This post will discuss and compare:
a) my “old” Fast Food Diet which I call my Diabetes Diet…because eating it gave me Diabetes….
b) the American Diabetes Ass. (ADA) Diet
c) my current Paleo Style Meal plan
You will see that the ADA Diet is NO better than a typical Fast Food Diet… or at BEST, ONLY marginally healthier….and THUS…. detrimental to the health of EVERYONE but especially detrimental to DIABETICS.
Brief Recap of ”my story”, I was hospitalized in February ’09 with blood sugar over 700 (that’s very bad) and an A1C value that was “too high to be read”. (that’s very bad) While still in the hospital, I was told that I was a Type 1 Diabetic and would likely be on medications and insulin for the rest of my life. After discharging from the hospital I was on 4 insulin shots and 4 drugs per day… (I was not a Type 1 but likely a T1.5 still on a honeymoon. :) )
Today, I control my Diabetes with my Paleo Style Meal Plan and almost daily exercise, I take -0- drugs and -0- insulin… AND most importantly… I HAVE NORMAL BLOOD SUGAR for NON-DIABETICS. Ok…enough about me…let’s look at the meal plans.
MY DIABETES DIET
….or the diet that gave me diabetes.
Comments:
1) WOW… look at those carbohydrate numbers…. carbs represent almost 60% of my food grams.
…. think that may have contributed to my obesity and diabetes? Not according to ADA, it’s not the 59% of Carbs that caused my obesity, it was the 8% of saturated fats… which like most ADA “findings”…would be humorous…if it wasn’t harming people.
2) If Saturated Fats make up a small percentage of EVEN a fast food diet….how can it be the root of all evil with the “Standard American Diet” (SAD) as soooo many claim that it is?
3) ”Sweet” Drinks represented 186 g of carbs, approximately 22 % of all grams…it’s hard to believe that JUST carbs from drinks made up over 1/5th of the nutrients in my daily meal plan….
Next up…
The ADA Diet
… let’s compare…
A Full Listing of the Diet and it’s components are included at the end of this post. For brevity sake, I include ONLY the summaries here. I would also like to add that due to the different ways foods can be cooked (with or without fat etc) I am only looking at the carbohydrate totals and it is the most important number for this discussion.
The ADA provides a Food Pyramid with suggested servings. They give NO guidance as to HOW MANY you should eat… they suggest you see an ADA Minion for that. ( Dietitian or Nutritionist) …why should you pay for advice on what to eat??? But that is another story.
Since there are no public guidelines… I created the chart of carbs (below) based on the minimum number of servings and the maximum number of servings. I arbitrarily chose an item from nutritiondata.com ‘s listing based on the ADA Food Pyramid’s suggested examples. ALL THE INFO IS HERE.
Comments:
1) At first, looking at this chart… the “ADA Diet” looks like a major improvement… especially IF you ate the minimal servings.
“My Diabetes Diet” has 483 g of carbs vs 269g of carbs using the LEAST number of servings for the “ADA Diet.
Only one problem…the ADA does NOT give guidance on minimum vs maximum servings…so trust me, vast majority of the Diabetics believe it’s ok to eat the maximum number of servings.
2) There is another…bigger problem with comparing the two charts…. they are NOT comparing apples to apples.
Comparing Apples to Apples
The ADA Diet does not include drinks… ahhh yes. And you have to really dig to find ANYTHING negative about sugar drinks on the ADA website. BUT …that is understandable given the amount of funding the large Soft Drink manufacturers “donate” to fund study research…you know…in the name of “proper nutrition”…
To compare Apples to Apples… you need even the playing field, we will need to subtract all the “drink carbs” from the “Diet that gave me Diabetes” . Here are summaries of the two meal plans after subtracting the drink carbs.
Comments:
My first thought when I saw this was… “well…this makes sense”…. but as it sinks in…the more angry I become.
I’ve been saying all a long that the ADA Diet is NOT LOW CARB but that it is lowER carb than a Fast Food Diet…. that is NOT THE CASE.
