If you have Diabetes 2 you're screwed...

Okay that may seem harsh but after reading this you may not think so.

Granted I am not talking about those whom are using lifestyle changes consisting of diet and exercise, specifically low carbohydrate diets, but after reading this I wonder how many actually do.

I am referring to this diabetes 2 case vignette, I was just reading on The New England Journal of Medicine website where doctors are given a case study for a 51 year old lady seeking advice on managing her diabetes. They are given 3 treatment options and are then asked to vote on and discuss these options.

None of these options are lifestyle changes, not only that, out of all the replies, there's barely a mention, though I did see a couple of doctors question the pharmaceutical influence of these options. Low carb and weight loss through lifestyle changes are mentioned a couple of times but considering the amount of comments by doctors there you're looking at maybe a couple of percent that were for diet and exercise.

What is worse, is that the majority of the doctors don't seem to be very confident in the safety of these drugs besides insulin, yet due to their patients not wanting insulin injections, they are recommending them anyway instead of lifestyle changes or a combination there of that includes diet and exercise.

There was one doctor that not only recommended a plethora of drugs but he also chucked a statin in there as well???

Now, I am no expert on this nor am a a doctor, neither I or anyone in my close family have diabetes, I am simply a fellow low carber with an opinion *wink*

Am I right to be disgusted and horrified by reading that?


For those that haven't read this article yet, this one is really good and shows where I am coming from:

The Cure for Diabetes

 

Kimkins

Looks like it is time for another kimkins update on the whole kimkins diet saga :D

It was a big week last week for Kimmer and in my opinion, her starvation diet.

As most of you should know by now, the Kimkins diet scam was featured on Good Morning America on the ABC network, if you haven't seen it check it out: Kimkins on GMA.

For those whom have trouble with watching these due to dial up or they can't use sound, due to being at work. Elle, from the blog, Grilled Cheese Sandwich With Pickles, has taken the time to type out a transcript of the show here: Kimkins on Good Morning America Transcript

One interesting tidbit for those whom have watched the video, GMA repeatedly mention the 500 calorie limit during the show. Kimmer has since claimed that this is untrue and has posted a rebuttal on her website.

Mariasol has addressed this here: Calories on Kimkins

A point to remember, though Kimmer never advertised an amount of calories for her boot camp plan she did have limits on allowed foods and portion sizes which forced a calorie limit of around 500 calories which I have previously addressed, scroll down to my quote on kimkins boot camp

Also, keep in mind the efforts Kimmer and co went to, to cover up these allegations such as, the alleged deletion of incriminating posts and private messages as well as the kimkins banning's of members whom were spotted posting negatively on other forums or whom dared to challenge unsound advice or discuss the kimkins controversy on the kimkins forums. And we will never forget her fake kimkins success stories including Kimmer's after photos!

But not only that, Kimmer made a second appearance in court for the deposition for the civil class action lawsuit thats pending. I haven't seen any details about this released publicly yet, but hopefully some information on that will come up on the courts website soon. Maybe some footage from last weeks deposition will appear, like the previous one showing Kimmer on KTLA? That would be good, I don't know about you, but I am totally itching to find out how it all went :)

Would love to see how the kimkins diet is really working for dear old Heidi!

Whats more, is on the Kimkins front, there's some real, well researched and thought out posts on some of the health risks of very low calorie diets like kimkins that have been popping up lately that make me proud to know these people, fighting the good fight.

Medusa for instance, is spitting them out left right and centre, I highlighted some of these in an earlier kimkins post but there's many more such as, her great post addressing Kimkins and Diabetes as well as her various posts covering Anorexia Nervosa

Another anti kimkins blogger known as Honeybee wrote a great post on Kimkins and Eating disorders

Also an interesting post by Kimorexia addresses research on the benefits of eating fat with your salads and nutrient absorption:
About those Kimkins salads...

Plus don't forget some of the other side effects which I have highlighted here:
Kimkins and research on the health risks of very low calorie diets
and remember rapid weight-loss is not healthy!

Kimkins Scam

I thought I'd help out these bloggers and share their latest posts on how you can help:

First one could be quite interesting, as this diet scam is soon to make it to national TV yet again, this time by ABC. They are looking for people whom have been harmed whilst doing this diet, if you have been harmed then please consider coming on their show. Whilst it's great to see Christin and Deni on the Morning show it would be great to see some others whom were purely just a regular member trying to lose weight.

If you can help please do:

Harmed by Kimkins? Share your Story on National TV

Another fantastic effort I see is a competition aimed at encouraging people whom do not approve of kimkins to be more pro-active.

