Diabetes

[Gawan]

Laura do you know what is the cure for diabetes type I?

I cannot speak for Laura, but if she would know it, she would have shared it, I guess. ;) Well, much knowlegde is available how to treat diabetes on the forum here and how to make a real living with it, instead of battling diabetes.

Things that improved my diabetes:

• EE
• the diet (fat, meat, no gluten, no dairy, no sugar, no additives if possible, 72 gr of carbohydrates per day)
• Magnesium chloride (it makes the cells more sensitive for insulin, that means less insulin is needed)
  

Is my life here on redemption for past living? I didn't do anything wrong in this life...

Difficult to answer. Certainly gluten, lectins and dairy may be responsible for causing diabetes.

 

[NewOrleans]

How easy it is to slip out of one's resolve! I've made a good number of diet changes, but some slip back in.We eat 95% "Mediterranean" diet, and not an American McDiet anyway, but there are coffees with skim milk, carbs and fruit that seem to slip in. It almost seems that the only thing NOT on the bad-for-me list is my cat! I don't mean to take this flippantly, but I've been reflecting on how I seem to still be in denial about the seriousness of Diabetes. I know I'm overwhelmed by information right now, and sorting things out so much that I completely forgot to take any meter readings today. The not-one-bite-of-bad-food reprogramming change to eating habits is hard to put the breaks on in one day. I know it's counterproductive to beat myself up over expecting an overnight change of disciplines, but I'm in need of some extra effort to my resolve. I'm not giving up. Coffee, though has been the peak of my personal food pyramid all my life. That's a tough one. Anyone who has had a real cup of cafe au lait in a French Quarter Market in the Vieux Carre is addicted for life I would think.....

Any "mirror" to my situation that might help?....... besides more reading

 

[anart]

How easy it is to slip out of one's resolve! I've made a good number of diet changes, but some slip back in.We eat 95% "Mediterranean" diet, and not an American McDiet anyway, but there are coffees with skim milk, carbs and fruit that seem to slip in. It almost seems that the only thing NOT on the bad-for-me list is my cat! I don't mean to take this flippantly, but I've been reflecting on how I seem to still be in denial about the seriousness of Diabetes. I know I'm overwhelmed by information right now, and sorting things out so much that I completely forgot to take any meter readings today. The not-one-bite-of-bad-food reprogramming change to eating habits is hard to put the breaks on in one day. I know it's counterproductive to beat myself up over expecting an overnight change of disciplines, but I'm in need of some extra effort to my resolve. I'm not giving up.

It's very simple. Your body is in crisis and it will get worse if you don't take your diet seriously. No one can do it but you and if you don't, you'll keep getting sicker and sicker and sicker. Period.

Coffee, though has been the peak of my personal food pyramid all my life.

That's probably why you have diabetes.

That's a tough one. Anyone who has had a real cup of cafe au lait in a French Quarter Market in the Vieux Carre is addicted for life I would think.....

Any "mirror" to my situation that might help?....... besides more reading

"Addicted for life" is an excuse. Argue for your limitations and you get to keep them. I would suggest removing all coffee from your house right now - all of it. Don't buy another spec of it and get used to drinking tea for a while if you need something hot. You will not get better unless you make the changes necessary - so either decide to get more and more sick, or get serious about what you put in your mouth.

 

[NewOrleans]

Yes. I hear it.

 

[NewOrleans]

OK, Done.

 

[clearmiddle]

How easy it is to slip out of one's resolve! ...

...Any "mirror" to my situation that might help?....... besides more reading

"Resolve" has nothing to do with it. When your appetite is dysfunctional because of eating what everyone else eats your choices are to address the underlying problem or to "keep trying and failing," like so many of those other people are doing. You are fighting a very basic and powerful drive, and going about it that way you are going to lose, one way or another. You are fighting something else too, something that leads humans to do a lot of things not in their own best interests.

I struggled with my appetite for 40 years until I finally found what was causing the problem. You can find a lot of information here in the forum that will help.

 

[bronz]

Thank you GAWAN on answer,

what kind of fat do you eat?

how do you consume MgCl2 do you drink it? I find it that is common in sea water, thats why I have a good sugars when I'm on sea un summer

 

[Laura]

New book that has a section on dealing with diabetes: "The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Living" by Jeff S. Volek, and Stephen D. Phinney.

