This Is Why Diabetes Can't Be Cured Yet
The Diabetes Food Pyramid pays no attention to low-carb solution
The numbers are staggering -- 73 million Americans are diabetic or pre-diabetic and the trend is expected to get worse and worse in the coming years. You've got people like NBC's "The Biggest Loser" trainer Bob Harper out there urging diabetics to "step it up" to get serious about getting their blood sugar controlled.
In the meantime, several prominent new studies out of Duke University and from Sweden have been released in the past week concluding that a low-carb diet is the most beneficial nutritional approach for treating people who suffer from Type 2 diabetes.
So you can imagine my surprise when I came across something called the Diabetes Food Pyramid. Just like the government-recommended MyPyramid, this one is allegedly how diabetics should be eating in order to help control their disease.
But a closer look at this pyramid reveals the horrifying picture of carbs, carbs, and more carbs! The ADA is pushing diabetics to eat more servings of potatoes (CARBS!), breads (CARBS!), cereals (CARBS!), beans (CARBS!), and starchy veggies (CARBS!) than anything else. Sure, sweets that contain sugar are naturally discouraged, but what about the process that the body goes through converting those carbohydrates that are "recommended" into sugar for the body that can cause blood sugar to go haywire?!
Then, on the next level up on the Diabetes Food Pyramid, you've got such carb-loaded sugary foods like bananas, grapes and apples. While it could be argued these are "healthy" for you because they have natural sugars in them, sugar is still sugar and will cause problems for diabetics.
The American Diabetes Association (ADA) should stop claiming to be an advocate for diabetics until they can start making wise recommendations for people with Type 2 diabetes to follow. No wonder Dr. Mary Vernon says the food pyramid is more about protecting the agricultural industry and not about public health. When are the ADA and other diabetes advocates going to begin taking the health of these people seriously enough to provide them with the information they really need to control their disease? I'm waiting...
This is precisely why diabetes can't and won't be cured anytime in the near future.
Labels: ADA, blood sugar, diabetes, diabetic, pre-diabetic
posted by Jimmy Moore at
6/15/2006 06:53:00 PM
5 Comments:
Oh my gosh! That's horrible. Probably one reason why my Dad fasting blood sugar is about 175. :-p
The Diabetes Food Pyramid pays no attention to low-carb solution? You mean The Diabetes Food Pyramid pays no attention to nutritional science!
And, by the way, has not done so since the late 1930's... when we already knew how to properly and effectively treat this condition.
Magnificent stupidity... that's the best description...
came across your article in my google news personalized page for keywords related to Science/Pakistan - the direct link is: http://news.google.com/nwshp?tab=wn&q=pakistan®ion=&topic=t&ie=UTF-8
just want to mention a couple of things, wikipedia is also blocked - and try analytics.google.com - its invite only but you may get one in a couple of weeks
best wishes
Show her the proof, Beth! Show her the scientific proof that you are right. And demand that the dietician does the same. Guess what? The dietician can't - as they have no proof, not a shred. All they have is politically correct theories and paradigms. Science is on YOUR side - and that's the truth.
Anyone who has eaten a big plate of pasta and had to take a nap after should realize that carbs affect your blood sugar just as much as ice cream does.
My mother saved herself from a diabetes diagnosis for five years by eating low carb, but she fell off the wagon and is now medicated and trying to manage her blood sugar through the "recommended" high carb diet. Not surprisingly, it's not working very well, which the doctor blames on her lack of compliance. Yet she will not even consider going back on low carb, depite the fact that it's proven to stabilize her blood sugar, because she wants to please her doctor. I understand that she's scared and she wants the doctor to be the expert who knows what to do to save her, but his wrong-headedness is not helping,
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