experiences with nutritionist

[Guest guest]

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> No, I did not ask why. The reason I know it will not work for me is

> beacuse that is more carbs than I was eating before I met with her. The

> only way I can get my bs under 200 is to eat nothing but meat, cheese, and

> broccoli. I am on 3 medications and Lantus. Still over 250 most of the

> time. I go to an endo Tuesday. I can't wait.

See, this is my point. A diet of nothing but meat, cheese and broccoli is

going to end up increasing your cholesterol and clogging your arteries. It

doesn't do any good to trade one medical issue for another.

At least you are going to see an endo and continue to work on a plan of

treatment. I'm sure your endo will have a meal plan to follow as well.

So actually you aren't *really* deviating significantly from my position, as

you are still seeking medical advice to follow instead of assuming you know

exactly what to do because you read a book. You are just starting over,

more or less. :-)

Mike

[Guest guest]

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>

> So actually you aren't *really* deviating significantly from my position,

> as

> you are still seeking medical advice to follow instead of assuming you

> know

> exactly what to do because you read a book. You are just starting over,

> more or less. :-)

Something I discovered once when someone very close to me was hospitalized

is that all doctors are human beings. They aren't robots, or computers;

they are human beings who use training and experience to make judgements

about other people's health. We hope that those judgements are good ones

that will help us stay or become healthy. Often they are; sometimes they

aren't.

My husband had a rare type of cancer, over 15 years ago. He wasn't

convinced that his highly trained team of doctors were up on the latest

research, and so he started reading medical journals on his own. One

article described a blood test that had been shown to identify certain risk

factors for recurrence of his type of cancer. He checked his records and

found out that this blood test was not being performed on him. He

photocopied the article and took it with him to his next appointment, and

after reading the article with him, his doctor agreed that the new blood

test was a good idea, and added it to his battery of bloodwork.

So. My point is that while it is probably not a good idea to self-diagnose

and decide that you know better than any doctor does, neither is it a good

idea to idolize doctors as trained professionals whose training makes them

smarter or better-informed than you, the lowly patient, ever could be.

Reading a book to better inform yourself about your disease or your

treatment options is not a bad thing. Deciding that your doctor is not

improving your health as best he could be is always a possibility.

Sure; if a doctor or nutritionist or whoever gives you bad advice, go back

and talk to them about it. Say, " Hey, you put me on this diet and now my

fasting blood sugar is at 260. What are we going to do about that? " Maybe

they're flexible and understanding and have your best interests at heart,

and will work with you to improve the situation. Or maybe they want to just

stick with what they learned in school 25 years ago, and maybe they are

burned out and tired of noncompliant patients, and maybe they just assume

that you are lying and that you are sneaking 15 Snickers bars every day, and

they just tell you " Keep on the diet. I am the doctor and I know what I'm

doing. "

In that case, further dialogue would seem pointless and I personally would

find a new doctor.

My point is that you can err too far in either direction: Assuming that you

can never know as much or be as informed as a doctor is, is as foolish as

thinking that no doctor can be as informed as you are.

Molly

[Guest guest]

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> My point is that you can err too far in either direction: Assuming that

> you

> can never know as much or be as informed as a doctor is, is as foolish as

> thinking that no doctor can be as informed as you are.

Molly,

Yes, it's true you can err too far in either direction. Unfortunately, from

what I see here, people are routinely encouraged to ignore the advice and

direction of their healthcare professionals.

Every time someone asks a question about what they were told to do,

especially when it comes to diet, they are advised to go to a different

doctor or to ignore the advice of their dietitian.

Since none of us know anything about the individual or the physician and

healthcare team they have in place... other than a few lines in an email...

how wise and sound is it to encourage them to ignore that advice?

Unfortunately treating diabetes doesn't solely revolve around diet. If it

were that simple, we could easily eat exactly the same thing a non-diabetic

eats and be cured. While a diet of meat, cheese and broccoli may keep your

blood sugar down, it doesn't guarantee that other problems may arise. In

most cases, I don't believe diet is 100% of the solution. I'm simply

advocating that you discuss these points with your healthcare team and find

out *why* they have laid out certain plans. My guess is that a balanced

diet with appropriate medications will provide for long term quality of

life. A diet that is not balanced can result in other problems. You may

have short term satisfaction of low blood sugars.. but at what cost? I

controlled my blood sugars for some time using a low carb diet. I had

angioplasty two years ago.

