The American Diabetes Association…Diabetic Diet

I’m a diabetic and when first diagnosed, my doctor started me on medication and put me on a special diet, a diet pretty much devoid of carbs. This was pretty much a bummer since I was big carb addict. It had some very good effects though. In a three-month period, I was able to go off all meds. This was great, but of course being human, I slipped off the diet and the blood sugar went up. So for about a year I was on diet, off diet, on diet….which meant that my blood sugar was up, down, up, down. Fortunately though, it never became as high or out of control as when I was first diagnosed, that is until I decided I’d take charge of my health and went to the American Diabetes Association website.

On that site, I found the recommended diet for diabetics. I thought, oh great, I can eat all these carbs and control my diabetes too! I was on the diet for two months and during those months, I gained 20 pounds and my blood sugar became extremely erratic. It soared to over 300 on most days and at times would drop into the 40s. I didn’t understand this, as I was following the diet to the letter. I pretty much lost hope and decided there was no chance to avoid insulin shots and the horrible complications of diabetes. I could see a future where I lost my sight or perhaps a limb, finally dying from insulin shock or diabetic coma. Not a rosy picture.

It finally dawned on me that when I was watching those carbs, my diabetes had been under control. I went off the recommended diet and decided to go back to a very low carb diet, not eating anymore than 60 grams of carbs a day. And those 60 grams were usually in the form of green veggies, sweet potatoes, salad, whole grain bread or fruit. The 20 pounds I’d gained were gone in the first month and my blood sugar stabilized, not ever being over 150 and that was usually the dreaded, fasting AM blood sugar.

When I went in and had my A1C test, it came back at 6.4. My doctor said it was excellent. This got me to wondering why such a diet as the one on the American Diabetes Association website would ever be recommended to diabetics. I could maybe see the large drug companies that sell insulin recommending this diet. It would keep type II diabetics insulin dependent just like the type one diabetics. But why would the American Diabetes Association recommend this diet? I’ll let your own intelligence figure that one out.

Perhaps you've been on this diet and it worked wonders for you. I would love to hear your story if this is so.

©2006 Elizabeth Parsons