UnderSix

You can live well with Diabetes

Gastric Bypass Marketed as Cure for Diabetes (Yeah, Right!)

Apr 22

Posted by T. Knew in Concequences of Misinformation, Trash Marketed to Diabetics | No Comments

I wasn’t going post about this, because Tom’s article and Jenny’s article kinda beat me to the punch, but I was hunting around on Linked In today, looking for groups about Diabetes, and found a group titled “Gastric Bypass Surgery.”  What made me angry was the following sentence in the description:  “This bariatric procedure is the ‘gold standard’ to beat obesity and diabetes.”

Seriously?!  The ‘gold standard’ indeed.  For my readers who aren’t aware, the entire basis for gastric bypass is based on flawed logic to begin with.  The commonly shared mis-information is that diets high in fat make you gain weight, so the original concept of gastric bypass was to (a.) make your capacity for food storage much smaller, so that you would get full on a thimble full of food and not want food as much; and (b.) bypass the duodenum making your body practically incapable of absorbing dietary fat, (or some other important vitamins and minerals at that.)  Ideologically, people lose weight because they can’t eat as much in one setting.

A side effect, that they are trying to tout now as a medical miracle is that this surgery eliminates dependence on Type 2 Diabetes medications.  60 minutes even did a story about how the operation cured Diabetes and reduces cancer risk. The thing that the retard doctors don’t seem to get, (probably as a side effect of decades of bad dietary doctrine,) is that the weight loss and the improved blood sugars is a result from the mandatory post-operation diet.  After undergoing this procedure, your tiny “food sack” doesn’t have any tolerance for a bunch of sugary beverages or starchy foods.  You could try to eat carbs, but you would probably just throw it back up.  Also, of course it reduces cancer risk.  Excessive glucose in the bloodstream feeds cancerous cells like wildfire.

Long story short, if you’re considering this, don’t do it! There are way too many risks and complications involved when you can still lose weight and reduce cancer and diabetes risk by just cutting out the carbs.  Read Tom’s link above.  He’s funnier than I am, but I hope he didn’t give himself a concussion while he was writing it.

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Fighting Low-Carb Boredom

Feb 2

Posted by T. Knew in Life and Diet | No Comments

I’m a guy that tends to crave variety when it comes to what I eat.  I have found that one of the most frustrating aspects of trying to maintain a low-carbohydrate diet is that nobody else in the free world seems to make many options available.  Going out to eat, I may only have one or two items on the menu that are actually appropriate to my dietary needs.  Shopping at the grocery store, I almost have to totally ignore the aisles of food and stick with the produce, meat, dairy, and frozen sections.  In fact, there are always options galore for a “food pyramid” based diet, but should one want to keep the glucose spiking foods at a minimum, options are somewhat limited.

So, how does one maintain a minimal carb intake level without getting bored to tears by eating almost the same few meals over and over again?  The best tool to accomplish this is a little something called foresight.  If you plan ahead, and stock yourself up on specialty products, you can actually have a great deal of dietary options when it comes to putting your meals together.  There’s a website I like a lot called Netrition.com.  They carry a vast array of low carb products, from artificial sweeteners, baking products, condiments, and candy.  If you’re looking to add variety, but keep the carbs at a minimum, there’s a bunch of stuff there to try and reviews to let you know what others think of the products.

Another helpful source of meal ideas is the low-carb friends board.  This support board has a bunch of recipe ideas and cooking suggestions for cutting the carbs and still keeping the meal plan fresh.  There’s also a discussion forum on there for Diabetes, which is cool.

Just plan ahead, and your diet won’t get boring.  Eat fast food or regular grocery store stuff, and expect it to be a little more challenging, but if you do get invited out to dinner at casa, or subway, there are options.  Just check out the forum.

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Wouldn’t Touch Glucerna with a 10 foot pole.

Jan 21

Posted by T. Knew in Trash Marketed to Diabetics | No Comments

Box of Glucerna Shakes

Box of Glucerna shakes I would find at my local drug store

So, one of the things that almost always amuses me when I visit my local grocer or drug store is Glucerna products.  Pick up one of their carbtastical products, and you’ll find marked clearly on the box, “For people with Diabetes.”  Are they serious?  How is consuming carbohydrate supposed to help you maintain healthy blood sugar targets, or a lower A1c score?  Well, I guess if you follow the American Diabetic Association logic, It’ would be somewhat “healthy.”  But the part I get even less than that, is their recommended meal plans on their web site.

