Dear Doctor Bernstein
I was diagnosed with high blood sugar in March 2002 just before my 50th birthday.It seemed that I was following in my fathers footsteps who was a diet controlled Type 2 diabetic from a similar age.I refused oral medication recommended by my doctor deciding that exercise and diet would suffice in lowering my blood sugar and immediately started to get myself into shape and follow the diet recommendation of Diabetes Australia i.e.low GI high carbohydrate.During the first 6 months this worked to a degree lowering my 3 month average blood sugar to 7.2 mmol/L from over 10 mmol/L when first diagnosed.
However despite following a vigorous exercise routine each day (rowing 5 kilometres at 80% maximum heart rate) and following the low GI and high carbohydrate diet as recommended by Diabetes Australia,I experienced quite a rise and fall in blood sugar levels throughout the day.Levels would typically rise and fall between 4mmol/L to around 9 mmol/L with occasional excursions each week to high of 12mml/L depending on time of test and what I had eaten.At this time I would monitor my blood sugar 4 to 6 times per day to learn more about what foods had what affect on my blood sugar.
I was fortunate to pick up your book,Diabetes Solution,in a store in Brisbane,Australia about 6 months ago and read it with interest in a couple of days.I was quite surprised at what I was reading given the advice in the book is contrary to all the advice I had been given buy my doctor,Diabetes Australia and other so called experts.I decided to give it a go and rigorously follow your advice in the book.The change in diet was easy as I enjoy protein and I modified my exercise routine to include weight training 4 or 5 times a week as well as continuing with my 5 kilometre row.The change in the rise and fall of my daily blood sugar readings was immediate with a typical low of 4.5 mml/L to a high of 5.5 mml/L but normally steady at around 5 mml/L even when checked immediately following a meal.I lost weight and I am in better shape now than I was in my 30’s.I do get a very occasional reading of say 7 mml/L but it is clearly due to eating more carbohydrates than I should such as two pieces of bread instead of one which I don’t do very often.I now only monitor my blood sugar 2 or 3 times a day given I can just about predict what it will be at any given time in the day.
It seems odd that the conventional wisdom in Australia promotes a diet that clearly does not achieve tight control of blood sugar to mitigate the insidious damage to our bodies that blood sugar can cause if not controlled within a normal or near normal range.Your advice,if followed properly,certainly achieves tight control of blood sugar at around 5 mml/L in my case.
Kind regards,
Keith Potter
Delco Australia Pty Ltd
Tel: +61 7 33957800
Fax: +61 7 33957400
Mobile: +61 414484194
Email: kpotter@delco.com.au
Personal Email: kpotter1@bigpond.net.au
