diabetics adult onset question

[mark]

Where would a person with adult onset diabetes(sp?) find the most information about the transition from her current "feedlot" diet to the pp way?
One of my friends is considering the PP way instead of stomach surgery path and I am afraid of giving her the wrong advice since I am not a doctor. thanks a bunch!
I am just now restarting the pp way so I am more than alittle rusty on the details for other medical conditions.
But this diet got me off meds for chrone's disease ten years ago.
Big thanks to the Doctor Eades! No surgerys or meds since the mid 1980's!

[SherryJ]

First of all, WELCOME, Mark! :nod:

Congrats to YOU, by the way, on no surgeries or meds since the 80's... that's great! :)

As for your friend, has she known the "before and after you"? If not, do you have pics to go with your story?

Do you have the PP or PPLP books? If not, steer her to the library, and have her read them... Does she have SPECIFIC questions? If so, do a search on this forum, and you'll most likely find a wealth of information.

Sherry

[2bthinner!]

Um, not to be obtuse, but how does stomach surgery fit in with diabetes? Or is it just a reference to weight loss?

You could start here http://www.proteinpower.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=4 Protein power at a glance. It gives you the basics.:thumbsup:

[Relief]

just my opinion but I think Dr Bernstein's book " Diabetes Solution" has the best info for low carb eating for diabetics. very detailed info about Blood sugar control. Diet is basically same as Eadses--about 30 Ecc's day.

[~april~]

Actually, "Stomach surgery" aka gastric bypass does fit in with diabetes. I was diagnosed with diabetes a few months ago and am pretty overweight. My doctor suggested this surgery, because not only does it make you lose the weight, it reverses diabetes almost immediately. (Something about an islet of something....). The statistics state that 99% of diabetics that have this surgery will be 'cured' of it within a few months after the surgery.

That fact alone has kept me revisiting the idea of surgery. I have been LC since they diagnosed me (6 days on, 1 day off for the most part)...I just can't seem to make it 'stick' 100% of the time. ANyway, I thought that would be more than enough to get my sugars under control - NO WAY. My sugars went higher!

I know for a fact that this WOE works. I have never felt better than when I was successful on it. BUT - you have to be prepared to be 100% compliant if you are a diabetic. Maybe after you get your sugar under control, you can up the carbs a bit. I just think that after you cross that line and become diabetic, it takes a LOT more to straighten you out than before.

[Lena68]

My sister (non-diabetic) had one of the weight-loss surgeries two years ago, and it was very rough. She's glad she did it, but the rest of us watching her were scared to death. She had some pretty bad complications...her stomach got blocked (multiple times) and she couldn't eat/keep anything down, she got severly dehydrated, and she was hospitalized multiple times. Even now, after she has lost the weight, she has lost too much weight and is struggling to maintain her weight. She says she "feels anorexic".

It is a life-altering thing...she HAS to eat every couple of hours and drink water constantly. Her body functions have been (embarrasingly) permanently altered. All in all, after seeing her struggle through that, I don't think you could pay me enough to do that to myself. She payed $ for the surgery, and she will continue to pay with her health the rest of her life.

As hard as Low Carb can be (when everyone else is digging into a huge slab of cake & ice cream), it is just as rewarding to know that your eating sensibly will add years to your life. It is a choice, and a decision. That one day off is pretty counter-productive. You probably need to re-examine what you are doing and find a way to make it work FOR YOU. Something smaller than "one day off" is a good start!

[bluejay111]

Mark,
Relief is right on about Dr. Bernstein's book. You can get more info and read some chapters at his website www.diabetes-book.com (http://www.diabetes-book.com). He has a 2007 edition that just came ouy.

April,
From what I hear after gastric bypass you can't each much more than a bird. With that small amount of food ingested by anyone who still produces some insulin they would have low blood sugar. I have a friend who works with someone who had the operation and that person can hardly eat anything without getting sick. This is years after. Not worth it!

[Jingles]

ANyway, I thought that would be more than enough to get my sugars under control - NO WAY. My sugars went higher!

I've noticed that too. Whenever I give in just a little bit on the carbs, or type of carbs (bread), my sugar will go up. Another is if I eat, even just protein, after dinner, because I'm hungry (usually because I have not eaten things spread out), my fasting sugar will be up.

I've seen it take a day or two before those levels will come back down for me ... and that's just with a snack or one meal off plan. I'd hate to see what a whole day off plan, once a week would do. About the time I'd get it back down, it'd be an off plan day again. I just can't see that yo-yoing being good.

[Ammy]

I don't have diabetes so I'm unable to weigh in on that part of it...

But I did have 100+lbs to lose, and was able to do it SUCCESSFULLY while following this WOE. I have maintained the weightloss for about 5 years now.

My opinion on the gastric bypass...
My problem with gastric bypass is that you're not LEARNING a new way of eating...you are HINDERING what you can eat AT FIRST. Then, if you don't change your WOE and especially if your food issue is you EAT even when you are NOT HUNGRY and you EAT past the point of being FULL, then you will just RE-STRETCH your stomach...SO, what's the point??

