About 10 years ago, I attended a workshop led by a doctor of osteopathy, or DO, who had been in family practice for years. Over the years, his practice became mostly one dealing with very high risk patients, like those with heart attacks, strokes, obesity, poorly controlled diabetes, and hypertension. During his presentation, he relayed a story about a phone call from that state’s largest insurer who was frustrated that he was ordering some of the most expensive diagnostic tests on every single patient in his practice, but amazed that none of his patients EVER had to be admitted for interventional procedures, like balloons or stints, or for diagnoses like heart attacks or strokes. THOSE statistics completely blew me away, and I immediately began cutting back on some processed foods. He’d described the diet information that he used to help patients improve their health, and I began to make some of those same changes.
As a family nurse practitioner, I will say that I was QUITE skeptical about this low carb way of eating in the beginning, and I taught many people the OLD, outdated standard American diet rules – only to see the diet fail soooo many, including myself!!
In 2013, I weighed just over 200 lbs and was hypertensive and pre-diabetic. I was deathly afraid of that 200 mark on the scale. It truly shook me up – I knew it was unhealthy, and I was truly afraid of gaining more! I knew if I didn’t do something drastic, I would become sicker & sicker; I was NOT ready for lifelong meds and life-changing diagnoses! Many family members are type 1 & type 2, and I care for many patients with diabetes and pre-diabetes. I was petrified that I’d suffer the consequences I was seeing in my family, friends, & patients. I determined to find a way to stop the usual progression to poor health. At first, I found Whole30 and after several months, discovered low carb high fat eating, and am still eating this way. I found that Whole 30 allowed me too many fruits/carbs, and LCHF offered much longer periods without feeling hungry or deprived. I lost approx 50 lbs and over 30″ total. I began my journey to improved health in the summer of 2013, although I’d dabbled in a variety of diet & exercise plans over the years. Within the first 6 months, I’d lost about 50 lbs, and many symptoms!!
My hip arthritis resolved, and my plantar fasciitis resolved. My psoriasis cleared. My miscellaneous joint/muscle problems stopped. My fatigue disappeared!! My bilateral Dupuytren’s contractures are still improving but no longer hurt or cause problems. I no longer feel exhausted by 3pm or need an afternoon nap to make it through til bedtime. I can work my normal day and then enjoy my evening without complaining or feeling tired. I was quite shocked when a lot of my gray hair disappeared; I now have a lot of my blond hair back!!! I also stopped burning when out in the sun for a little while; I’d always burned really bad, after just about an hour in the sun.
The photo of me in the red shirt is from a trip to Las Vegas with my hubby in 2011, when I was afraid to step on the scale. The photo in the pink shirt and jeans is from the fall of 2019. I went from a size 18/20 to an 8. I’m now down over 60 lbs with a loss of over 25” total. It all began about 8 years ago, and I’m loving that I’m almost 60 years old and feel 35!!!
I learned how to “fix” myself with nutrition and a few supplements; when I learned how important Vitamin D was, I started taking it. I still didn’t know about its cofactors in the beginning. But I have continued to practice a low carb, grain-free, sugar-free eating pattern all these years; I’ll NEVER go back to consuming grains – they caused me SUCH terrible pain that I’m thrilled to be rid of. As I began losing weight and feeling better, my patients noticed and asked what I was doing. And that’s how it all began…
I developed a “diet sheet” that I started using with my patients, and started helping them reduce some processed foods, breads, cereals, and sodas. Over several months, many of these patients improved many markers of health, including their hemoglobin A1c, which is an index that we can use to determine the average blood glucose over the previous 90 days.
A normal A1c is less than 5 or 5.5, depending on which expert author you are reading today; an A1c of 5 tells us that the average blood glucose level over the previous 90 days is about 97. That level is good because it means that high readings of glucose are not likely, and the pancreas is able to pump out adequate insulin to help manage the glucose consumed in the daily diet.
When diabetes was first recognized, some researchers found that ants were attracted to the urine and feces of people stricken with this illness. Therefore, it became known as an illness of urination and termed diabetes, which means siphon. Later, the word mellitus was added as it means honey; diabetes mellitus was recognized to be an illness of diet and many strange attempts were made at treatment, including the “oat diet”, “potato therapy”, and a “starvation diet”.
