Here’s an interesting video about how eating a low carb diet reducing glucose levels in mice and has reversed kidney disease. They do point out something that is often not said in other studies that do not involve humans – results noted in mice many not be applicable to humans. Always something good to remember. However, I think there are enough humans out there who have reduced their carb intake (which in turn reduced their glucose levels) and have seen incredible results in reducing/control their health related issues such as kidney disease and diabetes.

     As you watch the video you will hear one of the scientists say that they don’t exactly want to put people on a low carb/higher fat diet. They just want to figure out how exactly it works so they can produce a drug that duplicates the same effect. Why? They don’t give a reason but my guess is the main one is changing your diet is free. The drugs that would be produced will cost money and those who produce the drug will be earning a huge profit. Don’t wait for drugs to do what small changes in the way you eat can do for you NOW and for FREE!

   Complaints aside, check out this video and then, if your diabetic, think about how reducing the carbs in your diet could help keep your kidneys healthy.

Video: Science BytesEpisode: A Life-Saving Diet?

Why do our bodies wear out as we grow old? Meet Charles Mobbs, a scientist at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York. By trying to answer this mysterious question, he and his team have found what could be a way to do something long thought impossible: reverse kidney damage caused by diabetes.

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     My mother usually plays cards several times a week with a group of women from her church. She called to ask me about a dessert that one of the women had brought that night. She was told that the sugar in the recipe had been replaced with agave syrup and that it was safe for diabetics because it was “natural”. Only problem is that her blood sugar spiked up pretty high. How could this have happened? Aren’t natural sweeteners good for diabetics?

     Well, I guess that all depends upon what we are talking about when we say “natural”, “good” and “safe”. People often argue over exact definitions of such words. Natural could mean that the sweetener is produced by nature such as honey. For other people natural means that it is found in nature but needs some method of extraction or processing before it is used. Granulated sugar, palm sugar, beet sugar,corn syrup, sorhgum syrup, maple syrup and agave are found in nature but require some processing before we find them sold in our local grocery store.

     Is one type of sweetener good or better than another? Some will argue that the various types of processing are what determines whether or not that particular sweetener is good. Personally, I’ll stay out of that argument for now. The question that I focus on is whether or not a sweetener is “safe” for someone who is diabetic or prediabetic. If someone asks this question what they usually mean is will this spike my blood sugar levels?

     Let’s start by looking at regular granulated sugar. Here’s a nutritional label for 1 teaspoon of sugar:

One teaspoon of sugar contains 15 calories. If you look down the list you’ll see one teaspoon of sugar contains 4 grams of carbohydrates. It’s the carbohydrates that affect blood sugar levels. A tablespoon of sugar (3 teaspoons equals 1 tablespoon) would contain 12 grams of carbohydrates.

Now let’s look at some “natural” sugars. Here’s the nutritional info for honey. That’s about as natural as you can get since it doesn’t require any type of processing. You even find honey still sold inside the honeycomb where the bees put it for storage.

One tablespoon of honey contains 64 calories. Total carbohydrates for a tablespoon is 17 grams. So, even though honey is natural, the fact that it contains carbohydrates means that it will affect blood sugar levels. How about maple syrup? That’s pretty natural too.

Here’s the nutritional information for maple syrup:

One tablespoon of maple syrup contains 52 calories. It contains 13 grams of total carbohydrates. Again, that’s what affects blood sugar. How about agave syrup?

Here’s the nutritional label for agave syrup:

     Hmmm…..one tablespoon of agave syrup contains 60 calories. Total carbohydrates – 16 grams. So, when you think about it, agave actually contains more carbs/sugars that will affect your blood sugar level than a tablespoon of white sugar. No wonder my mother’s blood sugar levels spiked up after eating the dessert sweetened with this “natural” sweetener.

     To answer the question is agave “safe” for diabetics – it is no safer than regular white sugar. Since it contains more carbs when compared to an equal amount of white sugar it could even be considered worse for you. Sugar is a sugar is a sugar. They will all be processed by the body and raise your blood sugar levels. Keep this in mind when buying and using products labeled as “natural” or “diabetic friendly”. Always check the label to see what they consider a serving size and how many carbs it contains.

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In the beginning there was fat….and it was good for you!

