Why I don't low-carb

On the many and varied diabetes forums I belong to, I see a lot of posts about what is called "low-carbing." From what I understand, that means depriving yourself of foods such as bread, rice, potatoes, pasta, pizza, tacos, fruit, most vegetables, any kind of fruit juice, and just about everything else that has any amount of sugar in it.

When I tell people that I don't do the low-carb diet, they look at me like I'm nuts before solemnly declaring that I'm going to either die or at least suffer horrible diabetes complications, even when I tell them that my hemoglobin A1C has been at or below 6.0 for at least the last ten years.

Now, don't get me wrong; I don't stuff myself with cake, pie, cookies, ice cream, etc. I try for moderation. But I refuse to deprive myself of anything. When I was a kid, diabetes seemed to be all about deprivation. You can't have this because you're a diabetic. You can't have that because you're a diabetic. Watching other people eat chocolate-chip cookies or birthday cake was torture because I couldn't have any. And I truly believed I would never be able to have any.

When I left home, I tried to be a "good" diabetic, but since I was no longer under my mother's watchful eye, I went a bit nuts. I ate anything and everything that I wanted without bothering to test my blood sugar or adjust my insulin. And my blood sugars went all over the place.

Fortunately, with the help of a sympathetic doctor and the local diabetes education clinic, I eventually got back on track. But I realized that my rebellious behaviour was a direct result of being deprived for so long.

With some help from the dietitian at the diabetes education centre, I learned how to adjust my insulin to compensate for the carbohydrates that I ate. I realized that I don't have to deprive myself. If I choose not to eat something that contains a lot of carbohydrates, it's not because I "can't." It's because I don't want to. And if other people choose to eat a low-carbohydrate diet because that is what they want, that's fine with me. I'm not going to lecture them the way I have been lectured.

People say, "But if I eat an apple, it spikes my blood sugar." Isn't that what insulin is for? If I want to eat something, I take insulin. I thought that was the whole idea of insulin.

Now, some people are trying to lose weight, and foods that are high in carbohydrates and calories might have to be avoided for that reason. But for people who aren't trying to lose weight, who don't have insulin resistance, I don't see carbohydrates are considered to be so evil. Carbohydrates are what give you energy. When your blood sugar is low, you need carbohydrates to bring it back up. (Though I once encountered a diabetic who asked, "Since I'm on a low-carb diet and can't eat sugar, can I use Splenda to treat hypoglycemia?")

I guess in the end it comes down to: whatever works for you, fine. Just don't push it on me. That's what bugs me most. One of my co-workers went on the Atkins diet and tried to push it on me every time she spoke to me. And since we caught the bus at the same bus stop, that meant that I saw her every day, and every day for close to a year, she tried to convince me that I should go on Atkins "because you're a diabetic."