I was diagnosed an insulin dependant diabetic at the age of 47, 3 years ago. I must have been diabetic for a good while prior, but did not know anything about the disease. While it is difficult to get the amounts of insulin on track, I wish to let you all know that my 15 years of being a strict vegetarian has proven to be healthful for my body and my diabetes. I have super low cholesterol, low blood pressure, good circulation, good kidney finction, no retinal damage, I have lost no feeling in my appendages and heal nicely when wounded. I am not anemic and am not lacking in any nutrients The doctor seems to think that my vegetarian diet has contributed significantly to keeping my body from deteriorating while combatting this disease.

I am writing in hopes that the people who wrote such mean spirited posts re the vegan life style might try opening their small minds if they are interested in becoming healthy.

I am going to withdraw membership in this venue, as I dont think it will be the help I was looking for.

Good luck to you all.

You seemed to just join to make this post so I highly doubt anyone will worry about you "withdrawing your membership". This is not a diabetes site, this is a low carb diet site, you expected to see something other than meat eaters?

I used to be a vegan, I don't appreciate the things said there either however I know I have no right to question someone about their ways of becoming healthy because of my personal beliefs. Your way of "becoming healthy" worked for you, this works for some ppl. Being vegan actually made my cholesterol go up 3 fold.

Maybe YOU should open your small mind and realize your way of life is not right for everyone.

If your so healthy howcome youve got diabetes?

Floydiecat,

While I respect your choice to live a vegetarian lifestyle, have you discussed with your doctor exactly what caused you to become diabetic in the first place?
You didn't say whether you are an adult onset type 1 diabetic or an insulin dependent type 2. You also didn't mention what your A1c runs or your average blood sugar readings. Did your doctor check your fasting circulating insulin levels?
You also didn't mention whether you are a strict vegan (no animal products at all) or whether you consume some animal products such as dairy and eggs. While it's nearly impossible to follow a carb controlled lifestyle as a strict vegan, it's quite possible to do so as a lacto/ovo vegetarian and we do have a vegetarian forum here on this board.

Some things to consider, though:

You've been a vegetarian for 15 years and a diabetic for 3, possibly a bit longer. While type 1 diabetes is thought be be a viral or autoimmune problem, type 2 diabetes is caused by increasing insulin resistance and beta cell burnout. If you have type 2, could it be that your high carb lifestyle was stressing your pancreas severely and contributing to insulin resistance? The fact that you are having difficulty with insulin dosages tells me that your carb intake is too high or you have insulin resistance or both. Diabetes is not part of the normal process of aging, it is an indicator that there is a problem with your insulin production or your cell's insulin receptors (usually both in the case of type 2) and in type 2 can nearly always be traced back to diet.
My lab results were also great when I was first diagnosed as a type 2. Not so 10 years later even though I was following the recommended diabetic diet, so I think you may be a bit premature in stating that your vegetarian lifestyle is helping you combat your disease. If you are having difficulty controlling your blood sugars and calculating correct insulin dosages to maintain healthy blood sugar levels, you will develop diabetic complications if it continues. It's only a matter of time.

Read this before you go:

http://atkins.com/Archive/2003/7/31-171174.html

According to this you are a type I diabetic, but then you say you must have been diabetic for years prior, so from that you are likely saying you are type II since type I diabetics do not survive for years without treatment as far as I know. This inconsistency suggests that you are probably just a troll, and not even one educated in the definition of the disease you say you suffer from. My guess is that you will or have withdrawn your membership because you know you cannot hold up to a discussion with the largely well educated members of this forum.

If you are type I, low-carb would very obviously help you since consuming less sugar would require less use of your medication(s).

If you are type II, I would point out that you likely would never have even shown symptoms on a low-carb diet. Are you happy that your diet caused diabetic symptoms to appear? If you continue this way, your sugars will likely become harder or eventually impossible to control due to increasing insulin resistance.



No, friend, good luck to you. If you are following a high carb vegan diet for diabetes you are the one I fear will need it. One only needs to read the wealth of both scientific and anecdotal evidence on this site and elsewhere to understand the benefits, especially for diabetics, of low carbohydrate nutrition.

You can be a vegetarian and do low carb as well. Me and several other members do both. I have learned to just ignore most of the anti-vegetarian posts. If I don't like it, I don't have to read it or respond to it. It is that easy. If others don't like what I have to say, they can ignore me too.

There is a vegetarian area to this forum-you might want to check that out.

I've been a diagnosed type 2 diabetic for over 6 years. Isn't it interesting that my cholesterol is super low , my neuropathy went away, my kidneys are in perfect working order, my BP is perfect 110/60 and I heal quickly. I also lost 60 lbs. HOW? I increased my meat and animal fat intake, decresed my carb intake, eliminated grains and basically eat the complete opposite of a vegetarian diet.
When I cut back on meat, ate more grains and lower fat, my sugars soared, I felt like crap, my skin was dry and my hair was thinning. My cholesterol also soared.

Let's see, you got diabetes by following a healthy and strict vegetarian diet. How is that possible? And while continuing with your healthy and strict vegetarian eating plan, you are having difficulty getting your amounts of insulin on track. Again how is that possible eating the perfect way you do?

And exactly why are you here? Looking for answers to your dilemmas?

My advice would be to try several dietary options and see which one works the best. I'll bet one of them may even cure your diabetes.

WHAT membership? This is you're first post!

Could someone please direct this person to the PETA website where they belong? They may be of help to the "Fish Empathy" project.

It is so transparent when someone with ethical objections to Atkins tries to pretend they object for "health" reasons.