happydog
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
I went on the DEAL (Diabetes Awareness for Life) course. It llasted for 6 hours in two sessions. I have sympathy for the NHS now as many of the participants did not want to have any information except about whether they needed to restrict their visits to the pub and how much cake and Christmas pudding they could have. When the podiatrist tried to talk about foot problems that could happen, one of the participants said "please stop you are making me feel sick", so she did. I asked the dietitian how many grams of carbohydrate should be a eaten each day and she said she did not know but it was an individual thing to discuss with the nurse. Low carbohydrate diets are very dangerous especially for diabetics. She suggested eating a balanced diet but stressed that there no need to think or feel that anything is restricted. We should all eat porridge, with a teaspoon of honey if we want to and not be alarmed if blood sugar goes up because it will come down again and is compensated for by the fibre intake. I think I will just carry on as I am doing. I do have two questions though. I was told that if you restrict your carbohydrate intake you liver will work overtime to produce glucose and you will then get a liver problem. Is this true? Secondly the dietitian was adamant that all animal fats such as butter and full fat cheese are taboo and also nuts and avocados because of their high fat content. A no no for diabetics. I don't think this is so. Can anyone give answers to these questions? Thank you.
I don't know the truth about ultra low-carbing and whether that affects the liver, but you don't necessarily need to go that far - you eat what you want within your tolerances, as indicated by your BG meter. And I certainly don't agree with the notion that it doesn't matter if your levels spike high after eating something because it will come down again - 'modern' thinking is that the large fluctuations in BG levels cause potentially more damage than having a steady, although perhaps higher, overall level. (e.g. shooting from 5-15 and dropping back to 5 is worse than going from 7-9 and back down to 7). As for fats - everything in moderation! Was exercise mentioned at all? This can have as big an effect on your control as food!