A few bits:

{the disease} is driven by inflammation and the diversion of dietary carbohydrate into secondary disposal pathways ... mechanistically linked ... damaging membranes, leading to insulin resistance.

...it follows that the optimum treatment of type 2 diabetes is reduced dietary carbohydrate intake. ... very low carbohydrate diets reduce the body's level of inflammation ... restricting carbohydrate intake reduces the total burden of glucose needing disposal taking the pressure off of secondary disposal pathways like lipogenesis.

... overt type 2 diabetes represents a more severe form of carbohydrate intolerance. This may mean that in its long-term management, daily carbohydrate intake has to be kept lower in a type-2 diabetic than in someone with less severe insulin resistance. But it also means that a well formulated low carbohydrate diet will tend to produce striking improvements when implemented in type-2 diabetics. ...

<skip studies and such>

This then brings us to the question: what is the proper diet formulation for the formerly diabetic individual on carbohydrate restriction going into the maintenance phase? The answer is that it is a diet adequate in energy, moderate in protein, and high in fat. The key question is: how much does one need to restrict carbohydrate long-term? Or put another way, how does the individual know if s/he is eating too much carbohydrate?

One way to assess this would be to monitor blood glucose values as one's weight loss slows, where the goal is to hold carbohydrates down to that level that keeps blood glucose in the normal range. ... but this may not be enough. ..

...it's great to have normal blood sugars, but this will only last if you also keep off the lost weight.

<skip some more. He talks about an experiment comparing two diets for helping diabetics, having the same protein levels and calories, but one providing 24 grams of carbs per day and the other containing 94 grams of carbs per day. >

Interestingly, despite the big difference in carbohydrate intakes between the two diets, the rates of weight loss were the same for the two diets. However fasting blood sugars, while coming down dramatically on both diets, were consistently lower on the lower carbohydrate diet. The lower carb diet also raised serum ketones about twice as much. Both diets reduced hepatic glucose output, but the ketogenic diet reduced it by 22% more.

There was a strong and highly significant negative correlation between blood ketones and hepatic glucose output. This means that the two diets identical in protein and total calories had distinctly different effects on type-2 diabetics based solely upon their differing carbohydrate contents. Thus, despite similar rates of weight loss, the diet providing 24 grams/day of carbs resulted in better diabetes control than the one providing 94 grams/day. The negative correlation between serum ketones and hepatic glucose output indicates that the nutritional ketosis induced by the greater degree of carbohydrate restriction more effectively reversed underlying hepatic insulin resistance.

As an aside, it is interesting to track the fate of this paper and is novel findings since it was published in 1996. Although it has not been refuted, this paper has been cited in the medical literature just 12 times, even as the prevalence of type-2 diabetes is increasing in the developed and developing nations at a torrid pace.

<skip more studies and stuff>

It is not uncommon to hear consensus experts say "We tried that diet, and it didn't work". But what do you expect when you ask a person to give up some of their favorite foods and change habits ingrained over decades, yet at the same time communicate to them (whether verbally or non-verbally) that you really don't believe these difficult life-style changes are necessary or safe?

...the prescription of added fat to the diet is equally important. This communicates to patients that dietary fat is good for them and a necessary part of their diet. While protein has an important role in satiety during weight loss dieting, it is nowhere near as effective as fat. So by adding 600 calories of fat to their daily diet, individuals who were burning upwards of 3000 calories per day achieved added satiety while still maintaining a sizable energy deficit.

... the addition of carbohydrates back into the diet in this cohort was strictly limited to a maximum of 40 grams. Biologically, particularly for individuals with severe insulin resistance or type-2 diabetes, this keeps them in ketosis and avoids their crossing back over that threshold where hepatic glucose output increases and diabetic control is lost.

Also important from a behavioral perspective, telling a person that they can progressively add more and more dietary carbohydrate means that they don't need to make their peace with not having it. Why are we then surprised when the average research subject in an outpatient carbohydrate restriction study given unlimited, open-ended access to carbohydrate foods starts regaining weight after 6 months?

Does this mean that everyone on a carbohydrate restricted diet needs to stay under 40 grams per day? Of course not. Individuals vary tremendously in their degrees of carbohydrate tolerance. ... For many patients starting out with type-2 diabetes, even after major weight loss and maintaining normal blood sugars for months, their underlying carbohydrate intolerance remains. That in turn means that these individuals will need to maintain a tight level of carbohydrate restriction (be it 30 grams, 60 grams or 90) for decades to remain healthy and non-diabetic.