Take Down Kimkins Contest

Kimkins

I was just posting about these posts on kimkins and eating disorders on a kimkins diet forum thread we have when I thought that I should add it here too in case some of you haven't been to Medusas blog this week or for anyone new that comes across my blog through googling kimkins.

Are you guys ready to be shocked like you have never been shocked before?

This is why I (and many others) am so passionate about kimkins, I know there are other very low calorie scam diets out there and we can't win them all, but that doesn't mean we should just sit on our hands if there is something we can do to help.


This is a collection of few blog posts regarding someone in kimkins whom is eating very, very little and exercising like crazy (running and weights), and is looking like she is experiencing problems with her electrolytes (and seeking advice from Kimmer rather then a doctor!). For those that don't realise, if the electrolyte imbalance gets too bad you can die suddenly. Check my VLCD research page for some studies on something similar. This person looks to be eating around 200 calories a day and running and doing weights? every day. There are 3 blog posts posted on medusas blog about this girl called Jane Doe (to protect her identity). I will list them in the order that they were posted and they will get more shocking each time:


Jane Doe 1

Jane Doe 2

Jane Doe 3

Also here is a great post by Bamagal

Eating disorders in older women

Type 2 Diabetes and Carrot Cake

Lol have you guys seen this gem?


From Eureka, courtesy of the sugar Bureau:

Carrot cake study on sugar in type 2 diabetes
New study adds to new thinking on sugar in the diabetes diet

Patients with type 2 diabetes are often advised to cut out sucrose (table sugar) all together. However, in recent years this traditional advice has been questioned by some researchers who suggest that moderate amounts of sugar can be safely consumed as part of the diet of patients with diabetes. Now a new study has been published that is consistent with this revised approach. It showed that patients who increased their daily sugar intake (in the form of carrot cake) but maintained a stable body weight, showed no adverse changes in their blood glucose.

The study was conducted by the Department of Nutrition and Dietetics at London’s Hammersmith Hospital. Three slices of carrot cake were added to the daily diets of nine, overweight type 2 diabetes patients over 24 days (bringing their daily total to 88g or 18 teaspoons of sugar). Consumption of the carrot cake slices was evenly distributed across the day. Several measurements were recorded at the beginning and end of the study, including the patients’ weight, blood sugar (glucose) levels, cholesterol levels, and insulin sensitivity (which is a measure of how well the body responds to the hormone insulin).

Professor Gary Frost, who led the study, explained ‘In this study, the energy intake of these patients was balanced to their body weight, and their sucrose intake was spread evenly over a day. Correspondingly, they did not gain weight or show an increase in blood glucose levels at the end of the study; in addition, their cholesterol levels and insulin sensitivity did not change.’ He added ‘the results of this small, short-term study support other scientific studies, which suggest that there could be more flexibility with sucrose in the diets of patients with type 2 diabetes. There is evidence from other studies (reviewed by Kirk et al 2000) that inclusion of sucrose may help people to lower their fat intake, which in turn may be beneficial to overall health’.

Professor Frost continued ‘This research is in line with the dietary guidelines set by the American Diabetes Association (2007), which state that sucrose does not cause a greater increase in blood glucose levels than an equivalent amount of starch. Therefore sucrose or sucrose-containing foods should be treated similarly to other carbohydrate containing foods by people with diabetes; either substituted for other carbohydrates in the total daily intake, or managed with appropriate diabetes medication.

I found the Abstract:

Increased Sucrose Intake is not Associated with a Change in Glucose or Insulin Sensitivity in People with Type 2 Diabetes

A study to investigate whether a 50g increase in daily sucrose consumption, in combination with an increase in monounsaturated fat intake (20% E), affects
glycaemic control or insulin sensitivity in people with type 2 diabetes. This study involved a re-examination of results from a larger study. Nine overweight
people with type 2 diabetes received a high-sucrose, high-monounsaturated fat, isocaloric diet for 24 days. The additional sucrose and fat was provided in the
form of a carrot cake, which subjects were instructed to swap for high-GI carbohydrates, while keeping the total protein and energy intake constant. Body
weight and HbA1c were stable throughout the study. There were no significant changes in fasting or postprandial insulin or glucose, fasting triglycerides, or
total/HDL cholesterol ratio. Insulin sensitivity was not changed. The authors conclude that over the 3-week intervention period, dietary intake of 13% of
energy as sucrose in combination with a high monounsaturated fat intake, was not associated with a decline in glycaemic control or insulin sensitivity in these
subjects.

Byrnes AE & Frost GS International Journal of Food Sciences and Nutrition 2007; DOI: 10.1080/09637480701395523