IF you remove sugar drinks from the equation…. a FAST FOOD DIET… can be lower in carbs than the ADA Diet’s maximum allowed servings….and only slightly higher in carbs than the LEAST amount of servings.
NO LONGER will I , nor can I say in good conscience…that the ADA DIET is lowER carb….let’s call it what it is… A HIGH CARB DIET.
Paleo Meal Plan
Now let’s take a look at the carb totals of my current Meal Plan…. I follow a low carb version of the “Primal Blueprint”. My drinks have -0- carbs, water, tea and coffee, so the carb total below is my daily total. My goal is to be 30 grams of carbs +/- 10.
This meal plan (with regular exercise) gives me:
1) Freedom from Insulin
2) Freedom from all drugs (medications… )
3) Normal Blood Sugar (for non-diabetics)
4) Best fitness conditioning of my life
Summary:
In my opinion, the ADA (among others ) places all the emphasis on Saturated Fats so people will not see the obvious…
EVERYONE but especially diabetics should eat a CARBOHYDRATE restricted meal plan.
The ADA diet is NO better than a FAST FOOD diet….and you should NOT follow it. YOU should avoid the “base” of the food pyramid which includes breads, grains, legumes, cereals, rice and starchy foods.
I urge you to investigate a Paleo or Primal Lifestyle… YOU will be glad you did.
Do you need “hands on” support to transition to a healthy lifestyle? Click Here.
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“American Diabetes Ass.” – I know it was not an accident, but it FITS!
RIGHT ON THE MONEY BROTHER!!! You have done your homework, paid your dues so to speak and have the results to prove it works for you. In the last week, my higest daily intake of Carbohydrates has been 42 entire grams. Those carbs are ALL good vegetables.
I can already hear my Doc’s sigh when I see her in a couple weeks after my next rounds of labs. They’ll be ANOTHER sigh when I ask her if I can back off the meds (if my labs come back as I suspect). It’s MY body, MY health and MY responsibility, so the “American Diabetes Ass.” can keep their diet as fas as I am concerned. It’s be so much better if they just kept it to themselves.
Keep up the good fight my man!
Great post and dead on!
@Brian, don’t forget your doc is not your keeper. You are. So you tell your doc you’re going to back off your meds and you just do it. You are in control.
Other than the A1C off the charts (GP didn’t even ask to run one) I was pretty much in the same boat, let’s call it the RMS Titanic! The symptoms hit me hard and fast. I was eating a Fast-Food-Diet. Then I switched to lowfat or fatfree. Guess what? Things only got worse. The carb count went up, looking back at what I was eating. “Healthy Choice(s)”? I don’t think so.
When I realized what was happening, I called up my old employer who had done the Atkins plan. I took it to extremes. I called the Dr. It was 2 weeks to get in. I ditched all soda, diet or not. Water, coffee, tea only. I restricted carb intake to as low as I could; I only ate meat, lettuce, cheese, anything that said “0″ or “<1" carb/serving. I drank a lot. I didn't even change my exercise plan of walking and being out in the sun in the summer doing lawn work or shooting sporting events.
The weight began to fall off within a week. It continued to drop. Rapidly. When I got to the Dr., my fasting BG was 75. But my urine was still "a mess". I was told I was already dead and just needed to fall over. I was referred to what Steve calls a "minion". It would have cost me about $1,500 if I had gone. That's a lot of meat, folks! So I stayed on the low-carb plan. I started researching. I slowly added back in things like peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, anything I was growing in the garden at home. I started with a plan of 30 grams/carbs/day.
My weight went from 210 to 149, waist from 38" to 31", shirt size from XL to almost M.
That was in July of 2006. I have kept the weight off. My last A1C was 5.3. Before that, 5.4. I have since eliminated low-carb bread, and all grain products, as I was developing headaches, sinus issues, etc. Apparently I've developed a gluten issue, too.