It's a bit simplistic but helpful to view a low carbohydrate diet as the natural nutrient mix that a type-2 diabetic's body is wired to handle By restricting the primary source of the problem, everything gets better.

Important item: Some of us just need to make peace with the fact that we will NEVER be able to eat more than a few carbs per day.

 

[brainwave]

My great grandma was diabetic. She lived to her late 80's with it without taking medication.
It was controlled only with diet. For my great grand parents, most of their foods were grown on their property and they raised pigs, cows, goats and chickens. I grew to dislike meat because I'd seen them slaughtered growing up. . As I understand why they ate the way they did I've been incorporating it.

Bread was purchased fresh daily from the local bakery but she never ate it. That was for everyone else who needed their fix. She was not educated in the sense we view education today, but she knew to eat a LOT of meat (fatty ox tails, goat meat and pork) and veggies (mainly well cooked amaranth greens) and no rice, breads,potatoes or most fruits. They were also close to the sea, so lots of fish including high cholesterol shrimp was easy to be had. My mom used to say Mammie, as we called her, had a thing for fat. I remember as a child feeling bad that she couldn't have a banana or mango. It was hard to imagine not eating fruit when living in the Caribbean. She did eat lots of coconut from which she also made her standard cooking oil, soaps etc. We now cook with coconut oil or beacon grease at home and every time we make a meal the smell reminds me of her cooking.

One day she fell in the shower, ended up in a coma and then died a few days afterward. We thought the fall was due to diabetes induced coma. Her husband, my great grand dad lived to 103 with his hair and teeth intact and beautiful skin. He died in his sleep shortly after his birthday. Always thought the fact that they had little to no processed foods had a lot to do with their lives. It is more recently that I am beginning to really understand WHY their diets worked.

My grandma (mammie's daughter) also had diabetes. By her mid sixties she was going blind and died from complications related to the disease. Thing is she had years of a standard western diet and the medicine to treat her disease. Telling....

I hope you do the paleo diet. It is initially difficult. We have been working on it ourselves here, but it gets easier after a couple weeks when your body is better adjusted to the change.

Brainwave

 

[Gawan]

Thank you GAWAN on answer,

what kind of fat do you eat?

how do you consume MgCl2 do you drink it? I find it that is common in sea water, thats why I have a good sugars when I'm on sea un summer

Actually just the fat that comes with the meat and most often added with butter, but you may actually check out butter first if you can tolerate it.
No, MgCl2 is definitely not for drinking! It gets absorbed transdermal (via the skin). Have a look in the Magnesium topic too how to mix it. In my experience I'm using much, much more than it is recommended: 20 gr. of MgCl2 in about 200ml of distilled water.

The reason I started to use that kind of Mg was simply due to bypass my gut, cause of a suspected leaky gut.

 

[NewOrleans]

Thank you Brainwave. That was a very touching story about your grandmother and, most importantly, how one can make food choices that lead to a long life. I am doing this myself. I'm not a quitter and I don't backslide once a decision is made.

This is my last post for a while.

 

[Gawan]

"Diabetes Solution" by Dr. Bernstein

Actually it is a topic with crossing sections/categories, so it could fit in the book board and also here in diet & health, where it is posted now and the third is, it could fit in another Diabetes-topic as well, but imo deserves a topic of it's own.

I'm currently reading the book myself and do recommend it for other diabetics too, especially Type I, since Dr. Bernstein has the juvenile onset since many, many years and he provides information firsthand. He is writing about Type II diabetes as well.

What I'm planning to do is, when I'm going through the book posting here and there things I found interesting, regarding the diet that is partially explained in the "Life without bread topic" and provide my own experiences here, since I'm eating no sugar (dextrose tablets) in case of a hypoglycemia and how I deal with different things.

First thing I found is, how he measures blood sugar and how to prick your fingers, so he shows himself alternatives that are most often not mentioned or are glossed over for example from the ADA (American Diabetes association).

Here is one example (attachment), where he does prick his fingers.