IF you learn a new way of eating, and can/will continue to eat that way FOREVER, then gastric bypass MIGHT make a LITTLE more sense to me...but IF you are able to make that change, then whats the point of the surgery...just DO it!! MAKE THE CHANGE.
However, that change happens SO rarely!! Hence, the lose it and gain it all back scenerio with the gastric bypass.

Enough rambling on MY opinion.

BTW, HEY April, fellow Minnesotan!

[~april~]

Hello back! Now that we finally have some snow, it gives a bit more meaning to the word "Minnesotan" (Did I spell that wrong?).

I was reading a post the other day and read how you guys have big heaters to melt the snow, and I laughed really hard. I need that for my driveway right now, as it's about 6ft out there. I shoveled out this little path just big enough for the jeep to fit through, but I back out, hit a snowbank, pull forward a bit....hit a snowbank, and so on and so forth until I see-saw my way out. Lame, I know. I should just get out there and shovel. A little more exercise can't possibly hurt........:)

[Ammy]

Ha!! That's so funny!!
I'm coming off a minor surgery and was "unable" to shovel when it last snowed...my GF, who is a blessing, got tired after shoveling everything on our corner lot so she only cut a "car size" opening in the driveway, so I have the SAME PROBLEM.
What's REALLY funny is that now I AM able to shovel and I TOO keep thinking I should go FIX my small opening, but by the time I get home at night I'm too tired or it's refroze!!!
We decided last night that with the 40 degree temps over the weekend it would just all go away anyway...right???!!!!

[~april~]

Ya, lol...that's what I kept thinking. My driveway snow kept shrinking, but still kept the shape. And now...we are in the middle of a snowstorm after around 40 degree temps. I swear, this is what makes me sick! Up and down....I wish it would just be cold.....and then get warm. It's really simple - why won't the weather cooperate. Im still trying to figure out why I live here, lol.

[mepc06]

I don't know anything about the book in question, I thought he Eades were very thorough in their two books on the subject of Diabetes and Insulin Resistance.

I've been diabetic for 11 years and Insulin Dependent for 7.5 years. I have found that when I am on plan, and stay on plan, I don't require supplemental insulin, and rarely take it.
Additionally, my HgbA1C fell to 6.6, which is within normal range for diabetics, for the first time in years. My blood sugars are stable between 80 and 130 when I stick with the program and I've been on the program since October 2006 with a 60 pound weight loss in that time period. I've taken insulin less than 10 times since the 1st of the year (Most days prior to PPLP I took 60 units or so~everyday)
My PCP recommended bypass surgery two years ago, I adamantly refused. If I can't control my eating before they cut my stomach away, why would anyone think I would/could control my eating afterwards. Bypass surgery has never made sense to me. Same Doc was pleasantly surprised when I showed up in his office, after a 2 year absence, here a few weeks ago with an 88 pound loss and the A1C of 6.6, unbelieving I hadn't actually had surgery to accomplish this.

I have found~and this applies to me~ that even when I have "bad" days and eat more carbs than I should: my insulin requirement is much less than it ever was before. A 30 unit insulin injection a year ago is now only about 5 or maybe 10 units. I don't always have to take insulin if I overeat on the carbs either. Because my body functions now more efficiently, my blood sugar rises but also has a tendency to come down all on it's own without insulin. It's only when I get "stupid" that I have to "shoot up".

Hope this helps.....the plan really does work for diabetics.

Michelle

[sue sue]

I had "weight loss surgery" 20 years ago. (lap band). I could barely eat anything, or drink anything and threw up 6 to 7 times a day. It was nearly impossible for me to eat protein--I could only eat soft foods. (try to think of 5 soft foods that are not full of carbs) I lost weight, but I also lost half of my hair and 4 teeth over the years to malnutrition. Then one day I was "trying" to eat a sandwich and discovered I could actually eat. As I began to eat food for the first time in 10 years, I put the weight back on immediately, even though I was not over eating. Since my problem has not been eating so much as it has been undiagnosed hypothyroid and insulin resistence, I resigned myself to attempt weight loss surgery again three years ago. I cried all of the way to the hospital. During surgery, the surgeon discovered the original band had eroded all of the way through my stomach, causing so much internal bleeding that my stomach had adhered to my liver and he could not reband my damaged stomach. Thank God.
I recently saw an article that said that people that have had gastric surgery absorb alcoholic drinks at a much higher rate. I can't help but wonder what else is not absorbed, or absorbed at a different rate by this surgery. My mother died at age 62 from "a chemical imbalance caused by weight loss surgery".
Every time I get the chance, I tell my story. Notice how you don't hear much from people like me that had the surgery 20 years ago? All you hear are the 1 year post surgery people that are delighted with the weight loss. I was one of them once.
By the way, since I have found a wonderful doctor who diagnosed me, and have started Protein Power, I have lost 30 pounds over 2 months! AND I am getting healthier instead of loosing my hair! I am going to make it this time!
Take it from me, do not even think about weight loss surgery.

[gitfiddle]

Sue, thank you for sharing your story. Welcome to our board!