{"id":25187,"date":"2012-02-27T08:46:52","date_gmt":"2012-02-27T13:46:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=25187"},"modified":"2015-12-27T15:45:35","modified_gmt":"2015-12-27T20:45:35","slug":"sugarless-tuesdays-a-teaching-moment-for-type-1-diabetics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=25187","title":{"rendered":"Sugarless Tuesdays: A Teaching Moment for Type 1 Diabetics"},"content":{"rendered":"

Paula Deen doesn’t understand very much about diabetes.\u00a0 That’s the feeling I was left with after interviewing<\/a> her a few weeks ago.\u00a0 She was delightful to talk to – warm, charming, and eager to share.\u00a0 It’s no surprise she’s incredibly popular.\u00a0 I could have listened to her for hours.\u00a0 What made me sad, though, as I listened to Paula speak was the fact that she felt getting diabetes was an inevitable part of growing old.\u00a0 Then at the end of our conversation Paula said something that made me more than just sad.\u00a0 It made me cringe.\u00a0 Paula said,”My goal at the end of my life…If you hear the name Paula Deen, what is the first thing you think of?\u00a0 I hope it\u2019s not butter.\u00a0”\u00a0 Of course, I can understand that – who wants to be eternally associated with churned milk, right?\u00a0 But what I wanted Paula to have said was not that she feared being remembered as the queen of butter.\u00a0 I wanted her to say she feared an everlasting association with sugar.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Paula Deen, don’t worry about the butter.\u00a0 The problem with your recipes is the refined carbohydrates and sugar.<\/p>\n

I’m not the first person to say this.\u00a0 While there have been hundreds of articles written in the last month calling fat a culprit in Paula Deen’s diabetes, a few have also spoken up in fat’s defense.\u00a0 David Mendosa<\/a>, an avid low-carber said he doesn’t blame Paula for “the fat and salt in her recipes, but all the carbs.”\u00a0 And a few days ago I read an article by Dr. Jonny Bowden, Paula Deen: The Lost Teaching Moment<\/a>. This is his main point:<\/p>\n

“Paula Deen is not diabetic because she eats too much butter. She’s not<\/em> diabetic because she cooks with too much fat. She’s not diabetic because she eats “unhealthy” stuff like meat. She’s diabetic because her body can’t effectively process sugar.\u00a0 Period.\u00a0 In fact, if all she ate was fat and protein, we probably wouldn’t be having this discussion. (But of course, there would also be no Paula Deen show.)\u00a0 Diabetes educators, the American Diabetes Association, and virtually everyone else in the mainstream is jumping on her high-fat cooking as the “cause” of her diabetes, but nothing could be further from the truth. Fat is NOT the enemy in the American diet. Fat doesn’t make you fat, and it most certainly doesn’t make you diabetic.\u00a0 Let me explain.\u00a0 Type 2 diabetes is a disease of carbohydrate intolerance. Not fat<\/em> intolerance. Not protein<\/em> intolerance. Carbohydrate<\/em> intolerance. And the reason the “teaching moment” is being lost here is because everyone is parroting the same old, past-its-expiration-date garbage about the “dangers” of fat, while ignoring the simple fact that it is carbohydrates — especially sugar and processed carbs — that create the blood sugar havoc that ultimately results in diabetes.” <\/strong><\/p>\n

Now I know that Dr. Bowden is oversimplifying.\u00a0 It’s not only a sugar-rich diet that leads to type 2 diabetes, however, it is certainly a major contributing factor in many cases.\u00a0 Something I’ve thought about many times since I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes is how much I’ve learned about carbohydrates and carbohydrate metabolism.\u00a0 Even if you disagree with me that eating fat is okay, consider this point seriously for a moment: Who knows the effect of carbs on the human body better than a person with type 1 diabetes (or the caregiver of a person with type 1 diabetes)?\u00a0 I believe the answer is no one.\u00a0 We’re the world’s experts. Who among us does not know the effect of a cupcake on blood sugar levels versus the effect of a steak on blood sugar levels?\u00a0 Doesn’t this knowledge make us natural teachers?\u00a0 Is the teaching moment being lost not on Paula Deen but on us?<\/p>\n

