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Saturday 23 July 2011

The lunacy of the 600 calorie diet.

Not so long ago, headline news stated Professor Roy Taylor a diabetes expert, had run a short trial with a few type two diabetics. He was surprised to find a calorie reduced diet of 600 calories a day appeared to reverse type two diabetes. I do not know if it dawned on him this must have meant a big reduction in carbohydrates as well as calories.

I see some brave souls are going for this torturous diet on the forum of flog, looking to reverse their type two diabetes. While I admire anyone who rolls the dice and tries to improve their health, they are wasting their time. I hope I am 100% wrong, but the facts are stacked against these intrepid people. I am sure they will lose weight and their BG numbers will plummet, but an eight week starvation diet is no cure.

There is no cure for type two diabetes. A typical type two diabetic at diagnosis has lost around 50% of beta cells. No diet will make them grow back. The key to reversing dangerous BG numbers is a strict reduction in the food that raises BG numbers i.e. carbs, for life not eight weeks !

Almost all diets fail, almost all diets involve a strict reduction in calories, that’s why they fail, starvation will always win. What we eat is as important as how much we eat. For most this is not just a calories in calories out situation, it’s far more complicated. Whether type one or two or non diabetic, the control of insulin is paramount in weight control and good health.
 
 
Eddie
 
www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/jun/24/low-calorie-diet-hope-cure-diabetes

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Try the Butterfield diet!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWgwJfbeCeU

Graham

Anonymous said...

Thank you Eddie, LOL @ Graham.
Well many moons ago I did a herbal tea fast, 30 days it lasted, nothing but 3 litres of herbal tea daily, no sweetener, no nothing. I stuck it out ok, plenty of tears and tantrums along the way, only comfort was a weightloss of 12kg (245lba) for all the suffering. It soon piled on again, and more, as soon as I started eating my carb laden diet again. Almost surreal to me now, so much time has passed since.
Whats the point, do a proper low carb plan, lose weight while enjoying a wide variety of delicious food, the weight will stay off, your bg will be in the non diabetic range and you will feel super healthy.
Amen.
Karen chocfish

Lowcarb team member said...

"by Patch » Today, 11:18 am
Day One - Monday 25th July

Starting Weight: (Weigh in will be Monday mornings.)
241.lbs (~110Kg)

Fasting BG:
11.8mmol/L (8am)

Breakfast:
1 Optislim Banana Shake (8am)

+1hr BG:
18.5mmol/L (9am - OUCH!)

+2hr BG:
15.7mmol/L (10am)

Very sweet shake, but a nice taste to it. Gonna take some getting used to, as I have not eaten breakfast in the past. +1hr BG was not a great shock - Optislim shakes have around 20g of carbs in them! Did feel a little queezy (a little sick) for about an hour in the morning, but it did go away. This may be because I did not let the shake sit for 5 mins before drinking it."

I like Patch a great sense of humour and the eternal optimist, but this looks madness to me.

Eddie

Anonymous said...

In my experience low carbing can only get you so far though in terms of weightloss.

I've been low carbing for 5 years and maintain HBa1cs in the low fives with no medication whatsoever. I rarely go above 30g of carbs a day, sometimes having significantly less. To date I've lost 6 stone low carbing but I have remained at 17st for the last three years.

Fed up with this and in an attempt to I have recently started a meal replacement diet called Exante and the pounds are falling off. It's not torture at all, the first few days were bad but after that due to ketosis you don't feel the hunger. As soon as I get to goal I will revert to low carb. My daily readings are not affected by the shakes, about 48g of carb per day.

I wish this blog was a bit more encouraging to those who are struggling. It just seems to be targeting individuals all the time. People are just trying to do what they can to manage their condition. I don't take the piss out of you for taking Metformin Eddie, because your condition is at a different place where mine is. You were able to reach target weight effortlessly, I can't. How about cutting people some slack eh?

If Patch loses a shed load of weight and increases his insulin sensitivity then great. It does seem like those shakes are spiking him badly though, perhaps he should try some of the other VLCDs out there. Exante is working a treat for me.

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