Please eat some carbs.

Hey Dad,

I promise you can eat foods you love.  I know you don't really believe me.

You are right that if you were to eat a bunch of potato chips or pizza it would raise your blood sugar pretty high, but that doesn't mean they're off limits.  It means that you need to eat smaller portions of them and you need to eat them with something else (like lean protein and vegetables) so that you feel fuller and have more than just carbohydrates in your system.

I've been talking to a lot of diabetes educators and from what they've told me about their patients' concerns, you are not alone.  A lot of folks believe that having diabetes means that they cannot have any sugar at all ever again.  I'm worried that by severely restricting your carbs to less than 20g per day, you are actually doing more harm than good for your body.  In fact, it's that kind of limitation that prevents you from eating the foods you love, not the diabetes itself.

I know there is a lot of information out there about super low carbohydrate and mostly- or all-protein diets and there are people who swear that it's the best way to cure type 2 diabetes, but I am highly skeptical for a few reasons.  

First, Dr. Atkins and his ilk have made a lot of money selling books and related products promoting their diets.  I doubt their science because it is motivated by profit.  If they were truly honest about the health benefits and risks, they would not just publicize the good, but they would also look at the other side and take a critical view of their own research.  Super low carbohydrate diets are controversial in part because they make huge claims with insufficient science to back them up.

Next, it isn't clear how sustainable an extremely low-carb diet is in the long-run.  Sure, they can help you drop weight quickly and pull your blood glucose under tight control in short order, but they also come with additional health risks like kidney damage--something you're already experienced when following Atkins when you were just trying to lose weight.  In fact, even Dr. Atkins warned that people who already have problems with their kidneys should exercise caution in using his diet plans and should do so under medical supervision.  Unfortunately, many people don't realize that there is a problem with their kidneys until the damage is done.

Another problem you, yourself, have experienced is hypoglycemia when you're doing physical work.  Like it or not, your body really needs carbs for energy.  If having diabetes generally means that one way or another your body's ability to use glucose is out of whack, then cutting it off actually works against your goal of restoring a healthy balance by pushing it further out of whack.

I know it's a lot to take in and what I'm saying is running counter to what you've believed for a long time.  For now, I think it would help if you made sure to add a little carbohydrate to every meal, preferably something whole grain or fresh fruit.  When you're back to work, please pack yourself some small carb snacks so you can keep from bottoming out. It's also a good idea to have some emergency sugar on hand, like a couple of sugar packets or hard candy that you can chew, so that you can head it off when you feel it coming on.

Love,

Mel