Thanks Krysia, just grateful I found this way of eating and the forum which gives so much information and positive reinforcement.
I think there are four doctors alerting us to another way of eating and taking responsibility for ourselves on or have recently been on television; Xand and his brother Chris who’s presenting The Doctor who Gave Up Drugs, MM and Rangan Chatterjee who presented Doctor in the House advocating lifestyle changes. It must surely be having a drip drip effect.
Conversations between the two brothers would be well worth listening in to!

Thanks for that Krysia, I have put it on to record. Thanks V, I have just looked at the Pioppi diet and it seems very similar to this one. When I had my last cholesterol done my HDL had lowered along with the LDL and I asked doctor what I could do to get the HDL up more and he said to stop worrying I am perfect. I think he meant my numbers but it made me smile.

Jason Fung on the effects of the time we eat. Before 2pm has the max impact on all those markers we’re trying to improve. Sociable it isn’t!
https://idmprogram.com/the-critical-importance-of-meal-timing-for-weight-loss/

I can easily see that cutting out most snacks, and having a longer period of not eating, than for eating are good ideas – and I’m adopting that approach. Not eating from lunch onwards though? Nope. Don’t want to do that. I’d far rather eat a little less overall.

I watched the program on BBC1 yesterday evening about low carb diets. – At the end they mentioned how the NHS is about to roll out a low carb program for diabetics. – I think that the word is gradually getting out there. – Somehow it almost felt like the program had been produced as part of an advertisement / launch of the new program to help both the public and GP’s to accept the new advice. – It must be true that nice doctor on the telly did a program about it. –

I liked the idea of using celeriac for chips. – How much do you bet that by the end of the day the shelves will have been cleared of celeriac in the supermarkets and the price has gone up 🙂

MaggieBath
As KrysiaD says it’s great that you’ve taken charge of your health so positively.
What a sobering account your experience with statins is; fantastic that you discovered what was going on in time, but the fact that it was down to a happy accident (you not taking the tablets) and you making the connection rather than anyone within your health care team is a bit worrying, isn’t it. It’s the big picture that really concerns me – how many people are having similar problems and are not able to make that connection?
Since being diagnosed with type II last August, like you and lots of others on here, I’ve learnt to keep an open but questioning mind about everything I’m being told and offered.

Long may we all continue to do so xx
Marie

Verano
I will read the Pioppi book. I’ve also got Robert Lustig’s book – which I’ll also read! When I was diagnosed with type II last August I was also told I had high cholesterol – it was 6.2. Statins were mentioned but not prescribed. (The practice nurse rightly decided I should focus on the diabetes first). I started the BSD. When I was tested in March my total cholesterol had increased – it was 6.7. I was called a few hours after seeing my results (I have online access to my medical records) and was asked to attend an urgent appointment next day to discuss my cholesterol results. I was pressed to take statins.
Luckily, I have on-line access to my results (and one of the reasons I recommend getting online access where people can) so I was able to really look at what was happening and do a bit of research before my appointment. When I looked at the 0.5 rise between August and March 0.4 of the rise was in my HDL (good cholesterol) and 0.1 was in LDL (bad cholesterol). My triglycerides had gone down from 1.8 to 1.3 – a good thing. Like you, I hadn’t really heard of the importance of ratios until recently but when I checked, my ratios were all in the healthy range. (Interestingly, my total cholesterol/HDL ratio was 3.72 = healthy. When I typed in my figures from last August, the ratio was 4.43 = possible risk of heart disease, so even though my total cholesterol was higher in March, my total cholesterol/HDL ratio was better). Another thing I found interesting was some research which seemed to indicate that higher cholesterol in older women was a positive thing – something I need to research further.
I didn’t agree to the statin prescription. I haven’t rejected the idea completely, but I am highly sceptical. For balance, my friend who takes statins as a preventative measure swears by them (in a good way) but I’m going to be doing a lot more research before my next review in September. Meanwhile I’m following the dietary advice (on healthy fats and oils) sunshine-girl and others gave me.
Marie xx
nb 2 other things –
I agree with your concern about the way in which older people end up on a multiplicity of medication – I wish the ‘The Truth About Drugs’ team had done a programme on that issue!

