[tgreen]

so, last night in my DE class the dietitian was teaching about carbs and nutrition. all of this information i thought was very good and well presented. and she did address how carbs no matter what type turn into glucose which will effect our blood sugar.
in the last half of the class she taught on diet planning. in her diet plan i am supposed to consume 60g of carbs per meal. I am averaging around 60 per day. so i felt this was my time to ask a question. i asked her, many of the items on her list of carbs, starch and grains spike my BG. her response was that 60g of carbs a day was to low, and not sustainable. i told her that if i averaged 180carbs a day my bg would be pushing 200 all the time. her response was then i need more medication. i asked her again, why would i eat a high carb diet that i know will raise my BG and cause me health problems, when instead i could eat a reduced carb diet and manage my BG with my meter, and not need all the medications?
her response was, well we need to move on here so that we can get through this information.

oh well, i didn't expect much more. some of the information was good, but i think the diet she was teaching was for a non diabetic, not someone with impaired insulin response.

 

[fgummett]

Good for you :clap2: It is hard to buck the system sometimes...

and on that note it may even be hard for professionals like the Dietitian who may be constrained by course outlines and guidelines. I have met Dietitians who will privately accept the validity of the low-carb approach but professionally they are not comfortable to even discuss it. This will change but it's going take time.

Think of it this way: if as a professional I advise a diet which goes against the guidelines of my professional licensing board and something bad happens to you, where do I turn for support? But if I advise based on the guidelines and something bad happens then, at least on paper, I am professionally covered.

 

[Shalynne]

I got a similar response in my own diabetes class. She said my questions were too advanced for the session. I did, however, get the feeling she knew what I was talking about. Unfortunately, she was compelled to stick to a standard curriculum.

(I was also the only student on insulin, and one of the few who knew how to use a meter. So I sat back and studied the lessons they were trying not to teach; namely, lessons about the state of diabetes education and treatment.)

 

[moon]

When I questioned and (hopefully diplomatically) argued with my Diabetes Educator on the carb question, she finally said, "I have to follow the ADA guidelines."

 

[foxl]

I skipped the class. My MD's have not remarked on that.

They know.

 

[Bugg]

I went to the class 25 years ago and was told the same thing. The class was taught by a lovely woman who was a dear friend of mine and my family. I never questioned the information taught and tried my best to stay on the ADA diet with little or no success. I read other diet doctors books and tried many of them to no avail. My a1c would jump between 6 and 8 and I had no idea why. My doctor would increase dosage or change to another med. I had a standing appointment every 4 months. Every time I went was the same results "no Improvement".


Finally the straw that broke the camels back was Dr Neal Barnard's book, Reversing Diabetes...

Following his diet my BG went sky high and I could not get it down. I was literally whipped. I had no idea what to do, nor did I have a place to turn for advise. I thought I had tried everything... My blood sugar went to over 400 and had stayed that way for weeks. I didn't know what to eat nor what to do.

After walking on the tread mill for an hour my BG was 480. I decided to check the internet for help... I felt like I needed to talk to some "diabetics" and learn what they were doing. I goggled "diabetic forum". The rest is history...

Thank God I stumbled across this group...!!!

bugg :blabla:in one mell of a hess

 

[beefy]

I think the standard line that "low-carb is not sustainable" is used by pretty-much all medical professionals right now, even though it's also not true...

But regardless of whether it's an MD, a dietitian, a nutritionist, etc., if they still want to follow the guidelines being given to them by the ADA, that's the standard reasoning they give...

But yeah, kudos to you for sticking to your guns...

 

[jwags]

I think the problem is that dieticians are only taught one way. There is a huge fear that diabetics will go way too low. Most type 2's not on insulin or on long acting insulin rarely go low. The whole point of 60 carbs is to keep bgs higher so we don't get those lows. I think what a lot of us have found is we do better on our own diet. I just feel so sorry for all those poor D patients who beleve this higher carb garbage. If they only taught Eat to your meter, it would be so much better. Also many D's are told to lose weight. Low Carb is one of the best ways to do this. I'm glad you challenged her.

