Sun, Oct-01-23, 08:02
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Senior Member
Posts: 1,901
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Plan: Atkins-ish (hypoglycemia)
Stats: 000/000/000
BF:
Progress: 50%
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Along those lines, there was an article that popped up on USA Today this morning.
American can prevent (and control) Type 2 diabetes. So why aren’t we doing it?
When I read it on my phone this morning, my thoughts were along the lines of "they're only telling me case histories - very little about preventing and controlling T2 diabetes", but now I see that it's just the first of a 5 part series on the topic.
Anyhow, about the only really pertinent part is this:
Quote:
A soda costs less than a bottle of water, a double cheeseburger and fries less than a carton of blueberries. Patients wait months for medical appointments only to see the back of a white coat for the short time they’re allotted. Treating disease costs society far more than preventing it but typically provides less profit for insurance companies, hospitals and the pharmaceutical industry. The USA TODAY Health team spoke with scores of health care providers, researchers, community leaders and patients for this five-part series to understand why Type 2 diabetes continues to worsen in America despite known solutions. The answer isn't simple. It involves systemic problems facing everyone in society, not just those with diabetes: a food system designed to sell products; a medical system in which cutting off a leg is less expensive than saving it; the high cost of healthy living and the fact that breaking habits takes a lot more than just personal willpower.
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The only dietary change mentioned was from a chef who is dealing with T2 and has applied what she learned to her professional cooking:
Quote:
In 2015, a stabbing chest pain sent her to the emergency room. Doctors assured Ray she hadn’t had a heart attack, but they warned that her life was on the line. At 5-foot-2, she weighed 334 pounds and had an A1C, a measure of average blood sugar of 11%, well above the 6.5% cutoff to be considered diabetic. Her diabetes – and her diet – were out of control. “That scared me. … It was gut-wrenching and terrifying,” she said. “I’m fighting against something that’s fighting me back and I did not know how to win.” She and her primary care doctor decided she would pursue weight loss surgery. But she also decided to use her culinary prowess to transform her diet. She reconfigured favorite foods, substituting healthier ingredients: Collard greens cooked in smoked fats or ham hocks turned into a kale, turnip and rutabaga recipe flavored with natural chicken broth fat, oils and seasonings. She fostered her feelings into new recipes and brought them to North Sarah Food Hub, which partnered with Barnes-Jewish Hospital to make packaged, pre-made meals for St. Louis residents with diabetes and limited access to fresh food. “I had to restructure the food that I put in my mouth. I had to think about what I was eating and how I was eating and how it was going to be good for my body,” she said. “I became excited about food again, and food became a joy.”
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I'm failing to see how kale, turnips, and rutabagas flavored with chicken broth fats, oils and seasonings are somehow superior for diabetes control than collard greens with ham hocks. About the only nutritional difference would be that ham hocks generally are cured with nitrates.
Since she's partnering with a Jewish hospital to make packaged, pre-made meals for diabetics with limited fresh food access, the ham hocks are probably not allowed, while chicken broth fat would be appropriate for those with Jewish dietary restrictions. (So I think whoever wrote this article is confusing religious dietary restrictions with restrictions that help prevent or control diabetes)
Quote:
It isn’t always easy, of course. Ray admits to an occasional cookie craving. But now she takes the time to think about how her body processes that cookie and whether it’s worthwhile.
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That's the only real reference to a personal lifestyle change the article mentions that this particular chef has made - and we know from the plethora of recipes on this site that it's still quite possible to make a Low Carb cookie, even if the best LC chocolate chip cookie won't necessarily be quite like a homemade Toll House Cookie.
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