Why Won't We Tell Diabetics the Truth?

It was Graham that first spotted this article, written by Diana Rodgers, RD, LDN, NTP, and it's certainly one to share! Diana is a real food nutritionist living on a working organic farm. She's the author of The Homegrown Paleo Cookbook and produces the Sustainable Dish Podcast.

The following is a snippet from an article written by her:

Why Won’t We Tell Diabetics the Truth?
I’m appalled constantly at the misinformation we nutrition experts are telling folks with diabetes. It’s all over the place. The “everything in moderation” mantra, and how we need to eat less meat, less fat, and more whole grains, is a pervasive theme drilled into young dietitians, and spread to the public through our dietary guidelines. This information is making people sick.

How Many Carbs Do We Really Need?
The short answer: ZERO.

What are the Dangers of Overeating Carbohydrates?
Answer: DIABETES (but they won’t actually say this)

So, How Many Carbs are We Telling Diabetics to Eat?
Answer: TOO MUCH

We’re Completely Failing Diabetics.
We nutrition experts are miserably failing at preventing and treating folks with diabetes. According to the CDC, 12.6% of Americans have diabetes, costing us $245 billion dollars in direct and indirect medical expenses. I’ve seen the incredible damage diabetes can do to people and it’s pretty ugly. It’s listed as the 7th leading cause of death, but because people don’t really die of “diabetes” but rather die of complications due to diabetes, like kidney failure and cardiovascular disease, the number is likely much higher. The rate is only increasing, especially in countries newly adopting our “heart-healthy” standard American diet. All over the world, people are giving up their healthy traditional diets and are drinking soda instead of water, using canola oil instead of traditional fats, and eating more refined junk foods – oh and it’s not only unhealthy but more expensive to eat this way too.

Why can’t we tell folks who have diabetes the truth: that eating an “everything in moderation,” high carb, low fat and low protein diet will increase your chances of a completely preventable disease (in the case of type 2) that can lead to a very uncomfortable death?

As a dietitian with some sense, when I see a patient with blood sugar issues, I recommend a low-carb diet, adding more protein and healthy fats as the very first step. There are a handful of people who get it. In this literature review, researchers looked at 12 studies all showing the success of a low-carbohydrate diet had on reducing or eliminating the need for medication in type 2 diabetics.

“The inability of current recommendations to control the epidemic of diabetes, the specific failure of the prevailing low-fat diets to improve obesity, cardiovascular risk, or general health and the persistent reports of some serious side effects of commonly prescribed diabetic medications, in combination with the continued success of low-carbohydrate diets in the treatment of diabetes and metabolic syndrome without significant side effects, point to the need for a reappraisal of dietary guidelines. The benefits of carbohydrate restriction in diabetes are immediate and well documented.”

Why Won’t We Tell Diabetics the Truth?
Answer: The real truth is that sugar, junk food and insulin sells.

Sugar is sexy. Brownies sell magazines and gets clicks on Facebook. Scrambled eggs, plain roasted chicken, or sautéed swiss chard does not. There’s a ton of bias against low carb diets, and a lot of financial interests pushing pharmaceutical intervention instead of a dietary change, and the people who are behind the dietary guidelines are also the ones charged with promoting commodity agriculture (wheat, corn and soy.)

It’s time to admit that we’re failing diabetics.

We can do better. They deserve the truth.

“I use the ‘cigarette’ analogy. We know it is bad to smoke, so we tell patients not to smoke. Why don’t we do the same thing with sugar and processed starches? The excuse I hear is that ‘people won’t stop eating sugar and starches.’ However, by the same analogy, we could have thrown up our hands and said, ‘people can’t give up smoking.'” – University of Alabama at Birmingham Professor of Nutrition Barbara Gower, Ph.D. (one of the authors of the paper quoted above)

Here’s my unsexy truth:

Please read Diana's article in full here

All the best Jan … and Graham