How knowledge is power in nutrition

June 22 2016 by in Diabetes stories, Diabetes studies, Type 1 diabetes

What happens if you do the opposite of what the American Diabetes Association recommends? That’s what this TEDx-talk addresses.

Dr. Wendy Pogozelski investigated just this after she was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at the age of 40. She was told to eat chocolate, pasta and bread and then use insulin injections to control her blood sugar. However, as a chemist working with linking nutrition and biochemistry she intuitively preferred a low-carb diet.

In her experiment she compared the effect of the ADA advice and a low-carb diet on blood sugar levels. What was the result? The ADA diet caused way bigger swings in blood sugar, something that is both inconvenient and potentially dangerous in type 1 diabetes.

Watch her TEDx talk above for more. The main message – that knowledge is power – shouldn’t be controversial. What’s controversial is when that knowledge leads to distrust of authority. But sometimes it should.

Earlier

Stop Eating Grains, Sugar and Starches to Reverse Type 2 Diabetes in 3 Months!

Try it

Low Carb for Beginners

Take the 2-Week Low Carb Challenge!

How to Reverse Your Type 2 Diabetes

Videos

Is Obesity Caused by Too Much Insulin? - Interview with Dr. Ted Naiman

Reversing Diabetes by Ignoring the Guidelines – Dr. Sarah Hallberg

Losing Weight and Reversing Diabetes – Maureen Brenner

The 2 big lies of type 2 diabetes – Dr. Jason Fung

6 comments

1
Cindy C
June 22 2016
This was in the news today. I read it only once and did not read the study itself. Was it done individually according to how much carbs the person can tolerate? The article mentions using 40 % carbs and the rest fat and protein which is less carbs than usually recommended for diabetics.

http://www.upi.com/Health_News/2016/06/22/Specific-diet-plan-works-be...

I also found this interesting -McDonalds going back to using butter.

https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/tweaking-mcmuffins-speeds-mcdonald...
2
Olwen Anderson
June 23 2016
Thanks for sharing this video, it's excellent. One of the best layman explanations of blood glucose management that I've come across - and from an academic too.
3
Tricia Bell
October 4 2016
As a nurse I've never heard diabetic patients "encouraged to eat chocolate, pasta and bread." They are taught to limit these things, better still avoid them. If you are going to exaggerate the difference in advice then the whole LCHF approach becomes questionable to me.
4
Lucy
October 5 2016
Excellent talk. Bump it again?
5
Maria
February 10 2019
My 13 yr old daughter was diagnosed T1D 7 years ago. The advise is to keep eating as you always have - just cover it with insulin as would your own functioning pancreas. What they fail to realize is that it is next to impossible to match external insulin to what you eat - it is no where near the same as how a non-diabetic’s insulin works. The body is a fine tuned machine. A T1D is for all intents and purposes allergic to sugar You have a peanut allergy - you don’t say oh eat peanuts and just cover it with a shot. Oh you have celiacs, just eat wheat and take meds. While my daughter has not wanted to go LCHF I am working my way there as our own experiments have shown complete stability in BG numbers over several days versus a roller coaster on standard diet. Her last A1C is 7.5% and the doctor is so pleased - I am not - this will still mean complications by the time she is 30. Not acceptable.
6
ommidan
November 19 2020
I have had type 1 diabetes for 24 years. After 2 days of radically reducing my carb intake, my blood glucose readings have been within the range of 6 and 4.3 (UK measurements) for the last 36 hours - this is incredible, and unheard of for me in all my previous 24 years managing insulin, living and carbs! I know that this will need fine tuning, as I am adjusting my basal requirements every few hours (I wear a pump) ... but feeling this NORMAL, being able to THINK and not being so tired makes doing this absolutely worth it!