Comfort food ... and diabetes

[TheAwfulToad]

Just in case anyone missed it, Kes8 posted a link to this website:

thelowcarbkitchen.co.uk/

Which has some really good ideas on it for those of you who miss your carbs!

Apart from that, the author's story is well worth reading. She states that she's T1D, but the course of her illness sounds like classic T2 followed by pancreatic failure. She was never diagnosed early enough to know one way or the other whether her hyperglycemic crisis was precipitated by insulin resistance leading to glucose toxicity.

Whatever the case, she apparently controls it well with diet plus an insulin pump. She arrived at this point through her own initiative, despite being given the usual disastrous advice by the NHS on her first diagnosis.

"Eating a low carb diet has helped me minimise the incessant highs that came from high carb foods, over compensating with insulin, hitting a low, then bouncing back up. I have heard people say “Is Emma still on that stupid diet” (funnily enough never to my face), and the answer is yes she is….ignorance is bliss for the majority of people and for those who have never suffered at the hands of an illness but for me it’s not a diet it’s a life style choice. I truly never imagined that I could ever feel well."

Yup, people snipe at her behind her back for taking control, ignoring obviously-faulty advice, and living a normal life. It's a funny world we live in.

I found this pretty interesting:

"I cannot touch oats! They send my blood sugar on a crazy high, it can take twice my daily dose of insulin to compensate for one bowl of porridge!"

Porridge, of course, is the NHS's recommended "healthy breakfast".

[pamela22]

Very interesting info, thanks, I will share this info with my dad.

XxX

[cheritorrox]

There was a post here a while ago with link to the NICE guidelines for diabetics - a picture of equivalent in spoons of sugar for various foods (which of course is not only relevant to diabetics!!). I don't think it had oats on it which seems a bit odd.... Can't find it now - brain def not in gear...

[BridgeGirl in reply to cheritorrox]

Was this it? phcuk.org/nice/

[TheAwfulToad Ambassador in reply to cheritorrox]

It's there. 4.5 spoonfuls of sugar per 150g (I assume that's dry, precooked weight - nobody eats half a cup of cooked porridge).

Same as a slice of white bread.

The problem here is that NICE haven't actually changed the text of their guidance - the 2017 version still stands. And it's in direct conflict with Unwin's data. Bizarrely, there is actually no firm dietary advice in the DT2 guidelines, just wishy-washy blather about "dietary advice in a form sensitive to the person's needs, culture and beliefs, being sensitive to their willingness to change and the effects on their quality of life.", and a reference back to standard NHS healthy-eating guidelines for non-diabetics.

Come on guys. Biology does not make allowances for "needs, culture and beliefs". If you are carbohydrate-intolerant, you stop eating carbohydrates. Or you can die. Sure, there's a choice there. I know which choice I'd go for, but if you want to be culturally-sensitive and whatnot, give them the choice. But spell out what the choice actually is, instead of telling them lies about drug-based "management" of their condition, which not only fails to achieve the intended effect, but actually makes them worse.

[bigleg in reply to TheAwfulToad]

The 2015 NICE guidelines had a few words added - that was encouraging low glycaemic foods. Then recently NICE endorsed the the sugar equivalent infographics and their wording references update of 2015 NICE guidelines. In November 2017, Dr Unwin wore a Freestyle Libre 24 hour blood monitor and did a series of self-experiments with different foods. I have copy/pasted these into a word document and show them to people when working in one to one discussions. I hope this link will work to his comparison with porridge and an omelette: twitter.com/lowcarbGP/statu.... If it does not work, go to his media directory in his Twitter account and scroll down to November 2017 and all are there. This is a link to one section of the 2015 NICE guidelines with the wording changed highlighted: twitter.com/lowcarbGP/statu... and this is the section with the glycaemic index references: twitter.com/lowcarbGP/statu....