American Diabetes Association Approves Low Carb Diets For Weight Loss

American Diabetes Association Approves Low Carb Diets for Weight Loss

In December 2008, the American Diabetes Association (ADA) issued its Clinical Practice Recommendations which included the option for Diabetics to follow low-carbohydrate diets as a weight-loss option. While this is obviously not ‘news’, it is important to note that the Canadian Diabetes Association – now called Diabetes Canada, does not as yet make the same recommendation.
Why is that?
Is there something inherently different about Diabetics in Canada than Diabetics in the United States?
For the last 9 years the American Diabetes Association has given people the option of following what they call a “moderate“ carbohydrate diet by (a) omitting some of the carb-containing foods on their standard meal plan or (b) substituting them for much lower carb alternatives. They also (c) provide Americans with the option of following a low carb diet for weight loss.
Let’s take a look at the American dietary recommendations compared with the Canadian ones.
Dietary Recommendations of the American Diabetes Association
On their web page, the American Diabetes Association states that their standard Meal Plans that are “moderate” in carbohydrates provide ~45% of calories from carbs, but they add;
Your healthcare provider may ask you to limit carbohydrate more than our meal plan suggests. This means you should cut back on the carbohydrate foods that you eat throughout the day. To keep your calorie intake about the same, substitute sources of lean protein or healthy fats for those higher carbohydrate foods.
Then they give some examples of how people can lower carbohydrate intake Continue reading

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Want to Go Vegetarian? What to Do If You Have Diabetes

If you have type 1 or type 2 diabetes, choosing to be a vegetarian can be a healthy option. In fact, research has shown that following a vegetarian diet can help you better manage your diabetes. It has also been shown to help prevent or reverse type 2 diabetes.
I began following a vegan diet a few years ago when the documentary “Forks Over Knives” came out about the benefits of a plant-based diet. The results of the research highlighted in this documentary just made sense, and it is working well for me and my family members.
RELATED: Is a Plant-Based Diet Right for You?
A look at fat and fiber
When following a vegetarian or vegan lifestyle, you reduce the saturated and trans fats in your diet, which can reduce your risk of chronic disease. These types of fats can clog and damage arteries. And compared to a typical American diet, a vegetarian diet is higher in fiber. The recommended amount of fiber for adults with or without diabetes is 20 to 35 grams per day. When you follow a vegetarian or vegan diet, you will likely meet or exceed this amount.
Foods that are high in fiber are slower to digest so elevations in your blood sugar are less likely to occur. Fiber also provides a feeling of fullness, which usually reduces the overall number of calories eaten and may help you lose weight too.
There are different types of vegetarian diets, with the three most common being:
Vegan — No meat (including red meat, poultry, seafood or any product made with meat), eggs or dairy products.
Lacto-vegetarian — No meat or eggs, but they do consume dairy products
Lacto-ovo vegetarian � Continue reading

Team-based approach helps patients better control type 2 diabetes

Nearly one in four patients who walks through the door of a suburban Chicago community-based health clinic has type 2 diabetes and the clinic’s team-based approach in managing the condition—from pre-visit laboratory testing to the daily huddle—has gone a long way in effectively managing these complex patients, including helping to control A1C levels.
An AMA STEPS Forward™ module explains how team-based approaches like this can help physicians better manage patients with type 2 diabetes, including improving patients’ glycemic control and preventing complications from the disease. The module outlines six steps practices can take to implement a team-based approach and provides answers to common questions physicians may have about helping patients manage their condition.
This kind of team-based approach has been used at Oak Forest Health Center where patients receive treatment regardless of their ability to pay for care. The practice leaders streamline care before patients even enter the exam room. For example, with more than 15,000 primary care visits annually, the practice began encouraging patients to visit the laboratory for tests before seeing their physician.
A team member even performs reminder calls for patients who have pending lab orders, such as A1C, lipid and urine protein. Meanwhile, in the clinic, medical assistants (MAs) are getting ready by printing the patient schedule for each team a day or two before patients arrive. The MA also notes the A1C value for each patient on the summary sheet.
Making the most of patient visit
On the day a patient is schedu Continue reading

Indian Researchers Unravel How a Common Insecticide Can Cause Diabetes

They found that organophosphates, common in India, are broken down by microbes in the human gut into glucose – and ask us to reconsider their use.
In 2010, an American researcher found that when young rats were exposed to very small amounts of compounds that contained molecules of a substance called organophosphates (OPs), they developed early signs of diabetes. Specifically, he found that the onset of pre-diabetes happened as a result of a metabolic dysfunction. Now, a new study by researchers at the Madurai Kamaraj University has elucidated the precise mechanism of action – the chain of events that begins with exposure to OPs and results in diabetes.
An important aspect of their study is that, according to Ganesan Velmurugan, “All the previous toxicological reports with these insecticides are at acute and large doses. Ours is the first report to replicate the exposure level at day to day life.” Velmurugan works at the department of microbiology in Madurai Kamaraj University, Madurai, and led the study.
OPs were developed by German researchers in the 1940s as agents of chemical warfare for the Nazis to use in World War II. After the war, they became better known as effective pesticides, and their use increased exponentially after the DDT ban in the 1970s. Nonetheless, their threats as nerve agents persisted, especially among the world’s rural population, which uses OPs regularly in agriculture. And this is what prompted Velmurugan to pursue the problem.
“We noticed increasing reports of diabetes in the villages around our university. In parallel, collaborating Continue reading

Can Type 2 Diabetes Be Reversed?

Nearly 20 million Americans have diabetes, and another 86 million are at risk for developing it. But what if it could be reversed? Jane Ann says that a new program has done just that for her.
Jane Ann was diagnosed with diabetes 15 years ago, when she weighed almost 300 pounds. “My legs would swell to the point that they would almost seep, like a blister,” she says. “My hands would go to sleep and tingle. I was getting neuropathy in my feet.”
Jane Ann was put on a drug regimen that had her taking six to eight pills a day, plus injections before every meal – and her blood sugar was still out of control. “I thought that this was my life,” she says. “Medication, struggling to be healthy, being tired.” She faced the very real possibility that diabetes would kill her.
Then Jane Ann heard of a new clinical study called Virta, “and that was the start of my journey,” she says. She was told upfront that the goal of Virta was not weight loss, but diabetes control. “The goal is to help reduce your medication – maybe even get off of medication – and put your concentration onto nutrition.”
Working with a life coach and a nutritionist, Jane Ann embarked on a low carb, high fat, moderate protein eating plan. “I was all in,” she says.
“I am doing absolutely fabulous!” Jane Ann tells The Doctors. Her glucose numbers have dropped from 338 to 83. She’s also lost 80 pounds.
Sami Inkinen, the founder and CEO of Virta Health, explains that he had a very personal reason for focusing on type 2 diabetes treatment. “For decades, I thought that as long as you Continue reading