Meat, butter and lard were regularly consumed. Obesity, diabetes and heart disease rates were low. As sugar and flour consumption increased so did the problems. Hydrogenated vegetable shortening was introduced and replaced butter. Disease rates began to rise. Yearly sugar consumption rose from about 15 lbs a year (around 1830′s) to 150+ lbs currently. Not surprising but the life time risk of diabetes went from 1 in 30 in the early 1900′s to currently 1 in 3.

Check out this blog that has a great timeline that shows the illustrated history of heart disease and see what you think. While it is the history of heart disease it could also be the history of type 2 diabetes as well. The two seem to go hand in hand. Here are some interesting maps that show rates of heart disease and diabetes across the country. First the heart disease map:

Now the diabetes map for the year 2008:

Notice any similarities? The darker colors on both maps indicate higher rates. They are fairly similar in the distribution of increasing rates. Here’s a a link to a great interactive map that shows the spread of diabetes county by country across the country. It only contains information from 2004 to 2008. Watching the increased numbers spread in such a short time really drives home the point that what we are currently doing and what we are being told to eat just isn’t working.

Whether you want to believe it or not – reducing the amount of carbs and passing on all the fake fats works! Please do what I did and actually read the studies yourself. And not just the abstract or the little info blurb put out in the media. Actually read the whole study.  Many times they don’t actually show what the media claims that they do.

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I’ve added a few new features to the blog. In the lower right hand corner of each post you will see a small icon with Print PDF written next to it. If you click on this button it will open a screen that shows the post, allows you to alter it by changing the font size or removing the image and allows you to print it off. This will allow you to print off any recipes you may want to try.

Due to a huge number of spam posts that are constantly being sent in lately I’ve started using a new plugin to catch and prevent them from being posted. If you are commenting and your posts aren’t getting through please let me know. I’m hoping that reader comments won’t get deleted when the spammers get weeded out.

For those who would like to comment I’ve enabled to site to use CommentLuv. If you choose to register then you will be able to pick a post from the last 10 you’ve posted to your blog and CommentLuv will include a link.

I added in a new page under the Resources, Tips and Tools page. It has a list of some of my favorite low carb products and books . Many of the low carb products listed can often be found at your local grocery store or health food store. But, in case you can’t locate them, I’ve included links to take you to the various sites where I buy mine.

Now on to the stories that I’ve read over this past week that blow my mind, give me a headache and make my eyes bleed!

Poor Paula Dean! Now that she’s come out with the fact that she is a type 2 diabetic it seems the blogosphere is on fire with stories about her. I think things would have been different if she didn’t share this info in one breath and in another tell us she’s now being compensated to be a spokesperson for an expensive drug. Yet it seems that it’s business as usual when it comes to her cooking show.  Someone even started posting a list of her recipes that she’s been making on her Paula’s Home Cooking show since her announcement: Check them out at Daily Deen. Somethings just never change.

Here’s another great one: Dreamfield’s pasta company has launched a new program to spread awareness of type 2 diabetes and recognize those “DFF’s” (diabetic friends forever instead of BFF’s or best friends forever) who help others with the disease. Of course part of the program is to help educate type 2′s: 
“on the value of making smart health and wellness choices like exercising more and incorporating better-for-you food options — like Dreamfields high-fiber/low-digestible carb pasta — whenever possible. “

If you really want to be a DFF then tell your friends, family and loved ones that even eating Dreamfield’s pasta -whenever possible – is not going to help them control their blood sugar levels. There is no guarantee that this pasta has a lower glycemic index in diabetics so you could be thinking your getting 5 digestible carbs but actually end up with much more. Their own testing procedure pagestates that the people they test the glycemic index of their product were excluded if they had any metabolic conditions with impaired carbohydrate metabolism (diabetes). Hmmmm….your selling this product to diabetics yet you haven’t tested it on diabetics to determine if they breakdown this carb based product the same way as those who are not impaired? Personally, if you want to eat pasta go for the regular stuff. At least your already anticipating the higher carb count and plan for it in your diet. With Dreamfield’s you think according to their claims that you are getting 5 grams of carbs but could end up with far more with the consequence being a huge spike in blood sugar that you never planned for.

Finally, I’ll end on a story that actually doesn’t make me want to bang my head on the desk. Check out this type 1 diabetic telling it like it is – it’s not the butter, burgers, eggs or bacon that hurts diabetics. It’s the pasta, bread, flour and sugar that’s the main cause.

Recently read a story that makes you shake your head and want to scream. Leave a comment and share it with other readers.

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If this were the $100,000 pyramid game show I would say Paula Deen and you would answer butter!