Your conversation with your doctor about your normal cholesterol number, their new ‘norm’ number, goal posts moving, and the whole fiddling with the computer programme, it did make me smile. Got it in one, I think!

Just an after thought to my post to Verano.

If anyone is interested the thread I mentioned where sunshine-girl and others give advice on what healthy fats etc to eat in relation to cholesterol it’s called ‘Raised Cholesterol’ – you’ll find it through the search box.

There are also a couple of links to ratio calculators that Mariet posted which are useful.

And in one of my posts there’s a link to an Ivor Cummins presentation where he gives the formula for translating figures to help you work out your ratios (can’t quite remember what this was but I know it was useful for me!)

Hi JGwen
Yes, I watched the programme, too. To be honest I found some of it a bit confusing and disappointing from my perspective as someone with Type II diabetes – the whole section about eating bread and some of the things the chef was making – but I was really cheered by that last bit about the NHS rolling out a low carb programme for diabetics (did he say an on-line programme – I know David Unwin was involved in developing the online low carb programme offered by diabetes.co.uk) and it’s always good to see people with diabetes (and other medical issues) hearing about the positive impact low carb has had for them individually.

I found watching some of the faces of those who took part when they were told their results was quite touching. The fact that the guy who had been diabetic for 17 years was showing some signs of improvement in 2 weeks was particularly heartening.

Oh, my cynical friend – I bet you’re right about the celeriac chips!!

Marie xx
edited – to be fair I don’t really know anything about resistant starch which is what Chris van Tulleken was talking about in relation to the pumpernickel and rye bread.

nb I’ve always found the whole thing about fibre and carbs, and you can eat these carbs because the fibre zeros out the carbs completely confusing (so confusing I might be talking complete nonsense here) – something else I need to get my head around at some point!!

oops, my apologies – wrong brother – it was Xand van Tulleken – are they twins?!?

Hi there,
I too watched the programme, and after a very long time without crackers, I did the cracker test. I chewed and chewed on the dry cracker, and soon it was gone and I had tasted no sweetness. I tried a second with the same result. I’m interested to know, did anyone else try the test, and how did you get on?
I lost a couple of stone on my BSD and have kept it off for a year and a bit, mainly because I know now that I feel rubbish if I eat carbs so I eat very few.
xx

Good morning! I too watched that programme last night (and texted every one I know to watch it also!). Yes, I was confused about the bread thing too! I don’t need to know that, being such a bread junky! 🙂 Overall, I thought it was really positive and encouraging. My mum texted me after saying she was putting her bread in the freezer! I said, even better, give it to the birds! We’re getting there!
Kazzeexxx

Pancita – I’d have to go and buy some crackers in order to do that test. But yes, that was really interesting wasn’t it? For our friends unable to watch the programme, here’s how you do the cracker test…

To find out if you fall into the Full, Moderate of Restricted carb category you will need an unsalted cracker and way of timing yourself.

1. Take a bite of the cracker, set your time for 30 seconds and start chewing, but don’t swallow. Paying close attention to any change in taste as it may start happening immediately, and it can be quite subtle.

2. As soon as you notice a change in taste note down the time. If you reach 30 seconds without seeing a change, stop chewing.

3. Repeat the test twice and note your times to get an average.

0-14 seconds – Full carb type: You’re genetically predisposed to break down carbs. You can have up to 50 per cent of your calories from carbs, while 20 per cent should come from protein and 30 per cent from fat.

15-20 seconds – Moderate carb type: Ideally you should have no more than 35 per cent of your calories from carbs while an equal amount should come from fats and 30 per cent from protein.

