Just Say NO to an 1800 Diabetic Diet

It’s been a year, and 85 blubbery pounds less, since I was diagnosed with diabetes Type2. The news was especially scary because my mother died of diabetic complications 3 years after diagnosis- the SAME AGE AS ME! EEEK!

The day I was diagnosed, my doctor handed me a glucometer, an 1800-calorie diabetic diet and a handful of prescriptions, mumbling something about being sorry and I should watch after my health better. WHAT!!! I had been on every low-fat diet and was down to eating like an anorexic bird. The injustice of the whole thing was just WRONG.

Over the years, as other fatties joined food addiction support groups, shamefully admitting to secret outings to fast food drive-up windows in the middle of the night and weekends spent with cartons of Haggendaz, I was frigging STARVING!!!

The 1800 calorie diet was AWFUL. I was constantly hungry. The medicine made me run to the bathroom every hour, leaving me even hungrier. I was dizzy from the blood pressure medicine and the tips of my fingers were bruised and tender from blood sugar checks. This was not the way I wanted to live. I now understood why my mother seemed so resigned in the end to inevitable death. Having diabetes was no fun.

I knew the low fat thing didn’t work. A few people at work had some success with Atkins, so I tried it. Although I lost weight, my blood sugar plummeted, leaving me light-headed and spacey. So I decided to modify it. I started with 50 carbs, same problem. 100 carbs a day still resulted in occasional low blood sugars, depending on the day. It seemed related to the type of carb, how much stress and sleep I’d had and how much physical exercise. It was a high-wire act everyday, but I finally found the carb intake that was right for me (100-160).

It’s been a year now and I’ve lost 85 lbs and feel GREAT! No more diabetic or blood pressure meds either! And my blood sugars are PERFECT! My cholesterol and blood pressure are all completely normal. My lab works show absolutely no abnormalities. A farrrr cry from where I was a year ago- elevated liver function tests and all.

I’d like to share with you some new research cited in the Online Nutrition Journal (2004). Have you ever wondered if all calories are the same? How do people on low-carb diets lose weight despite what looks like an increase in calorie consumption? In fact, 10 studies HAVE shown low carb diets can lead to greater weight loss than low calorie/ low-fat diets. This violates everything we now know about how calories are burned, also known as the LAW OF THERMODYNAMICS. This law basically says a calorie is a calorie. If you eat too many you’ll get fat and if you eat fewer than you burn, you’ll lose weight.

Studies show dieters on a low-carb diet have a metabolic advantage and actually LOSE MORE WEIGHT! Scientists are still studying this phenomenon, but speculate it may be due to the heat generated in processing certain foods.

Of the 3 groups studied, the low-carb dieters lost more weight than the low-fat dieters. Even when they deliberately ate 300 extra calories, the low-carbers lost more than the low-fatters. The researchers suggest our bodies may be like cars that burn more efficiently on high-octane gas than low-grade gas.

The low-carb way of eating is not just a fad diet. People wouldn't keep doing it if it didn't work. It worked for me, it has worked for others and it can work for you.