Even by their completely lax, outdated, and ridiculous standards, the ADA recommends starting at a mind boggling 45-60 grams carbohydrate per day!  I assumed three squares a day and entered the maximum 60 grams per meal, (so 3×60=180), into their carb choices calculator, and I only came out to 12 “carb choices.”  The lowest the carb choices get on their sample 1900 calorie meal plan is 15.7!  To get that high, I have to consume somewhere around 235 grams of carbohydrate in a single day!  Food pyramid anyone?

And what’s the deal with the Cereal?  Really?!  Cereal?  That’s probably about as good for diabetics as eating, well, 1/8 a cup of sugar.  I mean the nutrition label reads 10 grams of sugar.  Since when was it okay for diabetics to consume sugar?  Don’t tell me any of that crazy “heart healthy” nonsense either.  You should see what Cardiologist Dr. William Davis has to say about where breakfast cereal belongs.  Also look at this article about Smart Start being not so smart.

I guess this would all make sense, if you were a subscriber to the theory that carbohydrates are the only source of energy for the body, but despite what your Diabetes educator might have told you, that’s not true.  They seem to COMPLETELY disregard the body’s capability to produce energy that it needs through a process called gluconeogenesis, which is funny, because there are fancy designer diabetes drugs on the market designed to inhibit this process in the liver.  So all that nonsense about needing to have carbs in your diet, or you’ll starve your brain is garbage science.

When I see Glucerna in my local walgreens, I pick up a box, look at the nutrition panel, chuckle loudly in the aisle, and put it back shaking my head.  It actually makes me sad that there may be “People with Diabetes” that actually buy into that nonsense.  Isn’t that what we’re here for?

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The 21st Century Dark Age of Medicine

Jan 19

Posted by T. Knew in Medical Misinformation | No Comments

Some people, who know me well, know that I hate most doctors.  I am in the process right now of trying to find a doctor that will get behind me in treating my Diabetes effectively.  It’s sad, however when I know more about effective Diabetes care than licensed experts in internal medicine and endocrinology, and also sad that they attempt to discourage me from properly caring for myself because of their age old misconceptions.

Just a few months ago, I went to visit an endocrine specialist that was covered under my limited insurance.  I sat and explained to her what kind of dietary goals I had, blood sugar targets, and the medicines I wanted to try to maintain my blood sugar goals.  Instead of getting any support what-so ever, I was told that my blood sugar targets were too low because I run the risk of hypo too much, my carb targets were too low because I’m gonna starve my brain, but at least she gave me samples of the meds I asked about.  A week later, I decided that I shouldn’t be stressed out at the thought about whether my doctor was going help me live well with diabetes, so I cancelled my follow up appointment.

Now, some folks are trying to suggest that gastric bypass surgery is a possible cure for Type 2 Diabetes.  Not because it’s a good idea, but because they accidentally got the diet part correct because of the crazy side effects of gastric bypass.  Truth is, if you actually skip the useless surgery, and just use the mandatory post op diet, you’ll have better success with Diabetes management and weight loss.  For some retarded reason that I can’t fathom or understand, these doctors can’t connect the dots!

It’s not the doctors’ fault entirely though.  They went to medical school, and had a lot of their material sponsored by big pharma, which is part of the MASSIVE problem with our current health care industry.  The drug companies, don’t give a rats about helping anyone get well, they want people to have a long term dependence on fancy designer drugs, so you will be forced to continue to pay for them indefinitely.

So what happens at medical school?  Apparently they are teaching the doctors to treat the symptoms, but ignore the underlying issues at play causing them.  Example:  Man enters doctors office, and gets tested with high cholesterol.  Doctor, being unhappy with cholesterol numbers decides to prescribe some fancy cholesterol lowering statin, and suggest he eats more whole grains.  Man’s cholesterol lowers slightly, but condition still deteriorates because the original cause of the increase is never investigated or looked into.

It’s like this with almost any medical condition or chronic disease.  The understanding of how to treat these diseases is almost limited to studies funded entirely by drug companies with a financial interest in selling drugs.  The government doesn’t make it any better.  Single interest groups and lobbyists cripple congress from doing anything useful or for the greater good, because the politicians are afraid that they won’t get their campaign contributions when it comes time to campaign for reelection.

So we live in an era where we are treated, but not cured, because staying sick is more profitable, and it’s a tragedy!  I guess if cures for chronic diseases actually do come along, it will be thanks to some researchers outside of the U.S.

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