"W. Baker" > wrote in message
...
> In alt.support.diabetes L. Conrad > wrote:
>
> : That's why I am asking for information from the horse's mouths so to
> speak.
> : I was impressed by my BIL's continued good health on a low carb diet for
> all
> : these many years. He was the one who peaked my interest in looking into
> diet
> : and diabetes where my other friends from church with the disease were
> : concerned.
>
>
> I woudl be interested to know just how low a carb diet your BIL eats.
> Many of us here find that moderate carbs, in the vicinity of less than 12-
> or less than 100 a day works for us. Very few, indeed, look at a 30 carb
> gram a day diet as our preference or very desireable as a life-long way of
> eating. Some seem to have more trouble dealing with carbs than others and
> some dont' like taking meds to such a degree that they may well try this
> kind of very low carb diet.

He is on between 40 and 60g carbs a day. Those being from vegetables and
fruit only. Occasionally he will cheat as he says and have a dinner roll or
perhaps a small piece of pie during the holidays. It may not be the most
desirable diet one can be on but he does want to remain as healthy as
possible until the Grim Reaper comes for him (as he puts it).

> Certainly, in dealing with your friends, this kind of suggestion would not
> be welcome, as it is a very restrictive regemin that would be very hard to
> follow for most of us here for more than 2 weeks or so and particularly
> for people who are not used to limiting themselves.

This is believe is part of the problem even with heart patients. At my age
you start to see many friends developing serious health problems. Some of
those with heart disease will not follow the diets given them either. No
one wants to sacrifice for their health. One non diabetic friend who has
already had a heart attack is taking cholesterol lowering drugs because she
refuses to give up her Big Macs, fatty spare ribs, T-bone steaks, French
fries (trans fats) etc. She told me, "My insurance company is paying for
the drugs so why should I give up the foods I love?" I had no reply for
her. She recently suffered another serious bout of chest pain. I can see
another by-pass in her future. Why the heck are people so unwilling to
change their eating habits?

Probably, your best
> bet with people who are that resistnt to advice as your friends seem to
> be(not fllowing doctors' advice, etc) might be finding some real scary
> statistics on diabetes complications like blindness, amupation, heart
> attack and stroke and total kidney failure.
Then you can talk about th
> possibility of avoiding these by diet adn exercise,. just getting these
> folks to avoid the white starches, bread, pasta, rice, etc, would be a
> good start. I don't have a great deal of hope that they will listen to
> you or even our responses, but it is very nice for you to want to be a
> good friend and try.

Thank you. If I can only persuade one or two of them to take more
responsibility for their own health I will be happy.

>
> Wendy
>