Super Low Carb (or VLCHF - Very low carbohydrate, high fat) is Working for me!

Since the day after the day after my Diabetes education class I have been eating a very low carbohydrate diet (between 20 and 30 clean carbs per day).  As a result, I have lost 4 lbs. and my fasting blood sugars have dropped 60 points.  CRAAAAZZY!!  I have been researching articles on the benefits of vlchf diets in managing bg levels and all evidence including my own self experimentation point to it being the answer.

One thing I should mention is that since being very low carb, my appetite which used to be ravenous, is now mostly non-existent.  This is the key to weight loss on a low carb diet.  My portion sizes are about 1/4th of what they used to be and I usually feel completely satisfied before I finish eating.  I'm pushing my self away from the table realizing BEFORE the food is gone and I am not only satisfied but I am no longer interested in finishing even if its DELICIOUS!

This makes me REALLY mad at these educators and the ADA.  I can only imagine the number of people with Diabetes that have followed the advice of these educators only to find they are unable to manage their bg, and resign themselves to a life of worsening symptoms and affects, upping of meds and deterioration of overall health until their untimely demise.

Who's lining their pockets?  The department of agriculture?  The pharmaceutical companies? Both?
The controversies of the high carb low fat, low carb high fat diets have been ongoing for a hundred years and based on my research we are no closer to solving the mystery for the general population of the world now than we were then.  Personally I have come full circle, the high carb low fat diet did work for me when I was in my early 20s.  Since then, not so much and I managed to get to my largest when I was a vegetarian.

There are tons of books, articles, blogs and health studies out there.  Do your own research.
I'm no expert and I'm no doctor, but I know that lowering carbohydrates in my diet is working for me, and I'll keep you updated on my progress.
So though my information is not new, its new to me and I'd like to figure out a way to bring it out to more people.  People should know that telling your diabetes education nurse, also diabetic and morbidly obese, that she's wrong about needing to eat 210 starchy carbs a day, is OK.

Middle finger to the American Diabetes Association and the NCBDE

So yesterday I read an article which stated that the ADA acknowledged the fact that people with Diabetes are better off eating a low carbohydrate diet and when pressed for why they continue to have their educators teach a high carbohydrate diet (a staggering 210 Carbs per day...) they said it was because they believed that people could not maintain a low carbohydrate diet long term and they believe that 45 - 60 total carbs per meal is actually a reduction in carbohydrates for most people.

In my class it wasn't represented that way.  The nurse saw that I was not eating 200 carbs a day and said that I was not eating enough only because it didn't come near the guidelines for what she was taught to teach.  She didn't understand that those guidelines originate from a desire to have people realistically decrease their carbohydrate intake.
She told me that if my bg level went down while sleeping (because I didn't have a bag of popcorn before bed ...24+ carbs and glycemic index of 72) my liver would release sugar into my body which is why I was having high morning readings....it wont take a rocket scientist or much time to prove that wrong.  What if there is no sugar in my liver to release into my bloodstream because I'm not eating 210 carbs a day!?

And why would the National Certification Board of Diabetes Educators not try to teach low carbohydrate diets to diabetes patients?  I highly doubt our being cured would put them out of business with as many high carb eaters stepping up to the diabetes plate every day.
Shame on them and the ADA for not believing we can be strong enough to take our lives and our health into our own hands!  We are not children...well not all of us.  

Tuesday I managed to choke down 100 carbs as I stated in my last blog.  As a result, my fasting bg the next morning was 204.  Yesterday I consumed <30 carbs and this morning my fasting bg was 30 points less than yesterday.  I'll be tracking it all week as I shoot for a carb intake of <30.  My liver still has a hangover from Tuesday's binge so after the poison is released from my system I believe that the number will go way down.

I can barely contain my outrage at the gross lies being spread all over the country by people who are supposed to be experts, by people who are supposed to be counseling the sick and the dying!  What a bunch of crap!  After I cure my own diabetes, I'll have to get my blood pressure problem under control which I only developed over this past week!

"Diabetes Education" or "How to kill yourself slowly while making insulin producers rich"

I recently took a Diabetes Education class meant to teach me how to get my blood sugars under control.
I had to fill out a "Sample Diet". which is an example of what I might eat in a day.  I should mention that a few months prior to my diagnosis I made the decision to cut grain out of my diet, especially wheat while starting an exercise regimen.  It took a really long time but I managed to lose about 25 lbs.

