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ARTICLES Low Carb Low Insulin
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Six ways to Control
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The Diabetes Second Chance Club
People with Diabetes Find New Hope and Normal Numbers with the Low Carb/Low Insulin MethodA Message from the Editor
I can't stop testing my blood sugar. I just love looking at my results. The display on my blood glucose meter used to show numbers that zoomed as low as 50 and as high as 500. As my complications worsened during the years of frustration, despair was frequently the result. But today, for the first time in my 35 years with diabetes, my numbers are astonishingly low and steady. 119. 122. 82. 98. 132. I can't believe it. These were my numbers on my tenth day of the Bernstein low carb/low insulin regime.
Last year, I published an article in "Diabetes Interview" magazine about Minimed's glucose sensor, a device that measures blood glucose 24 hours around the clock. Some especially diligent physicians who were particularly enamored with the device, were able to use its data to tweak their patients' metabolic control to near perfect. But for me, without expert guidance, the experience of using the glucose sensor-and especially seeing a graphic representation that showed precisely how my sugars rose and fell after meals and while I slept-was shocking and deeply upsetting. Even the extreme numbers I saw on my glucose meter didn't reveal the whole truth of how wildly out of control I was. For the first time in my years with diabetes, I felt like giving up.
The underlying message of my article was clear; most experts teaching patients to manage blood sugar, not only didn't understand the reality of how volatile blood sugar swings could be, they were often prescribing too much insulin, too many carbs, and a dangerous rollercoaster lifestyle for their patients.
Two readers who resonated with the underlying message e-mailed me, and our correspondence continued. Ron Raab, president of Insulin for Life Australia Incorporated wrote, "This shows that the low carb/low insulin approach is the only way to go." He attached an article he had written detailing his personal experience controlling his blood sugar with this approach.
Another reader, Roger Goddard, a professor at the University of Michigan and a type 1 diabetic on an insulin pump, had achieved an A1c of 5.9% but still noticed "wide, rapid and irregular" swings in his blood sugar. Goddard wrote, "The medical community is failing the vast proportion of reasonably well-controlled diabetics such as myself with its approach to diabetes care."
After reading Raab's article, I read the book, "Dr. Bernstein's Revised and Updated Diabetes Solution: A Complete Guide to Achieving Normal Blood Sugars," by Richard K. Bernstein, M.D. I made a new grocery list, cut the amount I was bolusing for a meal from 7 units to 2, and exchanged bread, potatoes, and rice for fluffy omelets, huge salads, and stir-fried veggies. Near perfect blood glucose was the instant reward.
Goddard also tried the Bernstein regime. "My bg control has improved and my readings have become stable," he says. "An incredible effect in less than 24 hours." When I e-mailed Raab to tell him about my success, he wrote back, "Welcome to the diabetes "born again / second chance" club. Truly, the low carb/low insulin approach feels like a brand new start.
As I write this, I've been following Dr. Bernstein's low carb/low insulin regime for 22 days. If I follow his recommendations exactly, my numbers remain stable and near perfect.