30 seconds or more – Restricted carb type: No more than 25 per cent of your calories should come from carbs as your body finds them hard to break down. You should opt for a higher fat diet for 40 per cent of your calorie intake, while 35 per cent should come from protein.

Oh Kazz, I DID want to know what the cracker test was!!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you 🙂

I hope you’re wrong about the celeriac chips JGwen. They’ve been our go to for chips for about a year and they are totally yummy!
😀
I’ve found them as a replacement to chips, cauliflower as rice and broccoli as mash to be great substitutes.
I don’t think anyone has managed bread or pasta yet. I do the spiralized courgettes but they are not the same!

I found the celeriac chips and broccoli mash in a great recipe book – Annie Bell’s “Low Carb Revolution”. Note, she has a follow on which is okay but the original is best. The chips were in a fish and chip recipe where she ‘breads’ the fish with ground almonds. Yummy!

Highly recommend that book . More for people who’ve passed the 8 week mark and need more recipes to continue it as a way of life.

Sorry Pancita, no crackers in the house!
Marie, yes it is scary to think what might have happened if l hadn’t forgotten to order a repeat prescription. I would dearly like to know what incentivisations doctors are being offered for issuing certain drugs. I wonder if it’s worth a Freedom of Information enquiry?
Like you I’m really concerned at the number of prescriptions issued to older people; I’ve ditched the aspirin, bp medication and statins and only take paracetamol when essential and never ibuprofen. The last couple of days I’ve been taking antihistamines because of the pollen levels and being otherwise drug free have really noticed their side effects, so today I’ll sneeze!
Bit more reading for you, Malcolm Kendrick’s Doctoring Data. It’s all about how facts are manipulated to get the headline that Big Pharma and the food industry want.
Going right back to Ancel Keys who manipulated stats to “prove” his hypothesis that saturated fats were bad for us, and Frederick Stare an extremely influential Harvard nutrionist who was paid by the sugar industry for favourable research https://www.statnews.com/2016/09/12/sugar-industry-harvard-research/ I believe we should question everything.
Malcolm Kendrick suggests asking, if you took statins how much longer would you live – that’ll stop them in their tracks because (a) they won’t know and (b) the answer according to the research is one in two hundred people, after a year of statin use will live an extra 3 months.
There’s so much on YouTube- I use the app to watch on tv, much easier.
Sorry, I’ll get off my hobby horse!
Maggie

Kazzee
I was just typing it up but see you beat me to it. Bye, you’re fast, lass – but we already knew that!! No crackers in this house either atm but when we get some, I’m definitely trying it out on my guinea pig – erm, husband.
Marie xx
nb That reminds me I loved your recent post on the positive thoughts thread xxx

Pleasure Allie! You’re up early?!
Thanks for the recommendations MartyMonster and Maggie. I’ve added those to my list of reads.
Maggie – when you stopped your meds and I’m particularly interested in BP meds, did you do it via the doc and cut down gradually? I would dearly love to come of my BP meds and frequently go 3 days sometimes forgetting to take them. I have a monitor at home and without meds (after 3 days) my bp is around 137/96. With meds and resting, around 117/72, sometimes 107/66. I still have around 5 stone to lose though… I’m just interested?
Thanks
Kazzeexx

Kazzee – I’ve also come off my BP meds so am jumping in here! I finally got around to going to the dr armed with home readings as I knew my BP was bad and wanted to do something about it. That was in March. At that point my BP was around around 160/95-ish. I carried on taking readings every morning and the dr agreed to let me cut down and then last week stop altogether (yay). I started on 10mg lisinopril, it quickly got upped to 20mg (mistake as my BP went low and I got dizziness and my fingers kept going numb), back to 10mg, then down to 5mg and now, none. That’s all since the end of March. My dr is astounded at how quickly it plummeted – I put it all down to the low carbs (although I assume losing 1 stone 5lbs also helped). I’m now about 1.5 stone away from the top of my ideal weight range and my daily readings tend to be around the 115/75-80 mark. You may find that they are reluctant to cut you down just yet, although I’d be pushing for it, given your lower reading of 107/66.