Anyway, the nurse doing the education class looked at my example diet and said "well I can tell you you aren't eating enough carbohydrates".
This confused me and as I looked at the book she gave me printed by the American Diabetes Association, I was dumbfounded by all the grain foods and sugar foods they listed there.  WHHAAAAAT?
I told her I would not eat grains because the elimination of grains lifted the perpetual fog in my head along with a bunch of other crappy health symptoms I had been having.
She told me I should be eating 210 grams of carbohydrates per day...and that doesn't include the carbs in Milk, Cheese or non starchy vegetables!!!   (Carbohydrates in non-starchy vegetables apparently don't count.)
Why don't I just put a pistol in my mouth and be done with it?  I was stunned!  It would normally take me more than four days to eat that many carbohydrates...which I only figured out when I thought about what I really eat in a given day and started a new food journal.  I was too dumbfounded to even argue, or maybe I was just being polite...either way, I needed to digest the information, which was probably about a 75 on the Glycemic Index...
Well I tried it for a day, I could only make myself consume about 100 carbs including the carbs in some brussel sprouts (which I really wasn't supposed to count).... and the next morning my fasting blood sugar was so high I almost had a heart attack....or went into some kind of sugar coma!

I think the ADA needs to learn about the Glycemic Index and educate people based on that.  Why would they recommend these blood sugar spiking foods to people with insulin resistance and damaged pancreas'?  Pharmaceutical company lobbyists??  I mean how many people fall for this?
How is it that the NURSE believed this garbage, I mean she was smart enough to get her RN!  How could she be so duped!

So lets talk about the glycemic  index.
Here is the definition of the GI according to http://www.glycemicindex.com
The glycemic index (GI) is a ranking of carbohydrates on a scale from 0 to 100 according to the extent to which they raise blood sugar levels after eating.

With pure glucose being at 100, anything below 50 is considered to be in the healthy range:
My educator was recommending, grains, peas, corn, corn tortillas, beans and white potatoes to me to make sure I got all my 210 carbs in.
Lets look at the GI and see how solid that advice is.

Recommended foods:
GI for Baked potatoes:   85
GI for Whole Wheat Bread: 71
GI for Corn Flakes: 93
Cream of Wheat: 74
Grape Nuts: 75
Corn Tortilla: 52
Corn on the cob: 60
Peas: 51
Rice:  White: 89  Brown: 50

Here are the GI numbers for what I usually eat:
eggs: 0
Low fat cheese: 0
low fat plain yogurt: 14
Butter: 0
Blueberries: 53
Raspberries: Little to no carbohydrate and low GI ( all I could find)
Grilled Chicken:  0
Ground Beef: 0
Almonds: 0
Pecans: 0
Walnuts: 0
Cashews: 22
Turkey: 0
Ham: 0
Fish: 0
Bacon: 0
Tomato: 38
Broccoli: 10
Spinach: <10
Bananas: 52
Silk Almond Milk: 30
Coconut milk: 40

The GI for a Snickers bar is 55:
You are better off eating a Snickers bar than eating any of the following:
Baked potato
Wheat bread
Corn Flakes
Cream of Wheat
White rice
Grape nuts
Corn on the cob

Would you tell someone with diabetes they should eat a snickers bar to help control their blood sugar??
Of course NOT!!  Then why would they tell me (and the other diabetics taking their "Education class") to eat any of the things I listed above which were recommended to me?

Growing a spine and speaking plainly is the new "Black"

How tired am I of the politically correct, beat around the bush, mince words, candy coating candy asses I'm made to deal with in every day society!?  Like Rip Van Winkle tired...before his 20 year nap!
Why can't we seem to get anything done anymore?  People don't express their opinions without censoring them and so all the time that we have to take to decode what they really mean is wasting our lives away.   The "We don't want to offend...." mentality is cutting through my very last nerve and all I want to know is where are the brave plain speakers?  Am I the only one brave enough to express whats on my mind?  When did we become a society of coddling candy asses?

Not everyone should get a TROPHY!  LOSERS don't get trophies!  This is how we learn disappointment. This is how we learn to redirect our disappointment to motivation to WIN.  This is how we motivate kids to succeed!

  Kids SHOULD ATTEND FUNERALS!  This is how they learn that death is REAL!  This is how they learn that death is a natural part of life.  This is how they understand that death is permanent!  Maybe if they understood that, they wouldn't be shooting each other.  Did it ever occur to anyone that the problem isn't gun control, its the lack of parental guidance and the perception of youth that death isn't real, its surreal.  Why would you shelter your children from death...real death?  If you do, YOU ARE A MORON and you aren't doing your children or our society any favors!

I'm not saying we should not have tact, I'm a big fan of tact... really I am.  I spent many years developing my own tact.  But sometimes the situation demands plainness and telling it like it is.  The Emperor is NAKED people!!!