Anyone find things like youtube helpful or harmful?

[zoombapup]

So since I was diagnosed about 5 weeks ago, I went looking for information about diabetes. One of the places I tend to go to for information believe it or not is Youtube. I do that because it is one area where there is unfiltered information still (to some extent). Which means you tend to get both sides of an argument if you are careful and look for them.

I found a channel called "Beat Diabetes" that turned me on to the "test test test" mindset and I found it pretty convincing in terms of low carb diet because the guy on the channel tested different meals.

Now that I'm getting a bit more relaxed and looking around a bit wider, I'm seeing a load more of the "keto" thing being recommended. Basically low carb high fat. But here's where it gets a bit murky, because most of this sounds like "this might be sensible" but leaves me with a bad taste because most of the people on there are trying to sell either a book or a lifestyle site or something.

So I guess my question is about who to trust in terms of advice? It seems that a great many of the users on this forum don't really trust a lot of the medical advice because it seems out of kilter with their own experience (and more importantly their BG monitor).

Who do you guys trust for info? I guess my guidance has to be the monitor and testing for myself, but I wonder if these keto and lchf and intermittent fasting things are actually productive. I'm happy to go with "eat a ton of veg and as few carbs as possible", but going for fatty cuts of meat seems counterproductive still.

Just curious I guess?

 

[Ralph-YK]

I don't and wouldn't watch YouTube videos for medical information. Nor would I look that widely online generally.
Anyone can post anything. Even if it used to be "good" advice it could be out dated.
Basically I don't trust online info that much.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

I think it’s prudent to treat anything you read online (including here!) with a degree of doubt, and to sense-check it and see if there are alternative motives.

Having said that I’ve found very useful info and support everywhere - including YouTube!

 

[Lucy Honeychurch]

I found the accu-chek tutorials for changing my pump carts, cannula's etc very helpful when I first went on a pump, especially as I'm more visual and the hand book was massive!

 

[Jon-Manchester]

As a new T1, I have found YouTube extremely helpful, it has made me feel less alone and as good as forums are, I find videos more engaging. As long as you recognise that they are just ‘normal’ people posting their thoughts and views, I think they are fine

 

[trophywench]

Any advice from anyone anywhere just needs us all to remove our everyday head and screw on our Vulcan head. Does what the thing says, sound logical, based on what you already know about the subject having gleaned that from trustworthy sources?

If not then it's probably best not to immediately throw yourself at that way of doing whatever it is. If it still holds some appeal, run it past a group of or a selection of people you think might know a bit more than you!

 

[Jodee]

I think you need to go to reliable sources initially like diabetes.org.uk home pages.
if you are in the uk NHS pages
Ask your doctor or nurse for referral to Desmond course or do a self referral to the Xpert course

Or if you don't live in the UK go to the equivalent reliable sources in the country you reside.

 

[Drummer]

The problem with low fat is that it isn't a natural way to eat - we can live off fatty meat and nothing else, if we have to - it nourishes brain and body - unlike carbohydrate heavy, low calorie diets.
The term keto is just short for ketosis, meaning fat burning.
The idea that eating fatty meat is counter productive when it could to good health is perhaps something to test out for yourself - though I eat meat, fish seafood eggs and cheese, full fat yoghurts, and a small amount of very healthy carbohydrate foods - all different colours of mostly overground growing plantlife.

 

[Eddy Edson]

I think you need to go to reliable sources initially like diabetes.org.uk home pages.
if you are in the uk NHS pages
Ask your doctor or nurse for referral to Desmond course or do a self referral to the Xpert course

Or if you don't live in the UK go to the equivalent reliable sources in the country you reside.

I think the American Diabetes Association site is pretty good: https://www.diabetes.org/diabetes

Not least the nutrition section: https://www.diabetes.org/blog/what-can-i-eat

Obviously some US-specific things won't be relevant, but as a general starting point, free of doubts about people selling books/subscriptions/etc/etc, it's pretty good IMO.

I'd recommend not venturing into the snakepit of Youtube, Facebook, etc without first being armed with this kind of background from people with actual qualifications.

 

[grovesy]

If they are trying to sell you something then take with a sack of salt.