Hope that helps!
Caro
x

Hi Marie, – I think the issue of fiber and carbs level is something I need to get my head round as well. – But I put it to one side until I get to maintenance. – I want to focus on weight/shape change first and then experiment. –
I have wittered on in the past about about Glycaemic Load rather than Glycaemic Index. – Which I think is the formal way of working out how fiber rich a food is so work out the impact on blood sugar levels. It will be interesting to see if the new guidance that the program seemed to suggest was on its way from the NHS gives more information on this.
I have also talked about maybe buying one of the blood testers, to get the figures on how my body reacts to different foods as it appears to be a very individual issue. – There was a brief image of one of the new testers that you wear on your arm for 2 weeks and get constant readings rather than testing the blood in the BBC program last night. – I looked them up a while ago and they are quite expensive, When you buy the kit it comes with 2 monitors each of which will last for only upto 2 weeks, if it falls off within that 2 weeks you can’t reapply it. Its £160 for a pack with 2 monitors. You can then buy extra monitors for £58 each. – But maybe if they become more popular the prices will drop or other devices will come out to compete.
(Perhaps groups of us living in similar areas can get together and buy one between us, so we share the cost of buying the kit, and then just buy the monitors when its our turn to use it for a couple of weeks.) The point being it could help take all the worries out of going over to maintenance and maximising the range of food we can eat.

Hi Kazz
I just stopped, I didn’t like the side effects . I was very high pre meds and even with meds only got down to 140/90. Now I’m generally in the normal range; I don’t think it’s the weight because I’ve been here before with sky high bp, it’s the carbs. I know that’s true for me because once when I ditched the wine I drank a pure fruit cordial and the fructose made my BP soar. I didn’t make the connection to refined carbs then unfortunately.
Another example of the failure of the medical profession to advise us correctly.

JGwen – I think you are right that the programme almost felt like it had been produced as part of an advertisement / launch of the new program to help both the public and GP’s to accept the new advice.

There has already been a backlash against the programme from nutritionists. One nutritionist said “We know carbohydrates are not uniquely linked to weight gain or type-2 diabetes, so it doesn’t make sense to focus on one particular food group like this” and also “cauliflower rice is in no way a substitute for regular rice, nutritionally or flavour-wise. It won’t be as satisfying!” and a doctor wrote “The NHS recommends that “just over a third of your diet should be made up of starchy foods, such as potatoes, bread, rice and pasta, and another third should be fruit and vegetables” . Oh dear – it does look as though some experts will be very reluctant to change their long held views.

Marie123 – I also found watching some of the faces of those who took part when they were told their results was quite touching, especially the guy who had been diabetic for 17 years and was showing some signs of improvement in 2 weeks was particularly heartening. In fact it actually made me feel quite emotional watching it.

I did find the resistant starch issue very interesting though. Not for me of course because my tolerance of carbs is so low – but for my husband who is not diabetic and baked his own bread. He watched the programme with me and has decided to slice and freeze his bread so the carbs won’t have such a big impact on his blood sugars.

Pancita – I tried the cracker test – it took 27 seconds before they tasted sweet (and an awful lot longer to properly rinse my mouth out after the test).

Hi Martymonster,
I also had to smile at the bakers enthusiasm for the flour for the bread having to be ground in a wind powered mill between stones. – Exactly why does that reduce carbs in comparison to grinding up the whole grain through a different technique, other than enabling people who run old wind powered mills to sell their flour at a premium?

On the positive side, this program was so much better than that chief who lost so much weight eating low carb and then decided it was too difficult for the general public to do the same and instead pushed cal counting.

Opps Marie, sorry, I was wrong, GL isn’t GI plus taking fibre into account. Also its even more complicated, its not just the about the carb/fibre of each individual ingredient. – Its the total mix of the meal.