Not sure what needs to be taught?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Like it or not (and believe me, I wish this weren’t true!), sugar is toxic to our bodies, and not just if you have diabetes.\u00a0 In a recent article<\/a> in Nature, Dr. Robert H. Lustig and his colleagues called for government regulation of “added sugar”, as there is with alcohol and tobacco. \u00a0Their argument is essentially that the metabolic effect of sugar, particularly fructose, is equal to that of ethanol (drinking alcohol).\u00a0 Regulation, they suggest, “could include tax, limiting sales during school hours and placing age limits on purchase.”<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I once argued for something along the same lines when I objected to a proposed soda tax on the basis that not just sodas, but all sugars, should be treated equally, as we treat all cigarette brands equally. I wrote, “Perhaps we can institute laws that require supermarkets to make a junk food section with a tollbooth at its entrance and charge $5 per person to enter. Such a draconian and expensive measure might really lead to a considerable reduction in the consumption of all junk food.”<\/p>\n

But even the tollbooth is not enough.\u00a0 None of it will work without education.\u00a0 And don’t think those\u00a0 little black and white nutritional labels on our junk food are meaningful education.\u00a0 How many people look at those labels before purchasing a product?\u00a0 My guess is very few.\u00a0 The reason is because we don’t view our food products something dangerous, poisonous, or something that requires review.\u00a0 We assume that what’s for sale in our supermarket is okay for us to eat. We also assume that if people were to read nutrition labels, they would understand them. Not true.\u00a0 Moreover, how many people know that refined carbohydrates and sugar are the same to our bodies?\u00a0 Do the people who drink six cans of soda a day have any idea what 28 grams of sugar per can means?\u00a0 If we labeled soda cans with a skull and cross bones instead of “20 grams sugar,” maybe people would get it.<\/p>\n

I’m not, however, really a fan of scare tactics.\u00a0 I also find it hard to believe that the majority of our society will ever be able to “fear” sugar.\u00a0 But we who truly know the effects of sugar in the body can begin the long and difficult process of educating people.\u00a0 We can bring diabetes awareness to a whole new level.<\/p>\n

I’m not suggesting we follow or promote one diet or another.\u00a0 I’m not suggesting that we all treat our diabetes in the exact same way. \u00a0No two bodies are alike.\u00a0 The one thing, however, that we do all have in common, is our inability to metabolize sugar. Then why do we boast that we can eat whatever we want?\u00a0 Why do we get angry and defensive when someone asks “Should you be eating that cake?”<\/em>\u00a0 We should do the hard thing and say “No, I shouldn’t be eating this cake, and neither should you.”<\/em><\/p>\n

It’s not easy.\u00a0 It’s anything but easy.\u00a0 I have been able to reduce my sugar intake to close to zero, though I have days when I fail.\u00a0 What I haven’t been able to do is prevent my children from eating sugar.\u00a0 Part of that is because I don’t want to make my sons “different.”\u00a0 I don’t want them to feel deprived.\u00a0 But another reason is that while I can stop myself from eating sweet food, I haven’t succeeded in changing in the way I think about it.\u00a0 I can’t imagine a birthday party without a cake.\u00a0 I can’t really imagine a world without dessert, if not for me, then for others.\u00a0 I want to be able to change the way I think about food.\u00a0<\/p>\n

So, facing my own weakness, I come back now to the “teaching moment.”\u00a0 Do we who understand the effects of sugar on the human body in the most intimate way have a responsibility to speak up and help the dozens of millions of type 2 diabetics and pre-diabetics?\u00a0 If we are real trailblazers who are going to make a difference in diabetes awareness, I think the answer is yes.<\/p>\n

In November 2010, to mark Diabetes Awareness Month, I started a Facebook page called Eat Responsibly<\/a>.\u00a0 I hoped hundreds of thousands of people would support the campaign, however, fewer than 40 people “liked” it.\u00a0 Perhaps this coming November we can raise the bar.\u00a0 Awareness needs to be more than promoting a symbol or a color.\u00a0 We need to take action. In the meantime, would you join me in Sugarless Tuesdays?<\/a> (Note: In case of hypoglycemia, please do have sugar!)\u00a0 One a day a week without sugar and junk food.\u00a0 Can we do it?<\/p>\n

\u00a0For more on the dangers of sugar (and the defense of fat) visit Peter Attia’s blog, War on Insulin<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Graph from Nature:\u00a0 http:\/\/www.nature.com\/nature\/journal\/v482\/n7383\/full\/482027a.html<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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