Men Concerned About Their Wives and Risk of Diabetes
I was speaking with some fellow veterans at the Carl T. Hayden Veterans Hospital in Phoenix the other day while I sat in the waiting room of the Agent Orange Registry. I was there for an examination that would tell me if I had or, were at risk for, type 2 diabetes, a disease now on the the list of associated nasty things that you can get as a result of exposure to high concentrates of Agent Orange (DDT- a defoliant) in Viet Nam. Anyway, as vets will do, we got to talking about our wives and what they were doing to lower their risk of diabetes and how a certain diet might help. All of the wives that were discussed were women ranging in age from 50 to 60 years old, having weight problems, and were on diets of some kind. It's a well-known fact that being overweight is the single largest contributor in causing the onset of type 2 diabetes. And, believe me, you do not want to get this disease!
Low-Carb or low-fat?
The discussion with my Viet Nam comrades resulted in a split decision, some were in favor of the low-carb diet and some were on the side of low-fat, with the consensus leaning (ha!) toward a low-fat approach. My wife cringes when she sees me eat a steak or bacon or cream cheese, regardless of my weight loss results because she has been conditioned to think that way by a multi-zillion dollar campaign to keep king sugar posting record profits. This includes glossy ads in magazines and TV commercials that promote low-fat foods or diets while showcasing the thin bodies and beautiful faces of those (18 year old) ladies among us, who represent less than 1% of the entire female population, paid to say they got that way by consuming a certain low-fat food. Pullease!
Up on my Low-Carb Soapbox
Among my veteran colleagues there were advocates for both low-carb and low-fat approaches but before I could get up on my low-carb soapbox and enlighten them with all that I have learned about the low-carb nutritional approach to weight loss, I was called in to the doctor. When I came out my new friends had dispersed to examination rooms where the news was either good or bad. (in my case, I came out ok, whew!). I thought about it on the way home and got on the computer first thing. And voila!, right there in Healthday News was an article about those same concerns. Very illuminating, especially for woman who feel the need to reduce the amount of meat in their diet, and their concern they might be at risk for type 2 diabetes.
Low-Carb Wins!
It turns out that a diet low in carbs but high in animal fat and protein doesn't seem to increase the risk of type 2 diabetes in women, a new study claims. As a proponent of the low-carb approach I was happy to hear that because sugar and insulin spikes are the culprits here and low-fat diets are full of sugar! I agree that "one study is never enough to change a recommendation," but this study leads the way in pointing out the obvious, what us low carb advocates have known for years now; a low-fat diet is not the way to eat if you are concerned about preventing type 2 diabetes.
Low-Carb diets show protective effect against type 2 diabetes!
Author of the study, Thomas Halton, a recent graduate of the Harvard School of Public Health and founder of a nutrition consulting company called Fitness Plus, seemed to be a bit surprised that the one diet that did seem to show a protective effect against type 2 diabetes was a low-carb plan, one that advocates cutting out "bad" carbs like processed sugar and flour. Duh!, just because dieters the world over (nutritionists and doctors too!) have been brainwashed by all the low-fat propaganda out there doesn't mean that there aren't people in the know. It's just that no one wants to actually read Dr. Atkins or Dr. Agatson's books or if they do what is said in them is taken out of context, ridiculous comments like; the Adkins approach advocates not eating fruit or vegetables! Baloney, what has happened here is that the sugar people have done their jobs well, just go to any grocery store or even specialty "health food" stores and read the nutrition labels of their "low fat" products. Prepare to be amazed at the sky-high carbohydrate content - 99 percent of which is sugar! In order to make low-fat products palatable, food manufacturers have to add sugar when they take out the fat. No taste = no sale!
Protecting Yourself From Diabetes
Being overweight is not just a cosmetic problem, it's a major health problem around the world. Just in the US alone, two-thirds of adults weigh more than they ought. And, as the study in the current issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition points out, a low-carb diet that minimizes bad carbs is a much better way to go than eating sugar-loaded, low-fat products. I love sugar as much as the next person and, as a matter of fact, have a serious sweet tooth. However, a low-fat cookie for example has more sugar per serving than a regular one. Go figure.
