I have been in a bit of an outrage for the past few days because I honestly can’t believe how demended our world can be sometimes!
I’m doing a Masters in Nutrition and I was attending my lecture on a topic around type 2 diabetes. We were talking about diabetes diet prescription and the lecturer put up on the screen an example meal plan. I almost died. I had to come and write about it on the blog because I just can’t believe what is happening in our world.
The meal plan: Breakfast alone consisted of 2 weetbix, 2 pieces of toast and 150ml fruit juice!
Um…excuse me, but did you know that all of those food items are carbohydrates that all become sugar and sugar pushes up your blood sugar and insulin levels? And fruit juice…really! If you think fruit juice is healthy, you might want to read this.
I’m really shocked because she is supposed to be the “knowledgeable” lecturer!
Although I was totally appalled I didn’t confront her on this but I did ask “So how does a person get the recommended 5-6 serves of vegetables when they are consuming so many carbohydrates?”
She mumbled and stuttered and really had no practical answer for this. And by the way miss lecturer, did you know that vegetables are carbohydrates? Maybe you could include a few of those in your meal plan instead of a whole bunch of processed junk!
The common diet prescription is to eat more carbs. Dieticians, diabetes educators, doctors, and lecturers telling you to eat more carbs and you’ll lose weight and improve your health. Eat more carbs and less protein and fat. This is not imagined, this is exactly the kind of information people are being given.
There’s only one issue with this prescription. IT IS NOT WORKING!
Seriously, the nutritional information that is being given to people about diabetes is all WRONG!
You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to work it out, it’s common sense.
Well at least it is to me but that doesn’t seem to be apparent to others and they do say common sense isn’t common 
I’d love to hear from you on this topic:
Have you got diabetes and been prescribed this diet?
Have you been managing your diabetes on this type of diet or are your sugars out of control?
I tell you what, I’m super passionate about changing this ridiculous message because people are dying from this disease so I’m definitely going to be covering this topic a lot in my new podcast (due to launch very soon).
That’s all I’ve got to say today
Jedha
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Thankfully I have a good doctor. she told me to cut as much processed foods as possible. If I had to eat bread chose whole wheat, sweet potatoes instead of white potatoes, brown rice instead of white. Although I rarely eat any of it because I am trying to lose weight and stick to fresh veggies, water, lean meats and occasionally fruit. I have dropped 45 lbs so far and have dropped by A1C to a 5.4 so far and go back in November for a follow up!
Thanks so much for this blog post. Appalling isn’t it? Im a family physician and I’m also diabetic and since my diagnosis in 2012 I have done some in depth reading of the medical literature along with my endocrinologist (who is wonderful). Based on the evidence, I have cut out all processed food and refined starches – I eat lots of fresh fruit, veggies, meat, eggs, fish, nuts, dairy and very occasionally brown rice as a treat. I don’t eat bread, pasta, white rice, potatoes or refined sugars at all. My blood sugars are now normal, my HbA1C is under 5 and I’ve lost 46kg (101 pounds) in a year. Now tell me how eating MORE carbs would have been a better choice? LOL I also have FB page if anyone is interested in more information and support.
Yes it is appalling Lyndal, and it’s people like you and I that have to try to turn it around little by little. I am doing a Masters in Nutrition and will start my thesis soon, I am going to focus on diabetes as this is an area people need real education, not this crap that they are being told. I love your story and hope to share it on my podcast.
Eating more carbs would never have brought about the same outcome!!
That’s great to hear Jody, there are some great doctors and educators out there, it’s just a pity they are far and few. Congrats on your weight loss, that is an awesome outcome and your health will be thanking you for it too
It is the carbohydrates you eat that raise your blood sugar. If you cut back on carbohydrates, your blood sugar will come down. It’s that simple. Solid research has proven that it is not eating fats that raise cholesterol, either, but eating carbohydrates which convert into dangerous triglycerides. So while it is true that eating fats along with carbohydrates is very unhealthy, the less carbohydrate you eat, the more fat you can eat safely.