 

[Patdart]

And who knows, you may have planted a seed in another's ear with your comments and they may remember if/when the 'diet' doesn't work for them?

Good for you! It's about the only thing we can do at this point.

 

[Tiggletaggle]

I posted on here a couple of weeks ago about almost exactly the same thing. In my class I was told to eat loads of carbs and when I said I couldn't they mentioned more meds...

Most diabetes dietitians will toe the line but most diabetes dietitians aren't diabetic....

I think there's a very different understanding of this disease in theory than in practice..

 

[d33na]

I will not see another Endo...as I said in my intro his idea of my eating plan was 3 shakes a day...when I saw him 18months ago my levels were perfect and Id lost over 30 kilos by eating low carb...he ignored everything I said...took me off all the meds that had been working and plummeted me into the worst year and a half of my life...as well as being rude and borderline abusive...depending on which day I called I got different advice from the Diabetic Educators...one of them was happy for me to continue low carb and the others wouldn't...the dietitian wouldn't say out loud that it was a good thing...I requested a meeting with the educator and the dietitian together lol....they said they didn't do it....I told them it was simple....get both diaries and find a space and I'll come in then lol...they were hesitant lol but how can you work out all the contradictions without a good team that will agree?

These days I just see my local doctor. He is happy as long as I get results. He can see the blood test results and knows I have a vested interest in my own health. I think diabetes is not something you can be passive about. You do need to be proactive...

 

[Tiggletaggle]

WOw D22na....

You've really been through the wringer haven't you??

Thank goodness you have a GP who is actually interested in you.

Great post

 

[d33na]

WOw D22na....

You've really been through the wringer haven't you??

Thank goodness you have a GP who is actually interested in you.

Great post

I saw my GP today and told him my numbers in the last 3 weeks were between 4-8 and he was so happy..So we're waiting 4 more weeks and then doing a blood test....so im happy!

 

[mich]

I was first diagnosed with gestational diabetes. My obstetrician basically told me to eat to my meter (not in those words, but that was the message), and to think of food as medicine. My nutritionist told me that I was eating too much cheese, peanut butter, and eggs, and not enough carbs. When I told her that other foods caused my bgl to go too high, she said I should just take more insulin.
I went to my OB practically in tears, not sure what to do. At this point, I just wanted to do whatever was best for my baby, and was getting very conflicting advice. I felt like I was hurting my child. I choose to go with the advice of my OB, and to cut carbs to around 30 per day, with no more than 10 at any one time. I still needed insulin for FBG and breakfast, but not nearly as much as if I had listened to the "nutritionist." Thank God for an old-school OB who was willing to give sensible advice. I had a healthy baby (7lbs. 14 oz.), gained only 7 pounds my whole pregnancy. If I had just stuck with that way of eating, I'm sure I wouldn't be where I am now.

 

[Madea]

My dietician I had 4 years ago INSISTED that I stick with 60 carbs per meal and I HAD to eat 3 100 calorie snacks per day.
Seriously? If I'm not hungry I am not going to be eating all that food and carbs. (This site helped me to figure out that I am Carb sensitive~Thank you!)

My new Endo told me that 15-30 carbs a day is sufficient. Just go by my numbers. My bg's are slowly coming down but they still aren't good enough.

I'm scheduled to see another dietician just for ****s & giggles. I'm curious to see what this one tries to tell me, or pound into my head as compared to what I/we already know!

I'll update everyone on the outcome.

 

[Patdart]

Good for you and your ability to smell ***t when you hear it for your body. It will be interesting what your new dietician tells you. I believe they are required by their licensing board to preach the 'party line' or lose their licenses. But, maybe I'm wrong. In my limited experience they are very young and all the info they have is from their training.

Do report to us...maybe you'll get a new school one?