A Common Sense Approach to Dieting
The thing that has worked for me, after having read and studied both of the definitive books on the subject of low-carb dieting; Dr. Atkins New Diet Revolution and the South Beach Diet by Dr. Arthur Agatson, is a combination of low-carb and low-fat, meaning, have that juicy steak - but cut off the excess fat, enjoy your cream cheese - but on a stalk of celery, not a bagel, keep the bacon for breakfast - but limit it to two slices. Use common sense when faced with eating decisions. Keep track of what you don't eat and make a list of the (bad) carbs that didn't make it past your lips. At the end of a week use this formula to see the amount of weight gain you avoided. (this is only an approximation because of the differences in body structure from one person to another). I start the formula with a stern warning; one dessert consumed = 1 lb of weight gain, no matter the portion size. That's the bad news IF you should fall. But for each 100 grams of bad carbs you resist you can say you avoided a pound of weight gain. So, at the end of the week, if you lost 3 lbs and you resisted 300 bad carbohydrates, you can say you doubled your weight loss! It's just like resisting a sale, especially when you don't need the item that is discounted. Like my Dad always said (i know it's corny but I think of it often) "Son, if you want to double your money, fold it twice and put it back in your pocket."
The good news about Type 2 diabetes, which affects as many as 45 percent of women and 30 percent of men in the United States, is 75 percent preventable with the proper diet. (The other 25 percent is hereditary). And, while low-fat, high-carb diets are often recommended by doctors who treat diabetes, my feeling is that we have to minimize our carb consumption, especially the bad carbs found in processed foods (empty calories) and continue to promote the "good" carbs found in fruits and vegetables. You just have to find that fine line between weight stabilization or weight gained, usually determined by portion control.
The surprising thing about this study was not that saturated fat will have much less impact on insulin levels than whole grains (bread), cereal fiber or fruit and vegetables (which can heighten the risk of type 2 diabetes). Even if you don't follow Atkins or The South Beach Diet you may already have known that. We also know that even the good carbs found in fruits and vegetables are still carbs so we have to count them too. For the study referenced here, Halton and his colleagues examined the association between low-carb diets and the risk of diabetes among 85,059 women participating in the Nurse's Health Study. The data, which included 20+ years of follow-up research, also ranked women according to what they ate. "We calculated a low-carbohydrate diet score based on the women's percent consumption of fat, protein and carbohydrate," Halton explained. "A higher score reflected a higher intake of fat and protein with a lower intake of carbohydrate. Therefore, the higher a woman's score, the more closely she followed a low carb-diet, the lower her score, the more she followed a low-fat diet." Bottom line is; meat-eating women with a higher score did not have a heightened risk of diabetes. In fact, and this was the surprising find I alluded to earlier, they seemed to have a slightly decreased risk when they derived their fat and protein from vegetables (like avacados) rather than animal sources!
Low-Carb regimens that follow similar paths to those of the Atkins and South Beach Diets can be diets that include animal fat and protein. Or they can be vegetable and fruit inclusive. The problem is that even though it's a "very good thing to do," most people don't know how to eat well. They don't bother to learn the differences between simple and complex carbohydrates and what's involved in maintaining a healthy and balanced diet. People go to extremes," said Dr. Stuart Weiss, a clinical assistant professor of medicine at New York University School of Medicine in New York City. "In general, carbs should be limited just like saturated fat needs to be limited. . . If you eat too much of anything, you're bound to get into trouble."
American Diabetes Association
Care, Cure Commitment
When planning a vacation it is always a good idea to know just how much it's going to cost - before you go. Not just the vacation itself but things you might have to do prior to getting on that silver bird, like boarding Fido, transfers to and from the airport (get a friend to take you to and from). Use hotels that provide free shuttle service to avoid the taxi fees. If you do need a cab try to find others to share the ride (cost). Then, once those things are factored in (we are talking hard numbers here folks), you can start adding up all the other little costs involved; hotel taxes can be a big expense if you are staying for a week or more at anywhere between 12 and 18%. 
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