher relative risks of overall mortality and also cardiac risks. So it looks like what I happened on by chance is pretty close to the cut-off point that the epidemiologic studies show.
I got my first meter in 1969, so I've had plenty of time to experiment and see what works. There's no way the ADA diet or any high-carbohydrate and low-fat diet enable you to control blood sugars.
It turns out that the kind of diet I recommend is essentially a paleolithic diet - what humanity evolved on. Our ancestors did not have bread, wheat, sweet fruits, and all of the delicious things that we have today. These have been specially manufactured. Our ancestors had a paucity of roots, some leafs, and principally meat to eat. If they lived near the shore, they had fish.
My dietary recommendations boil down to what our ancestors ate. The American Diabetes Association repeatedly says that while low-carbohydrate diets may work, it's an experiment and we haven't enough years of trial of these diets to see if they do any harm. But the ADA diet is an experiment. It was never based on any history. In fact, it is the cause of the epidemic of obesity and diabetes. Whereas the original diet, the paleolithic diet, has been tested for tens of thousands of years. And it's only when you deviate from it that you end up where we are now.
http://www.diabetesdaily.com/edelman/2010/03/interview-dr-bernstein-on-low-carb-diets-treatments-politics.php
Some of this article is diabetes centric, and you can skip that part if it does not apply, but much of it is just as relevant to what you need to do to be healthy as it is for someone who needs exogenous insulin. One more cut:
How do you define normal blood sugars? Are you going by blood glucose reading variability or do you have an HbA1c target that you strive for?
We have both A1C and blood sugar targets. The A1C target for most people is 4.2 to 4.6. This is a non-diabetic range. The target blood sugar we seek is 83.
Now how on earth did I get such an odd ball number like 83? I got it because we used to be located on a major thoroughfare, and we had a sign outside that said diabetes center. All of the meter salesmen would stop by and want to demonstrate their meter. And I would say, "Yeah, I have had enough finger sticks today. It's your turn." So we would stick their finger. And what would we get? It was amazing. People in their twenties and thirties all were around 83. And I said, "My God, that must be what a normal blood sugar must be." That was before the days when they started hiring diabetics. Most of the pump companies nowadays hire diabetics.
Since that time, I have looked at the epidemiologic studies. It looks like the cut off point for mortality and heart disease is around 85. Those above 85 have higher relative risks of overall mortality and also cardiac risks. So it looks like what I happened on by chance is pretty close to the cut-off point that the epidemiologic studies show.
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