Harsh Truths About Diabetes

Originally written August 2018

I was told by someone in a diabetic support group this morning that I was "harsh" and I'm not even going to apologize for it. It is not my intention to be harsh-it is my intention to make a point, to deliver a message, to tell the truth and for people who don't really want to change I suppose that all is harsh.

You know what else is harsh? Losing your eyesight, losing a limb, feeling like crap from high insulin, having toxic levels of blood sugar, heart disease, stroke, those are a lot more harsh than me firmly and aggressively telling people that they eat too many damn carbs.

These groups are full of people whining-yes whining about their high blood sugar. Here's example of some typical posts:

"I had cereal, wheat toast and orange juice for breakfast and my blood sugar is 310! Why? I hate this disease!"

"I had a big bowl of watermelon-it was so juicy and delicious and I had to have it it was just so hot out! My blood sugar is over 300! Watermelon is healthy-why is this happening to me?"

"My doctor says as long as my blood sugar is under 180 I'm good. You're not a doctor so I'm not listening to you!"

"My fasting blood sugar is 429."

"I eat 6 small meals a day, drink lots of water and go on a walk everyday. Why is my blood sugar still high?"

And don't even get me started on the people who think normal blood sugar is "low" blood sugar. Someone will post their blood sugar is 83 and 10 alarmists will frantically tell this person they must eat and not to drive!!! It's beyond ridiculous. It's for sure an uphill battle and I know my frustration shows.

That's just the tip of the iceberg - it's truly maddening things that are said in there. There's a handful of us who seem to understand that we should be eating low-carb if we are diabetic and of course we are all accused of being jerks when we are assertive/aggressive/direct/firm in our comments. Never mind that we all have normal A1c without meds-we clearly don't know what we're doing or talking about because we're not doctors or diabetic nutritionists.

My mission is to let people know they do not have to suffer and that their type two diabetes does not need to be progressive and that just because they are diabetic does not mean they don't deserve normal blood sugar. Further, there are type one diabetics who beautifully manage their disease with much less exogenous insulin than they used to.

Keto/lchf/low carb is the way diabetics need to go. Period. End of story.