A doctor ordering you to use the
Internet? Well, things are changing, some doctors are suggesting
this and giving out sites for patients to explore. Several members
of our diabetes support group are on the receiving end, and from what
I am hearing, the websites are of value. Some of us had visited the
sites before the two doctors included them on their list, and we feel
much better that the members that did not accept the sites from us
are now accepting them.
The sites are a good variety, from
nutrition to medications and habits for developing better diabetes
management. At least the doctors are not limiting nutrition to only
one type, but are promoting several types, but mainly low carb and
medium carb. Allen and Barry were surprised when during our last
meeting, they heard from two members that had been very set against
medium carb and were talking about how they were going lower on
medium carb and asked Allen how they could go even lower.
Allen just asked them what they were
presently eating and what they wanted to eat. He was surprised when
he added up the carbs as they described what they ate and when they
stopped, they were about 80 grams and both said they wanted to get to
about 50 to 60 grams. Barry said Allen was rather close and he
suggested they remove the corn from the menu for both meals and this
could bring them to about 55 grams. Allen agreed that would get them
to about 55 grams and the small amount of peas from the evening meal
could easily have them at about 50 grams.
Allen asked them if they used a scale
for the foods and both said they did and said this is the way they
calculated to the grams of carbohydrates they were eating. Barry
suggested that they should increase the amount of fat when they
lowered the amount of carbohydrates. One of the fellows said he
would be, but may not increase the amount as much as the other
fellow. When Allen asked his why, he said that too much fat caused
diarrhea for him and Allen said then he should keep the fat level
manageable for his system. Barry also suggested if they went lower
they needed to consider increasing their salt intake for about two
weeks.
Barry also suggested that they should
schedule a nutrition session with Allison to make sure that they had
a balanced food plan and not be missing vitamins and minerals the body might become short of in the long term. One said he had done
this when they had gone below 100 grams per day and he agreed this
would be a good idea when they went below 60 grams per day. Allen
thanked them for asking questions and hoped they were happy with the
plans. The fellows asked Barry and Allen what the number of grams of
carbohydrates they were consuming. Allen said he was eating between
50 and 60 grams per day and Barry said he was between 60 and 70 grams
per day.
Then one fellow asked if anyone was
eating what is Dr. Bernstein's level at thirty grams. Allen said he
had been that low for about six months and found he could not
maintain this low a food plan. Not only was he becoming deficient in
some vitamins and minerals, but also he was not feeling well near the
end of the trial and needs to increase his daily carb intake. Barry
said that after Allen's experience, many of the members were very
hesitant to go lower than 80 grams of carbohydrates.
The other fellow said this is the
explanation he needed and why they ignored us when we were promoting
medium and low carb before the doctors had provided them with reading
material.
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