My Significant Others' Diabetes vs. Protien

[Seraffa]

:oMy sweet BF of 62 years of age has the type of Diabetes in which he takes the pills. He has 2 heart stints, arthiritis of the knees that has damaged his joints by now ("glass knees"), and has old neck injuries from rugby that cause him nerve complications in his head. He has feelings of pressure all over his body and the strange hot-and-cold sensations, nausea, Seasonal Affective Disorder, and in general has a lot of side effects from the diabetes pills, beta-blockers,
and cholesterol medications he takes to keep his arteries from getting clogged up.

He has a standard doctors' diabetes diet guideline, but overall, he does cosume a lot of carbs compared to Protien Power. I've read him the chapter in the first Protien Power book on the "Egyptian Mummies" and the early settlers in Kentucky vs. the Indians, so he was intrigued, but still concerned about
excess protien consumption putting a heavy load on his kidneys at this time.
He's overloaded with work (which does not help his health right now) -- so I"m here to ask if there are any more sources of clinical research coming from Universities or "wherever" that he can read in favor of Protien Power or Protien lifestyle, and also your opinions about meat products and their effect on the kidneys while using Protien Power? A hearty "Thank You" to all who respond in order to help this sweet person I think so highly of....:)...it is much appreciated by us both.

[mcsblues]

Welcome Seraffa:)

First ket me tell you that you and your BF are in the right place, Adopting a low carb way of life will quite simply transform his life (and will be pretty good for you too!;))

The protein thing is among what Mike (and others) refer to as the 'vampire myths' - ie fictional 'concerns' about the supposed health effects of a low carbohydrate (which in turn means high protein, high fat) diet which have been examined and dismissed countless times by controlled scientific study ... but refuse to die because they are endlessly parroted by those who know no better, or by those with an ulterior motive. This blog (http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/uncategorized/vampire-myths/) from Mike has a link to just one such study on the protein question, but trust me there are many others.

BTW - I strongly recommend that both of you read the Eades best work PPLP (http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Fgp%2Fproduc t%2F0446678678%2Fqid%3D1148257855%2Fsr%3D1-3%3Fs%3Dbooks%26v%3Dglance%26n%3D283155&tag=proteinpowerc-20) - which is much stronger on the science and the 'why' and 'how' a low carb diet is good for you ... especially so for diabetics. On the diabetic front, also essential reading in my opinion, is Dr Richard Bernstein's book (http://www.google.com.au/url?sa=t&source=web&ct=res&cd=1&ved=0CAcQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.diabetes-book.com%2F&ei=b9EBS8OOO5Ha6gOD97HFCg&usg=AFQjCNEQ8uZIXFIdDg5Gwhiyclli_7zxFg&sig2=PNvptp01Rdkvmqb9JgYN6A) - both of which will bring you to understand that the "standard doctors' diabetes diet guideline" comes from people (such as your ADA) who quite frankly should be locked up - and no, I am not kidding about that.

Other things that you will come to discover are that your BF is being unnecessarily medicated - he should find that he will no longer need as much or possibly any of his diabetes and blood pressure medication if he makes the change to a much healthier diet. Your reading will also bring into question the wisdom of the cholesterol medication (and the whole question of 'artery clogging' - and as you say, he is already experiencing the downside of taking medication over side effect free dietary change.

SAD is also in the frame:) - make sure he is getting adequate vitamin D3 (I'd suggest at least 5000IU per day during your winter) and a significant amount of fish or krill oil (http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/uncategorized/why-krill-oil/) will also be of benefit to help keep SAD at bay as well as being of special benefit to anyone who has had stents.

Hope that helps a bit - make sure you ask as many questions as you like - we are here to help! :nod:

PS - more reading:eek::p here (http://www.nutritionandmetabolism.com/content/2/1/16) and here (http://www.nutritionandmetabolism.com/content/5/1/9)

[Frank Hagan]

What Malcomb said! The "excess protein" thing is wildly overstated. PP doesn't give you "high protein" but "adequate protein" based on your physiology, so there's no danger in normal healthy people with kidney stress from the protein. However, there might be dangers elsewhere with the diet, and the Eades' stress getting your physician involved if you have kidney function issues.

You might also look into visiting with one of the many low carb doctors available to you in NY ... see http://lowcarbdoctors.blogspot.com/ for a list (in the right column). Dr. Bernstein is in Mamaroneck, if that's close to you at all, and several are listed in NYC itself.

The thing with your BF is that he has several medical conditions that require close monitoring, so the last thing we would want to do is steer you in a direction that might not be healthy for him. If a low carb doctor thinks he is a candidate and he goes low carb, he'll find enormous benefits, especially in the amount of energy he has and lessening of other complaints (my sister's knee problems seem much less of a problem to her after a few weeks on PP, even though she has lost only a few pounds).

[gitfiddle]

Seraffa, if BF can get into the science of kidneys, he might like Nephropal (http://nephropal.blogspot.com).