With Paula Deen’s supposedly about to reveal that she has been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes on the Today show this coming tuesday the only thing people seem to be able to talk about is her love of butter. All the news stories can seem to focus on is the butter and cream in her recipes. This is certainly the cause of the problem they claim. Yet how many of them even notice the amount of carbs used in a majority of her recipes. Dessert recipes don’t just call for sugar. They use granulated sugar, confectioners sugar brown sugar and even corn syrup….all in the same recipe! 

Main stream media doesn’t seem to notice that. It’s only the butter and fat that they can focus on. Yet what is the one thing that causes blood sugars to rise? That would be the carbohydrates in her recipes and not the fat.

But isn’t fat evil? Shouldn’t we try to eliminate as much of it as possible from our diets so we can be healthy and then the number of people who have diabetes will go down?

No (unless it’s transfats). Fat is an important part of your diet. Without going into a huge amount of detail fat protects your internal organs, it helps to insulate your body and protect against temperature extremes. Fat makes up part of the membrane that surrounds every cell in your body. Fat provides two essential fatty acids that are needed by the body for normal growth and development especially the brain! Some vitamins (A, D, E and K) can’t be absorbed by the body unless there is fat present. And, one reason that is never talked about, fat is used to produce ketone bodies which is the main energy source for both the heart and brain. It is the energy source that is preferred over glucose (which is obtained when carbs are broken down). Plus fats don’t raise your blood sugar level while carbs do.

Whether or not Paula is a type 2 diabetic remains to be seen. They will tell you it’s the butter that’s to blame. I say it’s all the rolls and biscuits she put the butter on that’s the real cause.

Have you read anything about this story? Have you tried any of her carbolicious recipes? Do you worry about the butter or the biscuits?

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Just a few interesting news stories that came out this past week that make my eyes bleed and give me a headache.

     Seems McDonald’s has joined up with Weight Watchers. Several of their meals will now carry the Weight Watchers logo on them. Right now this is only happening in some of the New Zealand fast food chains. I’m sure, if all goes well, we will be seeing more of this sort of thing everywhere.

     So what meals are now worthy of the low fat loving Weight Watchers logo? Good question! How about the Fillet-O-Fish (18 grams fat and 38 grams of carbs), the Chicken Nuggets (29 grams fat and 30 grams carbs) and the Sweet Chili Seared Chicken Wrap (18.8 grams fat and an estimated 31 grams carbs – couldn’t find it listed in their nutrition info chart). Granted, since Weight Watchers uses a points system to help you with your food choices, each of these items will only cost you 6.5 points.

     I understand that sometimes fast food may be your only option at that time but why not slap their logo on something a bit “healthier” – meaning lower in WW points. The cheeseburger would only cost you 3 Weight Watchers points. Hey, you could even eat two of them and they would have less points than the food items that will carry their logo. Try a premium ceasar salad with grilled chicken for 3 points or splurge and go for the southwest salad with grilled chicken for 6 points.

     This is a big win for McDonalds. Now there’s no need to think about what your eating as long as their a logo from a famous weight loss company on it. That means that the food is healthy right?

And on to the next story:

“Cut your portions, cut your risk”

     That’s the new tag line being used in a series of ads that are being put up in New York subways. The photos show a variety of images that are suppose to scare you into healthier habits. They also include various food pictures (burgers, drinks, etc) which show that portion sizes have increased over the years and are the cause of obesity. Yes, they are right. Portions sizes have increased dramatically but that’s not the only reason why obesity rates have gone up. I could rant on this forever but decided that I’d rather show my favorite ad of the bunch.

     That’s right. Only over weight diabetics end up with amputated legs and it’s because they drank bigger portions of soft drinks. Hate to tell them but diabetes may be linked to obesity but there are plenty of thin diabetics out there and their numbers are increasing too! Many diabetics are probably looking at this ad and scratching their heads because they switched over to sugar free soda years ago and are still having trouble losing weight. Hmm…probably from eating all those healthy whole grains no doubt.

     Has scaring people into changing their habits ever worked? Instead of showing the dark side of things why not go for positive images instead? After all type 2 diabetes, and avoiding leg amputations, can be prevented by eating a healthier diet. You would be amazed at how many people don’t even realize that this is possible. Maybe you should be telling them that instead….just a thought.

