“Low Carb” Lifestyle for a better approach to Weight-Loss & Health.

It seems obvious now that if your GP tells you that you can no longer process the sugars in your blood (diagnosing pre-diabetes) you can fix it by eating less sugar generating foods (Carbs).

So why isn’t everyone getting slimmer and healthier.

The dietary advice we get from many agencies is still contradictory and wrong. We’re told to eat less fat, salt and sugar and then told to eat starchy (sugar generating foods) and vegetable oils – All bad advice for humans

Clearly this ain’t working but something better is now starting to happen.

A small but growing number of people have decided that if they can’t handle Carbohydrates (Diabetes) they should limit them to less than they burn in a day. That way they will bring blood sugar down towards normal and stop storing the excess sugar in their expanding waistlines. They are becoming slimmer and healthier.

Seven years ago after publishing a research review I decided to get myself checked. A Diabetic Clinician told me that I needed insulin and was was on a one-way journey of decline. They said all I could hope was to slow it down. With my research knowledge I declined the advice on offer and requested a further review in 3 months time.  Eating lots of Carbs was now going to be harmful! I lowered my carbohydrate intake to 100g per day (a modest but easy target). , I knew I could burn all that carbohydrate in a day,  At the review my astonished Clinician said I was on well on my way toward good control without medical intervention. At that clinician failed to investigate what I had done!

Two years later  I softened my stance and accepted Metformin thinking it was OK and would  help me control my blood sugars. I settled into a stable period of good sugar control, improved waist line and my weight.

Two years ago, I was inspired by a gadget which I could wear that recorded my sugar level all day and graphed it on my laptop. This allowed me to find out more about how my lifestyle was affecting my sugar. Diet, Activity and stress all play their part. But in 2017 I was told I was no longer diabetic.

2017 May Review copy (2017_05_12 09_45_27 UTC)

In remission as a prediabetic I stopped needing Metformin, but I was too late stopping. My dentist noticed a problem on my tongue and after further investigation suggested I should get checked out for a vitamin B12 deficiency. A cascade of problems was now in play.

I am now well and moving back to diabetes remission with full health thanks to an amazing and timely intervention by the Yorkshire Heart Centre, They too accepted my reasons for not taking statins (a separate blog) and I am now only taking a cardio-aspirin once a day, walking up to 14 miles a day in the dales and feeling really good

I have to say that the dietary advice is at best patchy but the Low Carb Lifestyle is now acknowledged and aapproved by the NHS (UK) for reversing mature-onset diabetes. In fact a lot of troubles that are thought of as “Old Age” are improved by Low Carb Lifestyle, Mindfulness and Exercise.

Link

Zoe Harcombe et al. brilliantly expose the erroneous basis of much official dietary advice.

PDF (Size:82KB) PP. 240-244   DOI: 10.4236/fns.2013.43032

ABSTRACT

Background: Since 1984 UK citizens have been advised to reduce total dietary fat intake to 30% of total energy and saturated fat intake to 10%. The National Institute of Clinical Excellence [NICE] suggests a further benefit for Coronary Heart Disease [CHD] prevention by reducing saturated fat [SFA] intake to 6% – 7% of total energy and that 30,000 lives could be saved by replacing SFAs with Polyunsaturated fats [PUFAs]. Methods: 20 volumes of the Seven Countries Study, the seminal work behind the 1984 nutritional guidelines, were assessed. The evidence upon which the NICE guidance was based was reviewed. Nutritional facts about fat and the UK intake of fat are presented and the impact of macronutrient confusion on public health dietary advice is discussed. Findings: The Seven Countries study classified processed foods, primarily carbohydrates, as saturated fats. The UK government and NICE do the same, listing biscuits, cakes, pastries and savoury snacks as saturated fats. Processed foods should be the target of public health advice but not natural fats, in which the UK diet is deficient. With reference to the macro and micro nutrient composition of meat, fish, eggs, and dairy foods the article demonstrates that dietary trials cannot change one type of fat for another in a controlled study. Interpretation: The evidence suggests that processed food is strongly associated with the increase in obesity, diabetes, CHD, and other modern illness in our society. The macro and micro nutrients found in meat, fish, eggs and dairy products, are vital for human health and consumption of these nutritious foods should be encouraged.

The Wrong Dietary Advice?