Dear Doctor Bernstein
I was diagnosed with high blood sugar in March 2002 just
before my 50th birthday.It seemed that I was following in
my fathers footsteps who was a diet controlled Type 2 diabetic
from a similar age.I refused oral medication recommended
by my doctor deciding that exercise and diet would suffice
in lowering my blood sugar and immediately started to get
myself into shape and follow the diet recommendation of
Diabetes Australia i.e.low GI high carbohydrate.During the
first 6 months this worked to a degree lowering my 3 month
average blood sugar to 7.2 mmol/L from over 10 mmol/L when
first diagnosed.
However despite following a vigorous exercise routine each
day (rowing 5 kilometres at 80% maximum heart rate) and
following the low GI and high carbohydrate diet as recommended
by Diabetes Australia,I experienced quite a rise and fall
in blood sugar levels throughout the day.Levels would typically
rise and fall between 4mmol/L to around 9 mmol/L with occasional
excursions each week to high of 12mml/L depending on time
of test and what I had eaten.At this time I would monitor
my blood sugar 4 to 6 times per day to learn more about
what foods had what affect on my blood sugar.
I was fortunate to pick up your book,Diabetes Solution,in
a store in Brisbane,Australia about 6 months ago and read
it with interest in a couple of days.I was quite surprised
at what I was reading given the advice in the book is contrary
to all the advice I had been given buy my doctor,Diabetes
Australia and other so called experts.I decided to give
it a go and rigorously follow your advice in the book.The
change in diet was easy as I enjoy protein and I modified
my exercise routine to include weight training 4 or 5 times
a week as well as continuing with my 5 kilometre row.The
change in the rise and fall of my daily blood sugar readings
was immediate with a typical low of 4.5 mml/L to a high
of 5.5 mml/L but normally steady at around 5 mml/L even
when checked immediately following a meal.I lost weight
and I am in better shape now than I was in my 30's.I do
get a very occasional reading of say 7 mml/L but it is clearly
due to eating more carbohydrates than I should such as two
pieces of bread instead of one which I don't do very often.I
now only monitor my blood sugar 2 or 3 times a day given
I can just about predict what it will be at any given time
in the day.
It seems odd that the conventional wisdom in Australia
promotes a diet that clearly does not achieve tight control
of blood sugar to mitigate the insidious damage to our bodies
that blood sugar can cause if not controlled within a normal
or near normal range.Your advice,if followed properly,certainly
achieves tight control of blood sugar at around 5 mml/L
in my case.
Kind regards,
Keith Potter
Delco Australia Pty Ltd
Tel: +61 7 33957800
Fax: +61 7 33957400
Mobile: +61 414484194
Email: kpotter@delco.com.au
Personal Email: kpotter1@bigpond.net.au
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