 

[zoombapup]

I'd recommend not venturing into the snakepit of Youtube, Facebook, etc without first being armed with this kind of background from people with actual qualifications.

I hear you there, but the thing is, there ARE people with lots of qualifications who disagree with the advice from another bunch of people with qualifications, see the "low carb down under" channel for instance . The whole low carb crowd is full of MD's so the question is, how do you reconcile the two different opinions? I'm a researcher myself, but this is an area that is very hard to navigate for me because I want to be relying on science and then I'm getting two groups of scientists giving contradictory advice.

I'm kind of swayed by the argument that Drummer is sort of making, that evolutionarily we're predisposed to a certain diet of meat, fish, eggs, dairy and berries with some plant matter thrown in. Certainly type 2 is very much about diet and lifestyle (both sides agree on that), so examining my own lifestyle I can see that everything I ate probably had a huge amount of carbs. So cutting the carbs is definitely something that makes sense. But then comes the contentious part, what do you replace those carbs with? Obviously a reduction can be part of that, but how do you maintain a "diet" that is simply just reduction? I want something to at least replace some of the carbs so I don't feel constantly hungry.

In the end, I'm eating a bunch of chicken because I actually enjoy it, but also varying meats for interest. But there's the whole "keto" thing, if I were doing that, I'd be deliberately going for fatty meats, which I can't bring myself to do because I'm still hung up on the calorie counting and that might actually be a problem.

Guess I'll talk to the consultant at my next hospital visit.

 

[Docb]

Guess I'll talk to the consultant at my next hospital visit.

And you will get another opinion.

 

[zoombapup]

And you will get another opinion.

Yes, but at least I can interrogate that one in real time

 

[Eddy Edson]

I hear you there, but the thing is, there ARE people with lots of qualifications who disagree with the advice from another bunch of people with qualifications, see the "low carb down under" channel for instance . The whole low carb crowd is full of MD's so the question is, how do you reconcile the two different opinions? I'm a researcher myself, but this is an area that is very hard to navigate for me because I want to be relying on science and then I'm getting two groups of scientists giving contradictory advice.

I'm kind of swayed by the argument that Drummer is sort of making, that evolutionarily we're predisposed to a certain diet of meat, fish, eggs, dairy and berries with some plant matter thrown in. Certainly type 2 is very much about diet and lifestyle (both sides agree on that), so examining my own lifestyle I can see that everything I ate probably had a huge amount of carbs. So cutting the carbs is definitely something that makes sense. But then comes the contentious part, what do you replace those carbs with? Obviously a reduction can be part of that, but how do you maintain a "diet" that is simply just reduction? I want something to at least replace some of the carbs so I don't feel constantly hungry.

In the end, I'm eating a bunch of chicken because I actually enjoy it, but also varying meats for interest. But there's the whole "keto" thing, if I were doing that, I'd be deliberately going for fatty meats, which I can't bring myself to do because I'm still hung up on the calorie counting and that might actually be a problem.

Guess I'll talk to the consultant at my next hospital visit.

That's why I find it most useful to start with expert group reviews, like Cochrane reviews or reviews by professional associations or consensus opinions, like the ADA's on diabetes & nutrition: https://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/42/5/731

A bunch of experts weighing all the scientific evidence to my mind has to beat individual partisans on Youtube or whatever.

For T2D and nutrition, the ADA experts say everybody's different and there's currently no evidence that any particular style of eating is best.

Key takeaways: https://www.diabetes.org/sites/default/files/2019-10/ADV_2019_Consumer_Nutrition_One Pager.pdf

There is no “diabetes diet.” Really. Talk to your doctor and get a referral to a registered dietitian nutritionist (RDN) who can help you figure out what eating plan makes the most sense for you and your treatment goals.

Macronutrients may vary. We wish we could tell you the perfect percentage of calories from carbs, protein, and fat that you need, but the truth is the percentages can and should be individualized.

Carbs are not one-size-fits-all. While there is growing evidence to show that low-carbohydrate eating patterns can benefit people with diabetes and prediabetes, there is no one definition for “low carb.” For some, following an eating pattern lower in carbs (26–45% of total calories from carbohydrate) showed better blood sugars and a reduction in diabetes medications, among other benefits. Work closely with your doctor and RDN if you choose a lower carb approach to minimize risks (such as hypoglycemia) and maximize success.