In the 1920s, a Canadian physician began treating diabetes with a variety of medications and finally was successful with insulin; he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1922. While they still had no idea about the actual pathways of illness that caused diabetes, pieces of the puzzle were coming together. Over the past 100 years, diabetes has been one of the most common ailments studied; billions of health care research dollars have been used seeking causes, treatments, and medications to control it.
With all of the early evidence that there were problems with sugars – I mean, even ants were attracted to the waste products of humans afflicted with diabetes – it should have been an easy connection to a low intake of sugar in order to treat or manage the condition. To date, however, all of the dietary advice since the 1950s has used a low fat diet to treat diabetes.
However, over the past 10 years or so, many diabetes experts have begun to question the status quo; physicians, nurse practitioners, and nutritionists have begun using low carbohydrate diet plans to reduce blood glucose levels. Dr. Eric Westman, at Duke University has been one of the most outspoken advocates of low carb eating. Although he has published many research articles that support his dietary concepts, this method of eating has yet to be accepted by mainstream medicine. Many others have produced YouTube Videos, blog articles, and even peer-reviewed professional journal articles, albeit small and less recognized arenas. Check out Dr. Robert Cywes and Dr. Sarah Halberg on YouTube for some of their free videos.
Part of the reason for the little fame for the low carb diet goes all the way back to the 1950s when the strong and overreaching personality of Ancel Keys forced opposing viewpoints to the low fat mantra back into the shadows. He didn’t want any loud opposition to low fat guidelines, and during his next 30 years, he contributed to the loss of jobs of many researchers and experts; he also saw to it that some of his opponents lost research grant money, thus ending their careers. That mentality continues today, mostly because all of healthcare agencies and the organizations that set our guidelines are all friends, colleagues, and co-researchers who are dependent on the government and organizations who provide funding for the research. Yes, I know it sounds like a giant conspiracy theory, and in a way, it is. However, I truly don’t believe it started out this way. I like to think that original founders and researchers had America’s best interests at heart. It was only when government and big pharmaceutical companies went to bed with the food industry that untoward consequences made their way into the lives of regular Americans as disease, obesity, and poor health. Here’s the data from Keys’ original PUBLISHED Seven Countries Study on the left and the ACTUAL data collected during the study on the right:
You can easily see the data from the 7 countries “correlate” with the idea that high fat causes heart disease; however, when you plot the same information from ALL 22 countries, there is absolutely NO correlation at all.
When Ancel Keys was offered a position on an early national nutrition committee, no one could have ever imagined the horrible effects that were to occur over the next 30 years. While he really wanted to identify a major cause of heart disease, his research methods have since been called into question. Much of his work has been called fraudulent and unethical, as research findings were released only in support of his opinion. During recent years and with the advent of the internet and spread of information, more opposition has built against Ancel Keys’ work and a grass-roots effort to change the Standard American Diet (SAD) are occurring in towns and cities all across America. Even the American Diabetic Association (ADA) recently came out in support of using a low carbohydrate diet as part of the management of diabetes. Although the ADA hasn’t provided any guidance as to what constitutes a low carb diet, many patients and health care providers are figuring it out on their own. Reference: https://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/43/Supplement_1/S48
Blogs, books, infomercials and YouTube videos touting the benefits and “rules” of low carb eating are springing up everywhere; Paleo, Ketogenics, Whole 30, and many other variations of low carb are quite popular on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media. Patients around the world are taking control of their diabetes and their own health like never before in our nation’s history.
I believe it is time for health care professionals, especially NURSES, to take a stand and speak up for patients; as nurses, some of our most respected qualities are honesty and advocacy. The goal of this blog is to provide open and honest information with the most current research on diet and nutrition to you, our families, friends, and most of all to our patients so that you can reverse illness, improve health, and enjoy a much longer and happier life. Low Carb USA has also since published guidelines for the use of low carb diets for medical prescribers to use in patient care. Reference: https://www.metabolicpractitioners.org/clinical-guidelines/
NOTICE: This content is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not intended to provide medical advice or to take the place of medical advice or treatment from a personal health care professional. All viewers of this content are advised to consult their own qualified health professionals regarding specific health questions. Neither KetoNurses or the publisher of this content takes responsibility for possible health consequences of any person or persons reading or following the information in this educational content. All viewers of this content, especially those taking prescription or over-the-counter medications, should consult their medical providers before beginning any nutrition, supplement or lifestyle program.
