Group Modera I've deleted the comments, but wanted to address something. Patricia just perfectly addressed the issue of eating off-plan foods even if they don't currently cause spikes (our primary goal is glucose management, but a close second is to prevent the progression of insulin resistance).That leads me to my point: we're not all different. Sorry but that's a myth. We are all at different stages of the progression of diabetes, but diabetes works the same for everyone with type 2.

More carbs requires more insulin, so if you're eating high carb foods like apples or potatoes, you're forcing your body to use more insulin. This will makes you more and more insulin resistant every time you do it.

No one really disputes this, they just think it's inevitable.

You can have normal numbers. And you can significantly slow or even stop the progression of your insulin resistance. You can't do either of those things eating apples, potatoes, bananas, or any of the other foods that cause insulin and glucose spikes.  A. Wells

Another Success Story

In August I was out of shape gaining weight and sugars up to 300 with an A1C of 12 and on Metformin. No motivation and depressed, actually looking different in the face and body.

Today my A1c is at a 5.7, I’m over 30 lbs down with muscle gain and confidence and NO METFORMIN. Oh, yeah, also fitting my clothes that i haven’t been able to fit in some years is a real confidence boosters. I owe a lot to this group for the WOE that you guys helped with.

I’m not gonna lie when I first joined I was like “WTH??? Crazy people” now I realize how important this is to getting rid of our symptoms of Diabetes.
Thank You once again

B. Palmer

Some not-so-fun truths we have to accept when we get diabetes.
1. No one cares about your health as much as you do. Not your family, not your doctor, not your spouse/partner. No one. Don't expect them to change their diet for you. Don't expect them to understand. They should listen to you, stand by you, and accept your choices. If you're in a position where those around you care more than you do: start caring more.
2. The ADA recommends all sorts of things that are going to c...ause long term damage. Fruits, grains (even free range cage free organic wild-caught steel cut grains pressed with unicorn dreams), sweet potatoes, quinoa, etc are not good. They will cause you to spike either your blood sugar, insulin, or (most likely) both.

3. The ADA recommended target blood sugar levels will lead to long term complications. There are plenty of people in this group who can vouch for that. Got an A1c of 6.9 and been happy with that for years? Great, try for lower.
4. If your doctor told you that you don't need to test often, he was wrong. He can afford to be wrong about this.
You can't.

Adam W

CARBS ARE ADDICTIVE

One last thing. Carbs are extremely addicting and it's very difficult to say goodbye to those favorite foods of the past. Many struggle in the beginning with all of this. Some describe that carb craving as being worse than trying to go clean after using street drugs. If you fall one meal, pick yourself up and keep trying. The important thing is to try and avoid them as much as possible, because every time you give in then your body will crave them even more and more. I am to the point in my journey that some of their smells now make me physically ill. Yes I do have my treats that are sweet, but don't use them in the beginning as you start this journey. Your mind and body aren't ready for that yet. At some point you can have those, I promise. But in the beginning you need to get yoru body into a healthier place than it is now.

P Mason Explanation of an A1C (clinical laboratory scientist)

 I am a retired Clinical Laboratory Scientist so this is my area of expertise. The a1c is a bit complicated to explain in lay terms but I'll try to simplify it. You've all been told it is a 3 month average of your blood glucose. That's a very general description. The reason is that in most people, red blood cells have an average life span of 3 months. Like hair growth varies from person to person, not everyone's red blood cells live exactly 3 months....that life is influenced by many things, but 3 months is a "ballpark" average. We are constantly producing new red cells, while some have peaked, some are deteriorating, some near death. They're in different stages of life at any given time. So....whereas a normal glucose test measures glucose circulating in the blood in plasma or serum...the liquid part of blood, the a1c uses a completely different methodology to measure just the glucose that attaches & sticks to only the red cells. Bear in mind, that as red cells mature & get near death, they begin to shrink, fragment & break down. They have less surface area for glucose molecules to adhere to. Younger cells, are larger, rounder, & have more surface area for glucose to adhere to so they obviously will have the highest concentrations of glucose. So, since red cells have a life cycle of approximately 3 months, the a1c is measuring the amount of glucose attached to red cells of varying age, size & shape....some have more, others have less. The thing most doctors don't tell you because they may not know, or simply don't take the time to explain, is that since the newest red cells are the biggest, they have the largest concentration of glucose. What's this all mean? Yes, it's about a 3 month average, but the cells that are 4-6 weeks old account for the majority of that average, because they carry the largest amount of glucose due to their size. Basically, since it's an average of all the cells, the newer ones carry more weight. 3 month average yes, but the largest factor of the a1c result is focused on the previous 4-6 weeks. Hope that makes sense. As a side note, people with certain irregularities of their red blood cells such as anemia, & other conditions, may have false low or highs on their a1c results, due to irregularities in number, size or shape of their red cells.

Nancy K

Are your doctors and dieticians going to support this way of eating-probably not. Doctors get no nutritional training in pre-med, residency or post medical degree. The majority of their knowledge comes from nurses, dieticians and their mother. The dieticians are trained by the ADA to eat more carbs, usually between 180 to 200 grams daily. The ADA views diabetes as a progressive disease and if your bs are high eating those carbs its' because they haven't found the right combination of medications for you yet. No I'm not going to tell you to lie to them, in fact what many tell them is that you are watching what you eat, and portion control and that makes them very happy. In time as you get control, your A1C is dropping and your labs are normal you can begin to bring up the subject of how you are doing it. There are some doctors that totally support this way of eating, as they have been reading the literature that they get monthly about diabetes and it's treatments.

Nancy K. on cholesterol

Just now

Now for fats. I know that many may be worried about heart disease and weight gain eating a lot of fats. Here's the good news the old thoughts of a low fat diet are false, it doesn't prevent heart disease-as long as it's good fats. Good fats include: coconut oil, avocado oil, olive oil, real butter, full fat cream cheese and sour cream, avocados, block cheese.

On warning: If you don't lower your carbohydrate intake to less than 50 grams daily for at least 1 week prior to increasing your good fats you are putting your long term health at risk. The combination of the two will drastically increase your triglyceride and cholesterol levels, and you can experience strokes and heart attacks.

Fats will become your body fuel. Fats in a meal will keep you feeling full as the foods we now choose to eat will not keep us satisfied for long periods of time. Fats do not increase your bs like proteins and carbohydrates do.

http://articles.mercola.com/…/…/05/28/cholesterol-heart.aspx

http://thelowcarbdiabetic.blogspot.co.uk/…/dietary-intake-o…

http://www.diabetesselfmanagement.com/…/fear-of-fat-a-fre…/…

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/…/I-wrong-feasting-FAT-says-The-…

http://www.eufic.org/…/Study-no-association-dietary-satura…/

http://www.mendosa.com/blog/?p=3637