I think a lot of this was aimed at the general population to show them they can live without the starchy carbs or they can use alternatives, like brown rice, pumpernical bread, toasting white bread or making them resistant starches like the rice, bread and pasta. If that will encourage more people to reduce their carb intake and reduce the about of obesity and related illnesses then it is a start. Not for me the resistant starch or the dense breads even though they are more slow burning and better than the usual stuff. I know I cannot have these and I am happy with cauliflower rice and courgette spaghetti so no problem for me.

Krysia, Xian did say that most doctors will not believe this including himself but we are moving in the right direction. What I cant get my head around is that no-one is saying to cut out a whole food group. If you can still have carbs in some other form where is the problem – ignorance of what makes up a carb or using better GI carbs like brown rice or quinoa.

I was greatly cheered by the last part by Xian – my shorthand came in handy and the conclusion was:-
“The recommendation of Dr Unwin and Dr Massarani is now being rolled out on line by the Royal College of General Practitioners as part of a wider programme using nutrition and diet to manage diabetes. It will soon be available to GP’s across the whole of the UK”.

Just started a thread on my Facebook page and the first comment from a friend is – I dont smoke, I dont drink much so leave my carbs alone, they are my only vice. Funny this is from a French friend who is as skinny as hell and the French dont eat many carbs with their meals, just their beloved baguettes.

Sunshine-girl – you are absolutely right. Xian was careful to point out that the ‘green carbs’ were absolutely OK and that it is only the ‘white’ and ‘beige’ carbs that are harmful. He even put some broccoli in with the beige carbs to emphasise this point. We understood that from the programme and I am at a loss to understand how a trained nutritionist couldn’t get it.

You did well with your shorthand – mine is so rusty now. Thank you for writing down the conclusion to the programme. How wonderful that the ‘tide is turning against the bad carbs’.

Marie! I don’t know what you mean, I’m sure! hahaha!
Caro and Maggie – thanks very much for the info. I shall mull it over and will be due for my annual check up in September, so something to work towards…..
Kazzeexx

Just realised that my post made no sense. I meant to write that Xand even put some broccoli in with the beige carbs to emphasise that broccoli and green veg were carbs also.

For fasting information Jason Fung has a FB support group – The Obesity Code Network: Support Group

Benjamin Bikman is a researcher in insulin. I’ve just seen a recent video discussing whether it is calories or hormones that affect weight. His website is http://www.insuliniq.com and there’s a link to his FB page.

Thank you for the links MaggieBath.

Have just come across these links to an ITV programme next week which looks as though it is using the Newcastle Diet to reverse diabetes. Hopefully it will be good.

ITV Wed 13 Jun 2018 9pm and Thu 14 Jun 2018 9pm The Fast Fix: Diabetes

https://www.itv.com/presscentre/press-releases/itv-commissions-radical-attempt-reverse-diabetes
https://www.itv.com/presscentre/ep1week24/fast-fix-diabetes
https://www.itv.com/presscentre/ep2week24/fast-fix-diabetes

It’s pretty fashionable now isn’t it? Everyone seems to want a piece of the action 😊

Thanks for the news about the ITV program KrysiaD, It must be definite then that the NHS is going to launch a change in diet recommendations for diabetics. First the BBC then ITV have a special on the idea in 2 consecutive weeks.

Hi JGwen,
I’ve also put the fibre/carb thing on the back burner. Will need to get my head around it, though.

Yes, I looked at the Freestyle Libre but decided against it because of the cost and also because quite a few people are still experiencing problems with it. If I ever do get one my plan would be to use it for an initial 2 weeks to see what my bgls do 24/7 and see if I can make any improvements to diet, lifestyle etc, then purchase a monitor maybe 2 or 3 times a year to do a 2-week spot check of how things are going. When I was first diagnosed with Type II diabetes in August one of the first things I did was get an ordinary, finger-pricking blood glucose monitor. I found it really helpful to understand what was happening with my bgls, the general trend, and also specifically to see how different foods affected my bgls. More recently, I’ve just done tests every now and again to check things are still OK. But now I’m looking to systematically test before and after meals again.

