An uplifting lowcarb story sent to our website address yesterday.

I am a woman of 58, who has recently started to display the characteristics of 'metabolic syndrome'. I am so glad to have discovered the marvels of the Atkins diet (or low carb diet) and am sure that it has enabled me to side-step the inevitable progress that I would otherwise have made, through type 2 diabetes, to heart disease etc.

It has also caused me to reflect upon my family history, and particularly reflect upon my father's life, as a diabetic of 60+ years, self managing his own condition before the mantra of recommended diet of complex carbs, The management of diabetes is simply shocking. My father was a lifelong diabetic, and my brother and niece also and I'm sure I was on a fast track to type 2 diabetes, so it's a subject that interests me enormously. My father was diagnosed with diabetes as a young man, in the early 1940s. At the time, food groups were broken down, those he could eat freely (eg proteins) foods he could eat moderately (eg veggies) and foods he had to control tightly (eg high carbs). He didn't know those terms, his foods were divided into 3 groups, reds, blacks and greens. He learned by trial and error what a portion of any food equated to in carb terms.

I think it's why I don't have a 'sweet tooth', with a father and brother unable to eat any 'sweet' foods, I grew up in a household where there was no sugar in the house. His insulin requirement stayed the same throughout his life, going down a bit towards the end of his life as he started to eat less, he had no side effects of diabetes whatsoever, his vision was fine, his circulation was fine, and he lived into his late 80s. He was never part of any research programme, he went to the doctors as rarely as possible and never went to a diabetic clinic. And still, now they advocate all these carbs for diabetics, with organisations like the British Diabetic Association suppressing debate on the low carb alternative - it's just crazy.

I have 2 friends who have recently been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes (getting to that age) - I bought them both NANY - they've just gone on the medication, trying to lose weight low fat style, and bound to fail. It's so frustrating. While ever low carb is sidelined people will just get more and more ill with these 'modern diseases'. I'm totally convinced of it, it's why I get so frustrated.

I just thought that I would email you. I think that the work you are doing is exceptional.

Full name and e mail address supplied.