Story #3 and the one that absolutely drives me insane:

     Since we are worried about preventing type 2 diabetes we should head on over and check out this story at US News to see which diets they have ranked as “the best”.  Thank goodness they have cut through all the claims and so they can tell us which diets are best for diabetics. Too bad the 19 experts ranked the diets by using the governments recommended daily allowence for fat, protein, carbohydrates and salt. Great….I get the feeling this isn’t going to work out well.

     Winners for top diabetic diets included the Biggest Loser diet (50% of calories from carbs), DASH diet (45 to 60% calories from carbs), Mayo Clinic diet (45 to 60% calories from carbs),  and the Ornish Diet (also 45 to 60% calories from carbs). Thank goodness that getting 45 to 60% of your calories from carbs will help diabetics stay healthy!  NOT.

     How about diets that actually will help diabetics? Ones that are lower in carbs so blood sugar levels are better controlled. Where did they end up in the rankings?

     The South Beach diet came in at #20 and the experts concluded that there is no good evidence that this diet can help prevent or control diabetes. Why? Gasp….”It doesn’t provide enough carbs in any phase, according to the 2010 Dietary Guidelines”. As my daughters would say: OMG. After all we all know you should have plenty of carbs in your diet so your blood sugar levels can spike up high (said with a heavy dose of sarcasm).

     The Paleo diet came in at #24. Again, the experts weigh in with this bit of info: “By shunning dairy and grains, you’re at risk of missing out on a lot of nutrients”. Hey, wait a minute. Don’t vegetarians and vegans shun whole food groups? Yes they do! Yet the experts think that the vegan diet, with it’s 45 to 65% of calories coming from carbs, is so fabulous that it came in at #3 on the diabetic diet list and vegetarian diets came in at #4. If only the paleo diet didn’t cut carbs to 23% of the governments recommended amounts perhaps it would have ranked higher. Just think of all the diabetics that will have better blood sugar control by eating fewer carbs. The government certainly wouldn’t want that!

     And the one diet that I think just about everyone refers back to when they want to point out all that is “evil” in low carb dieting: the Atkins diet. The Atkins diet was tied with the South Beach diet at #20. Again another horrible diet for diabetics whose bodies CAN’T process carbs correctly because the Atkins diet doesn’t provided ENOUGH carbs to reach their recommended 45 to 65% that we should be eating. As Susan Powter, low fat diet guru, would say: STOP THE INSANITY!!!!!  I need some Tylenol….this list is giving me a headache.

     But wait! It’s not all doom and gloom out there. Check out this newstory:

     “The Fall River Fitness Challenge is sponsoring a support group for people who are currently on or are considering following a low-carbohydrate diet, either to lose weight or to stabilize or prevent medical conditions such as diabetes.”

     This peer to peer support group is starting up in Fall River, Massachusetts and is being run by a clinical psychologist. The weekly meetings are being held at, wait for it, the Diabetes Association located at 170 Pleasant Street. YES! Now that’s one news story that didn’t make me want to bang my head on the desk over and over again.

How about you? Seen any news stories lately that make you want to scream? Share a link in the comment section below.

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Just a few posts back I had discussed a few of my favorite food and nutrition books that I read last year. One of them was Bloodsugar 101 by Jenny Ruhl. Today I found out that Jimmy Moore has done a second interview with Jenny at his Livin La Vida Low Carb podcast. 

Jimmy is starting off the new year but bringing back some of the most popular podcast guests that had been on his show in 2011. Here’s a link to the LLVLC encore show with Jenny Ruhl. If you want to check out her 2011 interview show click here. I think you’ll find lots of helpful information in both podcasts. If you’d like to check out Jenny’s book here’s a link for that as well :

Bloodsugar 101

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     A quick 20 minute ride (unless there’s traffic) from my home, Boston is known for many things and one of them is the number of incredible hospitals and specialty clinics. There you will find one of the first centers that began specializing in the treatment of diabetics – the Joslin Diabetes Center. This center grew from the Joslin Clinic, a medical practice that Dr. Elliot P. Joslin began in 1952 to treat and study diabetes. He maintained that tight control of blood sugar levels was one way to prevent diabetic complications. To  do this his patients treatments included ”the use of carbohydrate-restricted diets and fasting” (1). They were also told to get regular exercise. Here’s a quick video on the first doctor to use carbohydrate restriction to successfully treat diabetes.

If your reading this blog post in an RSS feed and can’t see the above video then go to Elliot P Joslin, Diabetes Pioneer.

