News Release: Research Evidence Affirms that Good Nutrition Can Help Prevent and Control Type 2 Diabetes

Read the entire article, its too important to miss!

http://www.joslin.org/news/Research-affirms-good-nutrition-can-help-prevent-and-control-type2-diabetes.html

One major finding was that certain foods and dietary patterns can help prevent type 2 diabetes even without weight loss. “People who eat a Mediterranean diet, with foods such as olive oil, whole grains and leafy vegetables and fruits, have a lower risk of developing diabetes even when they don’t lose weight,” Dr. Hamdy says.

Foods such as oat cereal, yogurt and dairy products, green leafy vegetables, grapes, apples, blueberries and walnuts were associated with reduced diabetes risk. Drinking coffee and even decaffeinated coffee were also associated with lower type 2 diabetes risk.

Participants who followed a Mediterranean eating plan — without restricting calories — showed a greater improvement in glycemic control and insulin sensitivity than participants who ate other popular diets. In addition, overweight patients with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes who followed the Mediterranean diet had less need for antihyperglycemic medications compared with participants on a low-fat diet.

Overall, a variety of eating plans, including the Mediterranean, low-carbohydrate/low glycemic index and high-protein diets, improved glycemic control and cardiovascular disease risk factors in patients with diabetes compared with control diets. This offers patients a range of options for diabetes management.

Foods associated with a higher risk of diabetes include red and processed meat, sugar-sweetened beverages, alcohol in excess quantities and refined grains, such as white flour.

Its NOT All About Type!

I had a very interesting conversation with my endo yesterday.

He said he doesn't really believe in using the diabetes labels type 1 and 2, because no two people will have the same response to medications, and that there are so many similarities and overlapping areas between the two.

Drugs that were previously considered just for type 2 have been found to work on type 1, and vice versa. He believes there are hundreds of types and that what matters is getting results. 

Its a fact that "Type 2's" can have antibodies just like type 1s, and type 1's can still have active beta cells". 

It was refreshing to hear him discuss it; he's more up to date on this than he used to be. 

Failing to respond to oral meds doesn't make you type one, it just makes you an individual, which ALL diabetics are. What's important is getting your blood glucose under control. FORGET the labels and stop playing the blame game!

He also said that I was programmed before birth to get diabetes, and even if I was skinny, I still would have gotten it. It was refreshing to have a doc say that I am NOT blame to blame for my diabetes. He also said I was preprogrammed to be a large person, that it's in my genes, and I should NOT diet. He encouraged me to try to make good choices about food, which is what I'm doing. Its what I have been doing for years. Unfortunately I made some bad choices when I was busy renovating 2 houses and taking care of my husband after an injury left him in a cast from hip to toe for months. I'm back on track now but its a real struggle because I now have several other serious health issues and can't get enough exercise due to extreme joint deterioration.

For far too long I've been pressured to diet, and with each new diet I end up getting discouraged and gaining back even more weight when the diet fails, which ultimately all diets do.

Lately, my family doctor is all about WLS. Are you kidding? I'd probably die on the operating table and she knows this. She admits it every time we have this discussion. I have far too many complications to risk it, I am not going to be a lab experiment for some greedy doctor. And by the way, it turns out that even lap bands are not all that safe after all, and not all that successful either.

Of all the doctors I've ever had, my endo has the most positive attitude about weight, and diabetes that I've ever seen. He wasn't always like that. He's gone up several notches in my opinion, for getting more up to date on the studies and evidence regarding this disease.

I just wish more doctors, more diabetics, and family members were up to date on the research and had a positive attitude instead of blaming the diabetic for having the wrong genes.

PS. You know what's really amusing?  I was just reading the old definition of type 1 and 2, and according to it, I'm actually type 1.  Crazy!  I don't care what you call it as long as I have my insulin. Without it, I'd be in the hospital pretty quickly.