What motivates a lowcarb anti ? part two.

A recent conversation on the diabetes.co.uk forum. Man 1, Have you read Taubes book ? Man 2, No. Man 1, How do you know what it says. Man 2, I have seen a video. How about this for an analogy. Man 1, I think Christianity is a complete crock. Man 2, Have you read and studied the bible ? Man 1, No. Man 2, How do you know what it says ? Man 1, I’ve seen Ben Hur. Comical, hilarious or tragic.

I have seen worse. How about, lowcarbing is not for me, you get constipation, mood swings, scurvy and mange. When did you try lowcarbing ? try lowcarbing, no chance, I wouldn’t lowcarb if you paid me, it’s dangerous ! I see, how do you control your type two diabetes ? With Avandia, Actos and a drug that comes with two black box cancer warnings. Do you think that is a safer option over a diet based on fresh vegetables, fruits, some protein and quality fats ? You lowcarbers are all the same, evangelical fundamentalist loonies. Get my drift, It’s odds on many have never ever tried lowcarb. Some say they tried lowcarb for a few days and gave it up, but experienced lowcarbers know it can take weeks or months to become a natural and satisfying way of life.

Rome wasn’t built in a day. Don’t expect to undo decades of damage done by sugar and highly refined carbohydrates foods in a few days. What many find in a few days is highly dangerous blood glucose numbers drop to non diabetic. That was the clincher for me, BG of never better than 12, very often at twenty, all because I followed  my healthcare professionals advice. Three months after diagnosis with HbA1c of almost twelve, HbA1c 5.9. My Healthcare pro's were amazed and almost overnight, I became a lowcarb, evangelical, fundamentalist loony.

I have never been more than the average Joe, travelling through life and fortunate to have had far more good hands dealt to me than bad. Although diabetes had killed my Grandmother and Father, I now saw diabetes as a life sentence, an early warning to change my way of life. Not only that, I would spend the rest of my life spreading the great news. An ordinary guy with information that could prolong peoples lives, save them from the gruesome complications I had seen at first hand. What could possibly go wrong ?

I spread the good news at every opportunity, I posted over two thousand posts on diabetes.co.uk (every single post deleted by Ken) and I am not talking about the three word game. Links to good information, my progress, encouragement for the newly diagnosed, lowcarb recipes etc. and lot’s of arguments with the antis. It was beyond my comprehension that a small group of lowcarb antis would target people like me and so many others. Lowcarb experts such as Fergus, Dr. Katharine Morrison, Timo, Trinkwasser, and many more. Last Easter Doctor Jay Wortman a lowcarb expert and type two diabetic got the lowcarb anti third degree. Ridiculed, posts deleted and banned. A short while after a poll was set up by a moderator on the lines of ‘Do we want healthcare professionals posting on the forum’ it got the thumbs down. The aforementioned experts all got worn down by the same bunch of fulltime lowcarb antis. Many active low carbers were banned. Including Wallycorker, Graham, John, Ray and others that work on this blog. Many hundreds of their posts deleted. The official reason given, creating space on the server, some general ‘house keeping’ the back log of old word games remained. Maybe space was not an issue after all.

Let’s give the antis the benefit of the doubt regarding me and my fellow evangelical, fundamentalist loony friends. Let's say we all got what we deserved. The $64000 question needs to be asked, what about the new promoters of lowcarb on the forum, do they deserve the treatment they are getting. They are getting the same treatment that hundreds of others have received. Constantly wasting their valuable time, threads going off topic, threads locked and removed for editing. Having to defend a lowcarb lifestyle, that so many on the forum have found to be their salvation, and report good news on a daily basis. And what’s the constant over four years ? The same small group of non lowcarbers. Do the lowcarbers go into the type one forum spreading fear and alarm ? Do the lowcarbers go into the pump forum offering unwanted comment or information ? No way.

So, maybe the $1000000 questions should be, do the owners or people that run the forum know what is going on, do they care, have a small group of lowcarb antis got some sort of hold on the forum, is it in the interests of the owners to allow the carnage, arguments and misinformation, (check out when the most people are signed in). From a sales and marketing viewpoint I can see endless opportunities being frittered away. For many newbie’s and long term poorly controlled, the forum could be doing so much more. All attention should be aimed at getting all to a safe place, but that is not happening. The same small group, hour after hour, day after day, year in and year out are wrecking the place.

We’ve got the message loud and clear from the antis, they don’t want to lowcarb, they can’t lowcarb, they don’t need to lowcarb, they think good fats lead to chronic disease etc etc etc etc. As Patch says in his signature “People who say it can't be done, should not interrupt those doing it” Antis give it a rest, take up origami or train spotting. The new and old lowcarb promoters won’t be going anywhere soon, and you lot are way past your sell by date.

Eddie