One of the things that resonated with me in the carb TV programme was David Unwin etc talking about this needing to be a way of eating that you enjoy. I’ve been thinking about that a lot lately. Reaching maintenance (for now) my primary goal is to become a really good cook. I’ve never really put much value on cooking (just not my thing – something to be done and gotten out of the way) but after years of yo-yo dieting it’s suddenly struck me that the key for me staying on this way of eating is to cook a wide, wide variety of meals that I really enjoy eating. (Talk about stating the bleedin’ obvious!! ). So, as I said on another thread, it’s time for me to learn to enjoy cooking. And start testing again………

Btw, maybe we should all move to your neck of the woods … that would really bring down the cost, and we could even help with those pesky lambs of yours!!

JGwen – it is quite exciting to think that the NHS might actually – at last – be making a U turn with regards to dietary advice for T2D.

Just to join in with the Freestyle libra bloodsugar monitor discussion. I used it when I was on insulin – but I wasn’t totally happy with it as it would show I was having a hypo when I wasn’t and I was often having to double check results with my Aviva monitor. I did have to send a couple back because they didn’t work properly. When they did work they were absolutely brilliant. That was 2016 so maybe they are much more reliable now.

Marie123 – you are absolutely right – the key to staying on this WOE is finding the foods that we really enjoy eating so that it is a joy to stay in the BSD and not a hardship.

Martymonster – thanks for the recipe book recommendation – I’ve popped it into my Amazon basket to have a look at later

Kazz – thanks for the alert – I’ll definitely be watching the ITV programme

MaggieBath – will look at Malcolm Kendrick’s work – thanks

Caro – what great news about your BP meds – my husband is on BP meds and I keep trying to encourage him to do BSD to help (I was never on meds but my BP has dropped from high/pre-high into consistent normal range).Not persuaded him yet but I live in hope.

Krysia – yes, it’s definitely the way forward for me. Btw, my husband is a bread fiend too, he didn’t watch the programme but I’ve already frozen the bread!

Hi All if you want to see the definitive exploration of sugar and carbs look no further than this. Be warned its quit sciency and you may meed to watch it more than once
https://youtu.be/dBnniua6-oM

I have read the overview provided by Krysia and was dismayed to see that they are going to be put on a liquid diet. It warns that this should not be undertaken at home without medical supervision and is not for people on insulin or with other medical problems. Oh dear, are they going to make it appear so difficult that no one will want to do ‘our’ diet i.e. real food and 800 calories. I am going to hold back on judgement until I have watched it.

GrahamSPhillips – thank you for posting that. I have just watch the Sugar, The Bitter Truth from beginning to end and I am so shocked. I am not saying I didn’t know some of this stuff but I didn’t know just how bad it was. When I was 13 my auntie was making me a cup of tea (yeah the English drink tea at 13) and when I asked for sugar she told me I was not allowed as ‘sugar is a poison’. This is 50 years ago and I have never forgotten and never added sugar to drinks or my food but I now know 1. that carbs are sugars and now, and 2. that nearly everything contains high fructose corn syrup. I also thought this was an American problem but I am sure we have the same in our food in the UK – check you labels. At least real sugar is glucose and glucose is a nutrient.

Another message to get out to the poor deluded public.