(1) Reference: http://www.joslin.org/about/elliot_p_joslin_md.html

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Two studies that recently were published suggest that there is a positive association with shift work and becoming a type 2 diabetic. As someone who has worked night shift (11pm to 7am) for over 18 years with a family history of T2 diabetes I was curious as to what the studies discovered. I become even more curious especially after seeing blurbs online about a 58% increase risk if you have worked 20+ years on night shift. It only took a short time to track down the actual studies to find out what really was written and not the sensational headlines I had been seeing.

Both studies discuss how the information presented was collected, who was involved, what associations they found and what they believe it all means. If you were to only read the abstract or perspective you might think that the longer you work on night shift or even a split shift (you work some day shifts as well as some night shifts) the greater your chance of becoming a type 2 diabetic. The thing to remember about these studies are:

1). They are based on information collected from a different study. In this case both of them drew their information from the Nurses Health Study (NHS). The NHS is an ongoing study of health care professionals (nurses) that began in 1976. The NHS collects much of it’s information from questionaires that subjects fill out and mail back in.

2). The information used for these two shift work studies was based on questionnaires that are filled out at various intervals by subjects who participate in the NHS study. Why is this an issue? Well, if they were asking about what you ate over a period of time and used that information to draw a conclusion one would have to question how accurate the information collected would be. Do you remember everything you ate over the past 3 months? How about the past 3 weeks? Heck, I’m lucky if I remember the past 3 days.

3). A positive association does not indicate cause. It simply indicates that these two things (extended shift work and type 2 diabetes) seem to occur in the same people but one does not cause the other. However, it does give an indication that further randomized studies may provide more information as to how these two things are connected or if they even are connected.

As stated by one of the studies: 

“In both cohorts, women with more years spent in rotating night shift work were older, more likely to have a higher BMI, and to be current smokers. In NHS I, women with more years of rotating night shift work were more likely to be diagnosed with hypertension, to report regular snoring and <6 h sleep”.

While the online magazine and newspaper headlines discussing the results of these two studies are very sensastional the actual studies are not. Is it really the shift you work that might be associated with increased risk or the other relating factors such as age, increased weight, smoking, increased stress and less sleep?

I know that personally working night shift for more than 18 years means that sometimes I sleep for 8 hours total or less over 2 days. When I get tired at night I crave carbs even if I just ate a healthy meal. I often gained weight until I started following a low carb diet. Many of my co-workers smoke…I do not. Stress increases because you work nights but everyone thinks your home and available all day. I can’t tell you how many times people call during the day thinking it’s your day off only to find that your trying to sleep after working 8 or 12 hours. You sleep fewer hours because it’s too bright out, there’s too much noise or people are waking you up for one reason or another.

While working night shift may not be the factor that increases your risk of type 2 diabetes as noted in these studies, it certainly doesn’t help especially when combined with other factors such as gaining weight, smoking, increased stress, lack of sleep, etc. Just something to keep in mind if you or someone you know works the night shift. Check out the studies for yourself and see what you think. I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Shift Work as a Risk Factor for Future Type 2 Diabetes: Evidence, Mechanisms, Implications, and Future Research Directions

Rotating Night Shift Work and Risk of Type 2 Diabetes: Two Prospective Cohort Studies in Women

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What does food blogging and medical bracelets have in common you might ask? A whole lot especially if you have a family member with a food allergy. If that family member is a child then a medical bracelet, necklace or tag might be especially important when going back to school.

While I don’t have a food allergy I do have epilepsy. Even though my family members know this they aren’t often with me when I’m having one. Usually I’m home alone. Today my husband was present for the first time. He found me near the end of the seizure when I can hear what’s going on yet can’t respond. I could hear him say he was going to call an ambulance because he had no idea what was happening. Watching him freak out really got me thinking about what would happen if I should have a seizure when I return to school in September.

A medical bracelet might come in handy. It may not keep people from flipping out or calling an ambulance but at least someone would know what was happening when I’m not able to respond. Searching online I found a variety of companies that sell medical bracelets and necklaces. One really neat company is Lauren’s Hope. Not only do they have a huge variety of medical jewelry for adults but they have some great ones for kids including Velcro bracelets and backpack tags . Perfect for kids (or adults) with food allergies, diabetes, epilepsy or other medical conditions. While we can take precautions at home and with family or friends we won’t always be around people who will know what is happening. A medical tag can be a big help. Check out the Lauren’s Hope website:

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