Weight loss works. Losing modest amounts of weight (start with 5%) can improve your blood sugars and other diabetes outcomes in both type 1 and type 2 diabetes. There are lots of ways to lose weight, from changing your diet to getting more exercise, taking medications or even surgery. A focus on lifestyle changes is the preferred starting point, but it’s important to be familiar with all valid options.

Tweaking your food choices can help reduce risk factors for complications. Food swaps are easy ways for people with diabetes to reduce their risk for cardiovascular disease and kidney disease. For example, consider replacing foods high in saturated fat, such as butter and fatty beef, with foods rich in unsaturated fats, like olive oil and fish.

 

[zoombapup]

For example, consider replacing foods high in saturated fat, such as butter and fatty beef, with foods rich in unsaturated fats, like olive oil and fish.

Here's an interesting one, so this advice basically goes against the advice for a Keto diet, which says that fats aren't really the issue, although they do suggest using olive oil and eating fish on that diet as well. Lots of stuff on Keto suggests eating more fatty beef is actually a positive 🙂

 

[Jodee]

Here's an interesting one, so this advice basically goes against the advice for a Keto diet, which says that fats aren't really the issue, although they do suggest using olive oil and eating fish on that diet as well. Lots of stuff on Keto suggests eating more fatty beef is actually a positive 🙂

First port of call must be your own medical team and that which is recognised by your own Health Authority and medical advisers who will be aware of any other health issues you may also be dealing with. However, any one at will can believe what they want, you were asking for opinions I thought and that is what people are doing offering you their opinion, its down to individual choice in the end.

 

[Eddy Edson]

Here's an interesting one, so this advice basically goes against the advice for a Keto diet, which says that fats aren't really the issue, although they do suggest using olive oil and eating fish on that diet as well. Lots of stuff on Keto suggests eating more fatty beef is actually a positive 🙂

So what you can conclude is that this particular group of experts are not big fans of the style of keto which says sat-fats are fine (different keto variants say different things about this). This probably reflects the opinion of the majority of experts, but it's a very contentious area & if you want to go full-bacon sat-fat keto you can find plenty of qualified-looking people saying go for it, some of them not funded by the meat and dairy industry (I have my own views 🙂 )

I still wouldn't look to Youtube etc. Instead, go for the lead researchers on either side. You can follow them on Twitter squabbling in real time & it can be fun or depressing, depending on yr mood.

 

[nonethewiser]

Time youtube come about lived with diabetes 25 years, 15 years after still never took medical advice from site, just wouldn't trust it.

One reason being the vids are unregulated so lot of snake oil salesman on there cherry picking evidence to fit their views, so neither helpful or hurtful in answer to question.

That's why I find it most useful to start with expert group reviews, like Cochrane reviews or reviews by professional associations or consensus opinions

Sensible advice, peer reviewed journals are place to start after reading watching iffy articles vids.

 

[leonS]

When you read a text book, you can be sure that a reputable publisher will have made sure that the information given is reasonably sound. The publisher has his own reputation to protect. The book too will give valuable information on the author and details of when the work was published etc.

You have no such assurance with a web posting. You must use other ways to evaluate the information given.

Most of the smarter people that I have met would ask the same question of a number of people. In doing so they would often get extra information, as well as checking that the information first given was correct. A certain H. Ford said "it's the things you know that aint so that cause the trouble".

If the web is used in this way it is, I think, a valuable resource.

Give instruction to a wise man and he will be yet wiser.

 

[zoombapup]

When you read a text book, you can be sure that a reputable publisher will have made sure that the information given is reasonably sound. The publisher has his own reputation to protect. The book too will give valuable information on the author and details of when the work was published etc.

What if you read two books and they have opposing views on the same subject? Seriously, there's a bunch of medical professionals (some of whom have books out by reputable publishers) that have opposing views on the subject of diabetes and its cure. How do you square that circle? I'm listening to both sides and trying to identify any biases I'm seeing, but its made harder in general because both sides seem to have some monetary gain to be had (even if its more book sales).