Shut Up and Eat Your Carbohydrates!

"Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind"
-- Rudyard Kipling

Listen closely.

Read between the lines.

You are being convinced, slowly and deliberately that any dietary approach or course of treatment that deviates from the American Diabetes Association position for medical nutrition therapy, even when scientifically valid and supported by hard data, is dangerous; be afraid, be very afraid.

Add doublespeak to the mix and what was healthful is now "dangerous"; what is inherently toxic is now good for you; and remember, you can just medicate any nasties away with a handful of drugs.

The mission of the ADA is to "prevent and cure diabetes and to improve the lives of all people affected by diabetes."

As data mounts from longer term studies, the number of researchers and physicans challenging the ADA Medical Nutrition Therapy recommendations, and the media points to contradictions in the standards of care, we're seeing intensified attempts at damage control by the ADA; the latest message being one of fear.

Fear that simply writing about the success some patients have with treatment, by physicians, who are not towing the party-line and following the ADA recommendations, well, it's blasphemy! - just writing about it, highlighting the success of an alternative dietary approach, is endangering the lives of millions of Americans!

The message to those interested in preventing or managing diabetes must be clear and maintained - pharmaceutical drugs are necessary, that no one wants to or can follow a diet without sugar, that carbohydrate-rich foods are necessary for health, and that only "proper consultation" with a dietitian can help one acheive their goals in managing their disease with lifestyle modification and pharmaceuticals.

Perhaps you've become aware of this upside-down logic?

If not, I offer you a few examples of how the ADA is working hard to create a state of fear in those at risk for or diagnosed with diabetes, who even think a low-carbohydrate diet may work for them after reading about significant improvements in the media about research studies or in clinical practice. The ADA has slowly moved from discouraging anyone from thinking they can follow a low-carb diet to implying any communication that they might see improvement if they do follow a carbohydrate restricted diet is dangerous and will not be tolerated.

WebMD: Do Low-Carb Diets Help Diabetes?

While agreeing that carbohydrate restriction helps people with type 2 diabetes control their blood sugar, ADA spokesman Nathaniel G. Clark, MD, tells WebMD that the ADA does not recommend very low-carb diets because patients find them too restrictive.

"We want to promote a diet that people can live with long-term," says Clark, who is vice president of clinical affairs and youth strategies for the ADA. "People who go on very low carbohydrate diets generally aren't able to stick with them for long periods of time."

Message - low-carb diets work, but no one can do it anyway.

MedScape: Revised Nutrition Guidelines for Diabetes Prevention Stress Weight...

Pearls for Practice:

• Type 2 diabetes may best be controlled through diet by lowering total caloric intake to achieve weight loss. The best mix of macronutrients in this diet may depend on the individual patient, but low-carbohydrate diets are not recommended for all patients.
• The current recommendations state that healthy patients with diabetes may consume the same amounts of protein, alcohol, and nonnutritive sweetener as the general population.

Message - have your cake and eat it too; why follow low-carb, you can have sugar just like anyone else.

ADA Letter to the Editor, Men's Health Magazine:

"...your publication printed dangerous information that could potentially jeopardize the lives of millions of Americans with diabetes or at risk for diabetes."

Message - writing about patients who effectively control their diabetes with a carbohydrate restricted diet is dangerous, a public health threat, it endanagers the lives of millions!

The ADA Letter to the Editor is nothing more than an attempt at damage control - every time someone in the media, a physician in practice, or researchers and their data challenge the ADA dogma and expose the contradictions (especially the "you have high blood sugars, a disorder of blood sugar metabolism, but keep eating sugar"), the ADA must respond and must do all it can to preserve itself as the authority of what is "right" and "wrong" for someone with diabetes.

Rudyard Kipling was right: Words are, indeed the most powerful drug used by mankind!

The ADA has made it abundantly clear, it's dangerous - a public health threat - to even write about patients' that have successfully managed their diabetes with a carbohydrate restricted diet; forget about the existence of hard data, ignore the mountain of studies piling up, and don't even think of exploring the potential of carbohydrate restriction as an alternative - just shut up and eat your carbohydrates!