Another thing I found, regarding vitamin C. He mentioned so far, that he doesn't recommend Vit C with a dose of more than 400mg per day:

Because the blood contains more recentlymade red cellsthan older ones, recent blood sugars have more of an effect on HgbAlc than do earUer blood sugars. The test value therefore levels off after about three months. Any ailment that hastens red blood ceU loss will cause a deceptive shortening of the time frame reflected by the HgbAlc. Such ailments include Uver and kidney disease, blood loss, hemoglo binopathies, et cetera. High doses of vitamins C and E can cause a de ceptive lowering.

p. 65

A f i n a l n o t e : Dietaryvitamin C is important to good health. In doses above 500 mg/day, however, vitamin C supplements can destroy the enzymes on blood sugar test strips and can also raise blood sugars. Fi- naUy, in levels higherthan about400 mg/day, vitamin C becomes an oxidant rather than an antioxidant and can cause neuropathies. If you arealreadytakingsupplementalvitaminC,Iurgeyoutotaperitoffor lower your dose to no more than 250 mg daily. Only use the timed- release form.

p. 81

Note: Do not expect accurate blood sugars (or HgbAlc) if you have been taking more than 250 mg per day of a vitamin C supplement. Readings will be lower than the true values.

Well, according to the diet section many of us following and taking up to 4gr. per day as I do myself too.

So I did search the web a bit, what others are saying about it:

High Doses of Vitamin C Supplement Increase Blood Glucose Levels

According to the July issue of Diabetes Care, high doses of supplementary vitamin C may cause an unexpected elevation of blood sugar levels and false diagnosis of type 2 diabetes.

Donald R. Branch, PhD, reports the case of a 49-year-old, slightly obese man who took high levels of vitamin C, causing high fasting (121 mg/dl) and after-meal (220 mg/dl) blood sugar levels. The man, who had earlier been diagnosed as a potential candidate for type 2 diabetes based on his age, obesity and repeat elevated blood sugar readings, had taken 4,500 mg. per day of a synthetic, unsweetened vitamin C product for the past five years.

The patient was asked to discontinue the supplement and, after seven days, morning blood sugar averages dropped to 99 mg/dl. He then restarted vitamin C supplements in dosages of 4,500 mg. per day, and morning blood sugars rose to 110 mg/dl. He discontinued the supplement again and, after one week, blood sugars dropped to 79 mg/dl.

Branch says that elevated blood sugars, as a result of taking such a high dose of vitamin C, "...could result in a misdiagnosis of diabetes and/or additional, unnecessary testing, as in this case." He adds that "..vitamin C-induced production of glucose may interfere in the glucose monitoring of true diabetic patients."

Branch says that the man reduced his vitamin C intake to 1,500 mg. per day, and his blood sugars returned to the normal range. He says that vitamin C, taken in dosages of 1,500 to 2,000 mg. per day, has been proven to effectively reduce blood sugar and HbA1c levels. Also, research suggests it prevents kidney injury in diabetic rats.

_http://www.diabeteshealth.com/read/1999/09/01/1630/high-doses-of-vitamin-c-supplement-increase-blood-glucose-levels/

Today I took it off as well and see myself how it goes. Simply to make some tests on my own. Alas many studys are done with Type II diabetics, so it is maybe not that good to assume the same results for Type 1.

Another article:

If you are already on medication or insulin, the additional benefits of taking a 1,000 mg vitamin C tablet every day may be limited. Also, vitamin C in your blood interacts with the enzymes in blood glucose test strips. Your glucometer readings may run 5-8 mg/dl below the actual blood sugar value. For best results, use an extended-release formula, and do not take more than 1,000 mg a day. Even better? Eat fresh fruit twice a day and take a 500 mg vitamin C tablet once a day.

_http://www.healthygoody.com/diabetes/vitaminc-normalrange-blood-sugar/

Fruit is at the moment not in my diet so I can skip this part. And as always, then there are other studies as well, which are stating that it helps:

OKLAHOMA CITY --Researchers at the Harold Hamm Oklahoma Diabetes Center have found a way to stop the damage caused by Type 1 diabetes with the combination of insulin and a common vitamin found in most medicine cabinets.

While neither therapy produced desired results when used alone, the combination of insulin to control blood sugar together with the use of Vitamin C, stopped blood vessel damage caused by the disease in patients with poor glucose control. The findings appear this week in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism and will be presented at the upcoming American Diabetes Association international conference in New Orleans.

"We had tested this theory on research models, but this is the first time anyone has shown the therapy's effectiveness in people," said Michael Ihnat, Ph.D., principal investigator and a pharmacologist at the OU College of Medicine Department of Cell Biology.

