health – Page 17 – Diabetes Diet

Jeff Volek Calls for Signatories to a Petition Against Current US Dietary Guidelines

Oct 9, 2015Nov 20, 2017 EmmaLeave a comment

The Diabetes Diet’s attention was drawn to a recent call for signatories to a petition aimed at changing US dietary guidelines.

We’re British, but the official guidelines for nutrition in this country have been very similar to US advice in the past.

The plea for signatories to the petition comes from Dr Jeff Volek, a registered dietician and professor at the University of Connecticut, and regarded as an expert in low-carbohydrate diets. He is calling for people to sign the petition because he considers that the US dietary guidelines have not worked and obesity and diabetes is a public health crisis, with more than half the adult US population having diabetes or being pre-diabetic.

Dr Volek says that he recently attended the US House Agriculture Committee to discuss the guidelines, where the secretary of the USDA and HHS were asked question about the current scientific report and guidelines that are likely to be published this December (2015).

Dr Volek says: “The chairman and multiple members of the House Ag[riculture] Committee were rightfully concerned about the report and the failure to acknowledge the problem of excess carbohydrate consumption and the body of literature on low-carbohydrate diets.

“I invite you to join me in asking the government to make a change and ensure that quality science generated from a variety of different experimental approaches be the center focus in determining the 2015 Dietary Guidelines. Progress can only occur if we are willing to disrupt the status quo and recognize the insights of newer, better and more credible science.”

The link to the petition is here: https://www.change.org/p/demand-that-quality-science-determines-the-2015-u-s-dietary-guide

You can read more about Dr Volek’s work at his website, artandscienceoflowcarb, and The Diabetes Diet contains lots of examples of meal plans and recipes you can follow if you’d like to eat a low-carb diet yourself.

Photo thanks to the League of Women Voters.

The Etiquette of Diabetes

Dec 10, 2014Nov 20, 2017 EmmaLeave a comment

Do you inject in public? What happens if you are in a meeting and you suddenly experience a hypo (low blood sugar) and what do you say to people when you are invited to their homes for a meal?

These are the questions I have been asking of late, as I have been thinking of diabetic etiquette. My modus operandi for life is “do not make a fuss”. It’s the Brit in me. I shy away from behaviours that draw too much attention and I am not keen on putting people to trouble.

But health is important and being too polite to refuse a piece of cake that a friend has made means you run the risk of high blood sugars and feeling ill, politeness starts to look silly doesn’t it?

Let’s take a look at the different issues that come up when you are living with diabetes and how you can handle them.

So – injections in public.

Continue reading “The Etiquette of Diabetes” →

Living with a Carb Addict

Oct 17, 2014Oct 16, 2014 Emma2 Comments

Y’know that perfectly sensible advice they give you when embarking on any kind of diet; the suggestion that you clear out all temptation from your house?

Willpower is finite. See, most of us associate willpower with the kinds of steel-willed folks who force themselves out of bed at five am for that brutal bootcamp class before going to work, or the kind of person who always, always says no to cake, or never drinks more than one small glass of wine.

Willpower is much, much more than that, however. You need willpower for a lot of things in life. Getting up on a cold, winter morning to go to work (instead of phoning in sick, say), or managing to keep your mouth zipped shut when your annoying work colleague begins her daily litany of woes.

These everyday things require willpower so it is no wonder it runs out quickly – and no wonder that here at the Diabetes Diet we advise you to keep your house carb-clear if possible, so you don’t have to waste willpower on battling with the bread bin.

But then, I live with a carb addict.

He’s a West of Scotland man. Normal practice for him is to eat lasagne with chips (eeks, I exclaim, double carbs!). In fact, he tells me, in an ideal world, it would be lasagne, chips AND garlic bread.

(And presumably a nap afterwards.)

There is no way on earth this gent is going to put up with a house that contains no bread, no potatoes and no pasta.

Bread, potatoes and pasta aren’t tempting foods to eat in themselves. Heck no, plain bread without butter? Potatoes that aren’t fried, or also adorned with the glorious goldeness that is butter? Boiled pasta and nothing else? A big bowl of steamed rice? Not so nice and not nearly as tempting and easy to over-devour as a family-size packet of crisps.

So we compromise by keeping the house free from cakes, biscuits and chocolates – and most of the time, we don’t keep crisps or sweets in it either. (And certainly nothing that comes in a purple wrapper…).

Other than that, I cope by serving up my food without the accompanying potatoes or rice, and muttering from time to time about the folly of double carbs. Diet is a personal thing, and your health your own responsibility to a certain extent.

My West of Scotland carb addict must make his own decisions!