I have never taken insulin, or even 1 pill.
My average AM readings are now in the 90's consistently, sometimes the low 80's.
I would recommend Steve's advice to anyone, especially if you are at risk. The ADA Diet is a scam, pure and simple, to the tune of $19 million dollars/year in donations!
THEY don't want YOU better – they want you ADDICTED like a methhead to their drugs!
Oh, and I’ve since cut the carb levels WAY back again.
My usual breakfast is a slice of lean meat or some bacon and 2/3 eggs.
Lunch is a salad, vinegar/olive oil dressing, with some meat.
Dinner is a large meat course, and green vegetables. I doubt if I even take in 30 grams/carbs/day now.
I also chart and test individual foods, too.
The carbs in a tomato are not the same type of carbs in a donut, folks!
I followed the ADA diet for years and the only thing that happened to me was a steady increase in the medications to “manage” my diabetes. I had side effects to the meds, to the point that I was no longer able to tell how I was really feeling. I no longer knew what normal was. My weight increased uncontrollably and I had resigned myself to living the rest of my live as a fat, chemically dependent, sick person so depressed that I spent most of my days in bed. In 6 mo. on a Low Carb diet I have gone from taking 18 units of insulin, 20mg Glyburide and 45mg Actos to 0 meds. I’m no longer depressed, I have energy and people that have known me for some time can’t believe the change.
My brother, who is also diabetic has adopted a low carb diet after learning of my success, and has also gotten off all of his meds.
I am a strong believer in a Paleo diet and that humans were never meant to eat grains,etc.
@Keith, holy-moley! Another inspirational story! It’s too early in the morning to get me so fired up!
@Vicki, I know My doc is not my keeper, I don’t know why I crave her ‘blessing’ on dropping the meds. My lab results should give me the ammunition I need to show her how serious I am about getting off the meds. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll go off with or without her approval! I need to know if I can keep my blood sugar where I want it through diet & exercise alone. Thanks for the support!
I’m a type who was eating the ADA diet for years…..low fat, high carb. It nearly killed me: extremely frequent and severe hypoglycemia due to the difficulty (impossibility) of matching large insulin doses to cover high-carb intake. When I cut carbs to 30 grams per day, my daily insulin dose went from 80-120 units per day to 35 units per day. Of course, I lost 20 lbs of excess weight in a matter of 6 months.
Overproduction of insulin is a long term killer for anyone, and the ADA diet CAUSES insulin overproduction.
My doctor told me that he had never had a patient like me(low carb to lower blood glucose). That is so sad. I was hoping he would say “I am going to try low carb on my other patients.”
I went low carb as soon as I figured out my blood sugar after eating was too high. My doctors never saw this as a problem as my fasting BG was “normal”.
My experience with expert diet advice came when I was sent to a dietitian after having a stent for CAD. The high carb diet recommended by the AHA made my triglycerides soar to about 300 and my cholesterol went over 200. Of course I was put on a statin, but I was lucky – I was unable to take it because of severe muscle pain. Since dropping carbs not only is my BG good, but my triglycerides are 80 and my other lipids look good too.
Low carb for about 18 months.
[...] Uh… sorry… but the last thing I am going to do is call my doctor or “diabetes educator”. My doctor admitted to me that I knew more about diabetes and it’s treatment than he did AND…. the ONLY time I’ve spoken to a Diabetes Educator…she told me to eat the ADA FOOD PYRAMID…. that’s what got me in this mess to begin with…. a high carb meal plan. If you doubt what I say, check out this POST. [...]
I found Steve through a friend of mine on line, Brian Keith Lawson. When I first met Steve, we “discussed” the American Diabetes Association diet, so to speak, LOL. But I stopped and really listened to Steve. I then studied the Primal Blueprint Diet by Mark Sisson. To make a long story short, Steve’s way of eating WORKS. You are full and not hungry. And you loose weight. As I loose weight, I am backing down on my own medications. I just let my Doctor know what I am doing so he can chart it. But then I feel my doctor is anti medications, etc.. so he is a nice part of my “Team” so to speak and on my side!! I wish there was a way to change the ADA recommendations!! I know many have emailed them and tried, but the ADA isn’t listening to REAL DIABETICS!! I live in the State of California. I live in Northern California above Sacramento, in the Sierra Mountain Foothills.
