"Ellen K." > wrote in message
...
> Since this has been posted the same day I got my new lab results, I think
> it is interesting to compare my results to the study results, see below
> interleaved.
>
> and/or www.mantra.com/jai (Dr. Jai Maharaj)> wrote in
> message news:20101104YMT3IAk9HqhOjHODvITbEWq@bImTU...
>> Vegan diet reverses diabetes symptoms, study finds
>>
>>
>> Washington (Reuters) - People who ate a low-fat vegan diet, cutting
>> out all meat and dairy, lowered their blood sugar more and lost more
>> weight than people on a standard American Diabetes Association diet,
>> researchers said on Thursday.
>>
>> They lowered their cholesterol more and ended up with better kidney
>> function, according to the report published in Diabetes Care, a
>> journal published by the American Diabetes Association.
>>
>>
>> "I hope this study will rekindle interest in using diet changes
>> first, rather than prescription drugs," Dr. Neal Barnard, president
>> of the Physician's Committee for Responsible Medicine, which helped
>> conduct the study, told a news conference.
>>
>> Barnard's team and colleagues at George Washington University, the
>> University of Toronto and the University of North Carolina tested 99
>> people with type 2 diabetes, assigning them randomly to either a low-
>> fat, low-sugar vegan diet or the standard American Diabetes
>> Association diet.
>>
>> After 22 weeks on the diet, 43 percent of those on the vegan diet and
>> 26 percent of those on the standard diet were either able to stop
>> taking some of their drugs such as insulin or glucose-control
>> medications, or lowered the doses.
>>
>> The vegan dieters lost 14 pounds (6.5 kg) on average while the
>> diabetes association dieters lost 6.8 pounds (3.1 kg).
>>
>
> I lost 11 pounds in 17 weeks on the low-carb regimen.
>
>> An important level of glucose control called a1c fell by 1.23 points
>> in the vegan group and by 0.38 in the group on the standard diet.
>>
>
> My a1c fell by 1.1 points over the 17-week low-carb regimen.
>
>> DROPPING DRUGS
>>
>> A1c gives a measure of how well controlled blood sugar has been over
>> the preceding three months.
>>
>> In the dieters who did not change whatever cholesterol drugs they
>> were on during the study, LDL or "bad" cholesterol fell by 21 percent
>> in the vegan group and 10 percent in the standard diet group.
>>
>
> My LDL fell 25% in the 17 weeks of low-carb regimen. I did not change my
> cholesterol drug during this time. I'm going to talk to my doctor about
> experimenting with dropping it.
>
>> The vegan diet removed all animal products, including meat, fish and
>> dairy. It was also low in added fat and in sugar.
>>
>
> I eat 3 ounces of full-fat cheese every day for breakfast, accompanied by
> usually a whole raw green pepper but sometimes by a head of romaine
> lettuce. Most days include 1 to 2 ounces of nuts (almonds, walnuts, brazil
> nuts) either as a snack or part of a meal. Many days also include 2 to 3
> eggs, usually hardboiled. Dinner almost always includes a serving of
> either chicken breast, ground turkey, tilapia or salmon; steamed
> vegetables (usually broccoli and/or cauliflower), and a salad of raw baby
> spinach and roma tomato with Caesar dressing; 1/4 apple for dessert.
> Lunch varies, main dish may be eggs, sardines, tuna with Miracle Whip
> light, or a Trader Joe's soy Italian sausage; will be accompanied by
> usually a raw zucchini, possibly also other vegetables. I try to fit in
> an ounce of raw baby carrots, usually they are part of my afternoon snack.
> Lately lunch has frequently been 2 oz of peanuts with skins and 2 large
> sticks of celery. When I get a craving for "carby" food I eat a low-carb
> tortilla (usually with hummus, but sometimes with Smart Balance Light) or
> some garbanzo beans. I do chew sugarless gum and also eat about three
> pieces of sugarless hard candy per day.

I went on a raw vegan diet when I was first diagnosed with food allergies.
I didn't lose any weight.