Type 2 diabetes..Pump User, issues with irregular blood sugars..?

[Triskeliongirl]

I am a type 1.5 diabetic, and I have been totally able to avoid insulin by eating a very low carb diet. The idea of taking insulin so that I can eat bread and pasta just doesn't make sense to me. I follow the dietary recommendations of the book Dr. Bernstein's Diabetes Solution. http://www.amazon.com/Dr-Bernsteins-...6000466&sr=1-2. She should work with her doctor on this, as she will need to reduce her insulin dosage as she cuts down on the starchy carbs (veggies are OK). I highly recommend her starting there. For cycling, I eat a high protein pre-ride meal, and just drink protein shakes made with protein powder, unsweetened cocoa powder and stevia, and eat almonds on the bike. I have trained myself to run on a high ratio of fat to glucose, and the protein is slowly converted to glucose (by gluconeogenesis) and TCA cycle intermediates that get burned in the muscle, at a rate my body can handle, but it did take me time to adapt. This is a controversial approach, but in my opinion as a biochemist who is living with diabetes the best one. I can ride a century this way, with at most having some supplemental veggies for carbs. Another good book to read is Good Calories Bad Calories by Gary Taubes, especially if you are concerned this isn't a heart healthy approach and to understand the historical perspective of how the pendulum has swung over the years in the treatment of diabetes and obesity http://www.amazon.com/Good-Calories-...6000379&sr=8-1.

Another good resource for her is this forum, full of people living this lifestyle: http://www.diabetes-book.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl

BTW, I also painlessly lost 35 lb following this diet, it didn't feel like dieting, just like my body weight 'normalized' as I started feeding my body foods that it could metabolize. I eat tons of lean protein (at least 1 g/lb of LBM), and tons of non-starchy veggies (to satiate), but omit all starchy carbs and even fruit, basically any foods that cause my blood sugar to rise too high and stay high too long as measured by my meter. I am also not afraid to eat fat, especially the monounsaturated ones, nuts, avocados, olive oil, etc. But again, I strongly urge her to educate herself about this approach and then get her doctor on board if she wants to do this, as she will surely go hypoglycemic if she doesn't adjust her insulin dosages correctly. If her doc isn't open to this approach, I believe at the Bernstein website is a list of docs that do practice with this approach.