Ihnat said they are now studying the therapy in patients with Type 2 diabetes.

The goal of the work being done by Ihnat and British scientists from the University of Warwick led by Dr. Antonio Ceriello is to find a way to stop the damage to blood vessels that is caused by diabetes. The damage, known as endothelial dysfunction, is associated with most forms of cardiovascular disease such as hypertension, coronary artery disease, chronic heart failure, peripheral artery disease, diabetes and chronic renal failure.

Insulin and many other drugs have long been used to control blood sugar, but Ihnat in an earlier project with scientists in Italy and Hungary found that cells have a "memory" that causes damage to continue even when blood sugar is controlled. By adding antioxidants like Vitamin C, Ihnat found that cell "memory" disappeared and cell function and oxidation stress were normalized.

"We have speculated that this happens with endothelial dysfunction, but we did not know until now if it was effective in humans. We finally were able to test it and proved it to be true," Ihnat said. "For patients with diabetes, this means simply getting their glucose under control is not enough. An antioxidant-based therapy combined with glucose control will give patients more of an advantage and lessen the chance of complications with diabetes."

While researchers do suggest diabetic patients eat foods and take multivitamins rich in antioxidants like Vitamin C, they warn that additional study is needed. The Vitamin C utilized in their study was given at very high doses and administered directly into the blood stream, so it is unlikely someone would get similar results with an over-the-counter vitamin supplement.

The team is now working to determine how antioxidants work at the molecular level to halt the destructive chain reaction set in motion by high blood sugar levels. In addition, they are evaluating several other antioxidants with an ultimate hope that their work will translate into simple, effective and inexpensive treatments for the control of diabetes.

_http://normantranscript.com/local/x519047709/OU-researchers-stop-diabetes-damage-with-Vitamin-C

To the attachment (the pictures are missing on the original site) and how to measure B-S, see this site and Dr. Bernsteins description.

:Part 1:
:Part 2:

continued in next post…

 

[Gawan]

Re: "Diabetes Solution" by Dr. Bernstein

and this:

Although the biosynthetic relationship between glucose and ASC is absent in man, the glucose/insulin system does influ- ence ASC metabolism. In particular, the cellular uptake of
vitamin C is regulated by both glucose and insulin and the renal reabsorption of ASC is impaired by hyperglycemia. Evi- dence also suggests that vitamin C supplementation may be beneficial in countering the pathophysiologies resulting from the chronic hyperglycemia of insulin-dependent diabetes mel- litus (IDDM).

[…]

Hyperglycemia has been shown to inhibit ASC transport. This inhibition seems somewhat paradoxical given the evi- dence suggesting that insulin promotes both ASC and dehy- droascorbic acid (DHA) uptake by cells. The inhibition of ASC uptake by hyperglycemia was demonstrated in vitro in the absence of insulin and may not, therefore, be important in normal physiology. But, if a high plasma ASC in IDDM is uncoupled from insulin replacement then the hyperglycemic inhibition could have substantial implications for uptake. Hy- perglycemia is also known to enhance renal ASC losses.

[…]

Given the structural similarity between glucose and ASC and the knowledge that ASC is synthesized from glucose, it is not surprising to find an early focus on vitamin C status in individuals with IDDM. Two such early reports of patient populations found no evidence for an altered metabo- lism of ASC or an increased dietary requirement for vitamin C among IDDMs. Subsequent work suggested a need to more closely examine tissue ASC stores in the face of hyperglycemia as reviewed elsewhere. Since that review, Lysy and Zim- merman [18] reported that leukocyte ASC was low, on average, in IDDMs compared with nondiabetic controls when all sub- jects were consuming a diet estimated to provide 100 to 180 mg of vitamin C daily. Our data from two separate studies (Fig. 1) agree with this and, furthermore, suggest that a diminished tissue pool of ASC is a variable component of the pathophys- iology IDDM. While the mean mononuclear ASC concentra- tion is significantly (0.02) lower in IDDMs as a group, approximately one-quarter of the individuals with IDDM main- tain normal stores. As noted, the timing of insulin injections and hyperglycemic excursions may contribute to this variabil- ity. The clinical correlates to and the metabolic cause of the diminished ASC stores in the majority of subjects with IDDM are areas of ongoing research interest.