Food labelers are very tricky! I hope you are able to access this link, because it may surprise you!

https://www.healthline.com/56-different-names-for-sugar#section2

Hi Everyone
In fact no.. UK food has not been poisoned by high fructose corn syrup in the way that US food has. But just look at Innocent smoothies’ advertising. “no added sugar” perfectly true they don’t ADD any sugar they merely concentrate the sugar that’s already there not least by removing the insoluble fibre thereby also messing with the microbiome (CleverGuts) and not in a good way. Bottom line? Eat real food not the synthetic crap the food industry wants to foist on you and get VERY familiar with reading the backs of the packs (ignore the front which is full of marketing waffle). In particular look for how much of 100g is carbohydrates. Carbs (except insoluble carbs) are simply long chains of glucose. So when you metabolise them you break them down into guess what? SUGAR! So even if its low sugar (low sugar Alpen for example) the carbs are just another name for sugar with all the attendant health risks

Sorry, everyone! This IS frustrating….Still worthwhile to google “different names for sugar” though. Forewarned
is forearmed 🙂

I went looking for information on how the ratio of fiber effects the insulin impact of carbs and came across something even more intense.
Apparently its not just carbs that raise insulin levels, so does protein and fat, but some combinations of protein and carb raise insulin levels more than the effect that white bread has also the impact of combining carbs and protein is greater for T2.
There is a interesting report produced for a phd explaining this and working out the insulin index of 147 foods.
https://ses.library.usyd.edu.au/handle/2123/11945
I am still working my way through it, but have seen enough to think its worth sharing.

Well found JGwen. That’s a chunky bit of reading- I think I’ll have to come back to it. Thanks for digging around.
Maggie

I got as far as section 1.2.3.2 and thought this paragraph alone makes the document worth sharing.
“In adults with type 2 diabetes, the insulin response to each protein food tested (cottage cheese,
gelatin, beef, turkey, fish, soy and egg whites) when combined with glucose was more than
two-fold greater than the response to glucose alone, even though the amount of protein was
only half that of glucose on a gram-for-gram basis39. The relative area under the curve was
greatest for glucose + cottage cheese, with a response 360% greater than that of glucose
alone. The lowest response was for glucose + egg whites, however this was still significantly
higher than that for glucose alone, producing a plasma insulin response 190% greater than
glucose alone.”

That’s frightening – no more cranberry sauce with the Christmas turkey then. Things just get more complicated don’t they?
So the standard fast food takeaway is whatever and chips plus a soft drink – that must be so much more than the sum of its parts. No wonder fast food junkies are so badly affected by metabolic syndrome.
The worst thing is that many have little choice; did you watch Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s programmes recently where he showed that deprived areas had virtually no access to fresh produce? It’s the same in the US where 23 million have no access and have to depend on convenience stores and fast food outlets. The problem really is massive.
Maggie

So our puzzling about the difference of the impact on insulin of carbs combined with fibre just got much more interesting. – Calculating the impact on insulin levels by GI is less than 60% accurate.

Hello, everyone! I share your opinion, Maggie, that this problem is beyond massive….I read Michael Pollan’s
book, “The Omnivore’s Dilemna” @ 12 years ago. In it he examines our food supply, and it shocked me beyond
measure how little most people actually know about where their food comes from, or why the general public
doesn’t demand higher quality. The poorest populations suffer the most, and their diets are the most carb
heavy. I’ve read studies where the most obese populations of women are actually found to also suffer from
malnutrition. The fast food industry has a lot to answer for, and unfortunately we have segments of the
population who for multiple generations have developed tastes for only this kind of food, and won’t eat
anything green. The govt. set up a lunch program, and none of the children would eat the food because it
was utterly foreign to them. 80% of the food went into the bin! The program was a flop, and an appalling
waste of money. We’ve just gotten too far from the land, I think. I make every effort to eat from local
sources, where I know the farming practices, and have had to find free range or pasture raised proteins.
There are excellent whole food markets, but as you can imagine, they only exist in affluent communities.
For me, that means driving 45 min. out the way to access them! Worth it, I think!

Its all about the microbiome! The bugs in our gut are a (the?) major determinant of how we react to food combinations. Its far more complex than carb counting and no two people are alike. There’s a simple explanation here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZWLy7FLvZ4&t=5s

My big takeaway from Clever Guts was that there are the same number of neurons in the gut as a cat’s brain! I feel quite fondly towards them 😄