About 5 years ago I had some routine labs done and they found a ramdom glucose of 126. That seemed a litle high so they did a OGGT. It came back a little high, so they had me do one every 6 months. Meanwhile, I did "all the right things" at least according to the ADA website. But my blood sugars kept going up. My fastings were getting to the 130 range. WhenI came back with a OGGT of 198, I knew I had to take matters into my own hands. I'm an RN, so I started doing my own researchinstead of beleive conventional wisdom, which clearly wasn't working.
I ended up eliminating all grains, all sugar, and basically all processed foods. I just eat food that I can kill or pick. If it comes in a can or box, I don't eat it. I eliminated fruit, which is full of sugar and just eat some berries on rare occasions.
4 Months later, I had the OGGT test done. I was nervous about it, but by then I had picked up a meter to monitor my blood sugar. This time th OGGT came back as 100. Anything below 140 is considered normal.
I've been eating like thins ever since then. Blood sugars are always normal (I still check from time to time). I've lost 30lbs of fat from my gut that I was in denial that I needed to lose. My B/P is down from 135/95 to 110/65. I've started Karate last summer and have more energy than ever. I look better than any of my 50 year old friends, most who have typical middle age guts and heart disease.
What I find sad is that the ADA still encourages whole grains. Maybe one day they'll come around and realize that anyone suffering from blood sugar issues can't eat grains, and in fact grains aren't good for anyone. Until then, you must be assertive and take charge of your own health. Get your blood sugar down, radically alter your diet, and make sure your insulin level is low (below 5) as well. Low blood sugar is pointless if your insulin level is high.
First of all, I wanted to say good job for losing the weight and taking control! I started doing low carb (not no carb) a couple months back and have had great success as well. The only sources of carbs I try to get are beans, milk and the occasional sugar free candy/fudge pop. Since then, I've decreased my metformin by half (only 1000mg/day now) and lost some weight along the way.
What I really wanted to say though is that the ADA is trying and they have come a long way because if you take a look at the following link: http://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/31/Supplement_1/S3.full.pdf+html you will see that in the summary of revisions that the ADA made for recommendations to PwD's, it now says that they recommend going low carb for up to a year (third colum, half way down under Approach to Treatment section). I think this time frame is not long enough but at least it's a start.
Keep up the good work.
Shilpa
"For weight loss, either low-carbohydrate or low-fat calorie-restricted diets may be effective in the short-term (up to 1 year). (A)"
So are they saying that either are equally effective? Low fat and low carb are not the same. And notice that they say "for weight loss" not "glycemic control". They also advocate statins for those over 10 years of age. This is insanity. Statins will hasten ill heart health with it's interruption of the pathway that creates CQ10. Besides that, if you wan to drop your lipids like a rock, eliminate grains. That's how I dropped mine to 44.
And note that "low carb" to the ADA still means over 100 grams a day. That's NOT low carb. 50-60 is low carb.
They make millions from donations and fees (I have their 2008 statement) from pharmaceutical companies (who benefit from people having diabetes).
Make no mistake, the ADA is not about to change. The Semmelweis reflex is alive and well at the ADA, and most physicians and other entities that try to decide how we shoul eat.