Type 2 Best Diet Plans – Oh Really?

First, diets fail and are considered for the short term. People with type 2 diabetes do not need something for the short term, but the long term – for the rest of our lives. As with any article written by doctors or professional writers, they forget about one crucial fact. People with type 2 diabetes should use their blood glucose meter with test strips to determine how the food affects their blood glucose levels.

Now I may be wrong, but I generally ignore writers that don't mention the above and write as if they have all the answers for food that people with type 2 diabetes should be eating. I did take time to talk with my cousin and she looked up the WebMD article and read it. She commented that they were some powerful diets and most were not suited to good weight loss. She said if they were careful about the number of calories consumed they could lose weight, but otherwise with many of the diets, they would maintain weight and maybe lose a few pounds before they gave up the diet.

She continued that many are not into lifestyle changes and thus a diet is the way possibly for short-term weight loss, but not keeping the weight off. I agree with this and said this was my thinking as well. Both of us were upset by the slides referred to in the article. We agreed that everything had to be high carb, low fat and that the recommended number of carbohydrates in slide 2 of 21, of 45-75 grams for every meal is totally unreasonable for everyone. With this recommendation, most people will gain weight, and we have to wonder whom the experts were to make this statement.

While we both agree that, “No food is off-limits with diabetes,” and without using our meters with test strips, we will never understand or be able to manage diabetes. Our meters tell us if the number of carbohydrates we consumed is too large. Then we have to decide whether to reduce the number of carbohydrates or eliminate that food from our food plan.

The DASH Diet, The Mediterranean Diet, Mark Bittman's VB6 Diet, The Volumetrics Diet, The Biggest Loser Diet, American Diabetes Association Carbohydrate Counting, Ornish Diet/The Spectrum, Weight Watchers are the diets listed in the WebMD article.  I will let you read the article, but none of these diets will work for the long term.

While many people praise these diets, I will not, primarily because they contain too many carbohydrates, too little fat, and too little protein. I also am concerned about the amount of whole grains many of the diets promote. If you use your meter, and if you are meeting your blood glucose goals, then okay. If your blood glucose levels spike above 140 mg/dl, then by all means consider reducing the serving size or eliminating the food from your food plan.