Mike

[Guest guest]

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>

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> Unfortunately treating diabetes doesn't solely revolve around diet. If it

> were that simple, we could easily eat exactly the same thing a

> non-diabetic

> eats and be cured. While a diet of meat, cheese and broccoli may keep

> your

> blood sugar down, it doesn't guarantee that other problems may arise. In

> most cases, I don't believe diet is 100% of the solution. I'm simply

> advocating that you discuss these points with your healthcare team and

> find

> out *why* they have laid out certain plans. My guess is that a balanced

> diet with appropriate medications will provide for long term quality of

> life. A diet that is not balanced can result in other problems. You may

> have short term satisfaction of low blood sugars.. but at what cost? I

> controlled my blood sugars for some time using a low carb diet. I had

> angioplasty two years ago.

>

>

There have been controlled studies demonstrating that low-carb diets do not

lead to a higher incidence of heart disease than other types of diets.

This, of course, does not mean that a particular individual who is on a

low-carb diet won't need angioplasty, as you can personally attest. It does

mean that no correlation has been found between low-carb dieting and heart

disease. There are many factors that can contribute to heart disease. Diet

is one, but it is only one.

There have also been controlled studies showing definitively that running

higher-than-average blood sugars will have an immediate and negative impact

on your health. The longer your blood sugar is too high, the worse for your

long-term health. High blood sugar has a positive correlation with

incidence of heart disease. As diabetics, we are all at increased risk for

heart disease, whether we are low-carb dieters or not.

My point is that it is highly appropriate for someone to question their

medical team if their medical team is recommending a diet that leads to

increased blood sugar, and isn't responsive to questions or complaints. No,

it's probably not super-healthy to eat only meat, cheese, and broccoli; I

will agree with you there. But I would not agree that there is a single

perfect " well-balanced diet " that will apply to everybody in the world.

Somebody like my husband, who is not diabetic, can eat a healthy,

well-balanced diet with a much, much, much higher percentage of carbohydrate

than I can handle on my own healthy, well-balanced diet. Even on oral

medications or insulin, if I tried to follow the diets on the general

handout sheets at my GP's office, my blood sugar would be running too high.

I personally stick with the South Beach diet, which is what my endo

recommended -- and as you can see from that, I don't have a problem

following a doctor's advice and would agree with you that the best thing to

do is to find a team you're happy with and work with them to maintain good

health.

From what I've seen in this group, people are encouraged to question their

doctors, which I think is a good thing. They are also encouraged to not

accept substandard care; also a good thing. Blindly doctor-hopping because

you read on a website that chromium will cure your diabetes and your doctor

won't give you chromium injections: bad. But I think posts like that are

in the vast minority, luckily. :-)

Molly

[Guest guest]

Vicki: I think you answered your own question. Definitely, go back

to what was working. I am eating basically the same as you were,

and my BG stays in line with what is recommended by my doctor. My

average runs about 108. My diabetes educator recently told me that

after I lose this other 20 or so pounds (lost 43), I would have to

add more carbs to what I am eating, and I just looked at her and

said " we will see " . Don't take the advise of one person, I think

you were not at all confused about what diabetes can do to you if

you don't keep your BG down.

DO WHAT WORKS.

Rose

>

> Hi, everyone -- it's been a while since I posted anything, but I

have

> been an avid reader of everyone else's contributions.

>

> The nutritionist knows I'm diabetic, and she knows I was eating a

> food plan that was controlling the diabetes. I'd assumed she

knows

> something about the dietary needs of a diabetic. Now I'm confused

as

> to how to proceed -- do I go back to what I know works and what

kept

> me quite happy, or do I do as she says and live with the higher

> levels.

>

> As anyone else ever gotten this advice from a dietician?

>

> I'd appreciate any feedback anyone has...

>

> vicky

>