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[...] The ADA (American Diabetes Ass) promotes a meal plan that is LOADED with carbs. IF YOU doubt that the ADA MEAL PLAN is a high carbohydrate meal plan… please review my post HERE. [...]
[...] a “standard” that is universally used. If you ask the American Diabetes Association, their meal plan is “low carb”… yeah…right and I’m Lebron James. [...]
[...] ….Reading the PATHETIC ADVICE GIVEN OUT TO DIABETICS BY THE ADA & IT”S MINIONS!!! (CDEs, RDs, ENDOs, MDs etc etc) An ADA Minion is anyone who promotes the American Diabetes Association diet… a high carb meal plan. [...]
[...] To me, low carb means 50 grams or less per day. To some, low carb means less than 150 grams per day… For example, a diabetic could easily consume 400+ grams of carbohydrates following the American Diabetes Association (ADA) meal plan, yet the ADA tells their “constituents” their meal plan is low carb… it is not. You can read my post here on the subject. [...]
[...] plan. I want to rest my pancreas by intermittent fasting and I want to NOT overwork it by eating high carb meal plans like the ADA. There are other reasons of course, such as reducing drugs and insulin usage BUT THE MAIN REASON [...]
[...] Fact: A high carb meal plan as promoted by the ADA, increases the requirements for an ever-increasing amount of drugs and insulin…. that is an INDISPUTABLE FACT. Here is a post I did, showing the ADA’s meal plan as ‘high carb’. [...]
[...] Avoid the American Diabetes Association ‘diabetes diet’. Do not be sheeple. :) [...]
[...] American Diabetes Association ( and ADA Minion) promotes a diet that is both high carb and grain based… the worst combination possible. (Past Post) [...]
[...] 2) The American Diabetes Assciation (ADA) promotes a grain based, high carb meal plan, “ADA meal plan” that induces more drug and insulin usage. If you doubt their meal plan is high carb… read this post, “ADA Diet is High Carb“. [...]
After a visit to Mayo in Rochester in March, I was put on a high carb diet.
My goals when visiting were to figure out why i wasn’t losing weight and to develop a plan to get off all meds.
I was sudo-primal before visiting (100 to 120 grams of carbs per day). I was taking Metformin 500mg 2x day, and 20 units of Levimir long-acting insulin at night. A1c was in the 8s. Within 10 minutes of meeting me, the diabetologist told me he thought I was type 1. This is without running any tests and knowing that I had only been diagnosed with type 2 three years prior. A visit to the nutritionist followed and I was perscribed 3 meals per day and no less than 109 grams of carbs per meal! In addition I was givin a fast acting insulin (Novolog)to take 3x day before meals. I got home and I was angry. My family convinced me to listen to the “experts’ at Mayo and go with what was prescribed. After 5 weeks i have gained 14 lbs, feel bloated all of the time, and have frequent boughts with low blood sugar. So not only have I not accomplished my goal of losing weight, but I am on more meds! I am only obese in my midsection. I am very active and excercise 5 to 6 days per week. My body is lean except where I inject the insulin. It is like the drugs that are keeping my blood sugar in control are also preventing me from losing weight and making me fatter! I’m trying to make sense of all of this but it has really just left me miserable and frustrated.
Chad,
My heart goes out to you. I would like to suggest some things but I can’t since I am not a licensed drug seller … I mean since I am not a licensed nutritionist.
You can look at my example and try it yourself … or not. You know the road your current path leads, you’ve been on it long enough.
Steve
Thanks Steve,
What if we were “friends”? Friends suggest stuff to each other all of the time and don’t get in legal battles. :)