Here are a randomly chosen list of horribly bad advice people with diabetes have reported getting from registered dietitians in the last couple months. They all have in common that they are completely wrong.
1. If your blood sugar goes below 100 mg/dl, it's a hypo and you have to eat some carbs right away to bring it back up. (Told to a Type 2 controlling with only diet and exercise!)
No. The normal blood sugar range goes down to 70 mg/dl. The ideal blood sugar for someone who is controlling with diet alone is mid-80s.
2. Your brain stops working if you eat less than 130 mg/dl of carbs a day.
No. Your brain works fine with 0 carbs as long as you eat enough protein that the liver can convert that protein to provide the roughly 60 grams of carbs you need to run your brain. About 58% of the protein in your diet can be converted to glucose.
3. If you are low on potassium, you should eat bananas.
Not unless you love having very high blood sugars. You can get potassium from avocados, broccoli, spinach, winter squash, mushrooms, lean meats, clams, and fish, including salmon. If you still don't think you are getting enough, one sprinkle of Morton's Salt Substitute will provide more than enough potassium for anyone.
4. You have to drink at least 8 glasses of water a day. A lot more is even better.
No. This is the "Water Myth" which was invented by the companies that sell bottled water. Too much water washes water soluble vitamins out of the body and can stress marginal kidneys.
5. Eat a lot of healthy whole grains. (To a Type 2 controlling with diet)
Not unless you want unhealthy high blood sugars. All the studies supposedly proving whole grains were "healthy" compared a diet of whole grains to an even higher carb diet full of white flour and potatoes.
No one has funded a study that compares a diet rich in whole grains with one free of almost all grain products, where the whole grain diet would come in very poorly. That's probably because no one will get rich NOT selling cheap grain to the public. Studies of low carbohydrate diets very low in grain of all types have shown that they make huge improvements in the blood sugar and lipids of people with diabetes.
6. Pasta is very good for your blood sugar.
Pasta LOOKS good if you test your blood sugar only at 1 or 2 hours after eating it because it takes 5-7 hours to digest. If you tested after it digested you'd be likely to see the 23 grams per ounce hitting the blood stream and the sight would not be pretty. A typical restaurant serving of pasta contains about 160 grams of carbohydrate. Without any sauce. Add the sugary tomato sauce and you just plain don't want to know!
That's a start. Send me your nutritionist horror stories!
Copyright Janet Ruhl 2007. If you are NOT reading this on http://diabetesupdate.blogspot.com the content has been STOLEN.
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