Excellent comment — it really resonates! Thank you for articulating so well what we have been thinking quite awhile ourselves. We’ve also been saying much of this back and forth to each other a lot, partially out of frustration because it seems that so many people we know, including close relatives, don’t want to hear it and probably think we have gone radical and are sorely misguided, and that maybe eventually we’ll come to our senses and “get over it.” (No way!)

Also a great Sinclair quote.

And kudos to Dr. Mike (again) for providing this forum that so many thoughtful and intelligent individuals visit.

J/W

Thank you for all your interesting blogs and the varied topics that you cover. With respect to the question is there a database of doctors practising low carb for diabetes, there is a website, http://www.diabetesincontrol.com run by Steve Freed and David Joffee. I know they started a data base of doctors interested in and practicing a low carb approach to diabetes. Its an informative useful website in many respects and well worth a look.

Hi Tahir–

MRE

Funny side note: after his most recent test the nurse told him that the doctor recommended that he stop taking his cholesterol medication. The funny part–he wasn’t on any. The doctor simply assumed that he would be, given the numbers.

It is frustrating to talk to anyone that hasn’t really dived into the literature or is simply brainwashed by the media or their very own doctors. How can people disagree with something like my husband’s results? I eat two eggs everyday — everyone asks “do you have high cholesterol??” My answer is simply, “Nope.” You can’t talk to people. It’s exactly the phenomenon you described a while ago – keep saying something and it must be true.

I respect you continuing the fight.

We’ve all got to keep after it. Believe me, I understand your frustration.

MRE

The only doctors I would listen to are those recommending high-fat and low-carb carnivorous diets. Jan Kwasnieski seems to be achieving great results with a diet of like 75-85% fat, 10-15% protein, and 5-10% carbs. He claims to cure type 1 & 2 diabetes, not just reduce medication, but eliminate the need for it entirely (while the diet is followed).
http://www.cybernaut.com.au/optimal_nutrition/
http://dr-kwasniewski.pl/?id=2&news=92

We pretty much do have socialized medicine for emergencies right now. All emergency rooms that are a part of hospitals receiving Medicare (virtually all of them) have to provide emergency services to any one who hits the door. These hospitals do charge for it, but collect very little other than from those who have insurance.

MRE

I would SO love for you to post those 10 helpful articles. I hear you’re busy in NY, but if you get the chance, please don’t forget about this post. We could REALLY benefit from it. I’ll print them out for our doc.

Hi Queen B–

MRE

Hey Gerard–

MRE

If an MD does not find a familiar indication in the presenting symptom pattern (‘no indication) they have no impetus to act. So they typically do nothing.

I agree completely with Dr. Eades statement that “There is no medicine (aside from injectable insulin) that reduces blood sugar as effectively as simply avoiding carbohydrates.”
The more I have avoided carbohydrates the more my blood sugars have improved. However, I have seen spectacular improvement on a VLC diet in combination with intermittent fasting to a degree that strongly suggests at least a partial restoration of phase 1 insulin response.

It is widely believed, even by alternative diabetic doctors such as Richard Bernstein, that type II diabetics have no phase 1 insulin response. But in arriving at such a conclusion I wonder whether the apparent absence of a phase 1 response has been critically analyzed. Indeed one is hard pressed to find any critical studies of the phase 1 insulin response.

My understanding of the phase 1 insulin response is that it can be likened to a fire suppression system for a commercial cooking appliance that quenches fires emergencies. In the phase 1 response, preformed insulin secreted by the pancreas builds up in a storage depot. When neurological signaling loops detect a rapid and large increase in blood glucose levels a large amount of insulin is released in a rush in what is termed an ‘insulin dump’. This has the effect of knocking down the flames of an inrush of glucose. It’s like dropping flame retardant on a fire.

After the initial phase 1 insulin dump, subsequent rises in blood glucose are managed by on demand insulin secretion. Under normal circumstances it can take 5 or more hours to replenish the insulin dump reservoir. Diabetics following the typical ADA/CDA high carbohydrate, 3 meals per days plus snacks diet are advised to not go more than 2 hours without eating carbohydrates in order to “maintain their blood sugar”. This eating pattern will certainly keep BG elevated. But in addition it will ensure that the insulin sensitivity never recovers and will actually worsen and that the insulin dump reservoir is prevented from replenishing. In my view when endorse by a medical professional this diet amounts to doctor assisted suicide.

If the lack of phase 1 insulin response in type II diabetics is due to an inability of the insulin dump reservoir to replenish because of the unavailability of excess insulin or very long dump depot recycling times then one would expect diabetics to improve dramatically by eating 2 or fewer widely space meals per day. This is exactly what has happened in my case.

I encourage Dr. Eades to explore this issue and what has erroneously called insulin resistance in future threads.

Hi David–

MRE

Hi Kellen–

MRE

So if a truly independent, well-financed, non-profit foundation can be convinced we have a really serious public health problem here in the good old USA (which we sure as hell do!), and that this problem is not being properly addressed and is in fact getting worse, and further is eventually going to bankrupt our country with ever-skyrocketing health care costs (thinking of the baby-boomer bulge here as well as the growing childhood obesity problem), that seems to me to be a problem worthy of a full-blown, well-financed, public education, science-based attack….and the science is already there, laid out in detail in Gary Taubes’ book! Unfortunately, it’s not a problem that our federal government, ridden with all the special interests and related $$ corruption, can tackle effectively; sad but true. Perhaps only a truly independent, not-for-profit organization could help get the job done. (Whew, I said it.)

Ok, I could go on for awhile longer (maybe forever), but I guess I’ve made my point, perhaps to the point of nausea for your poor readers.

BTW, I have the perfect idea for a director for the video “project” — how about Woody Allen?
I think he’s a serious and seriously-talented guy who could help the project be entertaining, thereby making the crucially important science info easier to swallow.

Best,

W

Hey Wil–

MRE

Hi Carol–

MRE