In mid-February 2014 my dear husband was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. His A1c level was 12.4. The doctor put him on an oral medication but told him that it was highly likely he would have to go on insulin very soon unless he could get that number way down. Well, DH is seriously afraid of needles and even the idea of having to inject himself with insulin every day was a serious wake up call.
To try and get his blood glucose under control, he ignored the doctor's advice that he follow a 50/30/20 carb/protein/fats diet plan. Instead, for the first week, he ate only one or two foods at a meal and, if his post-meal glucose level jumped up significantly, we marked that food off the list of things he could eat. If it only jumped up a little bit, we labeled the food a "limited amounts" item. Fruit juices, pasta, rice, potatoes, and breads were the first things to go; then cereals, high carb fruits like bananas and grapes, high glycemic vegetables like peas and corn, etc. Instead of a bowl of cereal in the mornings for breakfast, I started fixing him an omelet with bacon or sausage, cheese, onion, avacado... pretty much anything that did not seem to cause high post-meal blood sugar levels. And dinners became lots of salad greens, low GI veggies, with meats and cheeses.
To be supportive of him...and because I'm too lazy to fix two separate meals for us... I ate the same foods he was eating. Wonder of wonders, without even trying to cut calories, I suddenly found myself losing weight! Something I have not been able to do successfully for years!
And, the pounds keep coming off despite the fact that I now indulge guilt-free on my favorite snack (cheese) WHENEVER I want to. This is so amazing! I can't believe I struggled to stay on the low-fat diets prescribed by my doctor for years while the pounds kept right on piling on!
BTW - When DH went in to have his A1c level tested in June, it had dropped from 12.4 (seriously diabetic) to 5.4 (within the normal range). His doctor could not believe it and actually made him come back for a repeat test.
We're both quite happy with the low carb diet we've "fallen" into and plan to stick with it for life!