[…]

Among those therapies, strong evidence supports the likely efficacy of vitamin C supplementation.

[…]

In nondiabetics the effect of ASC supplementation is reported to be either significant [27] or nonsignificant [28]. Studies on diabetics similarly report significant [18,29] or nonsignificant [30] results.

ASC status depends on the interactions of dietary vitamin C intake, plasma insulin concentrations and glycemia. Insulin promotes the active cellular uptake of ASC whereas hypergly- cemia inhibits renal ASC reabsorption. In IDDM, an adequate dietary vitamin C intake is often associated with an unexpect- edly low ASC status [4,31] (Fig. 1). The roles of ASC as an aldose reductase inhibitor and a water soluble antioxidant in body fluids are potentially very important as adjuncts to tight glycemic control in the management of diabetes. Tissue satu- ration and maximal physiologic function in IDDM may require supplemental vitamin C intake above the amount recommended for healthy individuals.

Another study from 1973:

Ascorbic acid (vitamin C) appears to be associated with carbohydrate metabolism in humans since subjects with low circulating levels of ascorbic acid exhibit diabetic-like glucose tolerance curves which return to normal when the ascorbic acid deficiency is alleviated (1). Furthermore, it has been reported that excess ascorbic acid reduces the blood sugar level of both normal (2) and diabetic (3) subjects. Other work, however, indicates that vitamin C does not affect the blood sugar of diabetics (4). Here we report that orally administered ascorbic acid markedly reduced the insulin requirement of a juvenile-onset diabetic.

The principal author (Dice), in whom diabetes was diagnosed at 15, was the experimental subject. At the time of the experiment the subject was 20 years old and did not respond to oral hypoglycemic agents. His insulin requirement had been constant for four years (32 units of NPH U80 administered in a single morning injection).

In order to examine the hypoglycemic effect of ascorbic acid, progressively increasing amounts of ascorbic acid were ingested hourly from 7:00 AM to 1:00 AM. Control of the diabetes was maintained by reducing the daily insulin dosage in response to hypoglycemic reactions, and by increasing ascorbic acid consumption when glycosuria developed. In this manner a portion of the daily insulin dosage was gradually substituted by ascorbic acid.

Figure 1 illustrates one of two identical experiments in which a substantial insulin dosage reduction was made possible by progressively increasing ascorbic acid intake. On the 23rd day the insulin was entirely withheld and a total of 15 grams of vitamin C was ingested. Glycosuria and hyperglycemia occurred, and the next day the experiment was terminated. In contrast to the marked insulin reduction possible with concomitant vitamin C ingestion, when the insulin dosage was reduced from 32 units to 26 units without vitamin C, severe glycosuria developed.

_http://www.newtreatments.org/ga.php?linkid=233

Okay, to sum it up a bit. It looks like it is a case to case thing, how Vit C effects a diabetic human. To my experiences today without Vit C, my B-S has been worse and I almost couldn't correct it, also the infusion sets got inflamed in minutes and no insulin was given du to the inflammation. I took half an hour ago about 3gr. of Vit C and now the BS drops again, like if the insulin is now working. This is the data I collected today, there are as always may other factors as well which led to the inflammation of the infusion-sets and the non-easy-correctable B-S. Nonetheless, I try to take less, maybe just 1.5 gr per day and to see how it goes.

There are other studies as well, which confirm Vit-C and that it takes time until it shows it's effect in some diabetics (several months), restores damages due to diabetes and also the other way as well.


And last but not least here are some links from Dr. Bernstein:

Information with studies, data and the book

 

[Gawan]

Re: "Diabetes Solution" by Dr. Bernstein

I'm almost half way through the book and the main gist of Dr. Bernstein is, that diabetics should straighten out the blood-sugar (BG). That's the main reason why the author recommends a restricted carbohydrate diet, because a high-carb diet (with fast actings carbs) has severe effects on the BG, he explains it due to blood sugar swings and these can cause havoc in the body of a diabetic over time (neuropathy, kidney failure, retinopathy etc.). The ADA (american diabetes association) recommends a HgbA1c of about 6%-7% (with a formula calculated it is about 130-173 mg/dl in average), nonetheless this is much too high and according to Bernstein normal range, like healthy non-diabetics of 4.2%-4.6% (about 82,9 mg/dl) can be reached, which the ADA says it not possible cause they are diabetics. He puts it plainly "the recommandation of the ADA is "out of control". Also many doctors I visited say that my HgbA1c is perfect and I could be an example for other diabetics, well that means that many other patients have a much higher average and are at risk getting complications.

As I wrote, to straighten out the BG and to have no swings anymore is the main point, alas with carb meals and diabetes type I and II these swings are happening, cause the insulin needs time until it takes effect, so as a result the blood sugar is increasing. Bernstein, writes in the chapter "The Laws of Small Numbers":

Again, it's very difficult to use any medication safely unless you can predict the effect it will have. With insulin, this is as true of when you inject as it is of how much you take. If you're a recent-onset type 1 di abetic, fast-acting (regular) insulin can be injected 40-45 minutes prior to a meal tailored to your dietplan to prevent the ensuing rise in blood sugar. Regular, "fast-acting" insulin, despite its designation, doesn't act very fast, and cannot come close to approximating the phase I insulin response of a nondiabetic. To a lesser degree this is also true of the new,faster-acting lispro (Humalog),glulisine (Apidra),or aspart (Novolog) insulins. Still, these are the fastest we have. Small doses of regular start to work in about 45 minutes and do not finish for at least 5 hours; lispro starts to work in about 20 minutes and also takes at least 5 hours to finish. This is considerably slower than the speedat which fast-acting carbohydrate raises blood sugar.

Many years ago, John Galloway, then medical director and senior scientist of Eli Lilly and Company, performed an eye-opening experiment. He gave one injection of 70units of regular insulin(a very large dose) to a nondiabetic volunteer who was connected to an intra venous glucose infusion. Dr. Galloway then measured blood sugars every few minutes and adjusted the glucose drip to keep the patient's blood sugars clamped at90mg/dl. How long would you guess the glucose infusion had to be continued to prevent dangerously low blood sugars, or hypoglycemia?

It took a week, even though the package insert says that regular in sulin lasts only 4-12 hours. So the conclusion is that even the timing o f injected insulin is very much dependent upon how much was in jected. In practice, larger insulin injections start working sooner, last longer, and have less predictable timing.

So it is almost impossible to calculate how much and when to inject insulin with carb-food, which is connected also with the data of food-labels that they are not as accurate as the should be, with a plus/minus 20% of accuracy in the food-contents of total carbs.

That's the reason why Bernstein does and teaches a low-carb diet, without mentioning gluten at all (he cuts out bread cause of fast acting carbs) and also recommends aspartame and soy and has no problem with diet-sodas, from a footnote:

Many Websites falsely perpetuate the myth that aspartame is toxic because its metabolism produces the poison methanol. In reality, one 12-ounce can of an aspartame-sweetened soft drink generates only Vis as much methanol as does a glass of milk.

About soy:

Tofu, and Soybean Substitutes for Bacon, Sausage, Hamburger, Fish, Chicken, and Steak About half the calories in these products come from benevolent vegetable fats, and the balance from varying amounts of protein and slow-acting carbohydrate. […]

The reason, why Bernstein doesn't write about a no-carb and ketosis diet:

As stunning as it sounds — and unbelievable, given the popular media's recent love affair with a high "complex carbohydrate,"low-fat diet — you can quite easily survive on a diet in which you would eat no carbohydrate. There are essential amino acids and essential fatty acids, but there is no such thing as an essential carbohydrate. Furthermore, by sticking to a diet that contains no carbohydrate but has high levels o f fat and protein, you can reduce your cardiac risk profile — serum cholesterol, triglycerides, lipoprotein(a), LDL, et cetera— though you'd deprive yourself of all the supposed "fun foods" that we cravemost.* We've allbeen trained to think that carbohydrates are our best, most benign source o f food, so how can this be?

Footnote: * You'd also be missing the vitamins and other nutrients contained in low- carbohydrate vegetables, so a zero-carbohydrate diet is not in my ball game.

These are some weak points I found, nonetheless with the data of the forum it is an excellent addition and a must have for diabetics, cause he writes about many things I haven't heard of myself. He writes it again plainly, unfortunately I couldn't find the sentence anymore, so it is paraphrased:

A diabetic should have as much knowledge as a doctor about diabetes

:)

 

[Laura]

Re: "Diabetes Solution" by Dr. Bernstein

So, even Dr. Bernstein is not fully up to speed... typical. But you've found some good stuff there, nonetheless. Maybe you can end up writing your own book about it?